Basic Training Journal: Saturday, August 16th

We got paid yesterday...we got to check our accounts at the ATM before the start of our personal time. I received about $490(I'm a PV2)....they take out the 250 for the smart card($250 card to buy stuff at the PX while in reception)by splitting it up, so I probably got 125 taken out for the smart card. You won't get paid until you've been in the Army for a full 2 weeks I think so if you joined the Army 5 days before a pay day, you won't get paid that time but you will get that 5 days of pay split up between your first 2 pay checks.

Today we had PT in the morning as usual; we did a lot of situps and pushups plus the stretches to get our hearts pumping. We then had a demonstration on how to make a tent. Some people were fooling around so we got smoked. We had to run across a really large field and back two times in in BDUs, and it was scorching hot outside.

Right now we're cleaning up the barracks and doing laundry. I think the sergeant major is going to inspect the barracks Monday so we'll be cleaning the barracks today and tomorrow.

We got a new drill sergeant today. You'll have 2 permanent drill sergeants throughout BT but a reserve drill sergeant also comes in every two weeks. Our permanent drill sergeants are DS Sibal and DS Bailey. I think they're both pretty cool...DS Bailey is tough though.