Welcome to the Suck

Suck is such a great word. It can be used as a back-handed consolation ("Wow, it sucks to be you."), or you can you it as an interjection ("This freakin' sucks!"). Or, in this case, it can be used as the subject of your entire existence. In the military, we refer to really choice situations as The Suck - and right now Fort Jackson has hit that peak moment of particular suckiness. It has been raining, off-and-on, all week - really heavy showers, punctuated by intense moments of thunder and lightning. Then the clouds pass, and the sun comes on with a vengeance - in the upper 90s - with oh-so-wonderful humidity that you can see. Wearing full IBA (Interceptor Body Armor), with all the extras, in those conditions brings new meaning to heat. IBA is hot - IBA is heavy - IBA might save your life in the Sandbox, but it could also give you heat stroke. We are running around in the sun/rain/combination-of-the-two from before sun-up to just before sun-down. Awesome. "We train as we fight" is the motto of our cadre - next time some smart-ass reporter from the LA Times or some other newspaper tries to tell you that your troops overseas aren't earning their pay, don't believe it. We qualified on weapons this week - yesterday was awesome - we fired the whole enchilada (SAW, Ma Deuce, and the M240B - HOOAH!!). The day before that we fired our M16s - I sucked (ah, another usage of that great word!) - for some reason, my sight picture changed when I wore my IBA (no duh), causing my accuracy to suffer in the prone position. I was freakin' Audie Murphy in the kneeling unsupported (supposedly, the toughest position of the three standard Army firing positions) - I was knocking them down 10 for 10 every time! But in the prone - I sucked, big time. I was the last shooter, and I stayed out there until the Drill Sergeant and I figured out my aim point from the 150m target on out. It was embarrassing - I am currently the laughing stock of the company (I became "That guy" - "Oh boy, don't let Ushiku go out with you, man - that guy sucks!). I am probably going to be the example during the next cycle of BRM. I have taken the ribbing with a smile, but inside I am pissed (not in the British sense, because we can't even look at alcohol). I have doubled my efforts to excell - I am doubly serious, and I am going to do my best not to be last in anything (hmmm... maybe that was the lesson I was supposed to gather from this...). On the other hand, I have tried to be cheerful and positive every day - but finally, the negativity and the churlishness of my regular-Navy counterparts has rubbed off on me, and right now, I really don't care to be in contact with any of these people - maybe tomorrow I will feel better, but right now... the can all go to hell (figuratively, of course). Welcome to the Suck.