So I'm going to try something new. I have been writing down my memories in a book of sorts and I'm trying to feel out how the book would work or if it would work. I would love all feedback and if this gets 30 upvotes or 10 reminds I will post another chapter and see how it goes. Keep in mind this is early in the writing process so I expect a few typos. 

     We awoke on what was beginning to seem a more and more normal routine. LIGHTS, LIGHTS LIGHTS!!! echoed throughout the squad bay at precisely 0500. I hopped off my top rack and began to rummage through my wall locker for my shave bag and my towel. We had just started candidate billet holders and our motivated Staff Sergeant Dizennes was the first candidate to try his hand as second squad leader. We kind of all thought he was going to be the first martyr of the billet system and we were not wrong about that, but as a staff sergeant and 8 year veteran of the Marines, he was holding his own, directing candidates where to go. So instead of Gunny workman and his minions screaming at us we were being ordered around by our very own. It was a lot different but still the same routine. Hygiene, Field day, get ready for the first activity on the training schedule by 0600. I knew we had the “JR. Fartlek” as our PT block this morning and I was almost certain I had run this course before. I was trying to think back to what it was exactly. Candidates were talking and speculating about what to expect and asking me what I remembered. I didn't have a firm memory in my mind other than the run that Gunny Macias killed us with on my first couple days in India 2 but I didn't feel too worried about it. I told several people this would be easy. I knew it would be on the gravel roads of the Training Area (TA) so I slipped on my Asics Fijitrabuco Trail Shoes. I was thinking it would be under 4 miles with plenty of “Breaks” to do some sets of bodyweight exercises like box jumps, pushups, burpees, Pullups ect. but knew the run would be on soft gravel trails and not hardball roads.

We of course put on our Camelbaks and marked Green PT shirts with our names and ZAP # . As we got into formation and the platoon staff directed us to go directly behind the barracks building for warmups while this was the 3rd or 4th time we did a PT session as a platoon but this was the first time we were on jrs PT field behind Skynyrd hall. It had poured the night before. There were puddles several inches deep all over the grass field and the grass was 3-4 inches high and saturated to the point where just walking or running through it got the tops of your shoes wet and it soon soaked through to your socks. It was also still raining just enough so you could feel it, that light dirzzle that you sometimes feel in the early morning or right before a heavy storm starts or stops. Looking at the sky you could tell the rain was on its way out but it had left plenty of reminders it was there. 

The warmup routine was the same one that we had had for the last few PT sessions, the warmup tended to last just long enough that it started to make you tired, but we normally would be on Sr.s PT field or the asphalt parade deck but this time we were on Jr’s PT field and it was soaked. Our path we were supposed to move along between the 2 sets of cones would have us walking straight through several sizeable puddles. And no one wanted to start running with wet feet, (though it sort of seemed inevitable at this point).   We took 2 laps jogged around the cones that were at least 175 meters apart. Follow by “Knee hugs with outboard rotation!!.” our PTI screamed and then we Echoed. “Ready Move”- “Kill” the Candidates respond and the noise echoed across the jrs PT field as I passed the rubber much pits that I had lost my one and only Pugil Stick bout on 10 years ago, The scuttlebutt we were hearing was the there would be no pugil sticks this time around, something I was a little upset about pugil sticks were soo much fun and something you could just feel the tension get let out of the company as officer candidates were allowed to fight each other.  “Every third Step!!” The PTI screamed and again we repeated. We did this for about a minute and then this process repeated as we were moving the lead person in the line was coming up on a large puddle and decided to be brave and not walk through it but rather walk around the outside. We all got a little nervous as anything outside the routine was likely to get you highlighted and get the platoon in trouble but to our relief and surprise no SI corrected him.  Like ants we all followed suit and calmly knee hugged our way around the wet spots. We had more of the same for the next 10-12 exercises. Lunges with a twist, Lunges with a Reach, Inch worms, Toe kicks, Knees half way up,...the warmup continued and this was becoming more and more annoying, I was getting tired and I wanted to get on this run and not be doing lunges and butt kicks for an hour. We did a round of side shuffles and karaoke step (a movement that I was super comfortable with as a tennis player) so I could take a little breather and this meant our stupid long warmup was about to come to an end. Then we lined up at one cone for a sprint down to the other one. I Normally would open it up on thees sprints and let the young guys know that this 31 year is still fast in an all out sprint but that was on the parade deck with an even consistent surface I was feeling a little more timid because of the water and bumps all over jrs PT field but apparently I was not the only one with this fear because despite only a 85% sprint I still managed to pass  a dozen candidates. 

  We then were directed to line up on the road by Bobo chow hall and turn down to the large tan building that was the India company headquarters when I was here last time. This was the first time I had got to get a close look at the location I spent most of my time in 2010. Mind you we were in formation and marching as a company so I could not reminisce too much but as I looked around I had a brief flash back to the Major company commander and the company 1st Sgt Kavuto screaming in my ear and me having an emotional breakdown in their office. But here I was back at OCS and that building looked like it had been relegated to storage. The squad bays back behind the HQ where I had stayed were gone and there was an empty field. The gravel we used to walk on was getting taken over by grass and the quantico wilderness looked to be reclaiming the area I remembered as “OCS” in my mind.

As we marched up to the chute to go on this jr. Fartlek run we were divided into squads and lined up by platoons. 2nd plt 2nd squad had exactly 15 candidates in it and we were lined up in column of 2 told to be 40 inches back to chest and keep jogging in place as we were waiting out turn in line to actually start this run. Gunny Cardona lined up in front of us to lead our squad. “Ok not bad” I thought to myself she's not going to be that fast “I can certainly keep up with a 35+ year old female gunny” Meanwhile she had picked out DZ and was grilling him about how she expected him to report in at every calisthenics station. They were sending Squads 2 min apart, the company gunny and the Senior PTI Were waiting at the start line and we were repeating the same song and dance we had watched the platoon staff demonstrate before the introduction to 3 loop trail. I heard the squad leader for 1st squad attempt to report in. “Good Moring Gunnery Sergeant!  Candidate Squad leader Candidate Cruiz reports: Delta company Second platoon First squad is formed and ready for the conduct of jr Fartlek run” …...or at least that's what it should have sounded like. In that environment of course Cruise fumbled over the words and made his life hard.  Good Morning Gunnery Sergeant Candidate Cruise…”NOOOO” Gunny Pompa Screamd “Its your Billet first then your name...do it again!!” Gunny Pompa demanded. “Good Morning Gunnery Sergeant!” Cruise tired again “Hell no” Gunny Pompa interrupted “you didn’t say Aye Aye Gunnery Sergeant...what you think because you have a college degree you don't have to respond to me?” Gunny taunted “when I say something you say something.” This would have been a little funny to watch If we didn't have the full knowledge that this was gonna be us as squad leaders in a few days “Start Over!” Gunny Pompa ordered. “AYE AYE Gunnery SERGEANT” Cruise screamed at the top of his lungs. This song and dance went on for a min or two until finally Candidate Cruise managed to make it through the report properly. Gunny pompa looked at him and said “Very well” tell them one Minute, “AYE AYE GUNNERY SERGEANT” Cruise screamed. Then promptly about faced “ One Minute” Cruise Repeated, First Squad then Echoed “ONE MINUTE, ONE MINUTE, ONE MINUTE” Dizennes was closely watching the entire time we were all hoping he could get it RIght. “Ten Seconds” we heard gunny say to first Squad. Then all at once all the candidates in 1st Squad began to scream their countdown from 10. “TEN”, “NINE” “EIGHT” SEVEN SIX FIVE, FOUR THREE TWO ONE. Then they began to run down the trail.

 As 1st squad filed out gunny Cardona moved into the place previously occupied by gunny Martinez and we all moved up into the on deck spot about to start this Jr Fartlek. As we were standing in line more of this course was coming back to me. This was the road that Captain Troughton reamed me for popping my portholes on my forehead when they were fogging up and I was unable to see. “Squad….Hault” DZ barked and we all came to a stop at precisely the correct spot. “Left….Face!” DZ boomed as we all did a hard pivot and drove our right heel in next to our Left. 

“Good morning Gunnery Sergeant!  Candidate Squad leader Candidate Dzienis reports: Delta company Second platoon Second squad is formed and ready for the conduct of jr Fartlek run” Gunny Pompa actually looked a little frustrated as we all subtly looked around in amazement “Did he really just get that perfect the first time?” you could feel everyone in the squad thinking as we were told to run in place so we “wouldn't get cold” and Gunny workman got right in front of our squad along side gunny Cardona. It was a little surprising but he was not going to make her run faster and he already talked about he wanted all the candidates to beat in on the 3 mile run. “Who are my Eighteen Min PFT runners” Gunny Workman asked? We all kinda looked in the direction of Guzman and Hirt as they popped their hands in the air. “This candidate” they both barked in unison. “Ok” Gunny workman continued “you tow line up in the back of the formation and if anyone gets more than 10 to 15 meters behind the pack you guys Scream STRAGGLER STRAGGLER STRAGLER”  They nodded and said “Aye Aye Gunnery Sergeant” as they worked their way to the back of the formation.  The one minute to go and countdown from 10 procedures happened again identical to Cruize and first squad. And we were Off! 

Gunny Cardona took off like a bat out of hell...she was moving! I swear she took off at a sub 7:00 mile pace and gunny Workman kept up with her! The first stretch of this route was up hill like a 3% or 4% grade and while this was not stressing me 500 yards in I knew I could not maintain this pace very long before I was goanna be falling out. I was thinking to myself at this pace we are going to have to have a lot of places to stop and do some calisthenics while we recover our Cardio endurance but the Fartlek stations were just not coming... we were well over half a mile into this run and I was not seeing any of these stations and we were still on an incline. It was starting to hurt and I was starting to get in my head. I just took a deep breath and puffed my cheeks out as I exhaled. “Common you can do this” I told myself as I looked at Foarde’s name on his OD green shirt as he was 40 inches away from him. So far we were holding our intervals pretty well. Finally after what seemed like a mile of fast Mostly uphill running we hit our first station of exercises just off the road. 

Each station had 3 long logs upwards of 20 feet long laid at 90 degree angles that made a box the with the edge of the Road acting as the 3rd side of the rectangle. This box that was made off the road was filled with a thin layer of sand, I was remembering from the lst time I ran this course that some stations had more mud and mulch than sand but they tried at some point in the construction of the course to make it more conducive to getting down on your hands and feet for the purpose of exercises than the harshley graveled road.  Each station had a metal sign with yellow or green reflective paint and Black vinyl letters that described each exercise. “plyo Jumps” was on this yellow sign in bold black letters, and there was a black line running under the exercise with 3 smaller boxes one green one yellow and one red. Each of these boxes had a number of reps to complete at each station depending on how hard you were making the workout. In this case the Green box was 10, the Yellow box was 15 and the Red box was 25. “We are not doing the Green boxes!!” Gunny Cardona Barked “do the Yellow Numbers... Go!!” at this particular station 3 long plyo boxes were built from 2x12 boards and nailed to 4’x4’ post that were holding them higher than the 2x12s would have set on the ground by themselves. It was short compared to the 24” or 30” boxes I had been jumping on in my back yard or at my crossfit gyms my best guess is that they were 18” to 20” inches high. “Do your Jumps and then get formed back up in a column of twos” Gunny Workman Barked back at us. I was relieved to not be running any more and wanted to finish my jumps before anyone else as I would have a few more moments to catch my breath before we started pounding gravel again. But I was getting boxed out. Our squad of 15 guys was filling up all these plyo boxes. I forced my way into a box between Lilja and Kahn and started repping out box jumps, glad that I had done so many in the previous 4 months since building my own box during the first COVID outbreak. I repped out my 15 and got back on the road 3rd or 4th out of the 15 guys. I was trying to hyperventilate to get my heart rate down knowing that we were probably about to hit this outlandish pace again. “Lets go FULOP!!” Gunny workman screamed as everyone was lined up except for Fulop. “AYE AYE GUNNERY SERGEANT” Fulop screamed as he hopped off the box and ran back into formation. “Fulop did you do 15 box jumps?” Gunny Cardona barked. “No Gunnery Sergeant” Fullop responded with labored Breathing as he staggered back to the formation on the road. “Well finish them!!” Gunny Workman jumped in. This had my emotions somewhere between feeling sorry for Fulop, wondering if he was going to be able to complete OCS , annoyed with Fulop because he was slowing the group down...and then a little thankful for Fulop because I got a few more seconds to catch my breath while he was getting highlighted and if he was standing out that meant that I was not, and at a bare minimum someone else was in front of me in the line to the chopping block. 

     After Fulop knocked out 4 more box jumps while everyone was waiting/resting and the Gunnys were in his face screaming. We got on the road and started running way too fast again (it still felt well under a 7:00 mile) and We were on a downhill this time. 14 Candidates were running in two column of 7 and DZ was running to the left of the formation. “Dezinnes where's my repot?” Gunny Cardona Barked, I was running in amazement knowing I would barely be able to say more than a word or two at this pace but gunny Cardona was not only running this fast she was screaming this loud and demanding that our squad leader (who I was far from envious of in this moment) count everyone and sound off a report. DZ Started “Good Morning Gunn…” he was quickly interrupted. “You didn't say Aye Aye Gunnery Sergeant” the SNCO barked...we all knew the procedure in theory but this was beyond crazy….but such is Marine Corps Officer Candidates School. “When I say something you say something!!!” she barked the line that was all too familiar to all us only a few days into training. “Aye Aye Gunnery Sergeant” DZ responded and then panting like a deer being chased by a cougar tried to catch his breath and give the report. “Good morning Gunnery Sergeant, Candidate squad leader, Candidate Dizennes reports, Delta Company, Second Platoon, Second Squad the count on deck is Fifteen Marine Officer Candidates, the Count on hand is Fifteen Marine officer candidates!” He paused taking a big breath trying to signal everyone it was time to sound off “GOOD MORNING GUNNERY SERGEANT!” I knew he was going to get smoked like this the entire run and tried my best to Scream “GOOD MORNING GUNNERY SERGEANT!” I tried to scream with all the energy I could muster up between breaths. But it was not enough. “I didn't hear that!” Gunny workman taunted “why is your squad not sounding off” Gunny Cardnona mocked “Do it Again!” she demanded. “Aye Aye” Gunnery Sergeant” DZ screamed. I was trying to evaluate if we really had not been loud enough or if we were just getting messed with because we had the audacity to show up to Brown field. DZ Started the report again… “Good morning Gunnery Sergeant, Candidate squad leader, Candidate Dizennes reports, Delta Company, Second Platoon, Second Squad the count on deck is Fifteen Marine Officer Candidates, the Count on hand is Fifteen Marine officer candidates!” *Deep Breath* “GOOD MORNING GUNNERY SERGEANT!” this time we did sound a Bit louder as we repeated the Greeting of the day despite still running this insane pace. We were at least 500 meters from the box jump station at this point and DZ still had not been allowed to just run. “Did you actually count them”? Gunny Cardnona asked. I was still massively impressed that she was this good of a runner. I was eating some serious crow at this point from my thoughts that we had gotten lucky to have Gunny Cardona leading our squad. DZ ran along looking both tired and confused as we all ran along both feeling sorry for ourselves and really sorry for DZ, internally begging to get to the next station so we could have some relief. But the pain went on as Gunny Cardona Continued. “Count everyone, make sure we are all present and give me the Report again” DZ responded again. “Aye aye Gunnery Sergeant” as he ran along and pointed his finger at each individual candidate...but around this time we could see the next station. “Shutup” Gunny Cardona Barked. “You better get it right next time” she again taunted as we began to slow down and read that pushups were our next exercise. The Green box was 10 the Yellow box said 20 and the Red box was 30 “Yall are gonna do these together” Gunny Workman screamed! As Gunny Cardona ran ahead on the trail. “Count ‘em off Squad leader” DZ took over we all got on our face and knew the pushup protocol by this point. “PUSH-UP” DZ Screamed as we all Screamed in unison “MARINE CORPS” as we snapped from our faces to an arms length off the ground. DZ continued... “Down- Up” he sounded off “One!” we all screamed as we reached the top of the rep “Down Up” “Two”....This station went off relatively scott free until we got all formed back up on the road and Gunny workman demanded that we all “sprint “ and catch Gunny Cardona who by this point was easily 300 yards ahead on the trail. I knew this was a foolish task,  but for some reason Kahn, Guzman, and Hirt , thought we had to Sprint. (and those guys are stinking fast) so our formation got all spread out and I was not going to be the last one in line in this situation, as we tried to Catch Gunny Cardona. She slowed down...not because she had the least bit of mercy on us but rather because she wanted to get us formed up after smoking us again just to torture DZ by making him report in again. “Get up here Squad Leader” she Barked “Give me my Report” “Aye….Aye, Gunnery..” DZ was gasping for air …”Sergeant” he fought through the exhaustion and pointed his finger at each of us and started his report. “Good morning Gunnery Sergeant, Candidate squad leader, Candidate Dizennes reports, Delta Company, Second Platoon, Second Squad the count on deck is Fifteen Marine Officer Candidates, the Count on hand is Fifteen Marine officer candidates!” *Deep Breath* “GOOD MORNING GUNNERY SERGEANT!” We all Echoed “GOOD MORNING GUNNERY SERGEANT!” I was thinking that would have been enough to move on...but again I was wrong (a feeling that was becoming normal at this point). “What?” Gunny Cardona boomed “Is that how we do counts here at OCS?” You could feel the collective moan among the Squad as we were are thinking she could not be serious, This was like trying to guess a combination lock with a constantly changing combination...poor guy, DZ was getting reamed while doing this workout that seems to be breaking off everyone other than Guzman and Hirt. DZ didn't miss a beat “Aye Aye Gunnery Sergeant” he screamed!  “Second Squad COU-nt OFF!” he boomed as we all put our right hand in the air while running too fast without really even thinking, we were just so used to this form of accountability. ONE! Kahn screamed, Two, Said Foarde,....This continued all the way down the two columns and Hirt who was doing his job of holding up the rear screamed “Fourteen” then DZ yelled “fifteen... Last candidate” and then repeated his report again as we were all still running. “Good morning Gunnery Sergeant, Candidate squad leader, Candidate Dizennes reports, Delta Company, Second Platoon, Second Squad the count on deck is Fifteen Marine Officer Candidates, the Count on hand is Fifteen Marine officer candidates!” *Deep Breath* “GOOD MORNING GUNNERY SERGEANT!” We all Echoed “GOOD MORNING GUNNERY SERGEANT!” We all knew he had messed something up. No one knew what it was but if a booky was taking bets as to whether or not that was an acceptable report I would have quickly placed a couple hundred bucks on the “Not” line and felt pretty confident that I was about to get paid. But to everyone's Shock Gunny Cardona just kept running along, didn't say a word. We just got to run to the next station now (what a concept). We were still running at way too fast of a Pace and I was negotiating with my legs about when they would be allowed to just drop out of the run but we got to the next station of “Burpiess” 8, 12, and 20 were in the Boxes under the exercise and I knew the suck was only just begining. I found my space in the sand and hit the deck. Trying to get back in the formation with enough time to take a few breaths, but Burpees are a hell of a thing to rush through for a break. I was able to be the 3rd or 4th man back on the road but I was paying for it as I was gasping for Air, and as tired as I was I knew we had not gone 2 miles...this was crazy. 

     As the Run continued we were climbing some steeper and Steeper Hills and I knew I was done when we passed the Pullup bars the exercise was covered with a piece of poster board and “Burpiess” was written where pullups was supposed to be ( because of Covid we presumed) but after we did burpees again and looked up this hill I knew we were done for. I was 3rd or 4th in line and about 50 yards up this hill that had to be 300 yards long and at least 25% grade the pace was barely a run anymore. But I started passing People I Ran around Godino just as I heard Guzman's Voice boom “STRAGGLER STRAGGLER STRAGGLER” “Yea no Kidding” I thought to myself as I looked down and my feet and just kept driving my Legs. It was kinda funny you could tell the Gunnys were annoyed we had people falling out but they were too sapped running up this hill to yell at them. But then something massively profound happened Lund was walking in front of me clutching his back, and I almost ran up his butt, as I was looking down. I sidestepped him and kept climbing the hill not daring to look back. “Holy cow” I thought to myself.  “I just passed a MARSOC Marine on a 3 mile run”. I couldn't believe it. Something about the fact that despite my pain I was passing people I thought I would never be able to hold a candle to during PT. Something about this gave me a second wind, this run Still Sucked but I found some energy in my lungs and legs that I didn’t know was there. As we Crested the hill the Gunnys turned around to survey the Damage “It Would be wouldn't it” Gunny Cardona screamed. “FULOP Move it!!, He needs to go home” she said to gunny workman as they told those of us cresting the hill to jog in place so we could get the squad formed up before the continued the course. “Get Up here Rabbits” Gunny Workman barked “Leave him alone”as Hirt and Guzman seemed to go from walking with a hand on fullops back trying to encourage him up the hill to a dead sprint up a hill leaving Fulop in their dust. I just rolled my eyes baffled by how much energy they had as I was trying to catch my breath. “Let’s Go Kahn and Fulop I’m gonna Chit you two if you dont pick it up”. We got a small repreve at the top of this Monstrous Hill as we waited for Fulop and Kahn to catch up, we then got formed up and started heading to the next Station as we passed a Corpsman and DZ Screamed “Radio Man” and we all echoed the call 3 times but we were so smoked at this point even I could hear how pathetic it was as we limped into the next station “Situps” and there was no sand to lay down on just way too tall uncut grass, that was wet with morning dew and the slow mist seemed to be getting a little harder as the clouds were dark and there was no sun to be seen. We got soaked as we lay in the grass and knocked out our situps. As we formed up on the road we could see a long stretch of downhill “Well there's some good news” we were all thinking. Needing the time to recover but as we started moving an DZ gave the command to count off  realized this may not be as good of a thing as we were thinking. By the time we Echoed “Good Morning Gunnery Sergeant we were all nearly sprinting down this hill that was about 20% grade. “Keep it together” Gunny Cardona Kept Barking “40 inches back to chest” we were going too fast, gravity was making me run faster than I wanted to. If I let Gravity take over I would run through Kring who was in front of me this time, but if I tried to slow down I felt like the guys behind me were going to run through me. On top of this, the path was wet, with large golf ball to baseball sized gravel littered through the path and it was fall so there were sweet gum balls scattered on different parts of the trail. I was getting nervous there was going to be a crash, we had been running uphill the majority of the first half of the course and now what went up had to come down. We got a slight uphill section where everyone formed back up and we were still being screamed at “Tighten it up” gunny Workman bellowed. It was fine on the Up hill but I was nervous someone was going to get hurt when we were running 6:30 or faster mile pace on these downhills this close to one another, on the next downhill we got to moving fast again. I could not see the rocks and washes on the slick muddy road in front of me, I stepped out of formation while running to give me more sight so I could see upcoming obstacles as this hill was pushing a 30% downhill grade we were probably running a 6 Min mile or faster and I felt I was getting out in front of my skis so to speak. “COVER DOWN FOY” Gunny Workman boomed, not daring to talk back I tried to slide back into the formation “Aye Aye Gunnery Sergeant” I attempted to scream thought I was obviously out of breath but I still left my midline on Krings outside shoulder so I could bail on the formation If I needed to. About that time I heard a loud Thud! Behind me followed by the unmistakable sound of something heavy sliding across wet gravel and sand and then a swarm of swearing and more people falling we all sort of spread out and stopped as best we could on the downhill to see candidate Godino laying on the ground trying to roll over and get up with a 5 foot skid mark behind him and a few candidates had apparently tripped on him when he went down because 4 guys were either standing up from the ground or trying to speed up and catch themselves, running their feet back under their center of mass. When Godino stood up his rIght shin was covered in blood and he had pretty bad scrapes on his left elbow and right forearm. That were starting to bleed as he Brushed the dirt off his face and hands. Not feeling sorry for himself for a second he hopped back up and started jogging to the rest of us but he made it about 3 steps before he had to catch himself from falling again as his right ankle just was refusing to take his weight. “You good” Gunny workman asked in an annoyed tone as if his fall was just an inconvenience to the Fartlek. “Yes Gunnery Sergeant” Godino responded automatically as he again tried to get back in the formation but his ankle was just not cooperating. “No your not” Gunny workman said with annoyance….”Everyone Form up” gunny Cardona demanded “Lets Go” the corpsman will pick him up! DZ took over again and “Alright Candidates Lets get lined up” Gunny Cardona stayed with us we moved out and gunny Workman stood with Godino who was sitting on the side of the road trying to get back in the run but his body was not cooperating. DZ Reported the count but had to re do it because he didn't realize that by leaving Godino on the side of the road our squad was not at 15 anymore but 14.  “Good morning Gunnery Sergeant, Candidate squad leader, Candidate Dizennes reports, Delta Company, Second Platoon, Second Squad the count on deck is Fifteen Marine Officer Candidates, the Count on hand is Fourteen Marine officer candidates! Candidate Godino is waiting for the Corpsman” *Deep Breath* “GOOD MORNING GUNNERY SERGEANT!” We all Echoed “GOOD MORNING GUNNERY SERGEANT!” But apparently Godino was able to walk it off because about halfway through us stopping at the “Star jump” station godino and Gunny Workman caught back up to us. By this point Godions leg and elbow were bleeding pretty steadily.Between the mud the sand and the Blood His white issued Under Armor sock was any color other than white. I took one look at him and he looked like a man possessed. He was going to finish this run! The problem was that DZ did not notice that Godino had re-joined the squad and of 

    Godino Skipped the Star jumps and got back in the formation when we took off down the gravel road, for some reason gunny workman left the group and we were just with gunny cardona. “Squad Leader, Where’s my Report” she barked. Something about her tone just told us that DZ was about to get messed with. “Good morning Gunnery Sergeant, Candidate squad leader, Candidate Dizen..” “you didn't say aye aye gunnery Sergeant” she interrupted him. “Aye aye” gunnery Sergeant” he barked back without missing a beat. “Good morning Gunnery Sergeant, Candidate squad leader, Candidate Dizennes reports, Delta Company, Second Platoon, Second Squad the count on deck is Fifteen Marine Officer Candidates, the Count on hand is Fourteen Marine officer candidates! Candidate Godino is injured and waiting for the Corpsman” *Deep Breath* “GOOD MORNING GUNNERY SERGEANT!” We all Echoed “GOOD MORNING GUNNERY SERGEANT!” “ “you Idiot” she barked….”this is why we count off you idiot! Godino is right behind you!” she taunted “you have no accountability of your squad and No leadership” we could tell we were gonna get another lesson in the 500 ways not to report in to your superiors.   DZ responded “aye aye Gunnery Sergeant” as he looked behind him to see Godino look at him and hold his hand up as if to say “present”. DZ’s face had the look of embarrassment you would expect from such a blunder. “From the front...COUnt OFF!” We all counted off and when the final candidate sounded off FIFTEEN DZ made the report. “Good morning Gunnery Sergeant, Candidate squad leader, Candidate Dizennes reports, Delta Company, Second Platoon, Second Squad, the count on deck is Fifteen Marine Officer Candidates, the Count on hand is Fifteen Marine officer candidates! Candidates” *Deep Breath* “GOOD MORNING GUNNERY SERGEANT!” We all Echoed “GOOD MORNING GUNNERY SERGEANT!”. She left him alone after only one attempt maybe he was getting better, maybe we were getting better more than likely this that was this run was starting to get to Gunny Cardona like it was the rest of us. We hit one more station of squats and the company 1st Sergeant Gunny Sensing was at the squat station. She started to run with our squad and was chatting it up with Gunny Cardona...so much for my theory about her starting to hurt from this run. We kept running and surprisingly after Godinos spill we were not being told to tighten it up as we were spacing out on the downhills  “Straggler” “Straggler”“Straggler” I heard Guzman echo from the back of the formation without even looking back to see who it was Gunny Cardona Barked “Fulop you suck, Thats a Chit!” She screamed. She turned around to see not only Fulop but Kahn more than 30 yards behind the formation, and Lund who was clutching his lower back was not far behind. I knew if this pace didn't let up significantly I was going to be back with them soon but just then I looked up and saw the long straight uphill stretch that I remembered from the last time I was here. As I passed the red and yellow “Sprint” sign. I knew where we were and we were about 500 yards from being back to where we started. I mentally had a massive sigh of relief as I knew I could hold on for another 2 min and get back in on the PT field in the cool down circle. 

      Before too long the Fartlek from hell was over. At the finish line Gunny Workman was on the long row of pullup bars in front of Bobo making every D2 candidate knock out 23 pullups before we walked into the cooldown circle if our max set was not 23 we had to get back in line and do another set. “Everybody say Twenty Three” Gunny Workman was screaming as we were doing pullups, I knew I was not gonna hit 23 unbroken so when I hit the bar I did 13 to leave myself a set of 10 the next time. I walked to the back of the line to get right behind Godino he was last in the line to the pullup bar and his face looked like he was in incredible pain. Apparently he made it through the last half of that run on pure guts and adrenaline and when he was starting to cool down that adrenaline was cooling off as well. He nearly collapsed in line. Completely unable to put weight on the ankle he rolled. Just then I heard gunny workman ask “does anyone need to see the corpsman?” Godino limped over to the Corpsman but then we also saw Becker and several other candidates waiting to see the corpsman, all looking scraped up like they had taken a fall as well. In the Cool down circle we all had this feeling that we were lucky to make it through that run unscathed.

 As I Mentally checked off another small battle win that I made it through and got to go back to the showers and start a day. I couldn't help but feel that the run was conducted in a dangerous way. For The conditions to be as wet as they were and us being asked to run that fast that close together on the hilly, loose gravel roads of the Quantico highlands  I felt a little lucky that we had not injured more than just Godino in second squad. Had he been 2 spots in front of me instead of 2 spots behind me I could be in line to see doc right now as well. I sipped water from my Camelbak straw and walked in the large circle of candidates. After the PFT and 2 easy PT sessions on Brown field my confidence and emotional thoughts about pinning on those butter bars was confronted with the reality of how quick your lot can change here. I was again reminded how hard this place is and I was massively impressed with Gunny Cardona...She could flat RUN!!