Up and Down

Tuesday we did this crossfit:

20 HSPU (hand stand push ups) progressions (pike pushups off an elevated surface)
25 Pullups
30 Kettlebell swings
35 Situps
40 Burpies (pushup and jumping jack)

Today we did it in reverse.

40 Burpies
35 Situps
30 Kettlebell swings
25 Pullups
20 HSPU Progressions

Tuesday I did it in 15.38 with a 1 pood(35lb) kettlebell. I went real slow through the burpies and they counted as at least a third of that time.

Today since we started with burpies I was able to power through it until I hit the pullups. After about five I was only able to do sets of one or two. Overall I still beat my time with 14.15. I chalk it up to starting with burpies though. Those things hurt.

Dad did it too, he survived and did the whole workout each time.

I will not walk for your camera!

Today Courtney started trying to walk. She would stand up and take a few steps then fall down. It was real cute but as soon as I got the camera all she wanted to do was crawl.

Max weight day.

Today's crossfit was:

3-3-3-3-3 Front Squat.

This means that you try to set new PR's on the front squat doing five sets of three reps each. The goal is to add weight each time and set a new personal record. Once I got the weight up high enough that I couldn't clean it on my own I used the help of siblings to get it on my shoulders. Once they released it I realized that I didn't have the strength in my wrists to hold onto the bar. I haven't had it checked out yet, but just from research online I think I might have a "Jones fracture" in my right foot. Today I soaked it in ice and hot water, alternating every 15min for 3hrs.

Tyler 45-95-145(PR)-165(f)-155(f)

New toys for Crossfit.

I discovered a local supplier of crossfit equipment in the industrial park near I70 and Havana, Rage Fitness Supply. I drove down there and picked up four kettlebells and a medicine ball. They supply everything crossfit and manufacture the medicine balls. This allowed me to get some of the equipment I wanted without paying for shipping. Tomorrow we are going to work kettlebells and the medicine ball in.

That Guy

You know when someone is obviously quite a bit better than you at a game or sport but they still make you win. Does that anger you or is that a nice gesture? Do you see it as a rather arrogant move on their part and preventing you from understanding how the game should be played or is it kind? Do you think it is a Cristian thing to do to let others win because you decided to let them win not because they actually won? Even if no one notices?

PRs on the Back Squat

Today we did more squats, this time max weight three rep sets. I didn't do it because I was going to attempt to complete "Daniel" today with Adam but it's snowing. Now that I'm a dirty civilian I don't run in the cold. We'll probably do some sort of crossfit that can be done inside.

4 rounds of for weight
3 rep Max Back Squat
10 bench dips

Dad 45/115lb
Mom 15/40lbs

To solve discipline issues.

I've always had the desire to be real disciplined in several areas but could never muster up the motivation or personal drive to do it. Two of these areas are memorization and exercise. While I was in the army the exercise part was taken care of for me but now that I'm home I have to do it all on my own. As far as memorization this is where I hit this, what may seam to others an obvious solution, but to me a great revelation. In order to become more disciplined I needed to find someone who I could help with the same problem. Someone who I could be mutually accountable with. If my focus was on encouraging someone else it becomes much easier to push myself. Proverbs 11:25 speaks to this Biblical principal. "The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters will himself be watered." In order to conquer the giant of laziness in my life and become more disciplined I need to focus on "watering" others.

As far as the exercise issue, while I was at AIT I started running distance. I found a guy who would run with me and I pushed him. This gave me the motivation to work harder myself. Now that I am home I am working to help my parents do crossfit. It has been a lot of fun, and over time, it should be a real benefit to our family.

While I have just started the crossfit with the family, I've seen some real success in memorizing. So far Steve has memorized, in KJV btw, the first two chapters of Romans and half of chapter three. I have memorized the first three chapters of James, in NASB (much easier), and just started on chapter 4. Praise God.

Day 2

Today I plan on exercising later with Ryan and then running with Rachel so I didn't do crossfit in the morning. I facilitated it and watched peoples form. Dad has real good form and goes for full range of motion. Before we started we watched videos on the clean and practiced form with the 45lb bar.

For time:
15, 12, and 9 reps of
Overhead squat
Burpies

Dad(20lbs) 10.40
Mom(2.5lbs) 9.40
Daniel(10lbs) 2.04

Ran with Rachel around noon and it ended up being about a 10.30 pace for four miles. I'm going to work on running faster before we work on distance.

Weaver family crossfit Day 1

As a family we have started doing crossfit in the morning. By regularly exercising and getting up early we are trying to become more disciplined. I am scaling off of the Brand X forum and backdating one week so I can see what is coming up. Right now we are using the lowest scaling and trying to get good form.

3 rounds for time of:
50ft walking lunges
20 squats
10 supermans

Tyler 5.18
Ryan 5.27
Daniel 5.42
Rachel 5.59
Mom 8.05
Dad 8.15

Early, Early, Late

I haven't been online as much this week because our platoon has CQ. Basically I have to go downstairs and sit at a desk by the door for an hour during the night. Because of how this breaks up my sleep I have to go to be right after returning.

This is tower week, last was ground, and next week is jump week. So far we have learned to do a mass exit on the 34' tower (1 jumper a second, staggered a half second of the other door). Yesterday we did the Sling Landing Trainer, another PLF device. This medieval torture device was designed to teach you to "slip" and give you more practice on the PLF. Slipping is the act of pulling down on a set of risers to move your parachute in one direct or another. By slipping into the wind just before the ground you can really slow your self down. To simulate this we put in a harness and jump off a 12' platform where the straps are adjusted so we swing a foot or so off the ground. The pain comes from the poorly designed leg straps and the falling off the platform over and over. I was assigned to the detail of unhooking jumpers from the harness all day and only got in half of my required jumps on this hateful thing. I will probably have to finish it up tomorrow afternoon.

Tomorrow morning we are going to be doing the 250ft tower. Because there will not be enough time for our whole platoon to do it, there is a chance I won't. It looks like fun, but it is just one more chance to get hurt before the real thing next week.

Oh, and to compound the CQ shifts this week tower week has us on a Early, Early, Late schedule for chow. We are the first company to eat Breakfast, and Lunch, and the last to eat Dinner. This just means that the training day is the longest during this week and that we have been getting released about an hour later than last week.

Short Day, Short Day!

There was only one class we had to do today so they released us after lunch. Today we learned what to do once you are on the ground. How to unhook yourself from the parachute so it doesn't drag you along the ground and how to recover the parachute and pack it into the bag you carry for it. I'm going to take this weekend to mostly recover and prepare for next weekend. For some reason my voice is gone, probably all the yelling.

Twisting falls.

Today we stayed in the training area all day and ate MREs again. All that was on the training schedule was falling down. I've never practiced falling down so much. Pt was brutal this morning, I'm worn out. We did it in a gravel pit and it is the first time I have fallen out on an exercise here. Almost every exercise we had half the group not with the count. I think they realized how beat up we are and sort of skipped the chin ups for some reason. I did 20 all day. Yesterday we did left and right PLFs, today we did forward and back. To preform a forward or backwards plf you just twist your body to land on your side. We have some hard core guys here and we are all real beat up from this training. I am looking forward to this weekend with the hope that I will somewhat recover. Its isn't like I am worn out... there just is little or nothing left.

MRE day.

Today instead of returning to the dfac(dining facility) we ate MRE's(meals ready to eat, meals rejected by Ethiopians, etc) for lunch. This affected the number of chin ups as we didn't pass the bars mid day. This morning after one of the "feared airborne runs", at a blistering nine minutes a mile for 3.2mi, we finished up the tower. We then ate and went into the pit to start PLF training. PLF or a parachute landing fall is all about absorbing the impact of a hard fall without hurting yourself. Most people tuck and roll when falling to avoid injury. While this may be fine in most circumstances with a parachute there is the issue of getting caught in the lines and the canopy catching wind and causing you problems. Think of it as roll, just backwards and twisting. Tomorrow will be PLF's all day. They beat you up more than anything, falling over again and again. Recon marines are real cool guys, ,and not all they are cracked up to be. They are mostly just highly trained slightly sadistic people. They are not all huge guys, or at least not as popular lore would have you believe.

Count is 260.

First Exit

The 32 ft tower was today. That's the height of the platform we jump from. We hook a strap to the parachute harness and a zip line cable overhead. The whole point is to demonstrate proper exit of a plane and body position. It requires quite a bit of coordination and the ability to control your thoughts. I was on a detail helping with the whole thing most of the day so I only got a few a half hour from leaving. I will get to go again on this tower on Friday. Tomorrow we start the PLF, ie falling so as to not hurt yourself.

Count is 210.

110 and counting.

That is 110 chin ups since I've been here. I passed the pt test just fine. I had the fastest run time in my platoon (2mi in 12.15). Someone from fourth platoon beat me by thirty seconds or so. We are done with the first day of training and will start with the 32ft towers tomorrow morning. It doesn't look that bad, from the ground.

10 and 10

In the foreground is some pull up bars. On these and others like it we do ten chin ups and then ten push ups each time before we go into the dfac(dining facility) for chow and each time we come into and leave the company area where we form up for formations.

To the left and right are barracks similar to the one we live in. These are the same buildings that soldiers lived in when going to airborne school in the 50s. Although they are real old the important things(washers, dryers, showers, sinks, latrines, etc) are in good working order. This is a major improvement to the barracks at Ft Gordon. Most of them, although slightly newer and better looking on the outside, have about half of the important things broken inside. They seamed much more concerned about the appearance than the actual function there. I have to say though, one thing that worked there that doesn't even exist here is central air. Even though it only worked half the time at least they had it. It is so hot and humid even inside here. I am sweating just sitting here typing this.

In the center is the smallest dfac I have seen, even smaller than the one at basic, and the only dfac at airborne school. Here they herd us through much like basic but with much better food. I don't mind it all that much, real organized but small.

In the background is one of the three 250ft towers. Starting either the end of this week or the start of next we will be practicing on these. From what I understand they hoist you up by your parachute and drop you. Most say that it isn't nearly as bad as it seams. One of our instructors was telling us that the worst of the towers is the 32ft one. There is something about being off the ground but not way up there that is fearful.

Please pray that I pay attention to detail and that I don't get injured. If all things go well I will graduate three weeks from last Friday and be home sometime that weekend.

Berry Half Marathon

This is my second half marathon and it was a beautiful course. Tucked back in the woods of Georgia, Berry College is comprised of buildings from two centuries ago all large enough to be capitol buildings and some as elegant. Complete with huge manicured lawns and ponds the course was all on the campus.

When we arrived the weather was bitter. At seven when we were picking up our packets it was 27 degrees. In just a tshirt and shorts it was numbing.

After a few miles I warmed up once I started sweating. Out in the fields we saw large herds of deer. They must not be hunted on campus because they seamed tame watching us run by on the road. It was a hilly course that involved a couple of miles on a gravel road so my mile splits varied a bit.

Kyle and I ran the half marathon while our other friend Jewitt ran the 10K. About three miles in the 10K veered off to the left to run back to the start on a biking path. The half came back down that path, it just entered the path where it originated up the road a bit instead of through the trees. That section on that path was one of the worst since you could see for a good three miles ahead, didn't ever seam like it would end. I kept my pace up by just looking at the ground in front of me and watching my watch.

My times were as follows:

Overall time: 1.32.43 (7.05 pace)
Previous: 1.39.02 (7.35 pace)
Mile Splits:
1: 6.09
2: 6.44
3: 6.29
4: 6.53
5: 7.20
6: 7.26
7: 7.23
8: 6.57
9: 7.03
10: 7.17
11: 7.17
12: 7.35
13: 7.20
In the men's bracket I was 23rd out of 290 that finished, 5th in my age group.

Kyle(13.1mi) overall: 1hr 54min (8.46 pace)
Jewitt(10K) overall: 53min (8.33 pace)

A brief update...

Yes, I went to church on Sunday... this is a quick shot I took while we were singing. The message was out of Genesis two. Don't really remember much... life has been crazy. We got moved into another barracks and this is my new living space. We have much less free time and it is broken up all over the day. I only have a couple more weeks in class, one week of field training then I'm off to airborne and then home. I've been having trouble finding time to memorize. After I finished chapter two of James I've sort of fallen away. Maybe after this weekend and the half marathon out of the way hopefully I can get back into the swing of things. Steve sent me a couple of good books and I'm about 2/3 of the way through the first one. I have been able to read a few pages here and there. I'll post any new developments if I have time.

Sometimes it drizzles

These last couple of days have been in a sort of cold humid cloudy drizzly mood. But amidst the weather and the stupidity that has befallen us God is good. After being put on a different shift it turns out that we weren't just shifted shifts with our friends. Instead they moved the formerly swings to second shift(1230 to 1830) along with ours and one other class from mids. All our friends on mids got moved to third shift. And to make matters worse second shift is being moved to the old barracks because second shift now the "day" shift. And all the guys who were on days are now "first" shift and they are being moved to our awesome two man rooms in the new barracks. The best we can do is maybe a four man. Because we are in the "wrong" barracks we have formations at some of the worst times so they can keep tabs on us. Today was the first day I got to go the gym all day this week and it doesn't look like I will be able to tomorrow. We have a half marathon coming up a week from this Saturday, and we have been only able to run on the weekends. We might be making up for it a bit this weekend. We have been invited to run 20 miles and even though my room mate thinks it sounds crazy... I'm kind of excited about the opportunity. I received a box from Steve that contained a couple of books and some candy. One of the books "The Fred Factor", a short book about going to extra mile and doing your work extraordinarily. I've been reading it in the morning instead of eating breakfast because I'm still just used to two meals a day. Another part of that might just be the lack of gym time has caused my apatite to subside. Last week before all this stupidity started when I had time I finished James two and started chapter three. Because everything isn't figured out on this new shift we find ourselves in formation waiting on leadership for long periods of time. I've used this time to review it. Yesterday we took the second to last test in this course and are on the home stretch. Regardless of how stupid it gets, I am done in just a few more weeks. Even when it seams to gnawing cold won't leave, God is there.

No Food in the Barracks

We are not allowed to bring in or store any food in the barracks. At class we get a "lunch break" but because there isn't anything open when we go to school (midnight), you are limited to the food in the vending machines. Ever since my roommate got his car we have been storing snacks in the trunk and parking it right across the street from where we leave for school each night. Yes, the Arizona green tea is mine. Everything else is his and one of his other friends.

Right Turning Light

Kyle brought his car up from Texas after the Christmas break, and now that he has all the official paperwork we use it to get around all the time. This is a picture of him on his 24th birthday just before we went into the gym.
How odd is this, a right had turning light? In a right hand turn only lane they have a green light for turning right. Somethings on post just don't make sense at all.

Sunday

Before the main service at First Presbyterian of Augusta I attend a Bible study in a separate building across the street. Today we arrived slightly early and I was the only one in the room for a few minutes and I took this picture. The message this week was on sound doctrine out of First Timothy 1. The first point was the root of doctrine, or "What principles lie behind your decisions?" Secondly the fruit of doctrine, or "How is your relationship with others characterized?" And lastly the pursuit of doctrine, "The resolve to follow God at any cost." After the study I cross the street and go upstairs for the service. We always sit in the balcony. Today the church was packed and even though it was cold outside it was real hot inside. I had trouble staying awake.






The other thing we do on Sunday is haircuts. Everyone must have a fresh haircut, in regulation, by the first formation of the week. Here one of the "barracks butchers" is giving a haircut.

Results

A few days ago some senior top leadership had a big talk with the whole platoon and let anyone voice any problems. The guys with the most complaints shouldn't have been talking at all. The results of this is problems snowball. When someone on top is mad he yells at his subordinates and the problems just get bigger as they come down hill. At the bottom they hit the lowest guy the hardest. In this case we are the lowest guys. Some straight up stupidity resulted. People complained about being punished in ways only those farther up the food chain are able to be punished. The result was a "surprise" pt test today and tomorrow. The reason it was surprise and no one was told was so that people wouldn't go get a profile so they could skip it. If you fail a pt test you get a negative counseling and you get punished either way. Quite a few failed. The other thing that resulted was we now have a roster that we have to sign out and back in whenever we go anywhere, even when we are released. Even with this new system we still had a failure to report at a normally scheduled formation. This is the stupidity that results when people complain to their bosses boss.

Posible Opertunity

Since I have returned I've had quite a bit more trouble memorizing then when I was at home. The main reason is that I am really never alone and I couldn't bring myself to work on memorizing in front of others. At the schoolhouse there is allot of down time where the class sits around with no instructor and talks. I don't involve myself in these conversations because they are mostly about real childish or perverted topics. I've tried to lead conversations about interesting topics like politics but its futile. Yesterday I was encouraged to try working on memorizing. There where a few awkward silences where they were pausing to see what I was saying to myself then it would start up again. I was able to redeem some of that time reviewing chapters I have memorized and learning a new verse. Later that morning while on detail with one of my classmates I was asked about it. This gave me the opportunity to recite some of what I had been working on to him. Please remember to pray for the men and women in the service that do not know God.

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

has caused me to re-evaluate my purpose and direction in life. I have always had the idea that someday I would get a degree, a job or business, marry, and live a similar life to that of my parents. The problems that my actions were a result of my immediate focus on short term: What can I do to look good? What will be fun/provide adventure? What am I being asked/required to do? This book helped me focus my daily actions on long term results. I have always struggled with discipline and a general lack of direction. As it says in Proverbs 16:3, "Commit your works to the LORD And your plans will be established" The idea there is in order to receive that direction in life, to have that vision, to have plans established by the Lord I needed to commit individual works to Him. In my war against my undisciplined aimless actions I have some new weapons: "How will this affect my leadership ability / marriage / family / children / grandchildren?"

There are many more lessons in this book that have to do with a good leader, this is just the one that has made the greatest impression on me. I have been struggling with where am I going and how am I going to get there.

This is defiantly a five out of five. For maximum use I recommend going through it with a friend you can talk through the issues it presents.

In the Company of Heroes

The true story of CW4 Durant, a black hawk pilot who was shot down and captured, this book was real encouraging. Flying in the most elite unit of pilots in the world with some of the most elite "customers" on board Mr Durant was on top of the world. He had thousands of hours behind the instruments and had the feeling that he was untouchable. "Little bullet, big sky" is the term he used to describe his attitude going in. Then he was almost ended. The tail of his helo was hit by an RPG and he fell out of the sky. The ground impact broke his back and right femur. Summing up the energy to live five minutes at a time he survived unimaginable pain for days.

A true statement is that Mr Durrant loved to fly helicopters. He clearly shared that in this book when recounting how he came to fly for the 160th. The whole truth about the 160th is rather morbid and frighting. He not only tells of the drive and rewards but also the high price tag that comes along. Because of his love for flying his home life suffered.

Over all I give this book a 4 out of 5. I couldn't put this book down for several days and read it on all of my free time till I finished it. "There are no atheists in foxholes" is a true statement and is demonstrated here. I would have given it five out of five but it has some "army" language in a couple of places. Overall it is a real encouragement to have good resolve in the face of any trial.

Unfortunate Pain

Shortly after we returned we were doing some barracks maintenance and I was moving a ceiling tile above my bed. Standing on the windows seal I slipped and fell and my right knee hit the lock on the desk. I've been riding exercise bikes, playing racquetball, and running hoping it will loosen it up but it just seams to be hurting more. I've got a few guys together for a run tonight, we're going eight and a half miles. I'm praying it's not injured just bruised. I don't want a knee injury, we're thinking of running another half marathon in a month or so.

Cheater, Cheater...

I've been accused of being a cheater at everything I do. When playing risk online I find friends to play with so we can better our chances of winning, I demonstrated how to break WEP wireless encryption to someone here, and in other ways I've gotten into or out of different things in clever or less than straightforward ways. I've developed a reputation that I got called out for last night. I don't how bad of an accusation this is. Please pray that I'm honest in everything I do.

Steve and I are working to memorize a verse each day. It has been twenty three days since we started. I had already memorized the first eight verses of James one at the beginning. Now I have the first chapter down and the first two verses of the second. I am amazed at how quick I am memorizing even just doing one a day. So far I am two days behind. I should have done the fourth verse today. Pray that I catch up and we stay faithful.

Praise God

Thank you for those who prayed that I would stay on mids or swing shift. Even though the sleep schedule isn't ideal, the day schedule around here is even worse. For the instruction we receive the six hours we have each day at the school house is plenty. I think we have allot of down time on our time at the school house, the days have two hours more each day. That is two hours less for sleeping, reading, working out, etc. Our pt is later in the day from days which makes so it isn't so cold. They form up at around 0400. We form up for PT at 0745 and don't march out till usually 0830. But more than anything we get to keep our room. If I had gone to days I would have been put in a 12 man room with inacts and other days which are held to a lot lower standard. If we were moved to swings I would have had to move floors and loose my two man room. Staying on mids is exactly what I wanted.

Another subject for praise is they fixed the heating on our side of the building. Shortly before we left for exodus they said it was fixed but we never spent the night so we didn't know. When we got back it obviously wasn't fixed. Yesterday when we got back to our room it was slightly warmer. I still sleep with a skullcap on my head and fully dressed but now it's warm enough I don't wake up freezing. I am real thankful for both of these things.

Once again, thank you for praying.