Letters Home From Boot Camp: Yesterday we learned hand-to-hand combat

“12Sep99

I have some time and want to go into more detail on the pugil and the gas chamber we did yesterday. The pugil is a fighting simulation where two people put on protective gear and beat the crap each other with a large padded stick. I won.

The chamber was horrible. We put our masks on and walked in, then we had to pull them up and talk to the drill sergeant and put it back on, then we had to take it all the way off and breath. My skin burned and my chest tightened so much that I stopped breathing. I thought they’d never let us out. It’s the most unpleasant thing I’ve ever experienced.

Yesterday we learned hand-to-hand combat. At first I was paired up with one of the toughest males. I kept deflecting him and he kept asking me if I was ok. Kind of funny. Then we had an actual fist fight. I was with the same woman I pugiled with (who was mad for not winning pugil).

We got in the circle and she went for my face (which is against the rules) and before the sergeant had even blown the whistle. So she was told to step back and we started over. Drill Serpent Rogers blew the whistle and she came at me.

The first thing she tried to do was flip me over but I planted my feet and grabbed her around the waist and started squeezing her. She started pounding on my back around my kidneys but I didn’t feel a thing. I was looking around waiting for something. As far as I know she didn’t do damage.

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