Test Time

Wednesday March 31st was the record Physical Fitness Test and presents cadets and leadership a chance to judge the level of fitness for individuals and the battalion. The APFT consists of 2 minutes of push-ups, sit-ups and a timed 2-mile run. Cadet Inman facilitated the test, and kept a close eye on the clock, and yes he kept this pose throughout the test.

Ballin'

We had our military ball March 26, and this amorphous blob of awesome was my attempt at getting everyone pictured. Thank you for bearing with me as I tried to pack everyone into a small corner of the room. Had any fire marshals been present, I'm pretty sure they would have had a seizure and/or stroke.

The guest speaker was Colonel Patterson who gave one of the most powerful speeches I've had the privilege to listen too. Thank you to all who were a part of this evening.

Stairway to Heaven

Well, not exactly; but the recent warm weather has all but put an end to the winter wonderland that was Baltimore for the past few weeks. That's the good news, the bad news is that the ice on the treacherous stairs at Johnny U Stadium is melted. With that hazard out of the way, they were immediately put to painful use. CDT Weir led the smoker of a PT, but it was no match for CDT Nick "stairmaster" Brinker, who blazes a trail with ease.

Complete Failure

Another Monday PT, another brutal muscle failure session. There were fewer in attendance because Loyola is on spring break, (slackers!) but those who were present got their money's worth. CDT Rivas and CDT Monti conjured a painful hour of upper body, lower body, and core failure. It was a tough, but fun start to the week.

Balls to the Wall

Friday's PT bore a painful resemblance to Monday's. Lots of pain and sprinting. There were 3 stations consisting of sprinting with pushups, situps, and the like, another station of pure sprinting, and the third station was a grueling medicine ball workout.

It was a great way to end the week, and send off our Loyola cadets on spring break. Towson students will continue as normal, but we wish the Loyolaians a safe and fun SB.

Rucking in a Winterwonderland

Wednesday's PT was a very early and very chilly ruckmarch through the remnants of Snowpocalypse. The nearly 5 mile route around Loyola University had a few challenging hills that is excellent preparation for LDAC. Everyone who started the route completed it within the time limit, even the BN mascot.

FannyTastic PT

Monday's PT was brutal mixture of strange movements. Crabwalks, bearcrawls, and other various non-typical means of human movement caused many a scrum (bottom left) over water during the few breaks.

Fortunately the painful movements took only half the time; the other half of PT was spent doing sprints like normal homosapiens. Overall it was a very challenging PT that I have tried to purge from memory.

The Strongest Chemical Officer in Maryland

And possibly the country, ladies and gentleman, CDT Steve James. Pictured at the top, this remarkable physical specimen is soon to be a proud member of the Chemical Corps, and will undoubtedly be the most tenacious of his kind. Just his physical presence intimidated my camera, which was unable to focus out of fear it might be caught staring at this half human, half cyborg (the last camera caught doing so started out digital, but ended up a Polaroid). Word on the street is that CDT James can literally bench press the state of Nebraska. He showed off this morning by topping off the ruck packing list with solid concrete blocks.

The rest of us mere mortals participated in ruck PT, only with a more realistic load. The weather has continued to confine us to the gym, so instead of a ruck march we had sprints and ruck strength training. Pushups, squats, lunges and the like made much more difficult by the extra weight.

Olympic Spirit

With the XXI Winter Olympics underway in Vancouver, we had our own version at PT on Wednesday. We certainly have the snow to do our own Winter Olympics, we just lack the equipment. So without skis or skates, we had to settle for exercises ranging from the flutterkicks to group pushups.

The BN was separated by by class, and the larger class sizes were split in two. CDT Neely and CDT Zimmerman administered the PT, and served as the "judges". The intensity was worthy of the Olympics, the only thing missing was a podium and medal ceremony.

Snow Day(s)

A record snowstorm hit the Mid-Atlantic States last week; the storm closed both Loyola and Towson Universities for the entire week. The storm led also led to the postponement of our semester FTX.

After this unexpected break, we started back up with PT at 0630 on Monday. The muscle failure PT was led by CDT O'Sullivan, and facilitated by CDT Brinker. Three stations consisting of push-ups, sit-ups, and sprinting, made for a nice morning workout.

Whoops....

If you're as angry as Cadet Zimmerman, and wondering why the site hasn't been updated in a while I offer these two petty excuses:

1 . Snowpocalypse 1 My Internet 0. The epic snowstorm crushed my poor internet. I tried updating with my cell phone, but the posts looked like second grade macaroni art; so I opted to just wait.

2. I may or may not have been operating outside the legalities of the Department of the Army by operating this site. I can neither confirm nor deny these allegations; however, thanks to Lt. Stewart, I now have a neat certification that should keep things running smoothly.

So things are back to normal, and I my certification should keep the site from being shut down. My apologies for the downtime, but now back to business...

Party Like A Ruck Star

It was a great first week back with the Greyhound BN; the final PT of our first week was a 4 mile ruck march. Love it or hate it, rucking is a part of life in the Army.

For all the technology we have at our disposal, sometimes the easiest and most effective way to get from point A to point B is to walk; so preparing our bodies now to haul a lot of weight a long distance is a recipe for success.

It was a very brisk 17 degrees as we stepped off, so moving fast was not only a better workout, but a means to keep warm.

**Top Left - From left to right - CDTs O'Sullivan, Williams, DeBernardo, and Woodworth finishing strong.

**Bottom Right - Because of his extraordinary good looks and ability to stop traffic with a wink and a smile, CDT Tom Fox was chosen to put his life on the line controlling traffic on a busy Charles Street so we could all safely cross.

Improv Group

Thursday's lab consisted of learning how to react to an improvised explosive device (IED). The lab was taught by CDTs Rajchel, Sacco, and Wright.

IEDs are a constant threat in both Iraq and Afghanistan and learning how to properly react is paramount for any Army leader.

The class consisted of three parts, two classes and a practical exercise. CDT Rajchel led the BN through a slideshow displaying the different types of IEDs, CDT Wright taught an overview of how to react if your element spots an IED, and CDT Sacco led everyone through a practical exercise combining everything learned in the previous two exercises.

It was a very relevant and educational lab that will certainly pay dividends for all.

Bold in the Cold

The cold weather and early morning start were no match for a determined Greyhound BN. Even a 0600 report time and 29 degree weather couldn't keep spirits down as we conducted our first APFT of the semester.

Though only a diagnostic, everyone gave it their all in spite of the frigid conditions.

I will be sure to post the top scores when they become available. Great work all around today!

**UPDATE** Comments can now be made by anyone without the need to sign in. I hope this makes things easier.

(Pictured From Left to right - CDT Button, CDT Button's hand over an unidentified face, CDT Sacco, CDT Gabbard)

Comments?!?

I heard there was a problem with the ability to post comments. I'm believe it's fixed so feel free to insert your funny, snide, insightful, or random commentary to the blog; however, please email me if you are still having problems.

*Top - Actual picture of Steve James leading a patrolling lane at LDAC.

Back to Work

After a long and well deserved break, the Greyhound BN is back in action. A freak typhoon apocalypse type storm kept our PT session indoors, but everyone returned bright and early at 0630 motivated and ready to work.

The OIC was CDT Nick Brinker, and the NCOIC, CDT Patrick Cook, facilitated the event. It was a light mix of push-up and sit-up improvement with the main focus of stretching our muscles in preparation for Wednesday's APFT.

*Top Right - CDT MacIntire knocks out some pushups

*Bottom Left - CDT Neely enjoys some good ol' flutterkicks

We Have Lift Off

Welcome to the Greyhound Battalion Blog. The intention of this site is to shed some light into what we as cadets do on a daily basis. We have all tried to explain what we do to family and friends, but it's difficult to put it into words. My hopes are that this site will allow anyone interested to actively follow our training as we all prepare to become officers in the United States Army.

I will make my best effort to post something from every event; PTs, Labs, FTXs, etc, but at the minimum there will be atleast three new posts per week.

I hope this will serve as a resource for family and friends to further appreciate what we as cadets do; additionally, I believe it can serve as a recruiting tool for anyone interested in the program. What better way to get an idea of what goes on, that to have a daily log of past and future events. So please pass this site around to family members, friends, and anyone potentially interested in the program.

I'm looking forward to another great semester in the Greyhound Battalion, and am ready to get things started tomorrow.

Please feel free to comment or email me about any improvements or ideas for this site.

Best Regards,

CDT Allen Fountain

Afountain5@gmail.com

RFOUNT1@students.towson.edu