Why would anyone willingly wake up at 0530 on a Saturday? There are thoughts that waking up earlier than necessary is a good way to instill or build discipline in yourself. Here's the reasoning: when the alarm goes off at 0530 you have the option to stay in your bed until whenever is more comfortable to get up or you could choose to get out of the bed. There are only two options essentially: initial success or total failure. ( Initial Success or Total Failure happens to be the Explosive Ordinance Disposal motto, and for quite obvious reasons.) Granted, this technique of building self discipline is highly supported by military veterans may be easier after being conditioned to this sort of thing for years to decades. I certainly have little issue waking up well before the sun. In fact, while I was stationed at Fort Bragg for nearly 3 years it was necessary for me to leave my house by 0545 at the latest. Meaning that I had to get dressed, prepare for the day and leave my house before then, not just wake up at 0545.
I decided that my life has been a little too cushy as of late and I've done too much complaining the last few weeks. I forgot what it was like to be uncomfortable. Basic training and AIT were uncomfortable and my time spent at ALC here in Fort Sam has reminded me of that season of life for me. Even on weekends in AIT, we still had 0630 morning formation and a 2000 hours formation in the evening. We could go back to sleep after the 0630 accountability formation but when you wake up, get dressed, shave and walk down 3-4 flights of stairs and stand around for 10 minutes in the elements your pretty damn awake at that point. Imagine 6 months of never sleeping in; every day you are awake and dressed before the sun comes up. It is this brush with that past that I decided to wake up at 0530 on a Saturday.
I woke up before my alarm went off at 0530. I do every morning. I am usually awake by 0400-0500 and can sometimes to manage to fall asleep but most of the time I lay there, half asleep and tormented by the fact that the other half is coherent. But laying there none the less out of principle that my alarm has not gone off. I normally never sleep more than 7 hours total much less consecutively and if I do I feel groggy and mushy. I thought about snoozing my 0530 alarm for just 5 more minutes but then my iPhone alarm went off and I forgot that I had, in an attempt to force my hand, set it on my desk across the room before bed so I actually had to get up. I turned my alarms off and set on the bed for a few minutes to drink some water and think about what I was going to do now that I was awake. I decided that I was going to do a nice morning water row workout while I listened to the Joe Rogan podcast. You may or may not have your opinion on someone as polarizing as Joe Rogan but I like his format and you cannot deny that the man has a way to question and answer with people that gets them to open up and you can feel like you get to know the guest. I don't think that Joe Rogan is smart or extremely intelligent but he is a damn good interviewer and has a grounded sense of humor. I digress... I did 500m of row easy followed by 500m of row at a sprint pace for 2,000m and then just finished at a moderate pace until I hit the 15 minute mark. A benchmark for time has come to be one of my favorite workouts to see how far I can go in a set time versus what time it takes to finish a set distance.
I then got some pants on and a jacket, armed my feet with sneakers and earbuds so I could listen to my podcast while I went for a walk. The walk was probably around 2 miles. There is a loop I like to walk from my hotel and back that's relaxing enough. The sun still isn't up and I'm the first one to be walking around a popular quarter mile track but by the time I get halfway around the track I can see AIT students in army APFU walking to get a weekend workout in on the track and adjacent pull-up bars. I still have some satisfaction knowing that I had finished my workout already and was walking for leisure and sanity by this point. I remember when I was in elementary school and I had a room to myself I would purposely set my alarm clock for before the sun would come up so I could play video games by myself or play in general by myself. Even as a kid I had some sort of pride knowing that I had awoken before the sun and well before everyone else in the house.
As I walked back, which was almost a straight line back the way I came, the wind cut through my thin jacket and I wondered if should have walked out so far. I made it back to my car in the parking lot and hopped in to escape the battering breeze. I called my wife and kids for a bit to see how their morning was going and I went to the chow hall to eat. Walking up to the chow hall I saw a line of at least 60 AIT students already waiting. I got there just in time because a minute or two after standing in that line an entire company of students marched up to stand behind me. I was the only individual wearing civilian clothes that didn't have a reflective belt on. The belt signifies your training status and is required at all times to be worn around the shoulders or the waist. I could feel the drill sergeants eyeballing me, deciding on whether or not to ask who I was and if I had lost my belt. The funny truth is that I am probably the same rank as most of them so it would be an awkward conversation.
I got my to-go tray after waiting for 15 minutes and headed to try and find the peacocks of Fort Sam Houston. Located in what is called the "Quadrangle" the peacocks live a protected life behind 30 foot stone and mortar walls. The quadrangle is square and made up of about 30 foot high by 20 foot wide walls that are made up of off white limestone pieces that are mortared together in what looks like the contemporary style of the Alamo. Sadly each entrance was locked and gated. I could see the peacocks from afar. They stood in the middle of the quad, on a circular patch of grass that encompasses the centered clocktower. I even could hear them make their distinct calls as I walked around the building to try and get a good vantage point to show my boys on facetime. The walls/building of the quadrangle serve as the command building for US Army North which is apparently ran by a CSM and a 3-Star general. After learning this I decided to not tramp around the building much longer. I walked around a Patton tank and a Huey helicopter that were on display so the boys had something to look at on the other side. My oldest boy, Oren, has taken a liking to a toy Apache helicopter and it was exciting for him to see one so close to his dad on the phone.
I slowly drove back to my hotel parking lot and parked in my usual spot, which is farther away from the building than any other car. An older man parked even farther away though while I was eating my breakfast in my car. I will have to remedy this situation soon; I will not be out parked. By the time I casually climb 5 stories worth of stairs to my room it's not even 0930. I feel energized, productive and a little excited knowing that the rest of the day is mine for the taking. I feel, of course, guilty knowing my wife is stuck at home by herself with the boys. There is nothing I can do though, but I still feel bad knowing that my day won't include them physically with me. Another struggle of the military life. For the moment, I just have to decide what to do next.