Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Fireguard

This may seem like common sense to some, but to those of you going to LTC, odds are you don't have any military experience whatsoever.

In the Army, someone has to be awake at all times in the barracks no matter what. In case someone falls off a bunk or a fire miraculously springs up from somewhere, it's the Fireguard's duty to wake everyone up and let the Drill Sergeant on CQ (charge of quarters) duty know. You also have to clean the barracks everyday, and the best time to do this is at night while you're on Fireguard. The best method to do this is create a rotation cycle.

Example: My platoon bay at LTC started First night, first shift fireguard duty as the two people in the bunk on the right side of the room. Hour two were the people next to them down the line, and so on and so forth. This way, you're not stumbling through the dark wondering where the next fireguard is sleeping and waking up the wrong people. Also, this way no one complains about having to do the duty, since it's a cycle and everyone gets their lumps.

Now for cleaning, we also made a rotation. Hour one had to sweep the floor, hour two had to mop the floor, hour three had to sweep the halls, hour four had to mop them, hour five had to clean the bathroom, hour six had to mop it. Then everyone woke up.

That's just one man's way of doing it. It was pretty damn efficient though and I recommend it, only because it cuts down on the bitching factor.

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