August 18th 2010

This day Stan was able to call and talk to me for about 8 min. he wrote this later that night. I won't share everything, but here's a bit of what he said to me;)

It was so nice to hear your voice. I love to hear your voice. Of course guys like me are always missing their sweetheart. You keep me pressing forward. It's only been one month. The longest we've ever had apart since we met.

We all took a survey tonight, it had questions on it like; are you feeling sad, depressed or stressed out. A) Not at all B) Sometimes C) Always. There are about 30 questions like that. A lot of soldiers are young and this is the first time they've ever been away from home. It reminds me a little bit like when I went on my mission. Since then I've learned to relax, do what I need to do and let the time and training take care of itself. Don't worry about me, you know i never get depressed. I have to much to accomplish to get depressed. Even as hard as it has been it's really not that bad. I think I had a harder time the first 4 months of my mission. This is like a walk in the park compared to that. Just a little more physical. The rope climb wasn't hard. My arms are in pretty good shape and I still have calluses on my hand from work. They are going away though. To answer your question, We can perform 1st aid, just not CPR. In a fight all we can do is a C.A.T. (tourniquet) When we're not under fire we can do other things.

I scored a 270 out of 300 on my 1st PT test. My goal is to score a 300 + . It's been difficult because I work out at night in my personal time and then in the morning they push us pretty hard. It makes my morning workout lots harder because I'm so tired when I wake up. I'm a little upset about tomorrow because I might not be able to go on the run because of CQ duty. It's like fire guard, but it's downstairs in front of the whole battalion. My barracks are on the top floor (3rd).
We had combatics with pugal sticks today (like huge cotton swabs). We also learned some moves with the bayonet on our weapon.
My feet are fine, I wore moleskin for the 1st two weeks while waiting for my boots to break in. Now I don't get blisters. I still put mole skin on when we go a long way. My platoon color is black. We are called the punishers. We don't have a mascot, but there is a picture kind of like a Jolly Rodger on the floor in the kill zone. It's a white Alien skull with green eyes and 2 M-16's crossed behind it. Pretty Scary looking.
I competed in the obstacle course. There was a group of 8. The one with 4 guys was the confidence course. I was picked to be on the team, but when we got there another kid went instead. At the first of the course there are 2 ropes you have to climb. One up and the other down. Then there are 6 walls one after the other 6' , 7', 8', 9' , 10' and 12'. Then each team has to help each other climb each wall. Only 3 guys could be on top of a wall at once. It was really sad because he could barely pull himself over the 1st wall. We took last. Our DS were not happy with the team our platoon picked.
Don't worry about me getting hurt and not graduating. I'm being very careful. Keep praying for me. Most smoking's are only about 10 to 15 min. Some have been 45 min. to 2 hrs. ! Those are not fun. I look at it like this though. I probably would not have pushed myself that hard and I am just getting stronger. A lot of guys don't even last 5 min. They just lay on the ground and whine. These are the kids I worry about passing their P.T. tests.
I've gotten used to not very much sleep. Yes, I did get a bunch of little irritations on my arms and neck from the gas. They lasted about 4 to 5 days. The worst was the head ache I had for 5 days afterwards. The heat is not to bad for me, but almost daily the ambulance picks someone up.
I get all kinds of questions like; Do you have more than one wife? Why don't you smoke or drink? ( Shani: Religion aside, duh!! lung cancer people) Why won't you sleep with other women? Why are you married? You wouldn't believe how many guys cheat on their women:(
No one in our unit has dropped out yet, but there are lots in others. A funny story: Some guys that quit came over to the lunch line and started to go in. The DS saw them and got mad. "Don't you ever go in front of a soldier in training",he said. Even when these guys quit they make them stay around for two or three months. They make them do all the crappy jobs. They always get everything last. They don't get paid either. The moral of this story...Don't be a quitter!