Letter #8

Oct. 14; 9:40 am
We're at the EST 2000 again, doing CCO (close-combat optic) familiarization. Boring and inaccurate. One of the guys brought his Book of Mormon with him. He's almost to Mosiah. He reads pretty quick. I got to know another guy last night. Big time gamer/anime nut. HUGE Inuyasha fan. He and his fiancee cannot tolerate dubbed anime. He plays Guild Wars, too. (Hell of a lot more than me.) Anyway! We've got chow coming up soon. Probably MRE's again. I don't mind. I like MRE's. If I can get ahold of them, after I'm done and with my unit, they would be damn useful in your field. (Trust me, they can fill you up.) And they're pretty friggin' good, too.
We did the APFT yesterday. 54 pushups (-4), 56 situps (+2), and I ran my 2-mile in..... 13:13! That's a 100% in my run! Well, actually 13:18 is 100%. So, I exceeded the max standard. Woo! My PT score this time around was 246 (+10). I'll do even better next time. My goal is to hit 300 by the end of AIT. (Hopefully by the end of Basic!) I'm going to try my hardest.
4:04 pm
We're doing a Singars Radio class now. We did this in RSP. I already know how to set everything up. They didn't seem to appreciate that. *sigh* Well, chow is in about an hour and a half. (Hey, it's something to look forward to.) Chow, sleeping/dreaming of you, writing you letters (and getting letters!), those are the things I look forward to. Don't get me wrong, I love being a soldier. And I do it well, it's just that you are my true goal. I want to get through my training as well as I can, as fast as I can.
6:19
We've been without mail for 3 days now. Hopefully tonight. Chow sucked. I had a huge helping of this pork-mac concoction, I asked for rice and gravy. She didn't hear me say rice. So she ladled gravy right onto my tray. I actually dipped my bread in it. I ate my bread, cottage cheese, but the mac-stuff was too frickin' hot. I ran out of time before it cooled. (I'm hungry.) I wish I was home, eating gnocchi with you. I can always eat until I'm full with you.
It's 9:22 now, and I need sleep. More tomorrow, love. (I'm mushy!)
Oct. 15; 4:05 am
I hate fireguard. It wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't had a lousy night last night. Restless sleep, stupid dreams. I didn't dream of you, and that pisses me off. Instead, I got shot 4 times in battle and the Drill Sergeant got mad at me for not telling anyone. Then another dream where some of the guys and I are walking in a supermarket with a group of stupid people, and I bought beef jerky and an energy drink. Sarcastic wahoo. Stupid, pointless dreams. All I wanted was you. But, you are always with me, huh?
11:25 am
Hey. I'm back at the firing range again. This time, firing from around barricades in "full battle-rattle." Helmet, bulletproof vest, 100-oz. camelbak, 2 24-oz. canteens, ammo pouches. We shot the same pop-up sequence as we did when we qualified. I shot 23/40. I was in full BR! I would have been a first time go. I'm not annoyed, though. It shows I'm getting better.
12:54
Whee! We just had chow in the field, (NOT MRE's, actual food) and then this concessions truck pulls up. The Drill Sergeant came up to us all pissed off. Then he says, "If you qualified expert, you can get whatever you want off the truck. If your PT score was 250 or higher, you can get whatever you want." Bah! Mine was 247! Then he said, "If your run time was under 13:30, you can get a Gatorade and a powerbar." Damn, that powerbar was good!
5:35 pm
It's so weird here in Georgia. Weather, I mean. It's October. It's kinda cold in the morning, but it still gets damn hot during the day.
7:55 pm
Sorry, I had to run. We FINALLY got mail passed out to us tonight. I got your Oct. 7-9 letter!
My ear is doing a lot better. I still only have about 70% of what hearing I had, but it's getting there. (It looks normal now, at least.)
My dad wrote, too. Good stuff. He said he was proud of me. I like that. I've also gotten letters from my mom, your mom, and my Aunt Jolene. Well, it's lights out, now. So I should hit the sack. More tomorrow. 'Night.
Oct. 16; 1:20 pm
Hey. It's really a late start today, but we had a lot going from the start. That's a good thing, though. It's made the day go by fast. They can only pass out so much mail at a time, so maybe another letter tonight. We just had a class on urban combat. I'll have to employ some of this stuff during airsoft!
9:09 pm
Grrr. I need to vent for a sec: My platoon is really pissing me off lately. Because it consists of mainly 17-20-year-olds, they bitch and whine. They don't understand the "suck it up" concept. Even the Platoon Guide, I normally get along with fine, asked me to sweep the back stairs to the barracks when 3rd platoon (who were above us) was doing PT in the sand. So, I finish sweeping, and 3rd platoon comes in. I had done all that sweeping for nothing. I'm beginning to dislike inefficiency and inconsistency. It's like the drill sgts. don't know what's going on half the time. Remember the pugle sticks? That thing I was looking forward to, and was going to whoop ass in? We're not doing it! Eagle Tower? (the 60-foot rappel tower) who knows!
Oct. 17; 3:55 am
This is exactly the same fireguard shift as 2 days ago. And again, a sleepless night. I want to be with you so badly. Sorry about the venting earlier. I just needed to get it off my chest. I want one of your baked potatoes (with you, of course) and to watch Wallace and Gromit. It doesn't even matter which one. Or Chicken Little. Snuggle down in the blankie. My fireguard is almost over, so I'll finish this up and send it off. I love you so very much, Christine. Thank you for loving me.
Spyder

Well, our boy has been having a hard time, it seems. He's okay, though. He is unbelievably tough. MRE's are these dehydrated dinner things. Oh, and gnocchi are these little Italian potato dumplings I put in a chicken soup I make for him. It's his favorite thing. Our dreams and our memories will see us through. :) I got the letter a couple of days ago, but my tests took up all of my time. Sorry. Only a couple more rounds of tests this semester though. And then finals and then..... CHRISTMAS! And our soldier will be home for a little while. I'm so proud of my Spyder.