Letter #9

Oct. 17; 8:50 pm
I just got your card. Thank you. You always know how to cheer me up. I love your cheesiness. We have another ruck march in the morning. (I HATE ruck marches.) But, meh. I'll just do it and it'll be done.
The funny thing is I just sent a letter off to you this morning. Anyway, BIG day tomorrow. Need sleep.
Oct. 20; 10:16 am
Ok, so... big couple of days. We've been doing a lot more BTT (Buddy-Team Tactics) such as room clearing, advances, grenade-minor (grenade-major is later). Feels like you've been with me a lot lately. Basic'll be over soon. Then we've got AIT to fight through. But it won't be nearly as difficult, I don't think. I'll have a lot more communication privileges, and I'll get to come home for Christmas. (I don't even care if I get any presents, as long as I can be with you.)
Oct. 21; 4:50 am
This last week has been hectic, if you couldn't tell. We're getting close to blue phase, so things are getting slightly more difficult. In a time-consuming way. We have FTX coming up. That's 6 days, 5 nights of camping out, while battling the other platoons. Rumor has it we get airsoft guns. After it's over, we go to one last range, then we do an 8-10 mile ruck march. I'm thrilled. I've heard a lot of rumors, but I have no real info.
Oct. 22; 2:51 pm
We just finished throwing grenades. As you can imagine, the Drill Sgts. sucked any confidence out of me. Procedure: release secondary safety. Pull pin. Not-throwing hand up as "sight post." Throw, and immediately kneel. Apparently I didn't kneel quite fast enough on the first time practice. (Fuses only. Bang.) Next thing I knew, the Grenadier-cadre guy's got me on the ground yelling at me, "What were you looking for?!?" Hmph. Second practice round. This guy's not such a jerk. I kneel, and he's just like, "You need to kneel a hell of a lot faster." Both times my throw was horrible. Because I was nervous. Then we went to the live range. It was here that I believe God answered one of your prayers. I felt you so strongly suddenly. I'm waiting in a huge 3-file line, packed so tight I can't move my arms and you came. I felt nervous, still. But I knew you were with me in some way. When my turn came up, I went out to the middle bunker, where this heavily-tattooed soldier, (who I knew to be a drill sgt.) was waiting. I stepped into the bunker and heard, "Where you from?"
"What? Oh, Utah, Sar, uh, Drill Sar..." (He wasn't in uniform.)
"Ain't no rank here. Name's Joe."
"Johnny."
"Mormon?"
"Yeah. Afraid so."
"Awesome. I dated a Mormon girl once. Prettiest girl ever."
"Yeah?"
"So are you nervous?"
"Yeah. The other srgts. get to ya, you know?"
"Sure do. No worries, though. You're only throwing a grenade, after all. What part makes you nervous?"
"I guess I don't kneel fast enough?"
"Then I'll remind you as you throw."
"That'd be good."
"That's why I'm here, Johnny. Now, you ready?"
"Yeah, bring it on!"
Oh, it was an awesome throw. It landed right at the target's feet, I knelt fast enough, and when I stood up, he said, "Textbook throw, target 'destroyed,' can't get any better than that. Good work, Johnny. Drive on!"
I fully believe he helped me because of you. I feel you all the time, now. Hang in there. We'll be together soon. For sure for Christmas. I'll try to get you something in time. I should have off-post weekend passes by that time, so it doesn't have to be something from the PX. Let me know if you're doing okay. I just like to know.
9:54 pm
One of my friends has been at sick call all day today. Turns out he's developed stress fractures in his hips and legs, and his spine has compressed. He's afraid he'll be discharged. The doctor put him on so many profiles that he can't march, stand for too long, or even hold his M-16. I've taken it for him a few times already. The drill sergeant is going to try to get him a temporary con leave so he can come back and finish his 2-3 weeks with another cycle. He hates the idea. He hates to quit. But I told him it's like he's a pilot who discovered a problem with the plane. Ya gotta turn back and land, but it's not the pilot's fault. Repair the plane and accept the time delay. He's a good kid.
Anyway, I should wrap this up. We will be doing Eagle Tower. Tomorrow, in fact. I'll get this sent off first thing in the morning.
Spyder
P.S.
I guess don't color envelope corners yellow anymore. My drill sergeant hates that.

Seems like our boy is doing better. I'm glad he got to do the Eagle Tower rapelling. He's been looking forward to that for a long time. Again, I'll let you all know his new address as soon as I get it. Thanks for supporting him. :)