Some tidbits about basic here: It’s funny but you can sleep anywhere and in any conceivable position. You can just be going along getting a lesson and instruction and just slump over zonk out cold. You’re just that tired. I try to stay awake but sometimes I catch myself slipping too. You better not get caught though! Your butt will get smoked for sure. I’ve actually never gotten in trouble here and I hope to keep it that way. The dirt here is all sand, everywhere.
When you eat, you eat anything. You just need the calories. You’re ravishing and sometimes there’s not enough food so you have to eat butter, peanut butter, jelly, white bread, salad dressing just to get the calories. I’ll throw gobs of butter on white bread just to get the calories. You have to have them to keep training. I eat everything put in front of me except broccoli, peas and green beans. I just can’t bring myself to eat them. I guess I’d die if that’s all I had! Today another Platoon’s Drill Sergeant was watching me eat and said, “Who is that, is that Fisher?” “Yes Drill Sergeant,” I said. “did you eat like that before you got here?” “No Drill Sergeant.” Then he said, “Home boy knows how to get down. He eats like a marine.” it would disgust you to know just how much food I can consume in 6 minutes!
There are a lot of married guys with kids here in the same boat as me. They had jobs, the economy collapsed and they needed a way to take care of their families. A lot of us just needed work. 2 guys in my platoon have had babies while they have been here.
The last 2 days we’ve been doing war games with blanks. The training has been awesome, intense, and good. I’ve been running my machine gun with a full ammo box attached, awesome! I don’t know what it is about me, but when the goin gets tough that’s when I get goin. When things are easy I have a tough time being motivated, but the tougher they are is when I get intense. It’s just the way I’m wired. Today we hadn’t bathed for 3 days, sand in our butts and we were huffing, sweating, and breathing hard. Everyone was complaining they wanted to go back to the barracks. Not me. That’s when I got real motivated; Training got GOOD. Goodson and I were assaulting this building when an Artillery round came in. We had to get out of there and I took off like a bat out of hell. The guys in my platoon said I looked like Forrest Gump out there running!........
2 comments:
Thanks for sharing the letter. It's been fun to hear about his experiences. No broccoli, peas or green beans - some things never change. Jesse decided to write him after reading Richard's letters the other night. He asked if I thought Richard would like him to. I told him "Of course he would. You're the closest thing he has to a brother." He felt a little weird writing a letter to a guy but he wrote one last night.
Thank you so much for sharing Jill. Richard is amazing, strong and a great example.
Reading his letter brought tears to my eyes of the hard work and dedication all those with and with out families do for all of us. And how wonderful the families are that let them go!
Love you Jill, One more week!
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