Sorry, sorry, sorry!!

Ok. So I'm not so great at this blogging thing, but at least once a month you'll get an update. Blake left for Basic Combat Training (BCT) at the beginning of February and I just got my second letter from him. In the first letter, he said that Reception (check in for a week and a half) was like scout camp. BCT isn't like that. Here are some excerpts from his letters.

Letter #1
Feb 12 - I will have 3 new drill sergeants (DSG). The main one is a big black guy who doesn't say much unless you do something disrespectful to him or another DSG. The second DSG is a big white guy who seems pretty cool in the sense that he actually tries to teach you something before he orders you to do it and yells at you for not knowing what you're doing. The third DSG is a scrawny, tall, white guy who is just mad at anyone who is not a Non-Commissioned Officer.

Feb 15 - It is 0114 and I'm sitting at a desk in our bay. I'm on fire watch. There is someone awake in the bay every minute anyone is in the bay. During the night we are in shifts for two hours. There is a little list of stuff we are supposed to do while on shift, for example: Clean showers, mop bay floors, scrub toilets. The idea is that after all shifts the entire area will be clean. It's a really boring two hours but the time seems to pass quickly.

Letter #2
Feb ? - I'm on fire duty again. It's 0215 right now. Life here is good. I'm a squad leader in our platoon. When we first arrived we were herded into a random formation. The four soldiers on the end were designated squad leaders. My squad leader, 4th squad, made the mistake of walking in the kill zone on the dining hall. The kill zone just means walking too close to the DSG table and got fired right there. The DSG called out my name and I replaced him.

Feb 23 - I'm on fire duty again. I almost got fired yesterday. Some of our platoon members didn't pack everything they were supposed to. As a result the entire leadership was put on warning. We only got that one warning. The next mistake like that from any of my squad members means I'm fired. The drawback is that I have some guys whose hand I have to hold. We all expect to be fired in a couple of days. One of our DSG is determined to fire the entire leadership if 1 private makes a mistake. So if one person from another squad messes up we are all done. Life is still good though. I've had a cold since I've reached BCT. Too many germs in one place I guess. Every time I'm starting to get better we get in trouble for not doing something right and get smoked (made to do push ups or something). Usually we get smoked in the cold so I just get sick again. (Note from Sara: I'm sending him cough drops and Vit-C drops, don't worry.) I could go to sick hall and try to get some pills but that would mean missing training. And if I miss required training I have to make it up somehow or get restarted. Restarted just means once I'm done with BCT I would have to do it all over again to ensure I have all the training. I'll live.


No pictures from Blake but here are some recent ones of Jacob.