9/1/07

CS gas... the money I stepped in the chamber my neck started to burn. Then they made us take off our gas mask and take a few deep breathes and clear and reseal the mask. Eyes burning a little and difficulty breathing, but not too bad. Then they made us do it again. Again, not too bad. Then they made us take off the mask completely and just stand there and recite the soldiers creed. Exposure to CS is supposed to be limited to 10 seconds...whoops. I survived and would it again if I could reduce basic by a day or so.

8/31/7

Not much today. We had a brief combative class and another on the dangers of soldiers having blogs. Given that I know absolutely nothing important I do not think I'm any danger of revealing anything.

We also had a class on how to use our gas masks. So,you know what that means. Gas Chamber tomorrow.

8/30/07

(please excuse the error in dates... I am a bit behind in my typing)

Today we had our road block class. A fairly slow day except for the fact that I had to do 2 hours of PT running which included running back and forth a big sand pit in the morning and seven laps around the battalion followed by 45 push ups and 100 sit ups.

I had battalion desk duty as well. In the office there was a TV showing a sports center update. Apparently the sox have just been swept by the Yankees and are not 5 back in the east. At least that's what I thought I heard. It may be better if I didn't' know. It looks like the Pats are beating the Giants and apparently Vinny Testeverck is still playing. So, all is not terrible, although it is preseason still, I think.

09/03/07

We got haircuts again. So, I'm pretty much bald again. Also, I kinda passed the first locker inspection. To quote DS Williams"214 has potential" and "He's smarter than he thinks he is". The drill sergeant then exposed an MRE contraband ___ and about a third of the platoon is on cleaning detail. I'm sure I'll to receive punishment too, because after all we are a team. Also, my push ups have gone up 8 in a minute this last week. but I've a pound or two.

* please excuse typos and odd words. I am having trouble reading some handwriting. Lisa

8/29/07

I got filthy today. You know when you see pictures of soldiers crawling underneath barbed wire covered in mud. That was me today. And let me tell you something, Georgia mud bears a strong resemblance smell wise to Massachusetts sewerage. Afterwards, they hosed us down, was exactly what I needed. Then they gave us MRES. Now... let me tell you something about MRE (meals ready to eat supposedly provide enough nutrition to last a whole day. Unfortunately we're not allowed to eat anything snack like so I have to throw away half the bag, but at least the MRE's have some variety to them. The chew hall on the other hand is the same thing every day. Take for example my daily breakfast: cottage cheese, raisins, a bagel, two hard-boiled eggs with water, powerade and orange juice. Everyday

letter from Michael 8/28/07

Hey Everybody,

I've been in Georgia for 13 days. And the excitement is just beginning. It's hot, humid, sunny and I'm hoping for an early fall.
I got to Milford, MA at about 0400 Tuesday morning. It was pretty much a whole lot of sitting around doing nothing. Which also describes the hotel that night and mess the next day. One the upside, I got a first class ticket on the flight to Atlanta. So, I got an actual meal instead of crackers like those little people back in coach. After a while at the airport, we got on a bus and they warned us to sleep as much as we could. Of course I couldn't' sleep at all. Then the bus pulled in to Fort Penning and so began reception.

Reception, simply put, was a week of sitting around, painful injections, bad haircuts, a whole lot of standing around in parade rest and very little sleep. For example, I went to sleep Tuesday (8/14) night at about 10pm and woke about 3am. I did not go to bed until about 2100 Thursday. So by my calculations, that's 42 hours straight without sleep and only 5 hours in 64 hours.

Then I shipped to basic on Thursday the 23rd. In the next 3 days we had to have been smoked about 25 times (note from Lisa, what does this mean?). It calmed down(smoking wise) int he last few days and the drill Sargent was technically nicer. Also, we've started to do more fun things.

Yesterday, we did the confidence course (your given three pieces of wood and must safely cross a sand pit without touching the ground. Unfortunately, since I'm alphabetically at the end of my squad, I spent 40 minutes in the prone position aiming at imaginary insurgents while the first half of my squad failed the mission. So basically I didn't' get to play.

Today we went to Eagle Tower for repelling, but first I did some rope bridges. I made it down the one rope bridge (commando crawl) without falling which is an accomplishment. For repelling, I was near the end of the line, so my drill Sargent screamed that my rope was coming loose, so i'd hurry down. So instead of getting to bound down I ran backwards/fell 65 feet.

All in all, it's hot. I'm still not acclimated and my mile is about a minute slower than usual.The foods boring and the outside world is just a figment of my imagination.

so, write, send pictures (no food)!!!

(e-mail one of us for his address)