Letter 3, 4, 5, & 6

Received 2/23/07


11 Feb 07

Ixchelle,

First off -> I love you. 2nd -> Could you send me a bunch of pictures. I can put some up in my locker. 3rd -> We only got to choose one place in the US, which I choose CO. 3 outside of the US, I choose UK, Japan, & Germany.


13 Feb 07

Okay so I'm sorry I have not done so good in the letter business. Since I've been sick I've been trying to sleep it out, and since they don't give us a ton of time... aka I'm a slacker and I'm sorry. I love you tons & tons. Plus some. :P
So today we went to the tear gas chamber. SINGLE HANDEDLY THE WORST EXPERIENCE EVER!!! So we get trained how to use those gas masks that everybody uses in movies. Then we got in lines of 25 people, put them on, and went in. At first no problem, though it was kinda cloudy. Then slowly my neck and head that wasn't covered started to burn like crazy. We go up in private in turns a drill sergent. We would have to close our eyes and lift the chin part of our masks to just above the nose and say our full name, rank, social security number, and "Drill Sergent." I started choking and coughing before I finished saying my name. After everyone was done, five at a time they had us take off our masks all the way. Made us recite as much of the soldier's creed as we could with our eyes open. Not even two lines in (which is "I am an American Soldier, I am a warrior and a member of a team."), I was coughing like crazy and my eyes were burning. I couldn't keep myself standing up straight. One of the Drill Sergents "kindly" helped me out while screaming at me to stand up. The whole time I thought I would hurl. Then after only 15 seconds they started to let the five people out. While making sure we didn't run they pushed us to the next Drill Sergent to get us out of the chamber, as none of us had our eyes open, because they hurt so badly. This was the only way to do it. Once I got out, still coughing like crazy, I started to hurl while on the way down to the hurling position. It went pretty far... I think, my eyes were still pretty closed because it hurt so bad. Then everyone walked around in a big circle flapping our arms to get the gas out of our clothes. By this point everyone had snot running down their faces. We were told that if we wipe our face it would hurt longer and worse.
So for fear factor, how long did they stay in and how much clothes did they have on? Oh and did they have a gas mask?


14 Feb 07

Happy Valentine's Day! Love you tons. Sorry you didn't get this on the right day. :( I just wrote to say I love you. I know, I know... Cheesy, but oh well its true. I wish I could have called though. We still get smoked a lot.
Yes, I got my weapon... cool, kinda. We are only just starting to use them on Saturday, err, maybe Tuesday.
We usually have lights out at 2100 and wake up at 0500. Now in order to write you, I stay up past that. Just about every other night we pull fireguard duty. Which is where we get up for an hour during the night and clean and make sure no one goes in or out of the bay. It's a pain, but oh well, just one more other new thing I'm trying to learn to deal with.


15 Feb 07

So I am supposed to be graduating on April 6th. We shall see if I get my PT test scores to the correct numbers. The First test I got 41 pushups, 22 situps, and a 2 mile run in 22:10. The Second PT test scores (which happened this morning) 50 pushups, 41 situps, and 20:40 for the 2 mile run. Better, but not there yet. I need to get 40 pushups, 50 situps, and 17:30 for the 2 mile run in order to pass and graduate. All I can say is PRAY for me.
Sounds like you are keeping busy, good job; me too.
Love, love, love you mostest,
Chris

No News

So it has been over two weeks since I have heard anything from Chris. I am thinking that no news is good news... at least it isn't bad news. I figure the army would let me know if anything had happened to Chris.

Keep sending him your good wishes and prayers! If you get a chance to write to him, I'm sure he would appreciate hearing from you all. Let me know if you need his address. Thanks!

Chris's Grad information

Chris'
Graduation Papers

Here is a link to the papers I received about Chris's boot camp graduation. Also included is a paper on what not to send Chris during boot camp.
Thanks Jonathan for posting these!

Letter 2

Received: February 7, 2007


1 Feb 07

Ixchelle (and all),

The good news --> I'm alive. The Bad news --> I'm sick from the stupid flu shot. Gets better too --> it has been raining all day and we march in it anyway. And the PT test is on Saturday. It will be too late for you to wish me luck on that, but that's okay. I know you would, so it still counts (only if you put it in your letters).
So next Thursday (approx.) we are going into a gas chamber --> Tear Gas. Apparently it makes most people throw up then some other stuff too. Exciting! YIKES!!! Supposed to get our weapons tomorrow. That's cool. Got a bunch of gear today though.
Got smoked around 4 times today. Getting smoked is doing something wrong and then having to do push ups, squats, or some other stuff that makes you hurt. Though it wasn't for something I did. I suppose I should say our platoon got smoked. Fun stuff. My legs hurt pretty good --> chest some too. I'm getting built.
Love you tons and bunches.
Love eternaly yours,
Chris

February 4th Phone Call

I spoke with Chris today for about 10 minutes. He had to get a flu shot and now has the flu. He has been sick for about 5 days now. He took a physical assessment and didn't do as well as he was hoping (partly because he is sick). He was supposed to run two miles in 18 minutes and instead ran it in 22 minutes. He is working really hard though. It has been pretty rainy this week, so it has been kind of cold. He said they have about 5 minutes to eat meals and when he gets done he doesn't want any instant mashed potatoes. They eat those all the time. He really could go for some french fries though.

He got a return address, but said it was too long to give to me over the phone and said he sent me a letter with it. He misses everybody and hopes things are going good for you.

Letter 1

Received: Thursday February 1, 2007


2007-01-25

Ixchelle (and all),

Hi! How you doin? All is well. I'm trying to journal my experiences, but I'm not done on our first day thus just a letter to you. I figure a journal format would make it easier for my side of the family, to put on the blog. I suppose you could say I'm doing good, but hey up to you. Today we got our camo and boots. SWEET! Though we haven't been able to wear them really. I'll let you know about it.
Sorry I haven't been able to call you yet :( They haven't let us. But as soon as I can I will. My feet are super sore. So are my legs (from standing mostly all day) and my shoulders, arms, and pectorals (from people in our squad who can't seem to call the Sergeant the right thing). So Pain!! The first "day" was really long and pretty bad. We got Zero hours of sleep on Tuesday night. I was able to get some sleep on the plane, but not enough to really help. More on that in my journal.
We got new running shoes too. We got a card with $250 on it, catch is it comes out of my first check. Awesome... /eyeroll. Oh and the running shoes I had to use the card to buy. I also got this pen & pad of paper, envelopes, and stamps. I'll let you know when I run out. Got to go now. Love you tons.
Love, Chris
PS. I don't have a return address yet. Won't get one until actual BT starts. Once I know I'll let you know.