White Phase, teary eyes

I got a call from our soldier Sunday evening. It was the first time she has sounded discouraged on the phone and she even cried a little. She said she felt like quitting for the first time since she's been there.

Her ankle has been giving her a lot of problems. She turned it badly toward the end of the third week. They were running and she hit a clump of grass or something and went down hard. She's been trying hard to deal with it and having moderate success. But now it has swollen so much that she's unable to put on her boot. She finally relented and went to sick call. They gave her some anti-inflammatory meds and cut out some major blisters on her heals. (She had blisters on top of blisters, on top of blisters.) I'm really not sure what her prognosis is. It's hard to talk about very much in 5 minutes.

She has more PT testing this week and is very concerned that her ankle will keep her from passing the running portion.

On a more positive note, she passed her first range test, grouping 5 of 5 shots in a 4 cm circle at 25m.

I may not have another update until next week, as I am out of town and won't have access to any letters from Dela.

Blessings to all!

Dela takes charge...

...of this blog.

Unhappy after I reported that I haven't been updated her blog much, she decided to write it out for me and have me post it. I've been demoted from Blog Caretaker to Blog transcriber. *sigh*

Here it is:

So, my husband says he doesn't know what to write on my blog. I am surprised since my letters to him have been long and detailed. [Editor's note: Not as long or detailed as she thinks. Lots of repetition.] That's all right [sic], I will catch you up.

Aug. 10th was a d difficult day -- saying goodbye to my very best friend [Editor's note: She means me.] and knowing there were going to be long pauses between talking and hearing from each other. [Editor's note: Talking is her job, hearing is supposed to be my job.]

Aug. 11th I was at MEPS bright and early. My body fat ended up being 37% so I had to do the ARMS test. It basically tests your cardio endurance. I had to step up and down on a 12" box for 5 minutes at the pace of a metronome. Then I had 60 seconds to rest before I had to do pushups [sic]. I only had to do 4 but I did five just in case. :)

I then proceeded to go thru the rest of my processing, even swearing in again. We left for the airport at 1pm and proceeded to sit there for 6 hours waiting for the buses that would take us to Basic Training.

Aug. 12 -- We arrived at Ft. Jackson around midnight. We were marched all over the reception area where they issued linens (for beds we didn't to sleep in for 42 hours...), physical training uniforms, canteens, etc. It was an incredibly LONG DAY!

Aug. 13-18 -- We spent a week marching, standing, sitting, standing, marching, sitting, etc. There was paperwork to be done, information to be processed, and all that stuff that takes forever even when NOT in the Army.

Aug. 19 -- Today is the bus to Basic Training. After having us drink down a quart of water they loaded us on buses. They had us put our heads down on our bags. It was a REALLY long ride -- especially because I had to pee SO BAD! Fortunately for me, several kind souls let me cut in line to the latrine. If they hadn't let me I would have peed myself. [Editor's note: I wouldn't have been this graphic.] It was an auspicious start. One of the Drill Sergeants immediately came up to me, two inches from my face and started yelling -- telling me to "go home grandma -- you should be headed for retirement not this adventure. You'll never make it." I just grinned and said, "I'll make it, Drill Sergeant!" He said, "We will see." And that gave me just that much more motivation to push myself farther than I thought I could go. And then I would push some more.

Aug. 20-Sept. 9 -- Red Phase -- this is the hardest part of Basic Training. Adjusting to a strict military life is not even the hardest. A typical day starts at 4:30 am or so. We do some kind of PT, and military movement drills, agility group runds, and 30/60's. This is followed by stretching (not near enough -- I have to do a lot on my own).

Then we usually have 10=15 minutes to change into our ACU's and form up on the Drill Pad for chow. Breakfast! After breakfast, we have classes and drills and marching practice and standing practice and waiting practice. There there is chow again. And more of the same in the afternoon.

Then chow again.

Then briefings by the Drill Sergeants -- mail call and any other business.

Personal time starts at 19:40 and we have to be back on the drill pad for hydration formation at 20:30.

We do hip flexor exercises and then it is lights out at 21:00.

Drill Sergeants are constantly yelling and the stress is high. Lots of adrenaline rushes though. :)

While some platoons were not allowed a phone call during Red Phase, our platoon was -- fortunately! Overall, I don't think it was that bad mentally. However, I have never done anything this physical, for this long of a time in my life.

Highlights of the Red Phase include:

• Victory Tower (see David's letter for details). [Editor's note: Um... I guess I'll post Victory Tower details next week when I'm back home and can find the letter.]
• The road march to the field training exercise. All the tactical and then the road march home.
• The road march to the Fit to Win obstacle course -- which my platoon won and took the banner for.
• The road march to the gas chamber (pretty bad, but not as bad as I had hyped it up to be -- just a nasty snotty nose. :) ) And the march home. The barracks never looked SO GOOD!

I accomplished these things mostly with a rolled ankle. But I am pushing through it.

We are now in White Phase. And we are getting ready to qualify with our weapon, the M16A2 rifle. SWEET!!

I made it through the first 3 weeks!! :)

ROCK FORCE!

News from the Front

Hi All, just a quick update.

Dela is doing really well. Last Friday they had to march 3 miles with about 60 lbs of gear to the Victory Tower. She made it just fine, and that's one of her graduation requirements. She has to work on her push ups because the way she's been doing them don't count. She's been working after hours with some of the other girls so she can do them right and have them count. She needs to keep working on her PT to meet the requirements: a few more sit ups, a little faster run time, etc. But she has time and is confident she can do it. She's lost a lot of weight and the pants they issued her the first day don't fit anymore. (She said she can put an arm down each side -- inside the waist band -- while wearing them.)

That's all for now. Please keep sending letters and pictures!