Family Day / Graduation info

Family Day

Date:	Thursday, October 29, 2009
Time:	9:00am - 10:00am
Location:	Hilton Field, Fort Jackson, SC

Family Members of the almost 1,200 Soldiers of the Rock Force Battalion will finally be able to see their loved ones as the battalion hosts the 3-34th Infantry Family Day Ceremony on 29 October at 0900 on Hilton Field. The ceremony lasts only about 30 minutes and afterwards Soldiers are given an ON POST pass until 8:00pm. Please allow yourself plenty of time to get on post as traffic is very heavy getting to Hilton Field. To get on post, you must have a valid driver's license, proof of insurance, and vehicle registration. If you are driving a rental car, then the rental car agreement is sufficient. Adult Passengers must simply have a photo ID.

Graduation Day

Start Time:	Friday, October 30, 2009 at 9:00am
End Time:	Saturday, October 31, 2009 at 10:00am
Location:	Hilton Field, Fort Jackson, SC

After 10 long weeks, the almost 1,200 Soldiers of the Rock Force Battalion will walk across Hilton Field at Fort Jackson and officially become US Army Soldiers. The ceremony will begin at 0900 and usually lasts about 30 to 45 minutes. Traffic is very heavy, so plan on arriving on post at least an hour before the ceremony. In order to get on post, you must have a valid driver's license, proof of insurance, and vehicle registration. If you are driving a rental car, then the rental car agreement will be sufficient. Adult Passengers must simply have a photo ID.

Seeking maid. No experience necessary. Must fit uniform.

So I have our girl's graduation information:

Family Day is on Oct. 29.

Graduation is on Oct. 30.

On Family Day, she should have an on-post pass, meaning she can move freely around most of the base to show family and friends different things.

On Graduation Day, she should have an off-post pass for the day and will have to be back at her post by 8:30pm.

Just so ya'll know, I call dibs on my wife for the entire afternoon/evening of Graduation Day. I'm willing to share her through lunch time, but after that she's mine and only mine. Just so you know. :)

If you're planning on attending either or both days, please let me know and I can get you the details. More on this as the end of the month approaches.

Microwaved frozen burritos make a great dinner!

So, after many weeks of trying to find Dela's company's page on Facebook, I finally figured it out today. The whole 3/34th is on one page (I was searching for Charlie Co. before) and you can find it here:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/3rd-Battalion-34th-Infantry-Regiment/110744097339

You can look for pictures of Charlie Company. There are a few that I think might be her, but this is the only one I know for sure:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2554509&id=110744097339

More notes for my bride's blog:

Sept. 11

I finally decided to go to sick call for my ankle. Because of the compensating I am doing for the sprain, I now have 2 large blisters on my heels. Two of my toes are numb from how my boots fit and one of them is starting to bruise -- that one "crunches" when I walk so I often wonder if it is actually broken. The pain is over the top. It is time.

Yes -- I have a badly sprained ankle and two large blisters on my heel had to be cut out. I requested to go back to training -- no profile -- so they gave me some things to help with my self care. I am praying for a quick healing. Today is Friday and beautiful -- it would be even better if we didn't have to march.

We marched to the range for a day of "grouping". Most companies allow their soldiers to group 4 out of 5 shots in a 4 cm circle on a 300 meter target. Charlie Co. has to do all 5. I grouped my shots on my 3rd and 7th tries. The rest of my shots were 3 or 4 out of 5. Not too bad for my first time firing an M16.

The March back went fine until we hit "drag ass hill". Next time I come up that, someone will need to push!

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Sept. 12

Today is Land Navigation. The morning will be in the classroom and this afternoon in the field. I broke down at lunch -- I had a fever and felt nauseated. But in the end I sucked it up and marched anyway. After marching to the Land Navigation course, we had to find each spot on the map that we had plotted that morning in class. We found all of them fairly quickly. I did end up taking the van back to the bay though -- my ankle had swollen so much it barely fit my boot.

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Sept. 13

Sundays are supposed to be a day of rest. Not so here.

This morning we marched to the Solomon Center for a Christian concert with Bethany Dillon. Gorgeous voice!

After the concert I asked the chaplain to pray over me. She gave me Isaiah 40:28-31 for inspiration and prayed for strength. It felt nice to be prayed over -- it helped ease my spirit and my mind.

The march back to barracks was followed by a march to the PX for whatever the drill sergeants would let us buy. I had to buy Eyepro to replace mine that had been stolen. that sucked! Especially since they were 65 bucks!! "Beautification" began shortly after that.

Phone calls home are the highlight of our Sundays.

LONG, LONG, LONG DAY!

Hopefully my ankle will hold up -- we have a whole week of marching to the range -- actually, I can't wait to fire that weapon but I am intimidated too. I just want to get grouped and zeroed!

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Sept. 14

Today was spent at the simulator firing M16s at 300m targets. It looked like a very sophisticated video game. It was a lot of fun. I did, however, miss the PT Test this morning to go to sick call. The athletic trainer taped my ankle and made an appt. for me to see the PA. The PA thought I was there for my ankle and I thought it was for my chest cold. Anyway, I ended up on profile until the 19th. But I didn't tell anyone and I am marching anyway. I am not going to miss out on firing at the range! It is too much fun firing off rounds I don't have to pay for!

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Sept. 15

Today is simulator again. Sweet!

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Sept. 16

We marched to the range this morning. It was particularly rough because I had a hard time taking deep breaths. Every time I did I ended up coughing.

Since I grouped my shots last Friday, I only had to zero my M16 slick (no battle rattle). My first couple of shots were nice and tight. 4 out of 5 anyway. Then I switched with my buddy -- but it took her too long to group -- so I ended up on another lane to shoot again. I was able to group again and zero slick in 3 tries. I spent the rest of the day help others to group and zero.

The biggest blessing was at the end of day when buses came and picked us up to take us back to the barracks. No marching back! My ankle was definitely relieved to be "off duty".

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Sept. 17

Today was a slow day -- the other 2 platoons had to go to the range. We got to stay in the barracks and do more drills. March, march, march -- drill, drill, drill. Another day of filling time.

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Sept. 18

We marched out to the range again today. Not too bad today -- I think I am finally getting used to marching with equipment. NOT! The last hill is always the worst!

I grouped and zeroed in full battle rattle. It was a lot of fun trying to get down in all that equipment -- NOT! I spent the rest of the day helping others group and zero. Some of them made me want to take the M16 and shoot that target for them! There were some who just could not shoot and hit the target. We turned them over to the drill sergeants to coach. AND we got the buses back to the bay again. Sweet!

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Sept. 19

We have been getting back to the barracks so late this week that we have't received our mail in three days. :( I miss having that pick me up after a very long hard day.

This morning we had PT -- the sunrise truly spectacular. We also ran 30/60s and my ankle seemed to hold out okay. So far so goo. I was also able to do a few good form pushups. :) Now I just need to add 10 more of them!

After chow we started on Modern Army Combatives. Hand-to-hand combat using moves from the Gracie Family. Looks like a combination of martial arts and wrestling. This went on all day -- with us even learning some choke holds. Wish I had learned that for when my kids were teenagers! :)

We got sand everywhere. And I mean everywhere! That is one thing I could do without -- okay that and ants.

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Sept. 20

The drill sergeant gave us a choice this morning, church or phone call. I chose the phone call -- I won't spend my anniversary week without talking to my baby!! [editor's note: that's me]. Then we cleaned the bay floors with comet and brillo pads. It looks so great now and maybe it will help cut down on how sick have all been.

Seems like we might actually get a real day of rest... we will see...

We got a rest day! Thank the Lord!!

Black Betty got a thorough cleaning for the range tomorrow. My locker is also now ready for an inspection by the First Sergeant and the Command Sergeant Major. A really nice day.

Tomorrow we MARCH to LOMAH (Location of Hits & Misses).

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!