10/17/08 48 Days Left

We're about to go to lunch. We just had a class on how to properly wear our protective masks- we have to put it on within 9 seconds upon notification that there is gas. I need to work on speeding that up- it's a little harder than it sounds because you have to put down your weapon between your heels and knees, take of your helmet, pull the mask out of the pouch, put it on, clear it, and do a hand signal.

Finished lunch and more class time on bio/chemical attacks. 5K road march to the gas chamber is tomorrow. I had the PT test this morning from about 4-8 am. I did better, but still have work to do. They counted push ups easier this time- or at least the SGT counting mine did, probably because he's not a DS.

I'm on personal time right now- I want to sleep but DS won't let us- he says personal time should be used to better yourself. So we can shower, write/read letters, work out, study army stuff, clean, get our gear/lockers squared, etc. but not sleep or lay in our bunks. Our other DS doesn't care what we do as long as we don't break rules. Oh, we can do laundry too if it's out platoons day. I really need to do laundry right now.

So I got 48 push ups this time. Although I was feeling pretty sore, still. I need to bump that up to at least 60. You mentioned that you hope they aren't working me too hard- they aren't. Everything is relatively easy, actually. I mean, they put us to work, but it's not too bad. Challenging, but not impossible. And red phase (the first 3 weeks) is the hardest part supposedly. I'm constantly sore and learning a good bit, but the hardest thing, by far, is being away from you and Abbie. I think the hardest part for everyone is being away from their wives/kids/girlfriends/families.

I met a guy who played WOW...we talk about it some because it's something familiar. I'm making a few friends around here- mostly the people near my bunk. My battle buddy is Capanegro from Florida. Then Capaul is in the bunk across from me and on the other side is Carnecer, a Philippino from Washington. Bed time, love you.