Finally...Another Letter and Phase II Begins

We received a letter from Michael yesterday. He starts out with some news about another recruit in his platoon... "This past week has been rough. One of our recruits who didn't want to be here stopped participating all together. So, Tuesday the boys in blue came and cuffed him and he is spending 3 months in the brig. They asked him if he wanted to go to the RSP (Recruit Separation Platoon) but he cussed them out."

He hasn't written for awhile as his platoon was busy preparing for Initial Drill (Sep 29). Unfortunately all that hard work still put them in last place - the losers - the booger platoon. Michael says, "The drill master went up to Senior Drill Instructor and told him we were the worst platoon, so Senior said, "I don't give a sh__, you tell me who the worst platoon is when we get out of chow, or class, you tell me who is the worst platoon when someone walks into my house and my platoon sounds off with more volume and intensity and passion than any other platoon in the company..." and then a few more vulgar swear words. We all felt better after that. So this past week we found it in us to sound off louder than any platoon in the Lima company."

This past week he did log drills, close combat fighting, pugil sticks II, and Initial Physical Fitness Test. He said log drills sucked, close combat was sweet, he lost his pugil sticks match because he was fighting against two guys both of which were over 180 lbs, and he kicked butt on the PFT - he did 13 pull-ups, 101 crunches, and a 25:00 3- mile run. However, he threw up 3 times after the run. He just wasn't feeling well all day.

He continues writing the next day........"Today is a new day. We start second phase today! We changed our guide-on flag from yellow to red, we unbutton the top button of our blouse, and we blouse our trousers. Blousing the trousers is simply rolling them a certain way so you see the tops of our boots."

He went back to medical to take care of his sickness once and for all. He wanted to get some meds before heading up north for Phase II. He'd been told by some 3rd phase recruits that if you go to medical up north you are more than likely getting dropped. There are so many things happening everyday that if you miss one day you are screwed. So... while sitting in medical he writes about the "kick ass day yesterday."

"We started our day with chow and then classes. We had Marine Corps History 6 followed by Interior Guard II. From class we marched straight to the Confidence Course. We did three of the obstacles: Stairway to Heaven, Tough One and Slide for Life. Stairway to Heaven is the obstacle you see in movies. It looks like a giant ladder made of logs which spread farther apart as you climb higher. It goes about 35-40 feet in the air but you don't climb all the way to the top. Tough One was my favorite because it was the hardest for me. You begin by climbing a 25 ft. rope and then grab onto two logs and pull yourself up and thru another log above the one you are holding. Then you walk across about 20 ft. of logs spaced one foot apart from each other. I looked down and my heart started racing. Then once you get across you climb another ladder. Once at the top of this ladder you reach between the logs to grab a rope. Rope in hands, wrap your right leg around the rope and swing out. So... between 35 and 40 feet in the air holding onto a rope, hand-over-hand yourself down. I was SO scared because of the height, I was shaking furiously. But with some encouraging words and a deep breath I did it. There aren't very many safety precautions....no safety nets, no harness, no helmets...just your strength, camies and a cover (hat). One of our recruits was at the top of the first rope and fell! The Drill Instructors told him to get up and go to medical. So he hobbled off to medical. I felt bad for him. The final obstacle was Slide for Life. This is also one you may have seen on TV. There are 3 ropes attached to a tower. Climb up the tower and mount the rope. Lean forward and pull yourself down face first. At half-way point let your legs down so you are hanging by your hands only. Kick your legs up and crawl down feet first. If you fall at any time you are going to be very wet as there's a pool of water under the ropes. It was sweet! Once we finished we double-timed back to our house and showered. Then we had noon chow. From noon chow we went to our first water course. We put on camies (no boots) and swam 25 meters in shallow water. After that we walked to a platform about 8-9 ft. in the air and stepped off. There is a certain way you walk off... arms crossed, feet crossed, look up, look down, and step. Then we had to tread water for 3 minutes followed by a 25 meter swim in 12-ft. deep water. The worst part is that your hands cannot come out of the water at anytime. But our gear makes it really easy to swim. "

"The Lord works in mysterious ways! I'm still at medical and I have bad news and cool news. The bad news is that I have bronchitis. Here is the cool news...... So you know how I've been thinking about why I joined, right? Well I had to get blood work done and I went in the room and there is a young girl sitting a a desk who asks me for my SSN. She tells me to walk over to a room and I do. She steps in and says, "I'm only 13 days older than you." Weird, a girl in the Navy only 13 days older than me is going to be doing blood work on me. She asked where I'm from and she said she too is from a small town. Then she goes on about how she misses the small town life, farms, country music, etc. Then she asked what I did after graduation. I told her and she though it was awesome. I told her how I wasn't sure why I joined and she simply said, "yeah you do." She went on explaining why I joined and it made sense. I feel so much better because of her. Well, I am back at the house and I've been put on bed rest. So I get to sleep the rest of the day. It is currently 14:00 (2:00 pm). I miss you all. Keep sending letters/cards!"

There was talk that he would get phone calls this week but it's not guaranteed. He said, "Mom and Dad's phone service is retarded and won't accept collect calls." Sniff! I think that means he's tried to call us and couldn't get through!

While sitting waiting for church to start he continues on....."Well, I don't know today's date for sure. It's somewhere around the 28th, 29th, or 30th. Katie and Ryan, congrats on 3 years of marriage... I know that was this past week. I can't remember if there are any birthdays or not. Oh, a special thanks to those who sent pictures... they're taped in my foot locker. Also thank you to everyone who has written me letters. I received quite a few this week and I will try to respond to all of them but it may take some time. Another thing is I am not sure how mail works once we go up north. I'll try to find out. I am going to try and write more people. I miss..........." (I guess the church service started) He adds a P.S. --- Last night at mail call I received the most mail out of our whole platoon - 14 cards/letters. I was SO excited! Thank you all so much!! Am sorry to say I will not be able to answer all of your letters and I will have to cut back because up north time is short. Thank you all again from the bottom of my heart. Feel free to send pictures.

There you have it. I hope I haven't confused you too much with the sequence of events. I was a little confused myself as he started and stopped writing several times throughout the 5 pages that he wrote. At least we all know that he's thrilled to be getting so much mail. Keep up the good work everyone! I think I'm just as happy as Michael knowing how much all of you love him, that you care enough to take time to write to him. I hope this upbeat letter is an indication that he's turned a corner and is truly enjoying this step in his journey. I recently received some awesome info about what he's doing during Phase II. I will write that for you soon. Until next time.......thanks everyone for your love and support. It means so much to Michael, Ken and I. We love you back!

Julie