BCT Day 45

These post are from letters that Jason has mailed to me. Sometimes his writing is hard for me to read so bare with me if some of the terms aren't right. I hope that you enjoy as much as I do.

BCT Day 45
10/27/10

Last night was another perfect night. I actually left the door of my tent open. It was so nice. I'm diffidently buying a family sized tent when I get home. My daughter would have a blast camping. I'm not sure my wife would though. We went to the Urban Assault Coarse(UAC) today. This was basically just more room/building clearing training. It was more advanced that yesterday though. The buildings had more rooms, some had 2 levels, and one even had trap doors that enemies came out of. The training was fun, but the day was still a little rough.
People made this day harder than it should have been. Everyone was tired. We were dirty and stinky. We had not bathed in 3 days(most mad baby wipe baths, but it's not like a shower). Everyone was cranky. People were going off on each other left and right. Some were dragging their feet making us late. We got smoked a few times.
It was so nice to get "home" today. Yes, we call it home. We sleep here, eat here, shower here, and even get our mail here. This is home, for 3 more weeks anyway.

BCT Day 44

These post are from letters that Jason has mailed to me. Sometimes his writing is hard for me to read so bare with me if some of the terms aren't right. I hope that you enjoy as much as I do.

BCT Day 44
10/26/10

After the long day yesterday, I slept like a rock. Once I hot my tent I was out. The weather was perfect for camping too. It cleared up before we got in and the temp was perfect. I forgot how much fun camping can be.
Today;s training was setup on an entry point(ECP)and intro to room clearing. An ECP is just a fancy word for roadblock. We had to check ID's for people entering our ECP, check vehicles, ect. Room clearing was fun. There is so much to think about and going on when you kick in the door and rush into a room. We ended up "dead" a few times when we went in. We got MRE's for lunch again. It was good and had candy this time. I got M&M's but traded for Reese's Pieces. It was so good to have candy again.

BCT Day 43

These post are from letters that Jason has mailed to me. Sometimes his writing is hard for me to read so bare with me if some of the terms aren't right. I hope that you enjoy as much as I do.

BCT Day 43
10/25/10

This was day 1 of the 3 day FTX. It started out with a bang we did a 7 mile march to the site. Our ruck sacks were a little heavier too, since we had our tent in such in there. Even though it was our longest march so far, only a couple of people fell back. It was also warmer than it had been lately. I think it took us 2.5 hours from start to finish.
Once we reached the site we set up our tents and ate breakfast. Breakfast was a welcome sight. It was about 9:00 before we are which is about 2 hours later than normally. We also burnt up so much energy so we needed to refuel. Just as we finished breakfast the rain started. It rained on and off most of the day. It wasn't too bad tough, our rain suits kept us pretty dry, except for our heads. we weren't allowed to wear hoods only caps.
Lunch was kind of an event too. We had our first MRE's. It's a complete meal in a small bag. It has a main course, sides, deserts, coffee, gum, and some other small things. I'll admit I was dreading MRE's, but the one I had today was actually good. It was chicken pesto pasta, bread with cheese spread, pears, vanilla pudding. I wanted some candy. Some have candy but not mine today. They contain about 1500 calories total, almost enough for an entire day.
After lunch we had classes on radio communication and reacting to enemy contact.
The real fun came at night though. Our platoon was sent on a simulated mission. We setup a defensive position and we watched out for a small group of terrorist call in the area. So, the DS's had set it up so the 2nd platoon would come across our position while we were on patrol. When they did, all hell broke loose. Both platoons were firing blanks at each other and the DS were throwing mortar simulators. It got all of out adrenalin pumping. It was one of the most fun things we've done at BCT.

BCT Day 41 & 42

These post are from letters that Jason has mailed to me. Sometimes his writing is hard for me to read so bare with me if some of the terms aren't right. I hope that you enjoy as much as I do.

BCT Day 41 & 42
10-23/10-24

The big news for Saturday was the change to blue phase. This is the final phase of BCT. With the phase changing will come more freedom. They haven't told us what privileges come with blue phase, but I hope that it's more phone time. This is just one more sign that BCT is winding down.
We only have 3 weeks of training left, and a few more days to get ready for graduation. A lot of the training left will be field training (FXT). This means that we will pack up our gear and camp while training. We have a 3 day FXT coming up Monday. I've heard that it's over a 7 mile march to get to the FXT site.
Other than the phase change, all we did Saturday was combative (hand-to-hand)

So far Sunday has been uneventful. I went to church services this morning and have packed for tomorrow's FXT this afternoon. It's only about 15:00 right now, but I doubt that I'm going to have anymore to add by the end of the day. Plus I need to get this in the mail. I won't have another chance to mail until Wednesday.

BCT Day 40

These post are from letters that Jason has mailed to me. Sometimes his writing is hard for me to read so bare with me if some of the terms aren't right. I hope that you enjoy as much as I do.

BCT Day 40
10/22/10

We went back to the reception area to get issued our ASU's, which are the new dress uniforms that are replacing the Army greens. It was kind of a surreal experience.
First, it made us all realize how close to graduation we are getting. We have been told we may wear them for graduation. Normally you graduate in ACU's (camo). Either way, we are the first graduating class from Ft. Jackson to get the ASU's. I'm still undecided on if I like them or the greens better. Both are very nice looking though. It felt strange being so dressed up. It was like me being back at my civilian job (banking) dress shirt, slacks, tie, jacket...
The other thing that made our trip so weird was seeing all the new soldiers that were there waiting to go to BCT. It's hard to believe that I was there, only 6 weeks ago. The difference that these past 6 weeks have made on me and my battle buddies are apparent when you see the soldiers in reception. I guess since I'm around the same people everyday, I don't see the day to day changes and progress we've all made, but today proved that we've made a lot of progress in the last 6 weeks.

BCT Day 39

These post are from letters that Jason has mailed to me. Sometimes his writing is hard for me to read so bare with me if some of the terms aren't right. I hope that you enjoy as much as I do.

BCT Day 39 10/21/10

Well, it finally happened. I got fired from being PG tonight. Actual, all of the peer leadership got fired 7 of us total. It always sucks to get fired from anything, but there is a silver lining to the situation. I can finish out these next few weeks with a lot less stress. I just show up for formation, training, ect. and do what I am supposed to do and not worry about anyone else.
Now I will explain what happened. First, someone was supposed to be watching their battle buddies weapon, left it in the bay when we went to chow. The DS found it, of course. The guy got into some pretty serious trouble too. Then, we left the bay in a mess when we left for chow. We had been cleaning our weapons and some people left a mess. We got smoked when we got back for chow. The DS later explained that it was our (leaders) job to make sure things like this didn't happen. The final straw was during mail time though.
One soldier received a box full of Halloween candy ($40-$50) worth. Of course the DS said we couldn't have any but then changed his mind. He said if the whole platoon got in a line and did 3 group push-ups we would get a tootsie pop. We did it and he threw out some candy for us to pass around. We were all supposed to get one and pass the extras up. After we ate them he asked if anyone had extras. No one said anything, so we had to empty our pockets to prove it. Yep, you guessed it, some people had candy in their pockets. He was upset. After getting smoked we got a lecture about responsibility, integrity, ect. And then everyone got fired.

Better Late than Never

I just wanted to let everyone know that Jason is doing great. I have the last 2 weeks of letters to post but cannot find enough time in a day to sit and type them out. Anyone wanna babysit? I am sorry!! With my 2 year old daughter, so much like her daddy(poor thing) and home renovations finishing up hopefully before Jason gets home(keeping my fingers crossed) the last 2 weeks have been very long and crazy. Hopefully I can get something up for everyone to read. Again, I am so sorry!!

Emily