In Brandon's Words: Answers to your questions Letter Dated Oct 18

October 18, 2012

Valerie,

There are two parts to this letter, the first being a letter to everyone on your blog, and you of course.  And then a personal (not private) one for you.  I love you.

First there have been a lot of people who have written me.  I really do appreciate and look forward to reading all their letters.  There have been a lot of people who have been very inspiring to me so I want to say thank you to everyone who has written me and sent me pictures and things - and spare paper, Noel.  I hope that I can find time to respond at least once to everyone, I am not very fast at writing and I can't promise anything, however . . . .

Some of you have asked me some questions so I am going to answer some - or most of them.

My blisters are healing!  My ankles still have that slight soreness and sometimes it doesn't feel to good on my heals, but all in all it is doing great.  I have a slight cough - sometimes I get a tiny sore throat, but I am doing great in that department.  I feel very healthy and I can keep up with most of the guys here.  I can run a 14.35 2 miles and ran two time on Monday morning and today (Tuesday) morning (today I didn't run it that fast).  Yes I do run in my army boots and believe it of not they are actually starting to feel comfortable - either that or my feet are getting number and number (can't feel them).  I think it is the latter reason.  But I run the two miles in tennis shoes so don't think I'm working out in Army Boots.

Does it rain a lot here? Often enough I guess.  It rains more there than in Utah, that is for sure.  Yes, Mel, it is hot, muggy and rainy.  However, the past couple of days it hasn't gotten that hot so I am actually enjoying the weather - that doesn't mean I don't sweat - I do a lot.  For some unknown reason the Drill Sergeants don't want us wearing deodorant.  Yeah, that's right.  I had to throw two brand new sticks of deodorant away when I got here.  So after a long day I, and everyone else in my platoon,stink.  Luckily, we do take showers - usually every day.  But sometimes it does get ripe in our bay.  We can also do laundry any time during the week at night so we try to stay smelling okay.

I have heard that the weather in Georgia during "fall time" can go from really hot to really cold quickly.  So I am gearing myself up for that.

Valerie, you are dressing as an "Army girl" for Halloween, and guess what, we are going to go matching because, in response to Caleb's question: Yes, I am dressing up like an Army Man for Halloween.  And when I get back home I will show anyone who wants to see my "costume", or better yet uniform.  I am going to be dressed up like an Army man all day long on Halloween which is fun because I always tried to do it before, but always looked dumb because I was missing one thing or another.  Now I definitely have every piece of that costume.  

Lindsey asked if I eat more than just the awful MRES.  The answer is yes, I do eat at the chow hall here by our barracks.  And I wouldn't call the food awful.  It is just a lot saltier than I am used to, and they don't strain the fat as much as I would.  Okay, they don't strain it at all.  And canned veggies are good, even though I like frozen cooked veggies. It really isn't that bad.  They give about 210 18-29(me) year olds 30 minutes to get our food and eat so there really isn't much time to taste it anyway. And MREs are good. They come with things we don't normally get, such as, snack foods.  But when you are hungry they are great!  Besides, as the drill sergeants tell us around here "food is not for tasting.  A machine needs fuel and so does a soldier.  That's all food is is fuel so fuel up men you have 1 minute left to eat 59 . . . 58 . . . etc"  It makes me laugh - on the inside.  Oh and my personal favorite told to us my one of our Drill Sergeants, DS C____, "If your not choking, your not eating fast enough."  Makes me crack up (on the inside) every time I think about it.

Speaking of Drill Sergeants.  I have to explain something to everyone:  Drill Sergeants are mean, but that's not who they are, it's what they do? (Does anyone know what movie that is from?) They are hilarious.  They tell us that their job is to mess us up and make us do stupid things.  For example: since everyone in our bay had a cough about two weeks ago they approved us to buy and have cough drops from the PX.  So everyone brought some.  Then, if that wasn't enough, a lot of the guys wrote home and told their parents and families to send cough drops which they gladly did - A LOT.  I found out I really didn't need any more so I never told anyone to send me any.  Almost everyone in our bay has received a package in the mail with cough drops.  DS S____ was on duty that night and he told everyone that they had to do a pushup for every cough drop that came in a package.  Pack of 50 = 50 push ups and so on.  I was way glad I didn't tell anyone about this because there were guys in my platoon that got the ultimate package of 100 drops - two packages  200 push ups.    I was standing next to my bed just laughing on the inside with a straight face.  DS S___ was laughing on the outside because he can.  Then one of the guys in our platoon received a huge package with about 600 unpackaged cough drops in it along with another package of about 4 packs of 50 - somewhere around 800 cough drops!  I along with everyone else was laughing out loud.  He had already done a lot of push ups for other things.  We did the math and DS S______ allowed everyone in the platoon to do about 50 pushups each so he could have the cough drops.  The guys asked DS S____ if he could just throw them away, to which he responded, "NO! You can't throw stuff away that your parents and family so lovingly sent you.  Start pushing everyone."  I was more than happy to help him out and do my share of the pushups.  He later shared the cough drops with us.  It is so funny what the Drill Sergeants do to us all the time.  I am constantly laughing inside around here.

I mentioned before that I am a good aim and can hit a target pretty well on center.  I think I also said that I got a compliment from DS R___ telling me I was a dang good shot along with a few of the other guys I was with.  Here is the reason I'm not very good at shooting though, I am not fast.  We have gone to pop up target ranges and I get pretty low scores because I am not a fast pointer.  It takes me a few seconds to line my sight up just how I want it.  I am getting better.  I am sure that I will get even better with more practice.  I can shoot the 300 meter targets though.  That is a long way off.  The guy I'm shooting at is smaller than my sight post.

This is so everyone knows what's going on right now. But like I said before, they really don't tell us much about our future training here.  we all want to know, but they keep us in the dark.  I think so we can just focus on training.  Drill Sergeant R___ (he is a Green Beret and is giving us additional training for our contract) has given us a couple clues as to what we should expect through the next couple months.  And he has let us look at a couple book he has that talk about special forces and what is going to happen to me is best summed up in a little diagram in one of the books.  I am going to try and write it so that you can post if on your blog easily.

Step 1.  Decide to be special forces
2. Enlist
3. Infantry Basic Training               18 weeks   (12 weeks for me - accelerated due to Christmas)
4. Airborne training                          3 weeks    (Probably at Fort Benning again)
5. Phase 1a SOPC1 SFAS prep     3 weeks   (Move to Ft Bragg)
6. Phase 1b SFAS                          3 weeks   MOS (Job) determination (choose from medic, engineer, etc)
7. SOPC2 (Phase II Prep)              3 weeks
8. PLDC and BNCOC                   3 weeks   (NCO development (Non-commissioned officer) )
9. SFQC Phase II                           7 weeks  (Small unit tactics)
10. SFQC Phase III                      12 weeks  MOS training
11. SFQC Phase IV                       7 weeks   UW Training
12. BMLC Phase V                16-24 weeks   Language training
13. SERE Phase VI                        3 weeks   Survival training
14. Special Forces Airborne
 (Promoted to Sergeant moved to assigned group)
Average time from enlisting to SF is 24-26 months.

I haven't been holding this back, I just found out about it this week.  Oh and I don't know what the acronyms mean.  Your guess is as good as mine.

There you go.  This is what I am going to be trying the the next few months.  I have heard a lot of people say, including our drill sergeant, that a lot of people do not make is though because it it going to be very difficult.  I'm okay with that.  I am going to try my hardest to do what I need to to get ready and start doing special forces.  If I can get through I will be super excited.  However, if not, I will become an infantryman - which is not that bad of an option either.  Our drill sergeant told us that infantrymen are respected and they are good to start out with.  He told us that most of the leaders in the army today started out as infantrymen.  And they grew up and got promoted and did amazing things.

 I also know this: that if I am in the infantry I can have a better chance of getting into the officer school.  And if I do that I might be able to go to Warrant Officer training.  Which means I could go to WOFT (Warrant Officer Flight Training) and learn to fly helicopters!   Either way, special forces or infantry, it will work out and I will do something cool for and in the Army.

This Army thing has been such a wonderful blessing to me and my little family.  Some of you may think I am crazy, but I know I made the right decision.  And a little side note, If I do go all the way through green beret training I will one day get out of the army and have enough money to buy my own flight time and get my licence that way.

You were curious what an average day here was like for me.  Well let me tell you.  On average:

0415 (4:15 am) First call, get up, shave, make bed, get dressed in exercise uniform, etc

0515 (5:15 am) First formation: come downstairs to stand in formation until the Drill Sergeants take us to exercise or whatever.
  
0530 (you get the point) PT Training
          We have to march to the track next to our barracks that has sand all throughout the middle of it.  We exercise on the sand and run on the track.  Before entering the track and field we have to do 25 pushups then put ourselves in formation with our company on the sand somewhere   We then extend the formation to the left (arms length between everyone) turn to the right and do it again so we are spread apart.  Then we do about 10 - 15 different exercises such as: the windmill, the power jump, forward lunge, rear lungs, the pushup, the powerjack, the bend and reach, the list goes on and on.
            We move back into formation then usually do a running exercise such as 2 mile timed run or 60:120s (run for 60 seconds, walk for 120 seconds) or 30:60s.  Or we just run in formation doing our exercises in a straight line with each other.  Then we reassemble and go back in the barracks.  We change into our ACUs (Army Combat Uniforms) and come back downstairs by 0645.

0700   Breakfast - I just told you about the food, but I didn't tell you what we ate: Our choices are usually eggs, bacon, sausage, or biscuits and gravy; and waffles, or pancakes, or french toast (depending on the day).  Bread or bagels; fruit/nuts; Gatorade, OJ, or milk; cereal; and/or a yogurt.  Not too bad.

0730  Breakfast over; we have to go back tot he barracks assembly area for formation and have to do pushups, sit ups, dips, and pull ups on the way back.
           Once in formation we get ready for the activity we are going to do during the day.  (This week we have gone to the shooting range every day and spent the whole day there)

0720-0745 We put on our gear: Bullet proof vest (very heavy), tactical vest, camel back (yes we drink a lot of water here), elbow and knee pads, and we wear our assault backpack.  Oh yeah we also get our rifles (M-4's for those who care) and take those with us too.

0800  Transit.  Go from our company area to the buses. (marching in formation like everywhere else).  Those buses take us all over the base and it is HUGE! It covers 3 counties and parts of two states.  Today we went to one of the many many many shooting ranges to do pop up targets.

0900 After the ride and reforming up in platoons (we are #3 of 4 platoons, and the coolest one of them all. of course) we are seated in a tiny section of bleachers.  We All squish onto about five rows and three average sections of aluminum bleachers and squish is the keyword. If there is not enough room for everyone on the bleachers they make us stand up, turn to the right or left, and walk until our toes touch the heels of the person in front of us.  Then they turn us back to the front and have us sit down. (Yes we are all still wearing all the gear I just listed except the pack). It is very squishy.

0900  (Roughly)  We start shooting.  They take people from the bottom row of bleachers and line them up to shoot. We have about 20 or so guys and they shoot roughly 15 at a time.  It takes all morning.

1200 Lunch time.  They have us assemble in formation and the second and fourth rows are supposed to turn around.  Everyone sits so you are back to back with the person behind you.  They pass MRE's down the line and whatever one you get is the one you have to hang onto. Then you eat it.  Throw trash away, etc.

1245  Shooting. We assemble as before and then we go through the whole shooting thing again.  Again we have everything on.

1500 (3:00 pm for those who don't know)  Everyone assembles and goes back to the shooting range and collects all of the ammo - or cartrages or whatever is left and puts all of them in the ammo can to be refilled.

1530 Assemble to wait for transit.

1600 Transit back to barracks and we run back to the CTA (Place under our bays where we assemble in the morning) Assemble, drop all our gear, and wait for chow.

1630-1700 Go to chow or have chow brought to us in big green bins to serve and eat ourselves.  Sometimes we are the platoon assigned to go get the bins and serve the food.  We happened to do this today. After we eat we water down and sweep all dirt, food, etc to the grass.

1830 After chow and clean up we had mail call YEAH!  I got a lot of letters so thank you everyone.
1900 Bay maintenance, we come to our bay and clean it up, wipe it down, wash and sweep and mop.
2000 Personal time: Write letters, exercise, or read, or do whatever. I happen to need to do laundry tonight.
2100 Lights out - everyone in bed asleep or falling asleep. Unless laundry is still in the works.  Usually you sleep all night.  Unless:
2200 Fireguard   We have to have a battle buddy team assigned for every hour of the night to stay awake and keep an eye on things.  My turn tonight happened to be at 2200.  I have had it way late at night and way early in the night.  It's just another fun thing we have to do.

That's the end of the part of the letter that is for all of you.  I'm sick of typing right now so I'll wait to post the other half until tomorrow-ish.  Thank you all for writing Brandon!