In Brandon's Words: Letter Dated Oct 14, 2012

I received this letter on Friday, but I've been rather busy so this is the first chance I've had to type it up.  Brandon has a kind of frustrated tone in this letter.  I think he would really appreciate if you all could write him an encouraging letter.  His address is on the top left of this page.   

October 14, 2012

Valerie,

Hay Baby, funny thing happened to day.  Drill Sergeant wanted us to check our account balances to find out if we were getting paid the full amount we were supposed to have.  I thought to myself, I don't need to do that I already know that Valerie has it covered and I don't need to worry myself.

Anyway, a little later we went to the store - yes they make us go to the store, and do laundry, and work like crazy cleaning around here on Sunday - that is the worst part of being in basic training.  I can handle everything else, but I want my day of rest.  Oh well I just keep remembering that it is what I signed up for and it will only get better. Anyway, while we were there the platoon leader (a really cool guy from Jamaica yeah Jamaica - accent and all) asked everyone if they had checked their account at the ATM.  I raised my hand because I hadn't - I'm always inclineded to tell the truth - so I went.  Time to get away from everyone else for a minute.  While I was there a guy got his balance of $0.00 in his account and was pretty upset about it and now needs to find out what's going on.

When I got my account balance of $0.00 I thought to myself (and told everyone else who asked about it) "My account is perfect.  No money in checking."  They asked if my wife took it all and spent it.  I told them, "No, my wife is awesome and did exactly what I knew she would do - distribute it to all of our other accounts. [We have several sub-savings accounts that I keep our money in until we actually need to use it] They seemed a bit confused, but that's okay.  I told them how awesome you are!  Thanks for being awesome!

While at the PX we got to buy leathermans or gerbers which is a different brand.  I ran out of money on my money card so I used my debit card for the first time since August.  It felt so nice.  Anyway apparently banks think that a random purchase halfway or more across the country is identity theft so I'm warning you that you might get some notification or something.

Oh by the way, don't feel bad that I don't get to buy anything that I want with that money, because I have bought plenty of new stuff since being here.  I have a lot of new stuff to play around with . . .

Let's see what else is new with me?  I passed my BRM (Basic Rifle Marksmanship).  I don't know my score, but I got a Go!  Drill Sergeant S___ was at the table with the scores and he yelled to me (like he yells with everyone)  GO!  I think if meant two things - 1. You got a go on your shooting instead of a no-go, and 2. get out if my face.  So I did.

Then I got to shoot again.  I thin it was for the official riflemanship contest between the platoons.  I don't know.  No one tells me anything around here.   I think the drill sergeants were supposed to pick their two best shots and the two that weren't that good to compete.  I was one of the ones that wasn't so good.  And I really sucked it up this time, but it was not my fault.  I really believe in no excuses, but the overhead intercom system quit working so I didn't even know when to start.  I just saw targets pop up and had to shoot at them because the speakers weren't working.  I hadn't loaded my rounds yet and was way behind doing that.  And on top of that one of the targets was way too low and another quit working in the popped up position while I was there.  But with all the odds against me I still got a 22 which is one below passing, and I helped, I guess.  Our platoon won the contest - yeah we rock at everything.  But I was still upset that it happened like that.  Not to mention we haven't have a ton of practice shooting with our rifles.  

All I really care about is that I got a "go" and passed it.  Now we are going to start ARM (Advanced Rifle Marksmanship)  Luckily enough we don't have to pass anything for that - well that's at least what the rumors are saying.

October 16 2012 (very early am)

I was going to continue this letter on Monday, but I didn't get the chance.  It is now 12:30 am and I haven't gone to bed yet because we went to the shooting range all day today from about 8:30 am -11:00pm.  I am so tired.  We also did our PT test this morning.  Pushups and Sit ups were pretty normal for me.  I couldn't make it past 40 for either.  But on a very positive note I ran a 14:35 minute 2 miles this morning.  8 times around the track!  I was duly impressed with myself.

After that we came back and had a really quick breakfast.  I was scarfing my food (like I always do here) and I still had to throw some of it away. I couldn't catch my breath from running.  When we eat here we either go to the chow hall and have a half hour to feed our company (215 + guys)  so they make us scarf our food fast - usually I don't even taste it.  Or we eat MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) Military Rations that we have usually around 20 to 25 minutes to eat on a good day.  Or they have pre-prepared food that is portable and they serve to us.  That's what breakfast was today. It is really frustrating when I don't get enough to eat all day long.  Usually I can get enough to sustain me - but today wasn't one of those days.

Today at the shooting range we practiced shooting behind a barrier. It was actually really lame for how much they made us work to get there like this morning.  I shot twice.  The first time they had us shoot both left and right handed.  I sucked on my left handed.  I can barely hold it steady right handed.  The second time we used night vision goggles.  Yes, they made us wait and do absolutely nothing all afternoon and evening until it was dark enough to shoot with night vision.  You are supposed to see the infrared laser through the googles and point it on the target and shoot.  But the display sucked.  And by the time they got to me they just told us to empty the magazines into the dark while looking at the laser through the display.  Needless to say, I was pretty mad that I waited all day to do nothing.  But I need to keep remembering that this is what I signed up for.

I tell you though, I cannot wait to be finished with this.  We only have about 2 months left.  A little less actually.  I am very excited for that. . .

Well I better close this up and mail it.  However, I want you to know that I love you dearly and I miss you immensely.  I want to see you every day. I miss Charlotte, and Lydia, and Derrick too!  I want to see ALL of you.  I am doing this for you guys, and I am going to keep doing it for you guys.  I so want you to be happy.  Please continue to write me as often as you can.  I look forward to hearing from you.

I love you tons,

Brandon