In Brandon's Words: Letter Dated Nov 2

I was able to talk to Brandon for 50 minutes on Sunday.  It was so nice to have a real conversation with him.  

Nov 2, 2012

Valerie, 

I am in the dentists office again. I have one more cavity I need filled.  So here I am, and I would imagine since this is the Army I am going to be here for a while.  I am on a long list of names at the bottom.  Luckily I brought some paper to write on.  

I am doing really well I am for the most part maintaining a very positive attitude.  I have lots of friends and have a lot of fun here.  

Yesterday morning we did an 8 mile ruck march.  A ruck march is a really long walk carrying a military issue from frame backpack loaded with gear - its called a ruck sack.  And we just walk.  It's pretty boring.  We got up at 3:00 am to leave at 4:45 am.  So this is an early walk.  It is dark outside as we move out and it gets lighter as the day goes on.  Although during the morning it is cold.  You can definitely tell it is getting to be the cold "winter" season around here.  Apparently it can snow down here, but it hardly does.  It just gets cold.  And the air is moist and breezes blow.  Yeah, it gets cold especially when we only have one or two layers on - no scarf and no coat.  I hope they let us put on a fleece jacket soon.  We can't put anything on unless we all have it.  Turns out the only winter gear we have is cloth gloves.  So we are cold until the sun comes up. 

During a ruck march we are supposed to file off the road and pull security in the tree line (we line up and point over weapon in the trees to look for "bad guys" usually the only thing we see are our guys going to the bathroom in the woods, but we are there nevertheless to make sure they don't get killed.  We are laying on or next to our rucksacks to do this and probably half of the guys fall asleep while doing it.  I car hear the drill sergeants talking in the road as we do this.  Yesterday at about 6:00 I heard one of the drill sergeants say to another "okay lets wake 'em up and get going again." It makes me laugh a bit on the inside.  It took us about 3 hours maybe hours maybe to do the whole walk.  Then we ate breakfast.  

We stopped at a grenade range - yes we got to throw live hand grenades yesterday.  I didn't quite think that I would make it on my first throw - with a pretend grenade - that went all of 40 feet or so in front of me (my arms were really sore from doing lots of pull ups the day before. Not to mention I haven't thrown a baseball since I was 15.  

Its funny how much adrenaline kicks up when you hear people yelling and things blowing up. It was actually a pretty fun day and I didn't blow me or anyone else up.     

The sergeant helping me with the grenades was really chill and he didn't try to intimidate me too much - drill sergeant S____ there too and come to think of it he was really cool too. While me and another guy were waiting to throw our grenades he picked up a tiny piece of shrapnel (literally about the big --) and showed it to us and told us how there were thousands of these things in a grenade mixed with explosives to "mess" you up if you get one thrown at you.  

I had a pretty good day.  This morning we fought other guys in our company and platoon with Pugil sticks.  Very crazy and very fun.  I still don't think I am a very aggressive person, but I held me own for sure.  I didn't win, but I didn't lose by much.  

 It makes me laugh, I don't know what you think about it but most of the guys in my bay can't believe it when I get aggressive and fight.  They always say comment like, "Wow, Illguth, I didn't know you have that in you."

It is fun to be here and experience new things that I've never done, nor dreamed I'd ever do.  It's weird to be in this place and be willing to sacrifice so many things for a while so I can get something that is hopefully worth it in the end.  I hope the quote "sacrifice is giving up something good - for something better" is true in this respect. I don't feel that I am sacrificing you or the kids but I feel like I am sacrificing time and energy and definitely time with you guys.  I pray that it will be worth it in the end.  You tell me how nice life is for you right now and I am sure it is going to work out , whatever the outcome.  I think about you all often.

I am glad that I get paid and that you have the sense to spend it wisely.  There are lots of people around that have no clue how to spend money.  We are apparently having a financial class tomorrow so that all the young guys can learn how to spend their income.  Some of the guys here spend at least $50 every time we go to the PX to get personal items and equipment - one guy spent about $200.00 once to get a lot of crap he probably didn't need.

Apparently our unofficial snack on third platoon is cough drops  and most everyone, except me, gets at least 2 packages every week when we go to the PX.  I barely spend anything at all.  I don't have to worry about being a big spender because I learned from the best, you.  Thanks for being my family finance partner and helping to keep our family strong. . . .

Well I just finished me dentist visit.  My mouth is way numb.  They use a lot of Novocaine or whatever.  I can't talk very well and my lip is sagging a bit - that's never happened until here.   

I got here at 11:53 and signed out at 2:05.  Now I am waiting for our last guy to finish so we can go back as a group.  I tell you everything takes forever to do in the Army.  Everything that is except  stuff that we are expected to do.

Now it is personal time and I am doing laundry.  And I will finish this letter tonight, I am confident I will anyway.

My mouth is no longer numb but I couldn't taste dinner at all this evening.  I tried to get all soft foods so that I wouldn't have to chew on my tooth.  That is a chore too - I had to tell the story to the guy serving veggies so I could get Boiled Broccoli instead of corn on the cob.  

The rest of the afternoon today was pretty uneventful.  Just cleaning and bay maintenance.  You don't know how hard it is to see broken things around here and not be able to fix them.  Like toilets that run and other that wont flush and fixtures on the wall falling out and other things like that.  I would personally love to take a day and repair everything in this bay.  However, we have to put a work order in and sometime within the next year it might get fixed.  Oh well, I try not to think about it too much.

I know I tell you this a lot in these letters, but I love you.  I want you to remember that I am still here for you.

Thank you for being a wonderful woman: smart, funny, witty, intelligent, creative, sexy, a great mother, a great sister, a great daughter, and most specifically a great wife.

With all the love I have,
Your sweetheart,

Brandon

(If there are any typos in this letter it's because I typed this while talking to a friend and watching the election returns.)