Nov 25, 2012
This feels like a step backward in time. Calling you on the phone is definitely something better than letters. I get immediate responses. I loved spending all that time with you. I am going to spend every waking second I can with you on family day and after graduation. Thank you for the great relaxing weekend getaway. (Sorry it wasn't totally so for you.) I can't wait to have you here in a couple of weeks.
I am sorry that I didn't get to see any of the pictures you texted me on Saturday night of things you did around the house. I saw just the one with Lydia because the Drill Sergeant on duty found out about our cell phones and made us give them back. [The DS over Brandon's platoon had let them keep their phones for an extra amount of time rather than have them turn them in on Saturday morning when the pass was over.]
Not being able to finish talking to you Saturday night kind of bummed me out. I haven't had a very good Sunday today - mostly because of not being able to talk to you. I feel like a jerk that I got to talk to you all weekend and I'm still mad that I didn't get Saturday night. I think because it wasn't a proper goodbye, and we still had things we could have talked about together. Oh well. I just keep telling myself that it's just a couple more weeks and I will be done.
Today after lunch (church is before lunch) I got to help everyone in the platoon clean the area in a around the CTA all afternoon. So much for a nice relaxing Sunday to round out the weekend.
Anyway, I want to try and be a bit more upbeat. I had an interesting weeks this week. Monday we started URBANOPS or Military tactics in buildings. We learned and practiced jumping around corners of buildings with weapons aimed with 2 people and 4 people. It's kind of interesting. There are 2 lead guys who take care of front security - called 1 man and 2 man, there is a third guy who is high security (tops of buildings and balconies, etc) and another who is rear security, 3 man and 4 man. As you walk down the road the roles change as you have to secure windows and doors and stuff. It was kind of cool.
Then we practiced flowing into a room and shooting (pretend) targets with our weapon. We got to kick in doors and other cool things like that. Then came ammunition. We practiced with blanks. Then on Wednesday we practiced with live ammunition and we got to shoot at people and people got to shoot at us. Okay, it wasn't totally real ammunition. They were bullets that didn't have quite as much powder and a little different firing mechanism and plastic tips. I can't remember what they were called. They shoot slower and don't pierce the skin. I overheard someone say they were a cross between a paintball and an air-soft gun.
It was interesting though. It took me a long time to get used to the maneuvers and how to hold my weapon correctly. Both DS R__ and DS S___ got mad at me for holding it wrong. After I finally got it though I was able to finish the exercise.
We were supposed to assault though a door and after practicing it once we tried it with those practice bullets and face masks. There were guys from our platoon in there firing at us as we came through. No one was injured too bad though. There were a couple guys who got shot in the hands and got in trouble for not wearing gloves. I didn't wear gloves either, but I didn't get shot in the hands miraculously.
However, at one point one of the drill sergeants stood me about 15 feet from him and fired my weapon at me in the shoulder twice. He thought I was afraid to get hit. I wasn't. Then as I assaulted the room I got hit in the other shoulder twice by one of the guys in our platoon. Both shoulders hurt. The left one more than the right, but it cleared up soon enough. I can't remember who shot what shoulder, but when I got home I found a huge dark red/purple/yellow bruise on my left shoulder. It was cool. I showed everyone and got a cool, "Holy ****" response from everyone. A lot of guys thought I was an even bigger pansy because of it. Two of our drill sergeants were even surprised by it. But it didn't hurt so I wasn't worried.
That was the first half of the week.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I didn't care for it much this year except for the fact that it was the start of our 36 hour pass.
Wednesday night the Drill Sergeants gave us our phones. I was so happy to talk to you. It was so nice to hear your voice and find our what you've been up to.
Thursday Morning was extremely boring because there was really nothing planned. Everyone told us that there was going to be an inspection. I knew there wouldn't be, but I kept cleaning regardless because it gave me something to do. Finally we got to go to chow. DS S____'s wife [she maintains the Facebook page that the pictures come from] took some photos of us and we finally got to go.
Chow was just like chow. We heard we could have time to eat and there would be lots of food - there wasn't. We didn't get any choice. We didn't know how to talk in the chow hall and some drill sergeants mentioned they wanted us to get lost fast. So we did.
The only thing that kept me going through the whole day was to be able to talk to you that afternoon. I am so glad I got you to make my life light up. I feel so much better about anything after I have talked to you.
You basically know how the rest of the weekend went, but I will write it down for everyone else who will read this on the blog.
Mostly I talked to Valerie, but I did get phone calls into my parents and all of my siblings and a few friends. If I didn't call you it doesn't mean I don't like you - I just like my wife more. I'm just kidding - 36 hours is not a lot of time especially, when you are in groups and the people you are with want to go places. I did get out and ate at a couple of places. We went to a waffle house and a cool little pizza place. Most of our travelling was walking, but we did get a cab on Friday to go to the mall so my battle buddy could get a new cell phone. I spent that time in the food court at a table taking to Valerie again. After the phone we tried to see a movie, but there was nothing good at that particular theater So we went back to the hotel.
I forgot to mention that we ate dinner on Thursday at the hotel restaurant. An awesome person paid for our group of five's dinners. That was way cool. That has never happened to me before.
Our drill sergeant told us to be on our best behavior because the city of Columbus has a lot of military brass or high ups that live in it and we should be good so they wouldn't get us in trouble. One of the guys in my group was so worried about it. I wasn't, I figured I am already on my best behavior all the time.
I never got in trouble - neither did anyone else. After trying to go to the movie theater the guy I was with and I just took a taxi home. The driver told us all about the girls and booze we could get after 11:00 pm on Friday. Luckily neither of us wanted to do that. We walked down the street to a little pizza place. I had lots of sprite and split a pizza with my battle buddy.
The rest of the night I spent time talking with my family, some of my friends at home, and Valerie. I had the best time doing that. My weekend was so relaxing. One of the best parts was that every time I was in the hotel I took my shoes and socks off. My feet finished healing. They have had a dull pain in the heels and on the bottom and keeping my shoes off and walking around on the carpet was great for it. Friday morning I felt like I could run a million miles. I felt great. Not sleepy - not sore.
Saturday morning I was under the impression that we were supposed to be back by 8:00 am. I realized when it was 7:30 and everyone was still slowly walking around that we were still okay. I later found out that we had to be back at 9:00. We ate breakfast at the coffee shop in the hotel and then got a cab back to the base. All five of us were together.
We got back, signed in, stood in formation, got the bags we took with us checked for contraband (cigarettes, lighters, chewing tobacco, candy, etc . . . ) We took the rest of the morning to get a drug test for everyone. I really don't see anyone not passing.
One of the worst parts of the day was when one of my battle buddies didn't turn up. He never showed up. He was AWOL and still hasn't shown up today. He will eventually be caught and probably go to jail. It's sad. He had always been telling everyone that he thought he'd made a mistake and missed his girlfriend and was scared to death of dying. We all tried to convince him everything was okay, but he never listened. I hope he will be okay.
The rest of the weekend was a bust. Saturday they didn't have us do anything, just stay in the bay. I guess we were supposed to study but if no one else is studying its too hard for me to study.
Sunday I had an okay time at church. I was kind of tired and I couldn't pay too much attention. I did get to help our with blessings though. That was pretty fun and interesting. It made me realize that all of the LDS people in the Army are genuinely good people because they come and they want to be there. It's pretty nice to relax in church. I love helping out and I found out that my Branch President was a pilot in the air force He didn't fly too big or fancy of planes, but he has a lot of pretty cool stories. He gave me a really funny Jeppsen approach plate in honor of the guy who landed the jet in the Hudson river. It was a good day even though I was a bit grumpy that I couldn't finish talking to you on the phone.
[An approach plate tells pilots the procedures and other things for landing at different airports. Brandon sent this one home. We don't have a scanner so here are three pictures of the funnier parts of the paper. Don't feel bad if it doesn't seem funny to you. There is a lot of pilot humor in here.]
Well Valerie, the rest is pretty much for you . . . [he talks about a lot of housekeeping items]
I just want to say thank you again. You are so special to me. I had such a fun time with you this weekend. Thank you for taking the time to call and talk to me and let me hear you and the kids. Thanks for going to your mom and dad's so you could get some time away to just spend with me. I love you. Thank you for being such a good example to others and to me. I know that I am far away but sometimes I feel like I got the easy job. Thank you for being a wonderful woman and a wonderful mother and a wonderful wife. I love you a lot.
I will probably write you a couple more times. But I think that if you didn't want to send me any letters after the third of December that would be okay. I don't think I will get them from you or anyone else for that matter if you send them after the third.
I can't think of anything else to tell you right now so I am going to let you go. But know that I still have a very positive attitude. I will finish basic training and I will see you later.
I love you tons
Brandon.
That was the first half of the week.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I didn't care for it much this year except for the fact that it was the start of our 36 hour pass.
Wednesday night the Drill Sergeants gave us our phones. I was so happy to talk to you. It was so nice to hear your voice and find our what you've been up to.
Thursday Morning was extremely boring because there was really nothing planned. Everyone told us that there was going to be an inspection. I knew there wouldn't be, but I kept cleaning regardless because it gave me something to do. Finally we got to go to chow. DS S____'s wife [she maintains the Facebook page that the pictures come from] took some photos of us and we finally got to go.
You basically know how the rest of the weekend went, but I will write it down for everyone else who will read this on the blog.
Mostly I talked to Valerie, but I did get phone calls into my parents and all of my siblings and a few friends. If I didn't call you it doesn't mean I don't like you - I just like my wife more. I'm just kidding - 36 hours is not a lot of time especially, when you are in groups and the people you are with want to go places. I did get out and ate at a couple of places. We went to a waffle house and a cool little pizza place. Most of our travelling was walking, but we did get a cab on Friday to go to the mall so my battle buddy could get a new cell phone. I spent that time in the food court at a table taking to Valerie again. After the phone we tried to see a movie, but there was nothing good at that particular theater So we went back to the hotel.
 |
| This is the lobby of the hotel where Brandon stayed. |
Our drill sergeant told us to be on our best behavior because the city of Columbus has a lot of military brass or high ups that live in it and we should be good so they wouldn't get us in trouble. One of the guys in my group was so worried about it. I wasn't, I figured I am already on my best behavior all the time.
I never got in trouble - neither did anyone else. After trying to go to the movie theater the guy I was with and I just took a taxi home. The driver told us all about the girls and booze we could get after 11:00 pm on Friday. Luckily neither of us wanted to do that. We walked down the street to a little pizza place. I had lots of sprite and split a pizza with my battle buddy.
The rest of the night I spent time talking with my family, some of my friends at home, and Valerie. I had the best time doing that. My weekend was so relaxing. One of the best parts was that every time I was in the hotel I took my shoes and socks off. My feet finished healing. They have had a dull pain in the heels and on the bottom and keeping my shoes off and walking around on the carpet was great for it. Friday morning I felt like I could run a million miles. I felt great. Not sleepy - not sore.
Saturday morning I was under the impression that we were supposed to be back by 8:00 am. I realized when it was 7:30 and everyone was still slowly walking around that we were still okay. I later found out that we had to be back at 9:00. We ate breakfast at the coffee shop in the hotel and then got a cab back to the base. All five of us were together.
We got back, signed in, stood in formation, got the bags we took with us checked for contraband (cigarettes, lighters, chewing tobacco, candy, etc . . . ) We took the rest of the morning to get a drug test for everyone. I really don't see anyone not passing.
One of the worst parts of the day was when one of my battle buddies didn't turn up. He never showed up. He was AWOL and still hasn't shown up today. He will eventually be caught and probably go to jail. It's sad. He had always been telling everyone that he thought he'd made a mistake and missed his girlfriend and was scared to death of dying. We all tried to convince him everything was okay, but he never listened. I hope he will be okay.
The rest of the weekend was a bust. Saturday they didn't have us do anything, just stay in the bay. I guess we were supposed to study but if no one else is studying its too hard for me to study.
Sunday I had an okay time at church. I was kind of tired and I couldn't pay too much attention. I did get to help our with blessings though. That was pretty fun and interesting. It made me realize that all of the LDS people in the Army are genuinely good people because they come and they want to be there. It's pretty nice to relax in church. I love helping out and I found out that my Branch President was a pilot in the air force He didn't fly too big or fancy of planes, but he has a lot of pretty cool stories. He gave me a really funny Jeppsen approach plate in honor of the guy who landed the jet in the Hudson river. It was a good day even though I was a bit grumpy that I couldn't finish talking to you on the phone.
[An approach plate tells pilots the procedures and other things for landing at different airports. Brandon sent this one home. We don't have a scanner so here are three pictures of the funnier parts of the paper. Don't feel bad if it doesn't seem funny to you. There is a lot of pilot humor in here.]
Well Valerie, the rest is pretty much for you . . . [he talks about a lot of housekeeping items]
I just want to say thank you again. You are so special to me. I had such a fun time with you this weekend. Thank you for taking the time to call and talk to me and let me hear you and the kids. Thanks for going to your mom and dad's so you could get some time away to just spend with me. I love you. Thank you for being such a good example to others and to me. I know that I am far away but sometimes I feel like I got the easy job. Thank you for being a wonderful woman and a wonderful mother and a wonderful wife. I love you a lot.
I will probably write you a couple more times. But I think that if you didn't want to send me any letters after the third of December that would be okay. I don't think I will get them from you or anyone else for that matter if you send them after the third.
I can't think of anything else to tell you right now so I am going to let you go. But know that I still have a very positive attitude. I will finish basic training and I will see you later.
I love you tons
Brandon.
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