October 10

Mom & Dad:
Hey! Sorry I haven't written in a while. It's been a crazy week. My Drill Seargeant (DS McDaniel, one of two) was the Duty DS this week, so everything had to be "Frickin' Doggone Flawless." That means our platoon (specifically 2nd squad, I'm 3rd but it was still busy for us) was responsible for setting up & tearing down all the training for the week.
We did a lot. Monday, we had the Electronic Skills Trainer (Simulated M16's shooting at a computer screen). The 18X's in the platoon had to do a physical though, so I sat in the doctor's office for most of the day. Tuesday, we had our first Bivowac. We stayed out all night "Camping" with no tent, nothing. Just a sleeping mat. We got in trouble for something stupid and had to pull 50% Security, which means 50% of the platoon had to be awake at all times...One hour sleep, followed by one hour guard all night long. And Then, to top it all off, it rained HARD ALL NIGHT. I was cold, wet, and miserable, it was easily the worst night of my life. We were supposed to stay for another night, but that was cancelled due to weather. All those 2 days we did lots of shooting: shooting with Night Vision, shooting with barricades, shooting while moving.
Then Thursday, we got to have fun with big guns. We all got to fire the M203 Grenade Launcher (simulated dummy rounds but it was cool) then the AT-4 rocket Anti-Tank launcher (That was COOL, but loud!) Today we qualified with a barricade shoot, and I shot one target away from expert qualified, which ticked me off some. Oh well.
So when I was on my 18X physical, they asked if I was in any pain at all. My left foot had been hurting, so I mentioned it. They took a quick look at it, then told me I had to come back within a couple of days for a more extensive check. They say I might have a broken bone in my foot. I don't know if it's because I"m thinking about it now or what, but it is hurting a lot more in the last couple days. I'm going in tomorrow morning to have them take a look, I'll be sure to keep you updated.
It's just about lights out time, so I'll wrap this up now. I love you guys lots, can't wait to hear from you again!

Love,
PFC Brad Hopper