The man himself

Hey guys. It's Brad, I'm on a pass so I figured I'd check out this blog I apparently have!

Things are going well. We got done with our Field Training Exercise (The culmination of all the training), and now we're in our 2 recovery weeks. That means we'll be "cleaning until we die." We'll clean our equipment and the weapons issued to us, then we'll clean them again. And when we're done with that, we'll clean them again. Even through the night we're cleaning, a quarter of my platoon is up at any given point at night cleaning.

Only 2 weeks to go though, and I get to go home! Dec. 6 at 9:00 or so PM I'll be home.

Mom and Dad: Since I didn't get my phone back yet, here's my general flight info (I don't get a copy of my itinerary, and I didn't really get much choice of a flight):

I leave on Dec. 6, at 12:40 from Atlanta. I make a stop for 3 or so hours in... Uh, PA I think. Then I'll come home, and get there around 9 PM or so. Then I have a return ticket to GA on the 5th of January, I can't remember times on that one though.

Anyway, got other stuff to do. I can't wait to see you all! 2 weeks!!

November 4

Mom & Dad:
Hey! We had another Bivowac last night, sans rain. It was nice & clear for the whole night. We had to pull 50% security again because our Drill Sergeant officially hates us now. But at least we were warm during our broken up 1 hour intervals of sleep.

So I'm officially a soldier now. These last 5 weeks will be as follows:

Week 1: Squad and team tactics, 10-mile ruck march. We already did the ruck march, and it almost killed us. I HATE rucking.

Week 2: FTX prep. We'll be learning more about what we'll do on FTX, and how to do it. We'll get all the supplies we need & do final preparations.

Week 3: FTX (Field Training Exercise). It will be 7 days of in-the-field training, sleepin under the stars every night. We will get missions, and have to execute them without Drill Sergeant guidance. It will include a river crossing and a 12-mile ruck march, which will...completely suck. That's all I'm worried about, the ruck march. After that's done - at the end of the ruck - is a giant party on top of what they call "Honor Hill." It might be the proudest (and smelliest, after a week in the field) moment of my life.

Week 4 & 5: These are recovery weeks. We won't be training these weeks, just doing PT and cleaning our gear. It'll probably be the longest 2 weeks, EVER.

I didn't get a chance to look up my local hotels. Sorry, but I didn't have much computer access! However, we just sent out a packet full of graduation info., which included local info-places of interest, activities, restaurants and all that. It should have some good info. By the way, when you call for that kind of stuff, see if you can get a military discount! They really save a LOT of money on stuff like that.

Well, it's lights out. Really hoping to hear from you soon. I'd love some pictures! Please, lots of pictures! I don't even care if they're old pictures, anything will do. Thanks!

Love you guys tons!
-Brad

P.S. Talk to SSgt. Miller for me if you can, ask him what my home town recruiting will entail. Cuz I have it for sure, and I'd like to know what I'll be doing!