Saturday update - William

We received a letter from Will on Thursday, but didn't get a chance to update this till today...and then another letter arrived, so I'm seriously behind! Thursday's letter was started at the end of last week, just before their inspection and Initial Drill. When I opened the envelope, 4 little packets of paper fell out...I was wondering how to put them in chronological order and then I noticed that he had labeled the tops of each packet..."addendum", "after the little papers" ...he's always looking out for us!!

They survived the SDI inspection...not too many details, though, except for a general idea of how it goes...lots of screaming, trying to get you to do what you're NOT supposed to do! Later the DI's had them dump everything out of their war bags and they scattered it all over the squad bay. "We were scrambling all over the place, our shower shoes tucked into our breast pocket and all I could think about was where Cliff Bates said you have to just get outside yourself and realize how funny it is." Thanks, Cliff, for such good advice! Fox Company graduated, and seeing parts("snippets") of that was very motivating for them. Somebody on base has a Suzuki GSX-R 1000 motorcycle (whatever that is!), and whenever it's seen, it's admired! It doesn't take much for a little diversion :)

Saturday was their Initial Drill and they were doing fine, UNTIL their guide dropped the guidon, the platoon flag, which means an automatic failure. William was so disappointed...as was the majority of the platoon. As a result of the drop, and 4-5 of the guys who just didn't get it right, they didn't fare well at all, causing a measure of displeasure among the DI's :). To top the day off, some guy in his platoon was caught writing a letter when he shouldn't have been, and in that letter he wrote that "boot camp is a cake-walk". Well, you might imagine the reaction of the drill instructor.....Not only did he "flip out", but went "berserk mode" and IT'd about 20 of the recruits, some for random things like smiling. Will said he just keeps his head up and nose clean, and he's good!!

Sunday was a tough day for him emotionally. He saw Aaron in chapel but they had to say their goodbyes, knowing that they wouldn't be seeing each other for the rest of the training. Aaron was hoping to get picked up with a company that week (which he did, praise the Lord!) and Will was hoping to be heading north, so their time at MCRD would no longer overlap. He said he got really depressed for a while, but was okay after a bit. He continues to preach truth to himself; I think writing it down in our letters is a huge help to him. In one of his letters he said that he looks forward to being able to reread these letters some day. They function almost like a journal. The chaplain told them that their company would be attending a San Diego Padres game on the Sunday after the Crucible, right before their last week at MCRD-- an exciting prospect!! It would be their first outing into the real world as Marines...don't you know they'll be walking tall :)

He ended up in medical all day Monday, waiting to be seen for a bad rash on his legs. After hours of waiting, he finally saw the doctor and was given some cream to help with the healing. He was excited because, although he had missed the first day of Swim Week, he was still full duty, and would be able to participate in the 2nd and 3rd days of swim quals. He has been really looking forward to those days because he's so comfortable and capable in the water.

During his time waiting in medical, he had an opportunity to talk to several 3rd phase recruits, who gave differing accounts of the rest of boot camp. It's a case of "talk to 3 people, get 4 opinions"! Some said it got better, others that it got worse. He was just waiting to see for himself what it would be like, but was very much looking forward to going to Camp Pendleton for the 3 weeks of rifle training and field week. One of his concerns and prayer requests was for humility: "One thing I'll have to make sure I avoid is becoming a jerk to the new recruits just because I'm farther along than them -- a lot of 3rd phase recruits are jerks, and I don't want to end up like that. So that's something you can pray for me for - humility. And the strength to persevere, of course!" When he was talking about being at Pendleton, he said, "The hikes will be challenging, yes, but honestly I'm down for the challenge...I'm just super over this whole running thing. :)"

It seems like missing home and family is a constant battle. He talks often about just wanting to be able to spend family time together...sitting and talking, running errands, and just being a family. Being away has made him appreciate home all that much more...Writing seems to be the thing that helps him cope with the loneliness and the craziness...he called it "cathartic/therapeutic". Gosh, I didn't even know that he knew what cathartic meant!!

Because they were at the end of Phase I, they were allowed to begin leaving their top button unbuttoned and blousing their trousers. He had been very concerned about his PFT(Physical Fitness Test) this past Friday; he mentioned it several times. The run and crunches portion didn't concern him -- it was the dreaded chin-ups. By the end of the letter, he had argued himself back to reality and realized that all he can do is try his best and see what happens! We received the letter a day before the PFT, so all day Friday I was on pins and needles, wondering what was happening down there, wondering whether or not I'd get a call saying he'd been put in PCP, wondering, and trying not to worry........knowing that I wouldn't know for sure until I heard from him middle of next week. The worry turned to prayer, constant prayer, for strength for him and the perseverance for which he asked us to pray.

He had to close his letter quickly so that he could get it out in the mail, but wrote that he appreciated all the mail he had received. To those of you who have written, thanks again! We appreciate it more than we could ever say.

Today, we received another letter, written on Tuesday the 15th and it was much more upbeat. And so the roller coaster ride goes on!!

"Today was the confidence course...We only did the high obstacles today -- the stairway to heaven, the A-frame, and the slide for life. I (surprising myself) made it all the way through to the slide for life, at which point I proceeded to slide down over the water. Halfway through we were asked questions and if we answered them incorrectly we were told to drop into the water. Here is a sample of some of the questions...best looking DI? hottest supermodel? favorite food?, etc. Needless to say I was instructed to drop into the water. But, whatever, it felt good!"
Later in the letter he mused, "You know it's funny about the obstacles on the confidence course we did today -- you don't stop to think about how high you are or if you should be scared; you just do it. I bet that's how combat is too -- you simply get done the task before you."

That afternoon they had swim quals...he passed the 1st and 2nd levels back to back, surprising a lot of people! He was planning to try to pass the next level on Wednesday, which is the highest level they can pass in boot camp...don't know how that turned out yet. It was a satisfying experience for him to be near the head of the pack for a change! There was a photographer snapping pictures during the quals and he said he was in several of them, so was anxious to see how they turned out. At the end of boot camp he will receive a CD with over 1500 photos of the 13 weeks...something they offer for sale and which he jumped at the chance to order!

As he was thinking more about heading "north" to Pendleton, he commented that "Up north is going to be super intense -- they say Marines are made up north." He knows that the DI's will do what they have to do in order to break the recruits...His consolation is that "I get ignored by the DI's for the most part, so I will mostly get left alone for IT."

In other news, "I'm no longer a diet recruit. I lost enough weight and I'm back to general population. That's a good feeling." I would imagine he'll still be careful about those desserts, though!

As he closed the letter, he wrote, "I just wanted to mention that every evening we get about 5 minutes to pray, and as of tonight we are allowed to pray together; so about 10 of us Protestants got together and prayed. That was pretty cool!" Indeed, Will, that is pretty cool!! :)

As I write this, it's Saturday afternoon, and we haven't had any word to indicate that Will is NOT on his way to Pendleton. Until we hear from him, we won't know for sure how he fared on that PFT; all we can do is wait for the coming week's mail! As of now, his graduation date is still scheduled for Sept. 12...

5 weeks down, 8 to go.......

Thanks for praying for both he and Aaron. We are rejoicing with Aaron's family that he can now begin his training with Charlie Co.!! Way to go, Aaron!!!