What a great day!

As Teresa said, neither one of us was expecting to hear anything yesterday. We don't usually get letters on Friday, so it was quite a surprise to see TWO letters in the box. At this point, we don't care if the letter is from Will or Aaron -- either one is welcome :)

Will's letter was pretty positive. He'll be a Phase 3 recruit once he gets back to MCRD on Sunday, so that thought keeps him going. They handed out dogtags last week, and that was another sign that this really WILL be over soon!! Here's the recap:

Stacey had asked him several times about the food; he finally remembered to give her the rundown. It was quite a detailed list :); sounds like they're fed pretty well! He did say that among the list of main dishes, one item is suspect...bbq "meat" patties. We used to call that 'mystery meat' when I was in college. He said they get 3 solid meals a day because they are always on the move. His weight, too, continues to drop, and now he's wearing medium sized shirts and shorts. I confess, that's hard for us to imagine!

His feet had been blistering badly when last he wrote, but now they've stabilized...still blistered, but not painfully so. He thinks it's because after a little while of wearing the boots their feet just go numb! The 8-mile hike was a week ago Saturday, and he survived. Some of the older recruits had told him that the terrain was more flat than in previous hikes, "...and that's true, but in the end the length was the killer....It seemed like it would never end." He's been running on little sleep, what with the night hike and firewatch duty, which often seems to be in the midnight - 1am time slot. His writing was hard to read because he was writing while standing. One of his passing comments was that he had to "sew my fire team leader tags onto my kevlar helmet cover, so that will be interesting -- I'm no sewing expert." We're not positive what a fire team leader is, so back to google search we go to look it up! Would have loved to be a fly on the wall, watching him thread that needle!! :)

Some good news -- he shot a 233 in his rifle quals, so that gave him the "expert" rating..."so that's not too bad." There was another day of qualifying for him, but he hadn't shot yet, so we don't know how that ended up. I think it was just good for him mentally to do so well at another event. Field Week was looming on the horizon and he was looking ahead to that. (It's over now, so we'll be waiting to hear how his 'camping trip' went.) They were going to have to march 3-4 miles out to their field location with filled-to-the-brim packs on -- I don't think he was looking forward to THAT part of it!

As with Aaron, there is usually a portion of the letter in which he expresses his affection for and appreciation of his family. Those portions are a joy to read and usually bring tears to our eyes; we are so thankful that there has been this opportunity for him to express such thoughts in writing. Often in the day to day busyness of life things like that go unsaid. It's one of the unexpected blessings of boot camp.

The one thing that is always in the back of his mind are the pull-ups. We are praying that with the loss of these 30 pounds it will be possible for him to do what he needs to in order to pass his final PFT in two and a half weeks. He's ready to come home and see his family and friends; the thought of being delayed is something he's determined to avoid!!

His closing thoughts -- "I...can't wait to be able to tell you the stories. This has been a wild experience, as I'm sure you've gleaned from my letters." He's right...we can't wait to hear the stories, told as only he can tell them. I'm sure there will be much laughter and some tears as we are able to hear firsthand just what it was like. They talk about the "Transformation" that occurs. We are seeing it happen right before our eyes, and it is very rewarding. I know that Will is looking forward to getting back and seeing you all, thanking you for upholding him in prayer.

8 weeks down, 5 to go...our hotel reservations are made, and we're counting the days....