Letter from RJ...recieved 4-28-08

This time is came right out of mailbox...instead of side of the door!

RJ letter's:

Thanks for the motivation and the excuse. A lots of people got a laugh out of it. (Make me wonder what did I say to him in other letter..hummm)
I have a 4 miles ruck (<~~~ huh ?) today. I am not looking forward to that at all but I get to fire some awesome weapons today. I can't received any packages and make sure everyone know about that so don't go spending a lot of money but I am out of envelops. I used up my last one to mail this off and I can receive those in the mail so If you can get the word out because I won't be able to mail more without envelops. I think Justin is bringing me some envelopes on Sunday but I write a lot.
This week has been pretty much shoot and blow up things. I'm so tired and when you are so sick. They don't care there is no bed rest here. For my letters, I keep them all and I read some daily and the others once a week. My eyelids are getting so heavy but If I close them. I get an article 5 (unsure that mean). I weight 206 pounds when I came in here that was naked now with my ACI (ARMY COM PAT UNIFORM..CAMEO). I weigh 192 pounds. My arms have gotten bigger. I am happy. Oh tell everyone that they will get letters when I get envelopes. It's so freaking hot here. I am sunburned all over my face and neck. It's ok It will get tan soon. Rod, Jill and kids have been writing to me. It's great! After ruck (?..track..not sure what he mean), we camp out and do some night shooting that going to be fun. Oh I could use another book of stamps if possible or just envelops.

(He seem out of mind and so tired while writing as repeat some few words..poor kid)

I will be getting RJ's boxes of envelops and two books stamp.

Letter from RJ..recieved 4-26-08

First of all, I went out to get mails out of mailbox and feeling sad nothing from the boys. Later today, I heard something like a doorbell but didn't check it out because I was kinda middle of something and no one was home but me.

When I was about to leave the house and there was a letter stick into the side of the door when I open the door and it went down on floor and saw RJ name on it. Whoa, it must of gotten mix up with other person's mailbox and left it here for the right addresses!

Here RJ's letter:

His date written April 14th, 2008..Mail stamp on 19th and I got it yesterday on the FLOOR from the DOOR!

I'm great! I can't wait to get out to see family..(small mushy stuff in letter about Emily). Basic is tough but still fun! I'm doing First Aids this week. Next week, I get to shoot my rifle that will be alots of fun. Sorry it's taken so long to write you . I thought, I did! (thing he share with me about emily..good part and how much he love her)
It's the best I have 14 more days! (I don't get it as he put more days) I beleive tomorrow I will have 3 weeks of basic complete. I heard you talked to Emily a lots now. Well, in fact I heard that alot of family talk to her. That make me very happy. I just wrote hope about me and Emily. I 'm going to tell Justin sunday (which he did as Hope got it post about Justin's letter earlier). I wonder how he is taking it. I heard also that you and dad are sharing information that makes it a lot easier on me and Justin. I 'm so glad that the family is taking a part in this. I know a lot of people's family aren't and it drives me more knowing my family is. Ahhhh, can't wait till this is all over with. I really hope I find time to do everything I need to. Sorry to cut this letter short but I have to go and I love you and tell everyone I love them and that I say THANKS!

Lillian's letter to the boys.

Dear U.J/U.RJ,

I want to tell U.J/U. RJ about the hamburger slide. I climbed into the car. I am building some crayons.

[* Hamburger slide is a play structure at McDonalds. They also have a car you can climb into. And building crayons means laying them next to each other.)

Question of the week:
M- Did you play with the train set with Clark? [a friend of Lillian's]
L- Uh-Huh - Clark is sleeping and I went Vrooommm!
M- Did we go to the park?
L- No I want to go to the park.
M- Remember we already went to the park and saw lots of your friends.
L- No! I don't like friends.
M- You don't like any of your friends?
L- I found a worm and he went into a big, big hole. I found a worm with Amalea and we gave it to Abinadi.
M- I thought you didn't like your friends.
L- NOOOO! I don't like friends. I just want to color now.

Letter from RJ (once again several days ago)

Dated 4-20-08

"I'm alright, ready to go home but not really. I hate this place half my platoon doesn't like me most of them are immature I swear one of them going to pay attention this week and someone is going to get shot"

[clarification: I think he was alluding to because someone would be goofing off and accidently shoot himself. Not that RJ was going to shoot somoeone]

"Boot camp is like no sleep you hear swearing every 25 seconds or no stop swearing, people yelling all the time. One day you have friends the next day you have none. People being dumb it's annoying."

"The food here isn't that bad. I had king crab legs last week, along with some really good ribs."

"Today I shot the 50 calliber live rounds. I shot up a tank and it was great. I also shot the Mark 19 (grenade launcher) we got to use live rounds for that. It was basically a flash-bang. On Wed. I get to shot the rocket launcher that's going to be lots of fun. Next week it's all about M16. I am going to get my expert marksmenship badge."

"I also get to eat a real dinner not a 5 min. chow. A real dinner with the Colonel. That will be great."

"Seeing Justin helped me a lot on Sunday because he makes me feel like I'm a human being"

Letter From Justin (Several days ago - oops)

So we got these sometime last week, but life has been entirely too busy to sit and blog.

Excerpt's from the letter:
"Just to set the scene for you, right now I am in the Latrine sitting on the crapper. It's like clockwork, about 10 mins after every meal everyone is in the latrine fighting for stalls. I'm smart, I put my toliet paper in my pocket so I can run straight to the latrine after chow and wait till it hits me. It's funny because the guys will peek through the cracks or look over the dividers to see who it is and tell them to hurry and I'm sitting there writing and laughing at them."

Well ummm I don't see scenes like this on the army commercials where they attempt to show you how much your child has matured!

"Most of us (they guys in my platoon) get along pretty well so it's fun. we start to get most of our privledges when we qualify with our M16's so when we do freetime will be much better. we will have a radio and get to lift and stuff. We start our M16 shooting tomorrow. It's 2 weeks long so I'm not sure at which time we qualify. Hopefully we get a 4 hour SandHill Pass. Sand Hill is the part of Ft. Benning we are on, it's pretty big. When we get it we can go get milkshakes, go to the arcade, pretty much do whatever. After qualifying we are allowed to order pizza for dinner the next day! The company next to us got theirs yesterday, it was rough watching them eat pizza. DS also said that when we go down to the riffle range we can get food from the "Veteran Van". I guess it's some Vietnam Vetran who drives around selling food to privates and the DS allow it if we are good. The guy is nice so I hear, he tells stores and takes IOU's.

"Weekends are pretty boring now. We are out of Red Phase AKA "total Control" where DS are always next to you yelling at you. So now Sat. after training usually about lunch time all but 1 of them go home and don't come back till Monday. But we don't have very many privledges yet so we have to sit and do nothing all weekend. We can't leave the bay, sit on our beds, sleep or do anything really. I am leaving for church in about 20 mins. though."

"I just got back from Church, RJ was there. First thing he told me was that he is engaged. The I talk to him about how things are going........He is going to start shooting this week so he will enjoy it more....."

"....Everyone is doing a countdown, we have 32 days left of basic. After basic is our 52 hor pass then AIT then graduation. We are on week 5."

"I just found out I can have my vehicle after graduation!! I'm really excited. After graduation it will be like a normal job, train at day go home (wherever that is) at night/evening. At least for airborne. So I will probably buy a laptop and stuff. I'm not postive but I will probably have someone drive my jeep here for graduation. I can't wait to have freedom."

"I have a couple of friends here that I am getting pretty close to. We are all SF so we will spend a lot of time together. We are thinking about getting a place together after graduation. We all want to get a motorcycle too. I most likely won't but it would be fun. Just so you know we recieved 2 new privates so it's 57 not 55."

Packages send to Justin and to his Troops!

I have send out packages of treats and this is what I did to make joke out of each candies: ( I might do the same for RJ when his time comes)

To the Army Boot Camp Troop~

Here is the meaning in each candies names which you can always remember the joke about the Boot Camp you all have been through...

Not each candies are in each bags but there are some in different bags.

Sweet Tart-Nerds-Jaw Breakers-WarHeads-Airheads-Lemonhead-Super Bubble-Swedish Fish-Bazooka Gum Pops-Laffy Taffy-Smarties-Dum Dum Gum Pop-Sour Patch Kids-Shockers

Dear Nerds, (Troops)

I hope you are being a smartie when playing with the bazooka but don't use it to hunt Swedish fish.

I have heard you sergeant can be a jaw breaker, but don't be shocked (Shocker) if a dum dum (-gum pop) steps out of line.

Don't be a lemon head or sour patch kid, be warhead and be strong.

Once your in a Super Bubble at the end of your camp, you boys can start laffy taffy at all the news troops that come in.

I'm sending you a sweet heart (-tart) to keep you airheads in line.

Hope you enjoy your treat!

Truly, Justin's Mother!!

Mid-Cycle Pass Information for both Justin and RJ

At the end of the ninth week of training for your Soldier, Soldiers may be granted a mid-cycle pass. During this pass, Soldiers will be released to family and friends from friday morning through Saturday evening.

Justin: May 23rd to 24th
RJ: May 30th to June 1st

The mid-cycle pass begins after a 9:00am briefing in the 1-19 Battalion classroom. Soldiers that do not have any visitors are still allowed to take the pass in buddy teams with other Soldier's families or with groups of other Soldiers. As with any other pass, the mid-cycle pass is a privilege that a soldier may loose; please confirm your Soldier is authorized to go on pass before traveling here.


Justin's:

Turning Blue Ceremony: 11 am on June 26th at Kanell Field. The 1-19 IN Battalion Commander will conduct an orientation briefing for families and guest at 9:30am in the 1-19 Battalion Classroom located at 9075 Holcomb Drive. You will meet my Senior Drill Sergeants from each platoon and me. After the briefing, all guests are directed to Kandell Field for the actual Turning Blue Ceremony. Upon completion of the ceremony, Your Soldier is released to you for the remainder of the day (all Soldiers must return to the company area no later than 8:00 pm. that evening).

Graduation Ceremony: 9am on June 27th at Kanell Field. Graduation ceremonies begin promptly at 9am. Upon completion of the ceremony, Soldiers march back to the company area for final outprocessing and receipt of their graduation certificates. Guests are allowed to either walk or drive to the Ballalion area while waiting for their Soldier. It is vitally important, that all vehicles are kept to one designated side of the road. Once your Soldier receives his packet, he receives a final briefing from his Drill Sergeant and is then released to you.


RJ's:

Turning blue Ceremony: July 2nd at 11:30 am at Kanell Field
Graduation Ceremony: July 3rd at 9:00 am on Kanell Field
Both of RJ's Ceremony is the same way as it explain on Justin's information but time and date are different!

You might need to click on picture for enlarger view below,,,,

Made Notebooks for Boys!

I have prints out all letters they wrote and letters that I wrote to them! I also, print out all the posts and comments in order. Plus I print out poems and jokes that I have send to them with their letters. I plan to get stickers of army or anything to put in book to make it look so nice.So when they are out of boot camp and settle. This books will be given to them for memories!

If you like to share this to put it in their book! You are welcome to! You can copies and print it out into my emials or whatever you decide! Make sure it in order! Cartoon, Jokes, Poems, comic or anything else you can think of that can be include!!

Many thx!!

Lillian's Letter to the boys

Lillian writes a letter to the boys every week. I ask her questions and write her response. I figured that you all would get a kick out of them as well. Most of the time they are pretty humorous.

I want to tell U.RJ/U.J:
about the bike trailer. I can climb in the front. There's toys in there. I ride with a friend. I ride with Abby.

[there is always a question of the week]

Question of the week:
M- What are we going to plant in the garden?
L- tomatoes. beans. tomatoes. salsa and banannas. Shoes. There's all the food in there!
M- Did you have fun helping Papa dig up the garden?
L- Daddy Scooped. I played with worms. I scooped with the shovel and dumped them in the garden.
M- Were they wiggly and squirmy?
L- They were zooming.
M- Are we going to plant peppers, basil, cucumbers, tomatoes, beans and lettuce?
L - NO! Not basil.

[all week she has been asking to plant pepperoni's but she is over that now.]

She is dead set on the fact that Justin and RJ are learning how to grow snow in the Army. She thinks they are growing and scooping snow with gloves.

I can't remember any of the other letters, but I'll start to post them here after we write.

Emily recieved RJ's another letters today 4-19-08

Today I got a 3 page letter from RJ. It did not have a date on it. This could possibly be the mushiest letter I’ve ever gotten. I’ll try to spare you some. The red is my writing and the white is his.

“I read your letters all the time. They make me happy. I thought about you all day and in PT (physical training) this morning we had to run 2.5 miles in 20 minutes and I pushed myself and when I wanted to stop I thought about things that make me happy, like you, then I’d smile and speed up. I would love to hear your voice so the next time I get a phone call I’m calling you first” Sorry Guys…Im doing my best to encourage him to call/write his parents. “I see a lot of guys mopeing around and I do it to then I read the letters I’ve been sent and I smile knowing people care” More extremely mushy stuff “I wake up at 4:30am and go to PT til 6:30 then I go to chow time. After that we change into ACU (Army Combat Uniform). Last week it was Land Navigation and this week it’s First Aide. I like this week a lot more than last week. But next week I’m shooting my M16. YAY!!!” Is it okay that I’m kinda worried?

And before you read this next part know I’m not too weird. In one of my letters I told RJ that if your pee is clear then you’re well hydrated and that’s good. And if not, to drink more water so he’ll start to feel better faster, not to mention being healthy. I only know this because my moms a nurse. “So funny story, about 2 hours before I got your letter I was using the tree line and I was like ‘dang I must have drank lots of water cuz my pee is clear.” Good to know he’s healthy right?! “Please send pictures. I need them.” More disgustingly mushy stuff… “The day I called you at 3:30 in the morning was absolutely amazing” 3:30 am on a FRIDAY and I still had to get up and go to school. We talked for about 45 minutes. “You will see some of the training I went through. There is a 1st lieutenant that takes videos and pictures of some of the stuff we do. Please don’t go crazy while I’m gone. A lot of people are going crazy. There s a guy that’s going home Thursday. He says he’s suicidal but he’s not really. He just really wants to go home. I want to go home but not yet. There are 3 people from Michigan n my platoon. People keep saying they want to go home, I say after my 11.5 weeks I will. More about boot camp: every once in a great while we get smoked when we screw up big time but we’re all pretty good now. Thanks for the quotes, there really good” On the bottom of some of his letters I write quote I’ve looked up about courage and strength and anything else I can find that’s inspirational.

“So what did josh say to you about it?” I’m not sure what he’s talking about.. “I miss you a lot and when I say a lot that’s a major understatement. I’m glad you’re keeping busy. I am too but I don’t have a choice in the matter. When I first got your package I was happy then I was depressed because there weren’t any envelopes inside with letters. Then I opened the notebook and I was soooo happy I almost cried. I wish I talked to you a lot more but I will now? What?? “When I opened the notebook and read the 1st line ‘I cant even tell you how proud of you I am’ I was extremely happy and I almost cried through the whole 1st page. Yeah right the ring doesn’t matter!! It is the meaning behind it but it matters” I told him I didn’t care about the ring. “I’m in Alpha Company 1st platoon. When I got your letters I was ecstatic. When I wake up its freezing then when I change into my ACU it’s SO hot. I envy your roommate. Just that he gets to see you everyday and I don’t. My nightmare just became the 2nd best time in my life.” I think he’s referring to something I wrote to him but I don’t remember what, I’m kinda confused. Now he goes on to discuss wedding stuff. I’m telling you, this kid has what he wants in mind!!! “my dad and josh are coming down here for mine and Justin’s graduations”……(details details details)….

“you can contact Josh any week, weekend, day, hour, second.” At this point I’m confused. Why exactly am I suppose to contact Josh?.. “Tell josh to call my recruiter and ask him about hometown recruiting. I need to go study, I have to stab my battle buddy with a needle IV tomorrow. Don’t forget the yellow borders and my roster number (137) on the envelope”

I left out quite a bit of the sappy stuff. I figured you didn’t want to hear it. Sorry I may hog the next phone call. I have been encouraging him to write to his mom and dad

Recieved another called from Justin

I have received his called again this afternoon and it a surprising to hear from him. This is what we talked about and here is what Justin want me to tell you.

First about our talk:

He doing fine and things are getting better! He is on his free time right now and his training is over for the day. He said the weather is pretty hot out! I explained to him about the blog really floating and it went very well and he is very happy to hear about this and looking forward to read them when he be able to use the computer in future. I told him that I will be making books to copies all the blog for him and RJ. He like that! He (cant remember if he said that he call Josh or he got Josh's letter that he received) that RJ want to go home and want to quit. Justin is hoping to see RJ tomorrow at Church and will talk into him about the situation that Justin went Thur and not to quit. He said RJ been very sick still and want to be home. He only see him once at Church and Justin been going to Church every week now. (I assume that there is troubles in RJ's troop and cannot go anywhere like church or anything for penalty so that why RJ wish he have the scripture so I thought it best to leave some scripture verse in his letter when you write to him that way he have a way to read them while he can't be in Church) I asked if he enjoy his snickers and he said we just now have free time and we will have it later today. We giggly quite a bit about things that I made a joke out of... I told him to try to do your best and fight it all the way to make it for the graduation. I can't images of me being there to do all this so you know that you can beat me so well and can do things as well as I can't. You can shout in your mind and say I can beat MOM... I can beat mom and I will make it all the way. He laughed and like hearing that with me. Just think I am so behind and you caught it up and I be the one with all the yelling and stuff. He seem to be happy to hear from me and really misses me! I have asked Justin if there will be an interpreter for the graduation ceremony and he said yes he been working on that and he will make sure RJ would tell them when he see him at Church or Justin will help him out during the free time. He said we all will be in front row just because of interpreter for me. So he want to know how many reserved in the family to be there to sit with me for the seat. (So Fred you can tell me or Justin how many to reserved and we need to make sure we do same for RJ's graduation Ceremony.) I told Justin that it must be so lucky that I am special along with my family so we can all sit up in front. He said Yes that why I want my family up front!

Justin want me to tell you that things gotten better as he can have 52 hours free time break for 9 weeks which is a good news. Before it was only 36 hours so now it went up to 52 hours and he have more time to write to all of us or whatever he can do even tho he can REST from all this. He want me put that in BLOG to tell everyone!

Please I asked to reminder to put scriptures or something for RJ to read plus to support him to fight it Thur and you will be done soon! He need it!

Recieved Justin called

He called me and that a great relief. It good to hear his voice. He said that he doing much better now and it seem settling down a bit there.

He told me few things like he told his dad! He asked me if I heard from RJ and I explained that I did and told him a bit about RJ's were down. He said Yes he was and he had help him to support him and did say he want to quit but Justin help him out to stay put and it will soon be over. RJ asked Justin if he gotten letters from us and Justin said Yes! So that what make RJ feeling down and Justin told him it take while to get to him so guess that help him understand a bit till he finally got our letters and that cheer him up! It was a short talk and he had his time to talk to me!

Emily recieved RJ's 2 Letters

Emily have send this into my emial to tell me what RJ had said...but seem he gotten better after recieving everyone letters but at first was sad then he must of gotten Emily and rest of you guys then start to write. Because he got mine first and no one else till it came thur... so guess we all got his letters today!

Here Emily letter from RJ:

I got 2 letters from RJ today!!
The 1st one was written on Saturday the 12th, and RJ said “I hate this place and I want to come home, I’m miserable” He said he still only gets 30 second showers and no deodorant. Note to self: When he comes home make sure he has a large stock of deodorant. He said he hasn’t gotten any letters from Michigan and hopes they come soon.

The 2nd letter I got was dated Monday the 14th. He said he got my package of letters (a notebook which I had filled the 1st 5 pages with letters and sent stamps). I sent that out on about the 3rd or 4th and it JUST got to him. This might get kinda mushy from here on. He said he misses me and everyone else and I should continue to pick out rings while he’s gone. He said if I don’t want a military wedding that’s okay (I’m not sure where he got that idea, but whatever). He said he could use all the support he can get from all of us. He said he can’t wait for graduation and hopes everyone comes down for it (he’s going to be surprised when ya’ll show up!). He noted that since he got letters he feels so much better and stuff has gotten much better even though it’s still hard. His wall locker is metal so pictures with magnets on them are accepted but without is okay too. He mentioned that the weather has been getting close to 95 degrees and has topped that a few times. He said he’s on Fire Guard so he can write more letters. I’m not really sure what Fire Guard is though. He said he really wishes to get married when he gets home depending on plans involving where he’s stationed and such and where I am in school. Then he said some more mushy stuff which I won’t share cuz I’m sure you’re sick of it by now.

Then 2nd letter all in all looked much better than the ones I’ve gotten before, much more upbeat. Keep the letters to him going even though it looks like it may possibly take a while for them to get there. He didn’t say anything about getting a letter from the Blooms yet which I know Jill sent out not long after my package of letters. I’m happy I got some letters today because I had just gotten done telling Kim how I was going to teleport down there, whoop his butt, and return a with some letters!

From Emily

Letter from RJ dated: 04-15-08

My letter was sooooo much more upbeat than both Moms and Dads. So maybe this will make people smile a little more.
Mentions
- we don't get smoked much anymore
-finished with navigation and will start first aid.
-very excited about shooting. "something I'm good at"
-mentions he was really happy that he was able to run 2 1/2 miles in 20 minutes. His goal is to do 3 in 20 minutes
-mentions that he only has to do boot camp once (YIPEE)
-says that he was having a hard time because he has no upper body strength. He is working on it and He will never give up.
- He is almost out of Red phase.
- Asks for pictures.
- Then a lot of questions and comments towards Lillian and Emily....

Lets get together and send him some support!

Phone Call from Justin

(This is all from Dad, his computer is down and he asked me to post it for him)

Justin is doing well. They recieved the snickers and were thrilled! They took a vote and decided to wait until Saturday to eat them because they have more free time and they can enjoy it more.
He has more privledges now. He is finally in the phase of training where people are punished individually as opposed to as a group. Such a relief.

Justin said packages are wanted and are okay as long as they are split 55 ways evenly. So feel free to send them!

RJ' Letters: 4-18-08

I finally received RJ's letter and it making me pretty sad and yes I cry! It very depressing but have to understand what he going through.

Here his word: 4-13-08

I got your letter a couple days ago. I was seeing if I could get more so I can reply to you with all of them but I have time now.
It's so hard here. I'm depressed. I have been sick ever since I got to Georgia on the 20Th. They don't care. That really stinks about Hope and Lillian.(Meaning that they won't be able to go to Italy with Kurt). I seen Justin last week and gave him my addresses to give to Hope. I really want to quit and go home but I won't allow myself to. It's too hot here and I hate it. I read your letter over and over as well it's the only thing helping me. I only got to use the phone once and I couldn't get a hold of anyone. I wrote to Emily and Joshua and still haven't gotten any mail from Michigan. I guess, it takes 6 days which is stinks. (Emily just email me that she got RJ's letter so that mean he got her after he got mine so he may get the rest after Emily). I have to do 25 push ups per letter but that's fine by me. I'll be gladly to do them to get mails.

Allots of people are struggling with this and I'm one of them. Now about me, I hate this place. My arms have gotten bigger. When I get to see Justin it makes me happy. Do you think you can send me picture of the Long's family and Lillian. Any picture helps me allots same with letters. They give me a reason why I'm in this hell love and that is to protect my love ones. I have had Phenomena, bronchitis and strep throat since I got here and I threw up allot. I'm not eating well. I'm just straighten up depressed and sick but if it's what I have to go through to do this then I will. I have cried myself to sleep several of times. Mainly because I have no rights. I have no freedom. They yelled at me for coughing. It's so rough one. Good things is I can fall asleep whenever I want to. (Not sure what he mean by). I can't wait till tomorrow night when he starts handing out mails. I start shooting next week as well that's going to be fun. There aren't much to be smile about anymore. They are tearing us down for a reason through. It just hurts allots! I misses my family so much. This would be easier if I have scriptures but I don't. There are 6 other guys that are LDS in my company. One in my platoon but he isn't so good. He enjoys the sins of the world to much. I only get 5 hours asleep last night so I'm going to go and try to sleep.

Since now we know why he is depression from not getting letters from us since the addresses was confusion but it should be OK by now. Also, he been so sick and it hard on him to do all this while being so ill. He also misses all of us from not hearing from us and even try to call us once and no luck. My thought is that we really need to support him to be strong and make it thur and send him pictures and letters to cheer him up. I send joke and poem and hope that will bring him up. Also thought maybe if can leave some verse of scripture and story thur ensign or anything so he can read it every time he get the letter from us. He need our LOVES and SUPPORT. Reason why I cry cuz he is suffer and hate it there and lonesome till he got mine and Emily's letter and I am sure he finally got rest of yours.

Letter from Justin

DON'T SEND JUSTIN ANY FOOD PACKAGES YET! WAIT UNTIL THINGS HAVE SETTLED DOWN!

I recieved a letter from Justin - unfortunatly just after I purchased the candies. I am not sure if he can recieve food, but after this last letter I thought we should all hold off for a little bit. There is good and bad to report (I have changed the name of those involved because this is the internet and I don't think it's appropriate to give out names not directly related to us. So I'll use the names PVT #1 and PVT #2 for two of Justin's groupmates.):

Copied directly from the letter:
"....PVT #1 went on sick call and was caught with Dip (chewing tabacco). That is a big No-No" He had to stand up and watch the rest of his platoon get yelled at and smoked. After getting smoked for awhile we had to open our lockers for a locker inspection. DS went around destroying our lockers and yelling looking for any and all controbands (tobacco, food, alcohol etc.) Then we got smoked again. After DS was too tired to yell we had to clean our lockers and everything. we were all sore, tired and in the worst mood ever! Everyone was yelling and fighting. By the time we were done we only got 4 hours of sleep and of course I was on fire guard so I only got 3 hours of sleep.
On top of that the DS's switched so we had a fresh DS. He woke us up in the middle of the night to mess with us. When we got up and went to morning formation the first DS yelled at us for a while.....[skiping a little]......We came back and the DS wanted to do an inspection. OF course someone was stupid enough to bring food in that day and hide it. Of course it was the same person that had food the day before PVT #2. We got smoked and yelled at, then smoked and yelled at, it was pretty much a rinse and repeat the whole time. Then PVT #2 lied to the DS saying he didn't have more and DS found more. So you can guess what happened. So DS gave him another chance and he said he didn't have more. So DS said to take all the ceiling tiles out, move bunk beds and wall lockers and search the whole bay. We did and he found a can of Dip and Copenhagen. After that things got really bad! Through a very long process we found out it was through PVT #2 that PVT #1 got his dip from. It got so bad that tons of people were near tears, so many fights happened. As a result from now on we are at 10 man fire guard shifts instead of 2 man, meaning everyone loses at least 2 hours of sleep every night. That's basically it a few other things happened but that was the biggest problem."

Yikes! This is why I suggest we hold off of the treats for a while.

Here is the good part of the letter:
"I am Team Leader"
[I am going to abbreviate this part]
Platoon guide (highest educated person in the group) chooses 4 Squad leaders who in turn each choose a Team leader. (I got this part a little wrong for those of you who I talked to - it was pretty confusing but I got it now)
Team leaders are based on PT, Education, maturity and leadership.
Job description: "to work one-on-one with everyone to make sure they are squared away (trained and proficient, able to act the right way before thinking). They also lead the teams in battle situations, giving orders and making the choices. I found out today so we'll see how it works out."

Funny part of the letter:
"[today] was boxing. It was a ton of fun although I did get my butt whopped. I got a bunch of good hits but the guy I was boxing tore me up! He does out weigh me by 45lbs but still, I lost."

The he mentions chilling with the DS's and the rest was directed towards our family.

YIPPEE--Got Letter from Justin 4-17-08

I finally got an letter from Justin and none from RJ, yet! Sadly!!
Here what he had said and similar what his father mention earlier but there more addition that I will add in to it!

Naughty Justin but yes it worth it!! No wonder why I didn't get his letter for while! Wonder if that happen to RJ, too! (This is my word)

Here his word:

Yesterday I got your 3rd letter and today I got your 1st and 2ND letter. Its actually not a good story cause I had to do something sneaky to get them. They got tons of mail here and when they separated it, they put the 1st and 2ND one in the wrong pile. So when they found it was in the wrong pile they put it in the main office to get it to the right place. Well earlier today, my platoon messed up and as punishment we had to clean the company area, day room and office. When I was in the office, I saw it and wanted it so bad that I took it from the office. I hope, I don't get in trouble but oh well, IT'S WORTH IT. ( Wow, can't believe he did this and glad he is in this office to do the cleaning thought maybe spirit tell him there letters for you but I start to laughed if he did get in trouble but glad he got it without any trouble).

As for phone calls, I am not allowed phone calls because it distracts from training. I was only allowed 2 min phone calls to let family know I made it safe. I'm not allowed to call at all though. Soon, I will be able to in a week or two, if we are good. I may not be able to call for 5 weeks or more though.

Man, I started writing this and I had to stop for lights out (bedtime). Since, then a ton has happened! It has not been very pleasant the last two days! I want to try to finish this letter though so I can't start the next one. So I will write about that later! Probably to Hope and Kurt because they wrote me so I have to write them back with something new.

Anyways,---man lights out again. I don't get any free time lately due to what happened the last couple days. (Now you all know how hard it is for him to get around when he can. It could be same for RJ)

Alright, it's been a day or so since I have been able to write but I'm in a better mood now. (Guess that he in a good privileges timing what his dad mention earlier so he in a better mood).
(Letter he wrote to me earlier as I reply to asked him question about 48 hrs awake with hard cord and really smoke them). They had their 6 hrs sleep after 48 hrs awake which is a good sleep and allots of time they get less. It's hard to get energy, we are always tired and when we stop moving. Everyone starts to fall asleep. (Poor things)

Some of the fun things we have done are the ranges. We got to shoot rocket launchers, grenade launchers that attach to my rifle. A 50 caliber machine gun, and a Grenade launcher that launches 360 grenades per minute. THEY WERE AWESOME! It takes a long time for everyone to learn about the weapons be able to do everything in case of a misfired or malfunction and then fire them so at most we do 2 weapons a day.

Anyways, I have to write Hope,Kurt and Lillian back. (It coming Hope and Kurt)

Love, Justin

Treats for Justin's Troop

Well after some (a lot) of thought I finally came up with a treat idea. I'm pretty proud of it so I thought I would share it.
It's a pun off of the candies fast break (recess' peanut butter with nougat and chocolate) and air heads.


Seeing how you weren't a bunch of AIRHEADS, we think you deserve a FAST BREAK.
We support what you're doing and good luck with the Rest of your training!

Hahaha, I'm pretty clever (and lame). Lillian sure had fun counting out all 55 of them. Except she counted way faster than I did so I had to recount so many times because I lost the number I was on. She loved to help stuff the little baggies.

No Letters or Calls...

Since I have not recieved thier letters or calls but I thought I would like to share with you guys what I have send out to my both boy's letter today..I have send them poem and joke for them.


POEMS:
Duty, Honor, Country
by General Douglas Mac Arthur

Duty - Honor - Country.
Those three hallowed words reverently
dictate what you ought to be,
What you can be, What you will be.
They are your rallying points:
to build courage when courage seems to fail;
to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith;
to create hope when hope becomes forlorn.
They build your basic character, they make you strong
enough to know when you are weak,
and brave enough to face yourself when you are afraid.
They teach you to be proud and unbending
in honest failure, but humble and gentle in success;
not to substitute words for actions,
not to seek the path of comfort,
but to face the stress and spur of difficulty and challenge;
to learn to stand up in the storm
but to have compassion on those who fall;
to master yourself before you seek to master others;
to have a heart that is clean, a goal that is high;
to learn to laugh yet never forget how to weep;
to reach into the future yet never neglect the past;
to be serious yet never to take yourself seriously;
to be modest so that you will remember
the simplicity of true greatness,
the open mind of true wisdom,
the meekness of true strength.
They give you a temper of the will,
a quality of the Imagination, a vigor of the emotions,
a freshness of the deep springs of life,
a temperamental predominance of courage
over timidity, an appetite for adventure over love of ease.
They create in your heart the sense of wonder,
The unfailing hope of what next, and the joy
and inspiration of life.


JOKES:
Giving very odd excuses
The General went out to find that none of his G.I.s were there. One finally ran up, panting heavily.

"Sorry, sir! I can explain, you see I had a date and it ran a little late. I ran to the bus but missed it, I hailed a cab but it broke down, found a farm, bought a horse but it dropped dead, ran 10 miles, and now I'm here."

The General was very skeptical about this explanation but at least he was here so he let the G.I. go. Moments later, eight more G.I.s came up to the general panting, he asked them why they were late.

"Sorry, sir! I had a date and it ran a little late, I ran to the bus but missed it, I hailed a cab but it broke down, found a farm, bought a horse but it dropped dead, ran 10 miles, and now I'm here."

The General eyed them, feeling very skeptical but since he let the first guy go, he let them go, too. A ninth G.I. jogged up to the General, panting heavily.

"Sorry, sir! I had a date and it ran a little late, I ran to the bus but missed it, I hailed a cab but..."

"Let me guess," the General interrupted, "it broke down."

"No," said the G.I., "there were so many dead horses in the road, it took forever to get around them."

Magazines

No you dont have to send more then 1 copie of a magazine, but he has to leave it out for anyone to read if they want. Yellow strip on the envelope is the marking for RJ's platoon. Justins is a 3 on the back of the envelope.

Letter from Justin

Justin said it was a the best day so far for him. The DS (drill sargent) told his group that they are doing better then most of the groups at that time.

"Drill Sergeant Boyce (the main one), was layed back and relaxed! He told us that we were actually doing better then most cycles do at this time. With that we are getting priviledges."

Justin can now recieve packages.

"and now we can have magazines & FOOD!!!"

Everything must be split evenly so if u send any food it must be enough for 55 people evenly.

I sent 55 snickers bars today one for everyone. Justin said he is doing better and may change from special forces to air assulate or officers training school. He put an IV in his battle buddies arm. The medic said he did it like a pro.

Said a couple of guys started to go to church with him. (cool) They all know he is LDS and he is not getting hassled about it. Another member of his group is LDS also.

Said that tomorrow he will get to shoot rocket and grenade launchers. Thinks it will be fun.

Updated address for RJ

RJ address should be

PV2 Oom, Randall RN 137
A Co 1-19 IN BN
Fort Benning, GA 31905

Mid-Training Breaks

Does anyone have the times for both Justin and RJ for Mid-Training Breaks? Dad mentioned that you were sent a letter mom about times for RJ's break. I think Justin's in in May but we have no idea on RJ's. So if anyone has this information please post it.

Justin Mentioned In his letter....

Justin mentioned he is running out of some supplies. He needs
-Good Pens
-Stamps
-Envelopes
-Paper

Things you can send him
- sole inserts (good ones!)
-tolitires (bar soap, shampoo and deodarant)
- a couple of pictures


Kurt and I are sending him the writing things.

Things you are NOT allowed to send:
- food of any kind
- books/magazines
- odd and ends stuff.

Ceremony Graduation Date..

So far, we know that there is two graduations date separating for our boys!
Justin will be graduate on June 27th/28th and for RJ, his will be on July 1st/2nd. Our family will be going to Georgia for 8 days to stay in cabin and we are looking forward to see Justin and RJ.

What I am hearing that the cabin we have reserved will be on base and lake. We had a good deal from getting this in luck. What a blessing! Fred and Hope have worked hard to make this plan for the family. They been doing a lots of hours by calling around and doing some searching on internet to find a way to get a place to stay for a week and that how they got lucky to get this cabin. Now, our hope that Joshua could take his time off from work for the week and join with Fred and others and I will be flying to Indiana to meet with Hope till the rest come to meet with us. We will be leaving Georgia on July 3rd.

I want to thanks Hope and Fred doing all this job for us. Thank You!

To be Continue for more update....

Our Sons/Brothers

Justin and RJ have their own goals of becoming an Army and have left home from Michigan to go to Army Boot Camp in Georgia.

Justin have been thinking about joining Army over an year without telling anyone till time had comes. He have called and told his own family and friends with his news about he have already join in Army and leaving on March 13th, 2008 to boot camp. Everyone have been shocked to hear but we are here to support him for his goal that he have wanting to do. We have never thought he would be into this.

RJ have worked so hard to try to join in Marines and nothing have made him passed. All along, Kurt have helped RJ by giving him books of Marines to study and there are many other people who also helped RJ since he been trying while he was in high school. Till came to Justin have provided RJ to try to join Army which he did and he made it through and now in boot camp. RJ have left March 20th, 2008 a week later after Justin.

We are all proud of them and hope they made their goal. We have set up this blog for everyone to read and know what all happening with them. In our family, we will be supporting each other in family only and share this to everyone to posts in blog so that our other family and friends would enjoy read and know what all news from them. You may comment any words you like to share and this will make our Army boys happy to hear from all of you. We love our Sons/Brothers dearly.

From our immediatily family; Fred-Kim-Joshua-Hope-Kurt-Lillian

Letters from Justin and RJ...

Here are some words from my sons that I can share with.

Letter from Justin: 3-21-08
He made it to the base safely. Things have really gotten him into a lots of actives when they first arrived…he get all his gears, learn their songs, creeds, chants, cadences, formations and everything. He also go through medical by getting everything tested.. eyes, nose, mouth, flexibility and tons of shots.

His company ships down range for boot camp on Friday but he may have to join the next one so they can pulled his wisdom teeth out during the time. The first day they arrived, they kept them awake for 48 hours straight then really “Smoked” them in hard core. They make them do a lots of push up and sit ups till they fall over and make them do some more if they fail. Justin said he is having hard time to lift his arms. He also mentions there was a lots of yelled and he have lost some voices. They had to be up early in the morning which is 4:30am and it freezing out.

As soon, he into boot camp will be a lots way harder then he was when he first arrived but he looking forward to it. He want a challenge. He want the pain cause without pain there is no gain. Reason why he said this now but know that when he go through it. He will hate it at times but overall he think he will be glad he joined.


Letter from RJ: 3-?-08
He doing ok and misses Emily. He is going through the process raft right now. He have a new friend who is his buck mate “Shawn McHalhon” who is from Michigan and they became good friend. They flew together to Georgia. They have support each other from going through the stress.

He mention that his heal hurt really bad and it getting worse in each day. He keep telling himself that he can do it and trying so hard. He and his friend have really pushing through it.

Letter from Justin: 4-03-08
He is in basic/boot camp now. It had been a week and have not had any free time. They got on the bus to go down range, meaning going from processing to Boot Camp. This base is 50 square miles big! It a biggest Military base. They had them close their eyes so they didn’t start talking to each other. When they were pulled up, they were so nice to them then the second they stepped off the bus, they were screaming in their faces and it all began.

They are getting tons of stuff at the boot camp which they get rifles, hiking bag, sleeping bags, utility belts and etc. They had to marched about 3 miles there and then had to carry it all back. It weighs like 80 lbs. Since they have marched and RAN at least a few miles a day.

They also hiked 3 miles to a team building course. The course are fun. The next day they went to another obstacle course over water. They also went to Eagle Tower and it 65 feet tall and that is Justin favorite so far. They have done a lots of fighting lessons and pug gel fighting, too! He liking it so far.

Justin did see RJ but don’t think RJ see him. Justin was hoping to see RJ at the church.

Letter from RJ: 4-03-08
RJ doing ok. He started Boot Camp. There are 54 of them in the barracks. He hope it will get fun soon.
He mention that the graduation information will be send, soon! He really misses home life and misses everyone back home but 15 weeks will go by fast.