Weeks ONE and TWO are done!!! sorry this post is a bit long, it has letters from Matt in it.

Don't forget that ALL pictures and video were snagged off the net and are NOT Matt. Believe me if I had a picture of him or video I would let you know!! lol

RED PHASE:

so the 1st two weeks of basic training (which do NOT include the week of reception) is called red phase. Basic training is broken down into 3 phases. Red, White and Blue...duh!

Red phase is ALL about failure. Your recruit is being broken down from his/her civilian mind set and forced to begin becoming a "WE" not an "I". The Drill Sgts will give the platoons tasks that they HAVE to fail at. They are expected to MAKE it work, but when they fail the lesson is learned much faster. A lot of people call Red Phase the hardest phase because there is such a huge adjustment in the mentality of being a Soldier, and the rigorous routines. Most drop outs happen in this phase. Even though this is CONSIDERED the hardest phase, it isn't, at least not physically. The work outs, marches, runs and training actually become harder but at that point you are in better shape and it doesn't SEEM quite as hard as those first 2 weeks.

Here is a portion of Matt's last letter to me, only part of it, since the rest is so mushy you would barf!!! lol..and it's mine.. ALLLLLL mine! He's been gone 20 days, only 14 of which has been his training, the rest was travel and reception.

19 January 2009

"You probably think I've fallen off the face of the earth since you haven't received anything from me in days. Ever since we moved down range to begin OSUT we have had no personal time what so ever. We've been getting up at 4:00am and not going to bed until about 10:30 pm ( he had it written in military time but I changed that for those of you who aren't military). We got all of our gear on Friday and ever since then we have been putting it together and getting smoked (smoked is where they are forced to do push ups or other muscle failure drills because someone screwed up on something), then we go to classes and get smoked some more. We barely have time to pee let alone time to write letters. We got out M16-A4 rifles the other day. We have to sleep with them at night. The only time we don't have them on us is when we use the bathroom or are in the shower. My new unit for the next 4 months is Foxtrot Troop, 5th Squadron, 15th U.S. Cavalry, 3rd Platoon. We are the "DEATH DEALERS" We have a good platoon. A lot of older guys, but we have a few young dumb kids who keep getting us smoked. My body is so sore from all the push ups and conditioning drills we have to do, but I can already feel myself getting stronger. Today we got our first feel for what it is like as a Cav Scout to march in full battle rattle (full gear, packs, weapon and so on) and we did it in over 4 inches of snow that we got last night. Another reason I haven't had time to write is because my battle buddy and I have been made PG's (Platoon Guides), so basically , platoon leaders. I can't believe I ever wanted to be a platoon leader! HAHA! It's a lot of work and everything falls on us. My battle buddy is really cool though. His name is Matthew Mullins, he looks and acts IDENTICAL to Matt Waren (a friend of ours from here in Arizona). It's so funny. He is married and has 3 kids to. He's 28 years old so we both have a lot in common. I'm just glad I didn't get suck with some punk 18 year old. So now that you have my address you can hurry up and send me letters and pictures! Just don't send boxes!!! Or anything that is naughty. We have to open our mail up in front of our Drill Sgt. and they will take them away from me. If you could call my parents and give them my address I would appreciate it, you can also post it on the blog if you want. Just tell them not to send boxes either. "

25 January 2009

......."Things have been so busy the last week and a half since we got to OSUT. It kinda makes me mad because we haven't had any personal time yet to do anything ! That means letter writing especially. The only reason I was ale to write that first letter was because I did it after lights out in bed which is not allowed. I'm writing this letter in church. So if we don't start getting our personal time at night then I am only going to be able to write a letter once a week on Sunday and mail it out on Monday. I wish I could write to you every day like I did in reception. But like I was saying this week has been really busy. Our Platoon doesn't get smoked as often as the other three do, but when we do, they smoke the crap out of us. We did do a lot of fun things this week, making sure we had all our gear in working order and then we got in the full battle rattle and went down the pit and learned how to use out bayonet and fighting techniques. On Friday we did the conditioning obstacle course. It wasn't all that hard but I had a ton of fun doing it. Yesterday we did the teamwork development course which was really cool. We had to do different obstacles as a team like building a bridge with only 3 planks of wood and getting our whole team plus supplies across without hitting the ground. We had a lot of fun. Especially on the four mile march in full battle rattle with out M16's. I was even in full battle rattle when I called you the other night. It was hard squeezing into that phone booth with everything on! LOL. This week should be pretty fun too. Tomorrow we are doing pugil stick fighting and then basic rifle marksmanship on Tuesday. I think we doing the gas chamber later in the week too. We had to do a whole 4-5 hour long class on CBRN (Chemical, biological, radioactive, nuclear)earlier this week to get ready for that. I can't wait for the pugil stick fighting though. There are a few young bucks in our platoon who need a good ass whipping for getting us smoked every night! HA HA!! A few of us over heard our Drill Sgt.s talking last night about our platoon. They were talking about moving us up to white phase at the end of this week if we can work on a few of the smaller things that have been problems this past week and a half. I hope they do move us up. We just have to get some of the younger guys to be a little more disciplined. "................

Letter goes on...but then once again...thats all for me.

If you want his address feel free to email me or leave a message on here and ' I will get it to you. His Mom and Dad now have it too. He REALLY would LOVEEEE any letters you can send, also so far the only thing we can really send him is stamps. I'm working on finding out if he can have calling cards too, but since I've gotten 2 calls, one about the bank and one less than a minute long...a calling card doesn't seem practical just yet but I'll let you know. With all this rappelling and so on I bet he is really thankful he was an Eagle Scout..lol. I bet it helps a lot!!! just email me. cute_sassafrass@yahoo.com

Week 1
As you adjust to Army life, you begin to learn the importance of Army Values and learn how they shape you as a Soldier. You will take your first diagnostic Army Physical Fitness Test, learn how to march and prepare your barracks for inspection. You will practice Drill and Ceremony, learn your Special and General Orders and the Military Justice System. You will also learn how to disassemble, reassemble, clean and sight your M-16A rifle. This knowledge provides you the foundation for good soldiering.

Week 2
You'll be taught unarmed combat skills, learn first aid, map reading and land navigation. Your confidence will be put to the test at Victory Tower - where you'll rappel from a 30-foot platform. You'll learn the Army value of Loyalty and the importance of teamwork.