Another Letter!

I got another letter in the mail from Earl today.

It was dated the 20th of October.

He mentions that so far he's having a pretty good time at Basic Training.
They have to wake up at 4:30 in the morning and only have 30 minutes to shave, shower make their beds and clean the entire barrack. Then it's off to do P.T. (Physical Training?) for two hours, were they complete about 20 exercises. After P.T. they head on over to the "Chow Hall" for breakfast, where they only get about 3 minutes to eat everything.
He mentions that they are starting to do some "fun" stuff though, like going through a team building course, where they have to go across different obstacles and work together as a team (after all, they are an Army of One, right?).
He also mentions that they had a class on how to use gas masks and that they are going through the gas chamber the next day. He seemed excited that they finally got their rifles: Colt M4 with a M68 CCO Optic (I'm not really sure what that means ... ).
My favorite line from this letter has to be: "I love you more than my drill sergeant loves to call me penis."

So that's about it, he wrote down his address again in the letter (making sure I didn't forget, I guess?). So, if you would still like his address, please feel free to email me or send me a message on Facebook.

daisysandybanks@gmail.com

Spoke to Soon!

Ok, I spoke WAY too soon.
I just got home, checked the mail and found a letter from Earl with his address on it!
The letter was dated from the 18th, and was written on a tiny little bit of note paper. It mentioned that he was at Basic Training, that they're not allowed to use the phone (??) and that they are getting their butts whooped!
So .. again, I have finally got his address in Georgia!
If you would like his address, please feel free to send me a message on Facebook or send me an email at: daisysandybanks@gmail.com
Woo!

Also, here's a link on how to properly address military mail:
https://www.benning.army.mil/198th/content/Mailing.htm

Nothing yet ...

So, I mentioned that I'd try and post something at least once a week.

Well, not much to post about .. Still no address, which isn't that surprising, since I've heard that it can take up to one and a half to two and a half weeks before anything is sent out. 

The last I heard from Earl was almost a week ago, and all I got was an "Im at Basic and Im ok" message. Something tells me, though, that I should be getting a call from him every Sunday from now on.

I did get three letters on Monday, but they were dated from the week before, explaining how he was getting ready to transfer from Reception to Basic.

So that's about it ... No address, no calls, and three old letters. 

This lack of communication is kind of getting to me, but Im trying to keep a positive look on this and I know that I should hear from him soon.

As always, thanks for reading and keep an eye out for more updates and more posts!

Letters and Emails

The email:

Last night I checked my old AOL email account, just to clear it up a bit and see if there was anything important in it at all (90% of the email that I get on that account is mostly spam, which is why I don't check it any more).
As I was filtering through all the spam, I recognized one email with Earl's email address on it.
So I opened it up, and what do you know? It was from him!
He had apparently sent it while in his hotel room in Sacramento, the night before he flew out to Georgia.
Finding that email was a big surprise and made me very happy!
He didn't say much in it, just that he had spent the entire day at the processing center, was tired and had met another guy in his MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) that will be going all the way to SFAS (Special Forces Assessment and Selection) with him.

So I think I'll try and check my AOL email account a little more often ...

Now on to the letters:

I have recived three letters from Earl so far. One was from when he was still at the MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station) center up in Sacramento. And the other two where from right after he got to Ft. Benning, Georgia.

The first letter is almost identical to the email that he sent.

The second letter I received yesterday and explained how he left with everyone from Sacramento on Tuesday morning and got to Ft. Benning, GA Tuesday night. He mentioned that he didn't get to sleep until Thursday afternoon! He also mentioned that as far as he can tell, the Army is a lot of waiting around (Unofficial motto for the Army: "Hurry Up and Wait!"). He explained that they have to wait around 45 minutes in line to get into the Chow Hall (cafeteria?), then eat fast and not talk or do anything. He said that they stand in formations for hours at a time and no one knows why. The letter ends with him explaining that he bought a phone card, and will try and call me as much as possible.

The third letter I received today and explains how they all stood in formation, side by side, for two hours without moving. He said that eventually a guy passed out from heat exhaustion, but that he was alright. He also mentions that he's still getting used to the time difference between Georgia and California (3 hours ahead, I believe?), which explains as to why I got a call from him on Saturday at 6:30 in the morning.

So that's it so far. Three letters, four phone calls, one email and still no address.

Again, I'll keep you all posted as things keep coming along.

Thanks for reading!

Talking to Him

So, this weekend I got to talk to Earl three times! Two of which were pretty long-ish (more than 5 minutes, at least). It's always really awesome to hear his voice, it makes me feel so much better.

He's doing well.

His plane got into Georgia around 4am on Wednesday. His flight was about 5 hours long (4 hours from California to Chicago, and 1 hour from Chicago to Georgia), so he was pretty tired by the time he got to Ft. Benning. The Drill Sergent's apparently made all the new soldiers stand in formation for a very long time, so that didn't help any bit.

He is currently in Reception, where they give all the new soldiers their shots, cut their hair, give them their uniforms, do their paperwork, etc ... It's all very boring. Earl said that mostly they just make them sit around for hours on end. But he's happy and seems to be making a few friends.

He should start the real Basic Training this Tuesday or Wednesday, so I won't have much contact with him again. He has already sent me a letter, although it was from when he was in a hotel in Sacramento, so I still don't have his real address in Georgia yet.

That's about it, I'll keep posting news as stuff comes up.

Missed Call

So, I get home around 7pm today after work. I stupidly left my phone at home, thinking I wouldn't need it, since hardly anyone ever calls me anyways. But, I check my phone and it has three missed calls and three voice mails on it. I check the voice mails, hoping that one is from Earl. And what do you know, one of them is from him!
I'm a little bummed that I missed his call, but I am also super happy that I got to hear his voice. The message was a little crackly sounding and wasn't very long, but from what I got of it he said that he's in Georgia, that he's ok and that he would try and give me a call back soon.
So that's that and Im happy to know that he is doing fine.

Saying Goodbye

This morning we (his sister, mom and I) met up with Earl's dad, aunt and grandparents to send Earl off. We said our good bye's, I love you's and shed a good many tears.






Earl and his Aunt Jaleesa











(From left to right) Earl's mom Maryanne, niece Marriah, mother-in-law Terry and grandmother.

















Earl, grandmother and grandfather.













Earl's sister Lisa, Earl, and his mom Maryanne.















Earl and his grandfather.

One Last Hurrah!

On Friday night (Oct. 2nd) we threw Earl one last party ... And it was awesome.

Earl's Going to War Party - Photos