Earl and Anna

So, I got three more letters in the mail from Earl:

Letter One (dated 10/25)

He mentions that he his starting first aid training, which is about 3 hours long. He said that he had to struggle to keep his eyes open during class, because they had a road march before the first aid training. Apparently, if a soldier falls asleep during class, the drill sergents will make them hold their chairs up over their heads for a half an hour.
Earl also mentions that he misses home a lot, but that training is starting to become fun and that he is getting to know his fellow soldiers a little better each day. Earl doesn't seem to get chewed out much by the drill sergents, as he mentions that they don't know him too well ... Which is a very good thing.
Earl mentions that he will be able to come home for Christmas and New Years from December 18th to January 4th.

He also mentions that he is going to start sending me pages full of random observations from his little notebook (which he included with this letter).

Random Observations #1 - Drill Sergent C.
He is the head Drill Sergent and he is mean.
He doesn't come around very often, but when he does come around he likes to scream and freak out about everything. He loves to call people "penis".

Random Observation #2 - Drill Sergent Cr.
He is super strict, he has to have everything be perfect.
But he actually cares a little bit about the soldiers and wants them to learn and grow.

Random Observation #3 - Drill Sergent W.
This guy has spent 40 months in combat.
He seems like he has a loose screws in his head.
He carries around a coffee mug, and if any of the soldiers were to touch that coffee cup, they will die.

Random Observation #4 - GFT (Ground Fighting Techniques) Class
Part of the class involves getting punched in the face by a 6'7" 240 pound Drill Sergent.

Random Observation #5 - Trashing the Bay
The drill sergents completely trashed thier bay (sleeping quarters).
Beds were tossed, lockers were dumped out and trash cans were kicked over.
They were not allowed to go to bed until everything was spotless.

Random Observation #6 - Eating Meals and Laying in Ditches
Earl can apparently eat a full meal in 2 minutes and then run back to his barracks without puking (Im so pround of him ...).
At 5am he was laying in a ditch with his rifle covering his "battle buddy". They have to lay down every time they stop during a road march.

Random Observation #7 - Uniforms, Gatorade and "Fuck"
Earls uniform is either way too hot or way too cold, never "just right".
All the dirt around the base is just sand ... Where did it all come from?
With each meal the soldiers have to drink two cups of gatorade, but they've never seen a drill sergent drink a single cup of gatorade before.
Drill Sergent W. said the word "fuck" 180 times in two minutes. He can also put that word in to the middle of random words flawlessly.



Letter Two (dated 10/28)

Earl mentions that he doesnt like the weather in Georgia. The day will start out warm and by the afternoon it will get muggy and rain.
He learned how to do a "cross collar choke hold" in his GFT class.
He mentions that his in a platoon of 45 other guys and that they are all starting to work otgether as a team.
He also mentions that he wants an entire pack of oreo's, chinese food from Yet Wah and a whole pizza when he gets back, mostly because he is sick and tired of eating the same food every day.

Letter Three (dated 10/29)

Earl mentions that they have been learning about first aid the entire week and that he really enjoys learning how to save soldiers lives.
He mentions that he got a letter from Dan and that it was really nice to get some mail. His drill sergent made him do 40 pushups for the piece of mail, but Earls says that it was worth it.
He has been very homesick for the past week and misses everyone, but he's having a lot of fun and learning tons.


So that's about it ... I hope to get more mail as the week goes on.
Thanks for reading everyone!