Robert Update

Happy Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Robert Update:

We were able to receive Robert’s call on Sunday. A few guys in his Platoon (60 people) have been screwing up so he only had 4 minutes to talk. The trouble makers have been doing things like, stealing cookies from the chow line, smarting off, mooning girls through the guys shower windows as they walk passed outside the building, ect.), as a result they have all lost some phone privileges and have been getting ‘SMOKED’ big time he said. He sounded very horse because they yell all the time to try and stay motivated. They are still doing a lot of physical training, and that with getting smoked all the time he said his arms are killing him. I imagine that he will look very different when we see him at his graduation. They have decided not to push the 68 Whiskeys through BT early and are having them graduate with the Company on October 19th. We are very excited to see him and all that he has been doing. I will be using a digital camera so I will have pictures for all of you to see.

I was disappointed that the phone call was so short on Sunday, but was rewarded by receiving 2 letters on Monday:

He said they don’t have much personal time at all (for them to write) and what they do get, has been getting taken away so they can ‘smoke’ them. He does say that he can and LOVES to get mail. He reads letters before he goes to sleep and they really help him stay upbeat.
They started rifle training the first week of September. He has named his rifle Courtney (does not know why). First day they did target practice. Group 6 shots in a 4cm circle from 50 yds. He got it with his first 9 shots (a 6 round magazine and a 3 round magazine). That night they had to spend their ½ hr. of free time cleaning their rifles. Second day they had to ‘zero’ their weapon (adjust the sights so the grouping of 6 shots are in the direct center of the target. It took a long time to get through the group, some were unable to do it. Robert said, “I got it in 18 rounds even with Drill Sgt. Harris yelling at me the whole time because I had them in a grouping about the size of a half dollar but she adjusted my sight wrong and she was yelling at me to aim at the same spot when I was.”
(I tell you what, my yelling at him, while making him redue something he did not do to my liking has paid off, cause he was not allowed to hit me either no matter how bad he wanted to.)
That was a long day for them they did not get back to the barracks till 10:00 PM (they get up at 4:30 AM everyday), and then were sent to the showers, were they were only given 15 minutes for all 41 guys. The next day they trained in an ETS, it’s like a huge playstation with simulated M16’s. They practiced there with pop-up targets 75 m 175meters, 300 m. targets that pop up for 5 seconds and then go back down. First time he shot 18 out of 18 in the supported position (sand bags) then a 9 out of 9 in the unsupported and 8 out of 9 in the kneeling, (they consider that expert). He said he hopes he does as well with live rounds. Then they practiced the prone position by putting a rod down the barrel and balancing a dime on the rod. If it stays after you pull the trigger, you have a good steady position and trigger pull. He only got it a couple of times, says it’s really hard.
He writes: “We were just sitting here, and I was writing, and all of a sudden, we were being screamed at to get outside. We got ‘SMOKED’ for 2 hours.” Turns out, that ‘smoke’ job was because of the mooning incident.
He writes: “The next day we did more pop-up targets. I hit 32 out of 36. It was fun stuff. Tomorrow we have to jump in the pool with all of our equipment and learn how to float with our camo on. EASY STUFF FROM SCOUTS”.

That is all for this time, I will continue to keep you all updated. Let me know if you know anyone that would like to be added to ‘Robert’s Update’, I would be happy to add them to the list.
If anyone gets mail from Robert, I would love it if you would copy it, and send it to me. I am making a Memory Binder for him, and would love him to have as many letters included as possible.

Love and prayers,
Loretta