More notes from OCS

I figure his letter is so good, to me at least, that I have to basically put as much of it all here verbatim. I think he'd like that.

Enjoy!

"Well my luv dovey, I don't remember where I left off but it's now 8pm your time. I'm seeking some privacy here in the toilet stalls while our bay is full of hustle and bustle of OC's trying to get everything to a T - for moving to the field tomorrow. It's going to be frigid. We will be out 3 days and 2 nights. Yuck. But at least we'll be doing land nav. and on our own. We've realized the TAC are treating us more and more like OCs instead of slimeballs. Though when we screw up as a team we still get dropped. It's alot like Ft. Benning except with alot more squared away OCs. however once they are in a leadership position and being attacked from all angles you'd be hard pressed to believe these OCs used to be SFCs and SSGs.

**some military translation just in case anyone doesn't know... **
OC = Officer Candidate
TAC = Teach, Assess, Cousel
SFC = Sergeant First Class
SSG = Staff Sergeant
**
I'm a member of B-Company (so put that on any letters for next time) though no biggie as there's only 1 OCS company. I'm in 4th squad. One of the OCs is from Missouri but a few years ago he worked at Dugway for the Army! Pretty neat the connection there. There are some cool guys here but also some that have no place being here or being an officer. Such is life.

I want you to know I try and pray for you and Becton everynight in the dark. The bays are much quieter here than at Benning. Sleep deprivation probably the reason people get to sleep so early. Tonight lights go out at 11pm. OCs will still be up until 1am in the dark prepping. I still don't know how they aren't finished and ready to go. it's 9:05 our time and I'm ready, thus my refuge here so it doesn't look like I'm slacking. In the a.m. I am one of the 1st to clean and pick up slack by sweeping, straightening bunks, and displays. I wanted to tell you about our OCS procedures, it's all about discipline, attention to detail, and saluting and more att. to detail. Whenever we talk to a TAC, any time, anywhere, the 1st 4 words out of our mouth are; "Sir/Ma'am, Officer Candidate Schultz...." It's almost habit now and should be unless you want to get dropped or yelled at. The food is good here though we still can't have sweets or soda. I'm starting to get back in good shape and have probably lost 5 lbs already. Bowel movements are slow to happen, maybe 2x's since I've been here. I'm hungry as I sit and write. But alas, I deal with it.

(One of the things with Michael is his brutal honesty... but I guess that can happen when you're sitting in a bathroom stall for an hour, writing to your honey... nothing's a taboo subject.)

I hope you are writing to the baby boy and please write on blog and myspace about my experiences here. Oh (ADD moment), me and another OC came up with a new platoon motto from the movie 300. As you may know, all PLTs sound off when called to att., not to mention company motto. But anyway, here is our PLT motto.

When called to attention we recite: "This is madness!" The 1 OC yells out: "NO, THIS... IS... 3RD PLATOON!!" Then we all sound off to that with "AROO, AROO, AROO!!" Just like the movie, it sounds really tight. Some of the other PLTs have some cool ones too but I like ours the best. And one of our hard @$$ TACs likes 300 so he digs it as well.

So it's now Sunday the 20th at 4:10 am our time. We got up at 3:45 am. Yeah, great! An extra 15 minutes of sleep, no wait, we actually had lights out before 11pm so we caught a bit more than that. So we're trying to get ready so we can get everything together, start loading our stuff and then go to eat. Looks like we'll have some classes until 11am then eat an MRE before loading busses to take us to the field. *(MRE = meals ready to eat)*

I think i'm getting sick. No, I know i'm getting sick. It started out as a large cancor sore in my upper gumb/cheek (I love how he spells gum with a b.) It hurts like heck. Then 2 days ago my whole sinuses and head was killin and my energy level dropped. Now my throat is hurting and head hurting even more. I'll make it through. I'll make it through because you motivate me. I'm almost done with the first obj. to my officer goal. Then I'll work towards Phase II (4 weeks). I know I'll look back when I'm done here and wonder where it all went!! Again, if you need me back after Phase II, I can do that. I'm kinda glad i'm so sleep deprived as it helps cloud my memory of how tough this past week has become. But hey while it was going on there wasn't much I wanted to relive it. I love you but must go. I love you 2 much.

You are my motivating light and existence. I had a glimpse, a flashback to last week when things were so hard. In it I realized that it was your support that kept me here. Though I don't think it would hurt so bad and be so rough if you weren't in my life. LOL. That's another deal! LOL. Man, I can't believe we're having a baby. He's going to be the apple of my eye, and yours as well! What a great blessing. I can't wait!

I could keep typing on and on... but I figure some folks get bored quicker than I do, so this is a good spot to take a break. I will finish up his letter (that was just 2 of the 12 pages!) sometime over the next week.

Keep praying for him and writing him. We've got 5 more weeks to go!