30 June
Hey babe,
I got paid to blow sh!t up today! Oh, I mean stuff... We went to the grenade range this morning at 6 am. I was way excited! We had a safety briefing when we first got there and then broke up into different groups for different training stations. We learned how to properly throw the grenades from different positions. It started to get hot pretty early today especially because we had to wear our bullet proof vests and kevlar helmets. By the time they marched us to the live grenade range it was in the 90s with a heat index of 105. There was a small building we had to wait in until it was our turn. There were little windows that you could see the range from. The sound from a grenade was a lot louder than I expected. I was a little nervous when they put the grenade in my hands but everything went well. That is until I was done. There was a girl that went two people after me who almost blew herself up. I was watching through the window and when she pulled the pin she dropped the grenade inside the cement bunker you throw from. The sergeant with her had to throw her out of the bunker and jump on top of her. It was way scary and it didn't even happen to me. If he would have panicked at all they would both be dead. I know it was his job but it was pretty amazing to see. Other than that they day was pretty uneventful. We have a 4 mile ruck march in the morning so I need to get to bed. I love you and I'm sorry my letters aren't very consistent because we haven't been able to take our mail to get sent. I love you baby! I heard today that my OCS dat is the 22nd and I'm going to talk to someone about my leave and everything. Can't wait to see you! Love you both!
July 1
Hey baby,
I just got two letters from you with pictures. You look great when you flex! (I sent a menacing picture for him to give to the drill sergeant so he would know what would happen if they didn't let him call on a Sunday again). I also got a letter from Brett and Donna. I'm so excited for Tyler and Cori! I also got a letter that I sent to my mom back. I might send it to you and have you call her and send it to her. I can't believe how big Brooklyn has gotten in the last month! I'm so sad I'm missing out on so much, but this is just for a short time. We can do hard things. As far as the flight situation goes I'm going to talk to someone as soon as I can and try to figure it out. I know it's frustrating but I don't have much time and when I do have time all the people who can help are gone for the day. And by the way I'm not tired of your babbling. I love your letters and look forward to getting them. I'm the one who feels bad because on days like today I don't really have much to say. We just had classes on combatives and different US weapons. The hardest part of today was just staying awake. We are supposed to go to white phase soon so I'm hoping that means we will get some sort of phone privileges. I miss hearing your voices. It sounds like the two of you are having a lot of fun and I can't wait to be there with you. I feel like I never have enough time at night to do everything and tell you how much I love you. I pray for you every night. Yep, that's right, I say my prayers every night. Are you impressed? I love you and Brooklyn so much! Take care and love yourself for me.
Love,
Me
July 2
Baby girl,
Today was a weird day. Since it's a 4 day weekend here on post we don't have enough drill sergeants and training cadre (?) to train us so we spent all day cleaning our barracks. And when I say clean I mean deep clean! We had to hand scrub the floors and walls, polish the sinks and toilets and thoroughly clean our wall lockers and once we finished we had to do it all over again. It was kind of tedious but for the most part the whole platoon worked together. I forgot to tell you about something last night in my letter. The army has a strict no fraternization policy between soldiers in basic training and sure enough one of the idiots we are always having problems with was caught passing letters with one of the females. Some people just don't understand the whole obedience thing. Now there is a good chance they will be kicked out of the army or at the very least receive Article 15s. I want to feel bad for them but at the same time it's their fault for being stupid. If we are good tomorrow we get to watch the fireworks on Monday so that at least gives us something to look forward to. I hope you are taking Brooklyn to see fireworks or something. I'm sure she'll love it. I'm so jealous that you get to play with her so much. I'm excited for church tomorrow even though I have to teach a class. It's just nice to have some drill sergeant free time. It's weird how different my schedule is now. I don't have to get up till 6 tomorrow and it feels like sleeping in. Not mention bedtime is at 8 tonight and I won't have any problem falling asleep. I didn't realize until now but I'm going to get almost 9 hours of sleep tonight. I'm so excited! Sometimes it's hard to figure out what to tell you about because things seem to monotonous sometimes. I'm getting tired of all the vulgar language all the time, especially because it wear off on me sometimes. Not all the habits I'm learning are bad though. I"m getting good at cleaning and making my bed. The army has a way for doing pretty much everything. They days are kind of melting together but they still aren't going by fast enough. I was just showing your and Brooklyn's pictures off to one of the guys and he said you have beautiful eyes and I agree. I'm so glad you are good about sending pictures. They help so much. I have to go to bed but I'll more tomorrow. I love you!
July 3
I just finished writing my email to you but it just wasn't enough. I want to talk to you so bad. I don't even care what we talk about I just miss you and Brooklyn. It kind of makes me sad that she is talking so much and I'm not there to hear it. I guess it's a good thing I have that card so I can hear your voices every once in a while. I've been hearing rumors that we might be getting a phone call so we may have talked about everything I'm writing by the time you get this. I hope so anyway. We have spent most of this morning cleaning some more and picking weeds outside. Sundays are kind of relaxing because of church but kind of boring and annoying because we do so much busy work. You and Brooklyn are probably just not waking up. I wish I was there to go get her out of bed. I miss seeing her happy face in the mornings. Heck, I even miss seeing your grumpy morning face. I've definitely got a lot better at getting out of bed. I still don't really like it, but it has gotten easier. Our choir is singing "America the Beautiful" right now and it sounds horrible! It is seriously painful to listen to! And to make matters worse I was fighting off sleep during the prayer. I better start paying attention and getting ready for my lesson. Oh, so there is a family here today with a little girl who is way cute. I miss Brooklyn so much!
It was good to talk to you today. It motivated me so much to hear your voice and to hear Brooklyn. I can't believe how much she is talking. I hope you know how much I love you both. I hope you enjoyed the call as much as I did. Love you both!
Callen
July 5
Hey baby,
I hope you had a fun fourth of July. I would have loved to be there with you and Brooklyn to watch fireworks. We had a pretty relaxing day. We had a few classes on different weapons until lunch, but after lunch we got to watch Band of Brothers pretty much for the rest of the day. I forgot how much I like that series. Last night they took us down to watch fireworks, too. It was pretty cool because as we marched down singing cadence there were a bunch of civilians taking pictures and video. It made me feel kind of good. The firework show was pretty good, too. Today started off to be a pretty good day but took a turn for the crappy. This morning we went to the range to shoot grenade launchers and an anti tank rocket launcher. It was a lot of fun, but it was a hot day from the start. We also had out phasing ceremony from red to white phase which was very motivating, but it didn't last long. Someone from our platoon got caught talking during dinner so the drill sergeants took our phase banner (it's like the flag we carry out front that shows how far along we are) and they gave us the most intense smoke session we have ever had. It was a great workout but it's frustrating when it's because of someone being stupid. I guess we will all get it together eventually. I'm pretty tired tonight and we have to be up at 4:00 am for morning PT and after breakfast we are going to the range again to shoot. Sorry this is a short letter but I'm wrecked. Oh by the way, I asked the drill sergeant again about if you could take me to OCS and he said that you could and in a few days I could take care of it. I love you baby. I hope you and Brooklyn are well and happy. I love you both! Hugs and Kisses!
Love,
Me
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