And on the 7th Day, He Rested....

Sunday, July 11th

Hey Everybody!!

It's been a few days since I've written last. A lot of this mainly has to do with the long days and little sleep. Friday night, we had lights out at 2200, but I had to do laundry and work on laminating these cards for the platoon. I also had Fire Guard. All said and done, 1 hr 30 min. of sleep on Friday.... Also on Friday, I didn't get to eat dinner. I sat down with my tray and made a sandwich with Turkey, Pepperoni and cheese. I grab it and start smiling since chow is the best time of the day. At that moment, the person sitting across from me got up.
DS "W" took these two simultaneous, and unrelated events and put them together as proof that I was talking to the other guy. I don't even know who the hell that guy was. It was just bad timing. I couldn't even try to explain. I got yelled at, told to throw my food away, and leave. Without a word, a look, a pouty face, I turned and walked away. Trying to explain only would have made it worse.

This week we focused on first aid & MEDEVAC. We had a lot of classroom time which is boring and guys are always falling asleep. Trust me, you do not want to fall asleep.... We did more combatives' (learning to fight). This week we also lost our beds and lockers, which sucked. Same people always screwing up and getting the rest of the platoon smoked. This second week has given me a much clearer insight into who are the good guys and who are the bad guys in my platoon. The bad guys in our platoon have been responsible for the following....
- Countless "smoke" sessions
- 15 Counseling Letters (A paper trail of violations)
- Faking Injuries
- Faking their injury profile (Tells the DS what they can/cannot do)
- 8 almost fights
- 1 for suicide watch
- "Losing" the Company Commander's pen (it's the only pen he can use to sign govt. documents)
- Sneaking food and candy
- Stealing MRE's
- Buying Subway and Coffee when at sick call
-Taking old cigarette butts, pushing out the tobacco and rolling/smoking it with Bible pages.

I'm sure I'm forgetting somethings, but that's a pretty good idea of the shit that I and the platoon have been dealing with. There has been talk of extending Red Phase for our platoon if we don't get things figured out quickly. We just need to come together more as a team and start helping those who we know are struggling. So pray that we come together and don't become the platoon to fall behind already.

So that's all the platoon crap that's been going on. Today is just a cleaning day. Right now we have people waxing the bay floor while the Army music that pays during commercials is on repeat. DS "W" looks at it as motivational thing, which we do need right now.

I have received quite a few amount of letters and cards so far! I would say out of 56, I have received the 3rd most mail. KEEP IT COMING!!!! I want to receive the most!!! OZ----Fantasy Update????? Yeah, I'm calling you out !!! The letters have been great. I'm glad you all had fun on the 4th, it makes me miss just relaxing and hanging out, but what can I say, I'm here now and I'm doing well.

In case you're wondering if I have received your letters I will throw out some Thanks You's.
Dad, Mom, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Barb, Aunt Molly, Aunt MJ and Lindsay (AWESOME JOB ON THE CARDINALS UPDATE!!!!)

Keep'em coming everyone!

Embrace the Suck!
SPC. Martin