WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5th

Wow. It's only been a few days since I've written, but it seems like it's been a month. Unfortunately, not much has changed on my end. I hope everyone else is doing well. It's funny how much you miss hearing about how everyone else is doing.

A few things have changed, but not really for the better. My grandfather passed away last week and his funeral was on Sunday. I knew it would happen while I was gone, and I thought I might be able to fly out for the funeral, but that was a no go.

For now, I'm just trying not to think about it. Sometimes I'll just randomly wan to cry while I'm here. I'm not sure if it's my grandfather's death or my drill sergeants whispering sweet nothings into my ear.

My drill sergeants are unbelievable. Seriously, I don't know how a human being can behave like drill sergeants. In this total control environment, they are in total control. They are cold as ice. They insult, demean, mock, set us up to fail and scream at us when we do. They demand we conform to details without ever informing us of what those details are.

The good news? I'm already in better shape. I'll probably do 100 pushups a day and run maybe 1/2 mile throughout the day. We typically march wherever we go. Though this morning we ran 1 1/2 miles to start off the day. By the way, when I say "we" I mean my platoon and I. My platoon is made up of about 50 - 60 guys and 15 - 20 girls.

I'm actually really short on sleep right now. This past Sunday I worked a fire guard shift. Fire guard basically consists of you getting up in the middle of the night to clean and "guard" the barracks. My shift on Sunday was from 2:00am - 3:15am and my job was to clean the floors in the barracks. Well, unfortunately the shift after us (two people per shift) "reswept" the floors. The drill sergeant came in at 0430 to wake us up and lo and behold the floors were dirty.

So, every night until next Sunday I have fire guard shift (as does everyone who did that night) from 0200 - 0315. Since I get to bed around 2200 (10pm) and get up shortly after my shift, I'm averaging about 4 hours of sleep per day. I have never slept that little in my entire life, so it makes my days seem very, very long.

Anyway, that's how things are going. I hope everyone's doing well and that I'll be able to get in touch with you soon.

Benjamin