I received two letters from him yesterday! (Woohoo!) One of them was dated July 3rd. It took 13 days for that letter to arrive from Great Lakes, IL? What’s up with that? Anyway, he sounds good and I was so relieved because his phone call last Sunday was sad and emotional. Some quotes:
“I’ve managed to stay off the RDC’s (recruit division commander) no-screaming-at-you-side, though I have been called a dumb ass on more than one occasion.”
“Some of the recruits here are pretty young and dumb. They think this is more of a game than it really is. Our division, which consists of 86 males, is pretty out-of-shape and they consistently push the line. The RDCs have an effective way to deal with this. Instead of punishing the culprit, they punish the other 85 recruits. Personally, I dig the physically strenuous punishments. They are like a new way of working out!”
“We got our vaccinations the other day. That sucked! Like, five needles one after the other!”
“Food here is amazing! Better than I expected. Three square meals a day and getting told we’re worthless pieces of F$%!ing S&!*t and that we will never amount to a thing in this Navy. :o) Just playing the game!”
“My humor still shines through even though there are few and far times to laugh. I’ve made friends and alliances that will last a lifetime.”
He described the swimming qualifications he had to pass, which made me cringe with the clarity of his narration (the kid writes darned well!) This was a huge thing for him. Nate is quite athletic with a lean and buff body, but swimming has never been his forte. He learned the basics from lessons when he was kid, but never excelled at it. There were three things they had to do to pass the swim quals: 1) Step off a 10-foot platform and swim 50 meters using a combo of four strokes; 2) A prone float where one floats face down for five minutes taking breaths every now and again; and 3) Don a pair of coveralls and lie in the prone position again, holding the left side open and slapping the water with the right hand creating an air bubble in the back. Then pinch the coveralls tight at the neck and float around for a few seconds. He handled #1 just fine, but the five-minute prone float intimidated the “shit” out of him and he failed it. It upset him in a big way. “After the initial feeling of failure, I often wondered if I could do the swim thing, let alone boot camp in general. It was my first major failure and it had me heartbroken.” Then he said they had a little learning session about goals and that was where he determined that he was going to pass the stupid five-minute prone float — or drown! “I was scared, of course, as my turn came up, but I sucked it up and I made it.” He said that’s been a turning point for him, being able to triumph like that over adversity.
I miss him so much. And it broke my heart when at the end of the letter he said, “Please write! I’m desperate for mail!”
I’m certain by now that that need has been somewhat satisfied, since I’ve sent him 11 letters!
I’ve made flight, hotel, and car rental arrangements for JDub and I to attend his graduation (PIR - “Pass In Review”) on August 21st, and then spend the weekend with him for Liberty leave before heads to San Diego. I’m really excited about it, but I am nervous about asking my boss for the three days off to attend, even though I have plenty of vacation. NOT my beloved Ms. Jodie Foster, that’s for sure…
