August 6th, 2009

Today, I woke up and had that feeling like I just wanted to go back to sleep. I don’t care how much I get to sleep, it is never enough. On average, I get seven hours a night and that is only if I don’t have an hour long fire guard shift. So I rolled my ass out of bed and got dressed, acted as if I were busy so that I didn’t have to sweep or mop or anything, then I went downstairs for formation and PT. This morning’s PT was horrible. We started stretching and then we went into 60 120’s. That’s where you spring for 60 seconds and jog for 120 seconds over and over again. After that we would normally be finished, but not today! We had to form back up for a 30 minute smoke session which consisted of flutter kicks, pushups, jumping jacks, overhead arm clap, etc. We were dead tired.

Then we had to line up on side of the PT track and run 100 yard sprints. We did 22 of them and each had to be completed in 17 seconds or less. One of the guys in my platoon started walking funny, then he passed out. One of the guys went to get him and as we were walking, excuse me running off the field, he passed out again. T hey called for the ice sheets, which are literally bed sheets of ice to be used on him and they took his temperature. Apparently it read 98.6 degrees but it wasn’t working right. It turns out that his real temperature was 107 degrees which they took in the ambulance on the way to the hospital where he is now. Talk about brutal, and that was my morning pretty much.

I am so damn tired its crazy and I’m sitting in the dentist office now. We aren’t doing a damn thing today so they decided to send a bunch of us to the dentist so we could get squared away. I’m getting a cavity filled, awesome! On the bright side, I’m away from the company probably for a few hours and I have a lot of time to write. I’m going to try to write a few letters while I’m here.

It is so damn hot here in Georgia. I thought Florida was bad, but good Lord! It is almost a daily struggle not to pass out from the heat every day, it is that hot. There has been a few times where I felt as if I was about to pass out, but I can’t be “that guy”. I believe we are going on a four mile ruck march tomorrow morning for PT, and I’m really glad its going to be before the sun comes up because that always makes it easier. It’s not that I get physically tired from the marches, it is usually just the extreme heat and having to wear all of that gear that gets to me.

I was talking last night with one of our prior service/re-class soldiers last night and it seems that I will be able to make Sergeant in about a year and a half possibly, and even staff sergeant a year after that! I think that is pretty cool and I’m really excited. This new guy is full of information and is really cool. I enjoy talking to him as much as possible because I learn a lot from him.

I honestly cant think of anything that has happened that I can remember. Basic training is over in about 4 weeks and I will get to see my Dad, sister and niece which I am really excited about. I’m sure they have thousands of questions for me, as is expected. I want to tell my mom, grandparents, Mary, Donnie, Alisha, Debbie, and rest of my family how much I love them. I miss you all, and I will be seeing you all soon. Do me a favor, and kiss my puppy for me and let him know that I love him too. It’s hard not being able to communicate with one of your closest friends just because he is an animal. I miss my golden retriever LOL!

Before I go, I just remembered a funny story that happened to me a few days ago that I meant to write about in an earlier letter. We were outside in the woods a few days ago when it was raining and we had to set up a perimeter around an area. I was paired up with one of the black guys in our platoon. We were sitting back to back talking, and of course we got busted. We heard, “Privates, shut the Hell up over there! What is so important that you need to talk right now?” Obviously, sitting in the rain with my back up against a black guy reminded me of Forrest Gump…I said, “Bubba said that we should lean up against each other so we don’t have to lay our heads in the mud, Drill Sergeant”. He goes, “What?!” I said, “Forest Gump, Drill Sergeant”. He just stared at me for a few seconds and took a deep breath then continued on with his lecture. LOL. I’m always doing shit like that here, especially, “Lt. Dan!! I got you some Ice-cream!” LOL, my drill sergeants often say, “Shut-up, Zaleuke” from across the bay when they hear me. Maybe it isn’t too funny, but I think so, especially when I know they find it funny too.

Alright that’s it for now. I’m all out of stories today. Thank you by the way for all of the Billy Mays information you all have been sending me. People here think I am weird because I get so much Billy Mays stuff in the mail. What can I say though, the man was an Idol and also a genius with a flawless beard! He will surely be missed, by me especially. Lastly, a lot of you have been sending me song lyrics from bands I like and songs I love. I can almost hear the song perfectly in my head- Thankyou!

I just got back from the dentist and our drill sergeants sat us down to tell us about the guy who passed out today. He topped out at 108 degrees. He went into cardiac arrest and they brought him back. He is sedated for now but its pretty bad and right now we don’t know what is going to happen. Tomorrow’s ruck march may not happen now—I’ll keep you updated, it’s getting interesting!
-PFC Zaleuke