September 27th, 2009

Hey everyone. It’s been a while since I’ve written, but I’ve been somewhat busy. I got back in last night from FTX around 11pm and I am exhausted. I am extremely proud to say that I am now an Infantry soldier, and I have my cross rifles in hand. FTX was long, tiring, and stressful but was nothing like I expected it to be. I wont bore you with all of the details, but I’ll tell you about it a little so you can get an idea.

We took busses to our location 15 miles away and walked to our campsite a mile or so away from wh ere we were dropped off. We set up camp in a small clearing deep in the woods, which was one of the Patrol bases I’ve told you about. We spent all five nights sleeping on the cold, wet, ant infested ground. We honestly did not train all that much, rather we walked almost non-stop. I think they told us we walked around 50 miles (with ruck sacks) total. One morning we had to get up and go on a three mile run which wasn’t too pleasant but oh well. We walked mostly always through the woods wherever we went and most of the time we had to make our own path through the thick Georgia brush. Numerous guys got heavy cases of poison ivy and insect bites from being out there, lol my friend Thomas has it all over his face. I don’t want to walk through the woods again for a while.

The squad leaders were all issued these old vintage radios to communicate with and the things were massive! Drill Sergeant “M” handed me mine and I said, “Do you have a bigger one or do you only have the small ones?” I was obviously being sarcastic and I got a good laugh out of him too LOL. He tried to explain how to work them, and I explained to him that I’ve seen Mel Gibson and Tom Hanks use them on numerous occasions but he wasn’t satisfied and insisted that I shut up and listen… lol. We had to pick call signs to use over the radio, but he immediately canceled that request and gave us call signs when he heard me say I wanted to be Night Hawk, and my buddy Tyler wanted to me George Clooney. (They never let us have fun here LOL).

The training we did do were things like reacting to contact, engaging enemies, and walking in squad formations. One of my favorite moments was when we were going to have to walk five miles or so through the woods, our Drill Sergeant called the squad leaders over to brief us. The woods we were walking through were adjacent to a dirt road which our Drill was going to walk on. I raised my hand to ask a smart ass question which was, “Would you enjoy some company while you walk (I.E., me)? Surprisingly he said, “Yeah Zaleuke, you walk with me.” So while everyone walked through woods, struggling, HA HA, I walked on the street casually talking and joking around with my Drill Sergeant . He really is a good guy, and I enjoyed talking with him.

Through the course of the time we were there, we were ambushed a few times in the middle of the night and had to open fire on them (squads and Drill Sergeants who had nothing better to do than to mess with us). We had grenades going off, heavy machines guns and so on. Its a great way to wake up in the middle of the night, let me tell you..  It was kind of fun though. The last day we were out in the field, we had to conduct our twelve mile final ruck march. Unlike our previous marches, we walked through the woods for the 12 miles rather than on the road. I barely noticed that I was tired or that my legs hurt or that my feet were bleeding because the only thing I cared about was finishing. We even had the privilege of walking up the infamous "Stairway to Heaven" which is a brutal steep road that seems to reach straight up into the sky.   We finally finished 2 miles away from our battalion, where we walked in the woods and sat down and were greeted with pizza and powerade. We rested for a few hours and then after getting smoked for no reason, we began our final march to Honor Hill. As we made our way up the street we were greeted by hundreds of soldiers who lined the streets with flash lights who were cheering and clapping for all of us as we marched pass. Simulator grenades and smoke grenades were going off everywhere as we sang cadences, and finally we passed through the gates of Honor Hill. To best describe what it was like, I can only compare the setting to the TV show “Survivor”. There were torches and bonfires everywhere. We formed up and stood there in the rain as we were inducted into the Infantry. We shook hands with each of our Drill Sergeants as they each said, “Welcome to the Infantry, Soldier”. I was awarded my cross rifles by one of my favorite Drill Sergeants who “gently” pushed the button onto my jacket which may or may not have pierced the skin. I can honestly say that was one of the proudest moments of my life. I did it. I accomplished what I set out to do, I made it. I did not miss one single day of training, and I was present for every smoke session and ass kicking that the Drill Sergeants dished out. I deserve this.

What comes next is that we lay low for a few days, clean out weapons and all of our gear before we turn it back in. I have 10 days and a wake-up before I see my family for the turning blue ceremony. I can’t wait. More soon.

-PFC Zaleuke