28 Aug 08

I just received conformation from our Sr. Drill sgt Boer on the time. Family day is indeed 02 Oct and graduation is indeed 03 Oct. He also confirmed that on the 3rd of Oct, I will be heading directly to Benning (bussed to Louisville, flying to Benning). so plan to arrive on 01 Oct, check into your hotel, hang out till they release me, we'll hang out on the 2nd, you'll got back to the hotel, we'll do graduation probably in the AM of the 3rd, we'll get to take some pics for a few memories (they say 20 minutes). I'll load on the bus to the airport, and then off to Benning. Good news is I'll have my phone back by then. Hopefully I'll find somewhere to charge the phone at the airport!

Reserve a local hotel now before gone. I hould have serveral days in which I can talk freely prior to OCS starting. and I should be able to talk easily on the weekends. We'll see what the restrictions are.

I had a rough day yesterday. we were grouping yesterday and had to put not just 5 in a gourp, but it had to be dead center in 4 cm circle (about 2 inches). I got several groupings, but they weren't dead center. I finally got it , but it took me probably 60-70 rounds. Very frustrating.

Part of it was the M-16. It has been fired a great deal and beat up a great deal as well. There is a piece called the "seer" which is basically a trigger set to allow for an easier pull. But, occassionally, instead of just doing one pull, it would shoot 2 shots in close succession. So that 5 shot grouping was wasted. My rifle was adjusted at least 6 times. so the hitch was I wasn't getting back into the same steady position each time. Well, long story shot - I finally got it , but it was frustrating.

Now today is a different story. We are on one of the army's most prestigious firing ranges. It is a 30 million dollar course. It has the targets that pop up and down. So you shoot 20 rds supported on a sandbag (5 at 75 m, 10 at 175 M and 5 at 300 M) Well, that's a long way - 3 football fields (a yard is 3 ft and a meter is about 34 feet, I'm told). I shot first and did pretty good.

Supported Unsupported

75 M 5/5 4/5
175 M 9/10 4/10 (ouch!)
300 M 3/5 2/5

27/40

That is a go to qualify overall for BRM (Basic Rifle Markship) which you need to graduate. You have to have 23/40. But the targets pop up more random than these here today. So have everyone pray that I'll continue toe shoot good!

My PT is doing well. we're not getting smoked as much so we can train in the evenings in the bay. we, as a company, haven't earned the WHITE phase, and ensuing privledges as we whould have at this point. But, I'm trying to do 200 good form pushups daily and my sit ups. In my PT test, which if I hadn't said it, was 3rd best in the platoon! My scores were:

43 Pushups - 66%
62 Sit Ups - 82%
14:56 Run - 81%

I think these % aren't accurate, but the numbers are.

There is an award for scores of 90 in each category. i'm gunning for that at the minimum. I can surley do (50) P/U's with good form. That ws a fluke the other day. I'm timing at 65 S/U in 2 minutes, but I can do more. I can do 70 in 2:15 or so. So, I just need to increase the speed. 76 is 100%. I need to hsave about 40 seconds off my run time to get to 90%. I can do that. Anyway, that is good too!

Well, keep the letters coming. This Sunday I won't be able to go to our church becuase we do a combined Christian service. So, I won't get any emails for 2 Sundays. so, please send letters until then exclusively.

Well, I better write Mom and Dad back.

Love, Brent

PS. I got to give a guy in the platoon a blessing of comfort and I've handed out a Book of Mormon too!

PSS. We went to White Phase TODAY!!!!