Letters- Navigation & Montgomery Gentry

We just received three more letters from Patrick. He has finally received our letters, and it is apparent by the tone set forth in his letters how much the mail brings up his spirit.

9/18- Patrick wrote a lot about Day and Night Navigation. He writes that they get broken up into small groups and have to find about five locations in a three hour time span. They can only use a compass, and a map sheet (and of course a flashlight for night navigation). During the day NAV (navigation) Patrick’s group finished in 1.5 hours, and was the third group to finish (sorry, I do not know how many groups they were broken into). For the night NAV his group finished second. At the end of this letter Patrick said he has been up for about 20 hours, and was looking forward to sleeping (who wouldn’t?!). He is still rating this experience a 3.

9/19 – Patrick’s letter had many responses to our letters that we mailed him, so this letter wasn’t really about a main topic or two. He is on the bottom bunk, which is what we all tried to recommend to him. We have heard from people who had already gone through this it is best to try and get the bottom bunk. At first we were unsure as to whether or not Patrick would need additional paper and envelopes. We now know we no longer have to send this with his mail. Patrick also wanted to make it known that there are to be no stickers, or writing on the envelopes aside from the mailing address – we are assuming a return address is ok, but we do not know for sure (we are still including it). So please don’t try to make the envelopes fancy or “pretty.” Patrick’s group was introduced to the Obstacle Course (O-Course). Right away everyone had to dive onto some pretty rank water and low crawl with their packs under barb wire. Patrick says they eat three times a day but it never seems like enough food. After chow, they make them drink a lot of liquid and it bloats them into feeling full. Patrick misses having cool, or cold beverages, as all liquids served to them are around room temperature. Patrick is rating this a 2.

9/20 – Patrick writes that this Saturday (which was 9/22 I believe) they were going to be allowed to see a concert. For $20 they could see Montgomery Gentry (for those of you who don’t know who this is, it is a county group – they sing “Some People Change,” and “Lucky Man,” and of course a whole lot more. During this concert they were allowed to purchase food tokens for $1 which would allow them to eat pizza, fried dough, and soda – which was exciting for Patrick that this food was not considered contraband! Patrick anticipates that there will be about 10 guys in this platoon that will have to restart basic training because they have not learned how to act as a group. Once this happens Patrick hopes things will be a little less “annoying” due to the additional PT time incurred due to these punishments for bad behavior. One kid in his platoon actually had a negligent discharge of a rifle on this day. That is something that is taken very serious, even though there are only blanks in the rifle. Patrick said that kid could have killed someone if there was a live round in the gun. As you can imagine their platoon had a lot of punishment for that offense. Patrick went through visual training on IVs, heat casualty patients, and battlefield patients. The next day they were going to do their hands on training. In the next week or so, Patrick thinks he will be certified as a first responder. In this letter Patrick writes “I’m definitely growing as a human having come to this place. Not just physically, but I’m becoming knowledgeable in what really matters and how to lead a structured life style.” Pat is still getting along with his buddy Seth, and says they are each others support systems when they are struggling or get down. Seth tells everyone they are brothers, and Patrick says “he’s what I would have always considered my brother in arms.” They have the same personalities also. Patrick is a little nervous because Seth keeps trying to find ways to get discharged. Patrick is trying to tell him to stick it out. But who knows what will happen, and for Patrick’s sake I hope Seth sticks it out. It will be hard for Patrick if his best bud there ends up leaving. Patrick rated his experience in the letter a 2.