Postmarked 05/07/09

THIS RECRUIT DOES NOT STOP UNTIL HIS ENTIRE PLATOON STOPS.

I am thrilled my transcripts went through and I will finish PFC (Private First Class). I don't think I could live with myself finishing as a Private. This also gives me a shot at attaining Lance Corporal, which isn't unlikely. To all those I still haven't written, I'm sorry. I'm trying to get to it ASAP.

A few more questions:

1). How is the quarterdeck?- Well for those of you who still don't know, the quarterdeck is the concrete area where the DI's work us until we collapse and can no longer perform, around 10 minutes or more. I've only been quarter-decked once (the average is 3 times) and while it's painful at the time, I feel much better about it later.

2). What are your drill instructors like?- Each is their own character, all equally horrible. Sgt. Martinez is our heavy hat, or main drill instructor. He's a fan of spitting in our face and making us hold our M16s or bags up with one arm until we can no longer lift our arm by itself. He also makes sure to coincide everything we do with sex or the female body. I'll explain in person sometime if you're really curious. Sgt. Ponce is our little pittbull. He's always in someone's face screaming and cursing at them. The best part is he's about 5 feet tall and never runs out of energy. It's actually pretty comical, but I don't dare smile. He's known for giving the meanest quarterdecks. Sgt. Vega is the only drill instructor I screw off around. He must have been the king of marijuana back in the day. He'll try to construct a simple sentence, fail, then get frustrated and start yelling at us. Our senior drill instructor, Sergeant Zapata, is awesome. Any civilian would think he was horrible, but compared to our other drill instructors, he's a huge improvement. When we do good in drill or have been behaving well that day, we get to spend some time with him, like a glorious reward.

Kind of a boring letter this time. Sorry. More to come soon.