6.25.09

A Novel...

"I finally got your letters! 4 at one time! I broke down into tears! It feels nice to know I'm loved. You guys don't even know! Life is good. I started hating it but letters from home do more than anything else. I still haven't heard from Lacey but don't know if she got them. Give her a wring and tell her to share! My goodness I'm happy tonight. Our entire barracks is tearfully writing letters right now. I know it's a lot to ask but can you please write some other recruits here? One of my best friends on the base Recruit Avant, who is 21, didn't get one letter. This is his 2nd month on the Depot. That's a long time. He might be here up to 3 months longer due to illness. He's a good guy. African-American. He needs it. Also Recruit Thompson and Strickland, they were very sad when he didn't get one. But mainly Recruit Avant. You could even add him to the blog. You don't know how much that means to me. I miss you all. Tell the people of our church I love them. Yes, I do have one kid in my platoon who's a member of the church-Smith. He just reactivated when he got here. We are going to be surviving on these. This place drives you crazy. Smith and I have been shuffled around medical. I have been having knee problems. Once again thank you for the blog. It means so much. Please remember Avant though. Morale is very up and down here. I've seen some scary things. One kid got sent to Miramar, a marine prison for assaulting a DI. Another attempted suicide with a razor blade. These things are not uncommon. That blog will be invaluable to me. The more people write, easier this will be. This place twists people though. What a crazy world we live in, a seventeen year old kid is given a rifle and told "we are going to teach you how to kill people with this in the name of the USA." It's not all bad though. I'm the platoon mail clerk now! I like feeling like I make a difference. Letters just bring so much joy and pain when you don't get any. Tell aunt Laura Congratulations! Aunt Lee-sa too! Can you give my dad my address? This place is changing me though. It turns our they were withholding letters to lower morale. Sad, right? Joey is in PLT 2130. One of their DI's were dismissed cause he tried to poison a recruit with Vicadin and cough syrup. Sometimes I forget that I'm supposed to be a man. I still think I'm a kid... Chow here is interesting...I eat very well. 1-2 times a day, I eat some kind of "surprise meal", a.k.a. SLOP. A puke like mixture of meat and veggies. Sometimes, it's good, other times not. But I'm not a picky eater anymore. I eat what's put in front of me without complaint, not enough time time to complain. I try my best too give encouragement to new recruits. This place can be overwhelming and scary. Please send pictures! Peyton, the wedding, mom,dad, dad, my friends. Anything! Newspaper clippings. This place is smack in the middle of downtown San Diego but it's its own world. To be honest, I thought you weren't writing. It's a lot discouraging Lacey hasn't written, I'm afraid she'll "Dear John" me. Yea, I don't know anything that's going on out there. How's Aunt April? Has the old geezer tied the knot yet? Just kidding. Call uncle David and tell him I say HI-I get off light duty tomorrow.(thank goodness!) The more time you have to think here, the worse. My thing I'm grateful for today is Brotherhood. It's something on a whole another level. I don't know all 83 of these guys but I trust 80 of them with----------Sorry to cut this off. A group of 12 DI's just came through like wild dogs. They just verbally assaulted us for writing letters after Lights Out. SERIOUSLY. 12. Ask uncle David..... Remember, write often. And remember Recruit Avant. PICTURES!"

RCRT Suter

Hi guys-As you can see, we are his little world of happiness and joy. He mentioned the blog many times! WRITE COMMENTS, DUH!!!!!!!! I'm printing this out today and sending it-better yet write personally and comment on this blog. Jake wants us to remember RCRT Avant. I sent both of them letters separately yesterday with L.A. times front page, comics, sport page, and horoscope. Do your part!