Letters from Bootcamp - Episode 3

On Thursday I got the Best Birthday Present.
Ever.



















The Letters from Bootcamp have been few and far between lately. And that's OK. For the past 3 weeks David has been in Phase 2 of Marine Bootcamp, and he has been at Camp Pendleton about an hour north of San Diego. Besides the Crucible, which takes place the week before graduation, Phase 2 is the most intense part of bootcamp. Letters are written a sentence at a time over several days or even weeks during the 5 minutes of "square away time" the recruits get each day.  I'll let David tell you about it. But first, during the last episode David mentioned that he was sick. He did eventually go to sick bay and was diagnosed with bronchitis. As you can imagine, when one recruit gets ill it spreads quickly through the barracks. After some antibiotics, he has been feeling much better and didn't miss a beat. Thanks for the prayers. Now here are some excerpts from a couple of recent letters:

March 15th
Right now I am writing to you from our squad bay at Camp Pendleton. We just got done moving in and now we are on our square away time. We have only been here for about 6 hours and I can already tell things are going to be a lot different around here. They say that Marines are made at Camp Pendleton in 2nd Phase. I'm excited to start shooting next week. I'm also looking forward to the hikes. We are north of the MCRD about an hour and we are surrounded by huge hills, so I'm sure the hikes won't be easy.

The Platoon is really starting to get along and become one unit. We are all starting to feel pride and a sense of belonging. We want our Platoon to be the best at everything we do.

Letters seriously make my entire week. Boot camp has been getting tougher and I could really use some mail right now.

March 25th
I got Mom's letter a few days ago. You have no idea how much I look forward to getting your letters. When our Senior Drill Instructor brings out a big bag of mail I'm like a little kid on Christmas morning. Whenever somebody gets a letter they always have the biggest smile on their faces. It was also really sweet getting a letter from Hannah. I'm super jealous that she gets to eat all the HyVee Chinese and watch all of the Big Bang Theory she wants (not true, David, but we get your point.)

We start shooting on the rifle range tomorrow, so I'm really excited for that! We practice all this week and on Friday we qualify. By the end of this week we will have shot about 700 rounds.

Yesterday we went on a 6 mile hike through the hills with our main packs which weigh about 70 lbs. We also wear our helmets and flak jackets and carry our rifles. The hikes aren't too bad until we have to go up these huge hills that literally go up for about 100 yards and have over a 45 degree grade. Those hills are brutal!

April 1
Today is Palm Sunday. Last night they threw a concert for us. It was all Christian music. It was awesome! It just shows that God is everywhere - even here in boot camp!

We qualified on Friday for our Table 1 course of fire. I shot 3rd best in my Platoon! My score was 236 out of 250, which is Rifle Expert. I was pretty pumped about that. Tomorrow we have Table 2. I'm hoping to shoot 100%.

I have really enjoyed the hikes. On our first hike, toward the very end, we came up over this huge hill and I was pretty gassed. Once we got to the top we could see for miles in every direction, and straight ahead was the Pacific Ocean. The sun was setting and the ocean seemed as if it went on forever! I was completely lost in that moment; it was soooo awesome! Just another reminder of God and how great he is.

Yesterday, we went on our 10 mile hike and half of it was on the beach. Do you know how hard it is to walk in loose sand with a huge pack, all of our other gear, and our rifle? Well, it totally sucks!!

Tell Papa, Brent, Darrin and everyone from JEFC that I got their letters and I am very thankful. I wish I could answer them all, but I just don't see how with the little time we get. Keep updating my Facebook, and keep praying for me!
Love,
David.