Letters from Pete

I thought it'd be fun to document Pete's adventures in Basic as he writes to us. So I'm going to either post whole letters, or excerpts from his letters. He Never dates them so we have no idea when they were written, or even in what order. Some times 2 letters may arrive the same day.

"Dear Mom & Dad,
I'm doing pretty well. It's still challenging. IT's hot too. The humidity is killing everyone. We spent all day today out in the field, in the sun, with an extra 35 pounds with us. We had to run around and do all these different things.
We march Everywhere!
So far, I've done 2 obstacle courses, received my rifle, gone across a single, double and triple rope bridge, repelled from a 65 foot tower, climbed a 60 foot fort, walked across it and climbed down on cargo net, I've been through the gas chamber and made some really cool buddies (even one from Savannah!)
We had to build our own harness for the repel tower. "If you tied it, you ride it," is what the drill sergeants said.
The gas chamber was terrible. I never want to do it again. It all burned. It burned my face, hands, eyes, throat, nose, ears. I had snot all over my face. I had a string running from my nose to my helmet, from my helmet to my chin, and a dangler. It was disgusting.
But so far everything is fun. I've become more confident in my abilities and myself.
I still miss everyone. Please send pictures. It really helps.
I'll see you Sept 30!
With love,
PFC Nelson"

"Hey Family,
Today was our first actual PT test. I did about 42 pushups, but only 27 of them counted. I did 32 situps, and I ran 2 miles 18:38. I only need to drop 2 minutes and I'll be good. Needles to say, I failed overall, but I feel good about the run.
We did the leadership reaction course yesterday. That was fun. There were severn different missions that each squad had to accomplish within 20 minutes (each station was 20 minutes). All seven had to do wit hgetting a box across water, but the "bridge" was always blown and we had random object that we had to use. 3rd squad, mine, was the only one to complete all seven missions. We also had to get most of our people across.
We got our red phase guideon taken away yesterday. We're in transparent phase now. I don't know when we'll be in red again, but I hope it's soon.
Tell Mabry I said to stay strong and I love her. Tell Ryan that if he wants to beat me when I get home, he better start working. Tell Dad that he better watch out too. Tell Mom that the guys down here are anxious to meet her.
I love you all.
PFC Peter Nelson"