Getting Closer!

"Dear Mom,
From what I understand, I have to go to AIT straight from BAsic. Whether or not I'll be able to get off or see you guys at AIT is beyond me. I really don't know.
But I am DEFINATELY graduating. I passed my final APFT test. I got 38 pushups, 47 situps and ran 2 miles in 16:17 (side note: evidently Pete wasn't pleased with these numbers as he put frownie faces beside each one).
The reason I did so poorly is because someone fell and messed up their knee right at the beginning and I stayed back to try and help him. I was behind at least 15 seconds and everyone was ahead of me. Drill Sergeant came up and took over so I stupidly sprinted into the middle of the group and completely winded myself.
My besttime running is 15:58.
We got fitted for Class As today. I'm gonna be super hot. Hehe! :)
I actually haven't gained a lot of muscle. I'm getting rippped and skinny, but I'm not gaining any muscle. In fact, a guy here who was a body builder has lost a lot of muscle mass.
Will you ask Dad if he is gonna wear his Class As? The DS came and asked if any high-ranking personnel were coming for us, and I told them Dad was, and they asked his rank.
My battle buddies are requesting that he smoke the drill sergeants. I told them he would more than likely smoke us instead! :)
Last week of training! :)
With Love,
PFC Peter Nelson

(PS) No more phone calls all cycle. 3 soldiers in 2nd platoon snuck to the PX and got caught. The whole company got screwed. No more priveledges res of cycle."

"Dear Mom,
This letter is going to contain a little profanity....I messed up tig time yesterday. I got the entire platoon smoked while we were in the field.
My drill sergeant called for us to form up and my baddy and I (the 2 MGers) were close to the last to get there. I thought my platoon guide said to hurry and fall in, but it was drill sergeant. My buddy said, "Why don't YOU fall in?" and being me I said, "Yeah, why don't you fall the **** in?" Turns out my drill sergeant said it. He dropped the whole platoon and ran at me yelling, "You mother ****er! I'm the one that said to fall in!" Woops! Needless to say most of my platoon hates me. I'm not too upset about it because all we have left is 10 days! :)
Thankfully those last 2 months have somewhat flown. No doubt the days have drug on, but the weeks have gone by fast.
Change of plans. The final ruck march was moved to Tuesday night and Wednesday morning instead of Saturady night into Sunday morning.
Things her get pretty hectic. Right now, my battle buddy is walking around in NOTHING but his helmet, boots and camel back. And he has his rifle in between his legs. People are stupid.
Could you please send pictures? And stamps? I'm all out. :(
I'm so ready to be home. Todsay is almost over. :) There are only about 9 days now. :) I have a feeling we're about to be smoked, so I'm gonna go.
I love y'all. :)
WIth love,
PFC Peter Nelson

P.S. Could you PLEASE change my roster number on my letters ot 339 instead of 399? My drill sergeants are making fun at me for it."

The Latest (and best so far)

"Dear Mom & Dad,
We qualified with our M16s yesterdsay. Really, it was pre-qual, but they wanted to save time on Saturday (The actual qual day) and so they said if you shoot sharpshooter or expert, you don't have to come out to the range to qulaifty on Saturday.
Anyways, I'd been knocking down targets left and right throughout the week. As someone who has never shot a rifle before, I was getting a little cocky. The DSs and the company commander kept telling me that I was a great shot and to keep up my confidence. They did NOT tell me to get overconfident.
I made a bet with my buddy where the lowest score would take the higher's fireguard shift for the night. Fireguard is where 2 people stay up and keep account of where the other soldiers are at night, and each hour, 2 more people rotate.
I shot 32 otu of 40. Not bad, but not expert. I guess I could live with Sharpshooter, but I find my buddy and he shot 34. Oh great!! Now I get to do another fireguard shift next time he has one.
I'm getting to understand the Army more and more. We stand around and wait for hours to shoot for a few minutes. We were supposed to have an inspection of our bay today, so for the past few days we've cleaned like crazy, only to find out that plans changed and it's now a surprise.
I can't really tell if I'm at Basic or not. Tomorrow (Saturday) we get a pizza party and next Friday we're gong to a high school football game. That doesn't sound like Basic to me! Then again, I remember that we have a 5 or 6 mile road march on Monday with about 45 pound on my back. oh joy!
We took a PT test today. I passed my pushups and only missed my situps by about 5 or 6. We didn't run today because it was lightning.
Oh, and what's up with Michael Jackson's case? I saw they considered it homicide? What is wrong with them?! I saw he had drugs in his room? That's a bunch of bull!
Well, I've got to get to bed. I'm not feeling well and I'm getting hoemesick. Pnneumonia is going around, too.
5 more Sundays :)
WIth love, PFC Peter Nelso

PS I've been in the infirmary with 102 fever the past few days. I feel better now.

More Letters!

"Dear Mom & Dad,
Basic is ok, still. I honestly can't say I love it but I can't say I'm not having fun. The days drag, but the weekds fly. We only have 6 Sundays left.
"We did land nav in the woods yesterday and next week start BRM (rifle shooting). The woods were calm and relaxing. We saw a tree that had been gored by a boar. It looked like someone well, a beaver got a hold of it. Needless to say the five-man team was on guard after that.
Today we started BRM. We just did a simulator and tried to group our shots. Other than that, we did nothing much. I've been trying to stay busy cleaning and stuff.
I've been praying every night, mostly for the soldiers next to us and their family and friends. I also pray for y'all, Cat and the movie nighters.
My platoon is coming together. We're not fighting as much as we used to . We should be in White phase soon.
We had some soldiers imitate drill sergeants today. We almost got smoked.
We have an Eric in our platoon. His name is Pauly and he's 39. He makes the comments like Eric would. Just now (reason I'm writing about him) is we had a guy start coughing and Pauly said, "Don't push on his head or he'll start choking." Is that not like Eric? (side note: Eric is our next door neighbor who's a total ass, but the nicest ass you'll ever meet!)
I've been getting letters from Cat. I didn't get a phone call last week, so I haven't gotten a chance to let you know. Still no letters from anyone else. just you, Mabry and Cat. I've been keeping them all.
It's time for lights out, and we lost 2 hours of sleep last night. I love y'all and miss y'all.
With Love,
PFC Peter Nelson"

"Dear Mom & Dad,
We started shooting our weapons yesterday. It was fun. We zeriod, and then most everyone that was done got to go back to the bay. I didn't because I missed the first transport by two minutes, and while I:) was waiting for the second (around two o'clock)I was put on range duty. I had to stay out on the range for an extra three hours for roughly twenty people that couldn't shoot.
Today we shot at targets rom 200m & 300m. The Company COmmander said I was one heck of a shot. I had excellent grouping almost every time (3/4).
I almost felt like I was going to collapse today. I had to carry double the gear everyone else did because my battle buddy got really sick. I drank four camel backs of water, and a powerade today. I couldn't breathe! I feel alot better now though. We do hand grenades Monday after next!
I might have an article fifteen (ask Dad what it is). It's not good...apparently, the military doesn't like you destroying their property Who would have guessed? I probably should have worn sunscreen because getting a sunburn is destruction of military propery!
Still no letters from Cameron or anyone, although I got stuff from Mrs. Eaves and Miranda in Cat's letter tonight.
Anyways, it's bed time and I have to shoot again tomorrow. I love you and miss you.
With Love,,
PFT Peter Nelson"

Fun Stuff!

"Hey Mom & Dad,
We got stuck with IVs today. We had to get trained on how to do IVs and stick our battle buddy. I got stuck twice because my vein disappeared as soon as the needle was put in.
"We went on our first road march today. We walked 4 miles with 40-50 lbs on our back. I was drenched in sweat by the end. It was really difficult. I've got huge blisters because someone stole my inserts out of my boots.
"Tomorrow is another obstacle course. It's got to do with medical bullcrap. I'm gonna hate it.
"I've got two good battle buddies. One's name is Joseph Nishimiga, from Hawaii, and the otehr is Morgan. I can't seem to recall his first name. Every time I get a letter, they always ask if there is good news, then we swap stories and tell jokes about anything and everything. They make sure I stay focused on what I need to be focused on, just like I do for them.
"Thre's not many people I don't like. THere's one who I can't stand (he's SO much worse than Ryan) but everyone else is cool. We haven't gotten past the immature stage yet. Most people keep messing around, and the other people get caught trying to hush them, which is why we're in transparent phase still.
"Well, anyways, things are same old same old. I miss everyone. 7 more Sundays!
With love,
PFC Peter Nelson"

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"

Move-In Day!

A week ago today we moved Mabry into the dorms at MS State University. To say she was excited would be an understatement. Anyone who knows Mabry can imagine what it was like; remember the little dog that bounced around the big bulldog in the cartoons, saying, "Can we? Huh? Huh? Can we,Spike? Can we, huh? Huh?"
Her room in TINY! I didn't realize how spoiled she had become in her last 4 years living away from home. At MS School of the Arts (her high school), she shared a suite; 2 dorm rooms connected by a bathroom shared by 4 girls. At Northwest, her "dorm" was really a 2 bedroom apartment, complete with living room, kitchen and huge bathroom. For the last 4 years, she's had to share a bathroom with 4 girls only.
Enter Hathorne Hall, her new domicile. It kinda makes me giggle just thinking about it. Her dorm room is tiny, and the bathroom and shower are down the hall. It's also a co-ed dorm, which didn't concern me until I went to use the facilities. I walked into the only bathroom on the hall, and there were exactly 3 bathroom stalls....and a urinal! (Insert freaked-out gasp here!) I quickly walked out of the restroom and back into the hallway to check the doors. "Restroom" was only on one door, and that was the one I'd just come out of! Having to use the facilities really badly, I quickly locked myself into a stall and prayed like crazy that a guy wouldn't come in to do his business!
When I walked back out of the restroom, I decided I'd check the showers, just a couple doors down. Same scenario (minus the urinal)....4 shower stalls with curtains. I'd heard of co-ed dorms but always assumed they'd have seperate bathrooms! I was seriously freaking out, but also thinking it's gonna be pretty funny when Mabry finds THIS out!
Well, Mabry was already in the know, and the laugh was on ME. Turns out her dorm IS co-ed, but there are 2 wings in the building; the boys have one wing and the girls have 2. Last year the entire dorm was a boys' dorm, and the bathrooms haven't been re-done to remove the urinal and add another toilet. Whew! But I do wonder how they expect 3 toilets to be enough for about 40 girls!

The 13th One!

The media room stank really badly after they left all that teen-funk in there!


Last night was our 13th annual back-to-school ice cream party. We first started having ice cream for dinner on Mabry's very first day of Kindergarten. We went to Baskin Robbins and ordered anything we wanted and called it dinner. :) When we moved to Holly Springs, though, there was no Baskin Robbins. Well, just having ice cream at the house wasn't special, so we decided to have ice cream at the house, and invite a whole bunch of people over! That started Mabry's first day of 2nd grade, and Pete's first day of Kindergarten. We've been doing it ever since, and I don't believe attendance has ever dipped below 30.
We missed Pete this year, but most of his friends still came so it was almost like having him here! :)