Family Day pix

Mark was able to see Ben last Sat & Sun during their "Family Day" leave. Ben was so thrilled to be able to video chat with some of his friends. Even though he only was able to get only 2-3 hr of sleep the night before, he didn't want to nap his free time away. Here are some pix when they were lined up right before their leave.

He made it!

Ben survived the 8 mile march with 80 lbs. of gear on his back on Friday! (That's 2/3 of his body weight!) Praise God! His ankle is still swollen but it's much better now. At least he can walk on it.

He didn't know if he was able to get 'Family Day' off until Sat morning - and we weren't sure if Mark will be able to see him if he goes to GA, but we took the chance. In the military, they don't tell you much until it's time. Ben called home at 4:45 AM on Sat (8/29) and told us he got the time off!! It was good that Mark took the chance & now he can 'relive' Ben for couple of days. I was so excited for him that I couldn't go back to sleep. I was very thankful that God had allowed him to have the break.

So for the last two days, he had a 12 hr leave each day to go to the movies, eat normal food, use cell phones & surf on the internet. But he got only few hr of sleep because of training exercises in the middle of the night! Because of the time difference, it was hard to get hold of all his friends. Some of you got to talk to him and it was real blessing. He misses all of you very much.

So he's done with Basic Training now and will start AIT (Advanced Infantry Training) tomorrow and it's suppose to be tougher. If all goes well, he's on schedule to graduate on Oct 2. Then he'll be off to Airborne School then the Ranger Program. He'll be allowed to leave after that's all done - may be in Dec???

For now, he will get even less sleep & personal time so he may not be able to write much. But he asks you to keep the mail coming because that may be THE motivational event of his day.

Thank you for all your love & prayers! It helps to keep him going!

Alert!!!

Ben took 5 days off from writing and we really missed it at home! Here's the letter from 8/15:

They spent the night out in the woods, dug a hole & water proofed it. It was a long and interesting night. But it got better. Next morning, they had to ruck back 3.3 miles with about 80 lbs of gear. Well, he got smoked because the DS didn't think he was going fast enough. So he made him run instead. Then he rolled his ankle along the way and they had to carry him in a litter. Then they dropped him so he felt bad and got up. Then they forced him to run again. So by the time he got back, his foot was bent in and so swollen that the DS thought it was broken. So he spent the rest of the time at the doctors getting x-rayed and all. So he's on profile until Monday. Thank goodness he didn't break anything.

Then I just received a phone call from him today (8/23). He sounded very depressed & worried. The platoon went back into Red Phase (didn't say why). He will be off profile tomorrow & will be made to run again. He is very concerned that he will pass out during whole bunch of test they are suppose to go through this week to determine if they are eligible for Family Day. He's calling to tell his Dad not to go to to GA because he may not be able to get it. :-( So I'm asking your prayer support through out this whole week while he go through bunch of PT tests (Mon-Thur). May his ankle heal quickly & not get any worse & survive the week. He'd mentioned that he might have to start Basic Training over again if he doesn't pass his tests. Oh mine, how awful will that be?? He's been looking forward to this 2 days off for along time! But remember, God is in control of his life!

Lacking Personal Time

Just got our last letter from Ben saying he has very little to no personal time, so he will not be writing for awhile. He wants to spend the time reading His Bible instead. Can't compete with that! I assume he should be in blue phase by now.

He should be finishing up Basic Infantry by the following Friday 8/28. He then gets two days of 'leave' where he's released for about 12 hours Sat & Sun to civilian life! He needs to return by 9 pm to keep his cot warm on both days & not go beyond 50 mile radius. His Dad will go out there to bring him a little piece of 'heaven' - his laptop. So expect him Facebooking with you.

He will formally graduates on Oct 2. Until then, I believe he's going to air borne school.

Did I mention that he'd gained about 20 lbs now! With little sleep & food, most people would lose weight but he did just the opposite. I guess he didn't have much wight to lose to begin with.

He's asking for prayer about his attitude & relationship with several guys, particularly with Dunlap, the new Christian. It's been difficult for him to get along. No specifics to mention but apparently they are arguing & fighting more these day. Please pray for peace, patience & understanding. Ben is trying very hard to be the light & salt. I could imagine the environment is not very easy for him.

Thanks for keeping taps on Ben with me. It's been rewarding to see how he has grown - physically & spiritually.

Duty Squad

Ben was on 'duty squad' this past week - pretty intense. It's a long description if you care to know.

Here what it means: every week, a different squad from a different platoon has to set up all training events, UPU's (meals that are deliverd) and all that jazz - and last week was his turn.

They were doing BRM (basic rifleman marksmanship) so they had to set everything up for the event. He and 6 other guys had to set up the ranges, targets, ammo, and everything before the company showed up. That was a work out! One day it hit 90 degrees before 0900! He said he loaded more mags of ammo than..all of Iraq has ever seen. One day, he shot over 250 rounds, and that's just him. Imagine loading all that. Then they had to stay later and clean up lunch, brass and ammo, police the range, and some more.

One morning, they were woken up 30 min earlier by a siren from a mega phone, and told to change into ACU's & IBA (heavy flak jacket w/ metal plates. a.k.a body armor). The duty squad had to run around to all 4 different PT (physical training) fields and set up stations. One with disassembled weapon, 2x m4's, 240B, and 2x saw. Then they set up a medical station where people treat a dummy and carry it 1/4 mile. There was also ones with radios, tire flip, and log run. After it's all set up, they ran back to the company and ran with the rest of platoon to the different stations only to be timed and worked, all with no food. All this ended by 0745! And to top it off, the company did a leadership training course (that was suppose to be fun, but tiring). They were in and out of the water, trying to accomplish different scenarios.

Whew! It was pretty tough, but he got through it! They might transition into Blue phase this week!

Tank Killer

He's now known as PFC TK Guido. Not a bad nick name for Ben blowing up the old tank!

Did you know that there are different kind of Basic Training? Apparently, what Ben's doing is Infantry Basic which some said it's much tougher than the regular Basic.

Every DS has their own 'mail rules'. He's more than happy to do the 25 push-ups/letter for the one motivational event of the day! Big packages & colorful envelopes worth more! When someone has to do 150 push-ups, they all chip in and help, so no worries. Besides, he did 95 pushes while having a 104 temperature!

He's now in White Phase which he said seemed like he has less personal time than before. But for his platoon doing well, he got a 5 hr pass & 2 phone calls. He called home & called his friends that were on the way up to Hume. It was a blessing that he got to talk to many friends in one phone call! Thanks to all of you who have written to him. He's been very busy and have little time to return all the letters. So please be patient with him. He'll eventually get to you. You can read here to catch the latest.

He had his first GFT (ground fighting tactics) on Jul 31 and was matched up with a guy that's about 175 lbs and Ben almost had him! Way to go! It sounded similar to wrestling. Then they had a dual tournament where he had to go through 4-5 guys that's obvious much larger than him, but he never quit. He was pulled out later because this other guy did an illegal move on him, but he hung in here. He'd surprised many, many people.

They had a reclass in which some guys left the platoon, and that gave more student leadership opportunities. He was chosen to be an alpha team leader. What that means is he gets a sergeants patch & is in charge of 3-4 guys, a squad. He asked for prayers for wisdom & courage to lead & perform above standard. Also please continue to remember Dunlap. He didn't tell me any details this time.

Til next letter. Have a blessed day!

Man Down

There hasn't been too much news from Ben lately so nothing to post. He's probably busy writing to his friends instead. :-)

However, he called this past Sunday to give us a quick update. First, their platoon was finally out of the Red Phase! And since their platoon is doing really well amongst the others (winning some sort of awards), they were given extra privileges. We come to find out that the platoons move in phases all at the same time, so even they were doing well, they cannot move forward to the next phase. He had a 4 hr leave so he went and got a hamburger, soda and candy. They were not allowed off the base but can freely roam around.

The other excitement he had was he got sick the week before from lack of sleep & extraneous physical activities out in the hot sun. He had a fever of 103 and the action started! The 'man-down' drill. He was stripped (down to his undies) and packed him up in ice in every nooks and crannies on his body. They rushed him to the hospital & give him an IV. After 1/2 day, they took him to the infirmary and he spent 2 days there. They took the IV out and left a big hole and blood was squirting everywhere on the floor! But he got some really good R & R during that time. He was able to eat well and normally (no time limits) and even got to watch 'Transformer 2'. He said that was a real blessing from the Lord!

Other than that, he sounded well and said he has 4 more weeks to go in BCT (basic combat training) and then off to AIT (advanced individual training: infantry). There's a small ceremony for the BCT but there's a large graduation event on Oct 2. The whole family will go out there and celebrate with him.