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!