An Example

Ben got a 3 hr pass today and he called home! His ankle is still pretty huge & swollen, and the ringworm on his face flares up now and then and its getting pretty huge. But if he takes time off to go see the doctor, he may be on profile & may get a restart. But...he came in the in the top 10% on the PT (physical training) test and was given leave to go to a high school football game tonight! He's not a football fan, but anything off the base is nice.

He's officially in AIT (advanced individual training) and is doing more interesting & fun stuff - drills like ambush maneuvers, going into a room with 4 other guys with guns to secure the room, etc. He said it's fun but it's also scary when you don't know what's on the other side of the door (like you see on TV). He's working in groups and one guy is from Camarillo, Wilson. He's a real nice (big) guy and they work well together. Wilson helps him out on those 8-10 mile ruck marches. They will both going into Ranger training in the future.

Last week after 'Family Day', they got pounded pretty hard. He gave an example of getting smoked: DS saw a weapon that was unsecured, he took it apart, and scattered it. He then put sand in every nooks & cranny there is in the gun and got it all muddy, and put more sand on it. They have to clean it, reassemble it, and run back to the camp in 3 minutes. They have to run twice as fast to make it.

Next Sat, they have to spend a whole week camping out in the woods, doing training and battle drills, night time exercises). Please pray for that. It'll be a very tough week.