Airborne School

Hey everyone! Thank you so much for writing me, keeping me in your prayers, and supporting me. Oh, this is Ben if you haven't figured out yet. My mom decided I should write a little something on Airborne School since I haven't written home or anything. So here's a glimpse into the Army's easiest school...

Because we graduated Basic and all that stuff we aren't "trainee's" so to speak so we have a lot more freedoms. My parents left my computer and cell phone here so it's been a great privalege to have them. I've caught up with many friends and all so it was very motivational. Unfortunitly, it'd make me think of home and all ya'll so much more. Anyways, this school is 3 weeks long. The first week is Ground Week. Second, Tower Week. And third, Jump Week. We only train Mon through Fri so I've really only been training for 10 days. They've been long ones though. Our mornings would start around 0445 and ends around 1800 (0600pm). And next week we'll put everything into practice.

Ground week we learned how to properly exit the aircraft and the 2 types of aircraft they use. We also learned how to land properly from any direction with any wind current. They went over all the details and nonsense no jumper really needs to know except how to exit and land. One SGT Airborne (our instructors) describe jumping out of a moving aircraft to throwing a cigarette butt out the window of your car while going 60mph. Oh boy, this is gonna be interesting. Tower week brought us off the ground a little bit. We did more landing practice from a swinging harness, from elevated platforms, and the works. And to practice our aircraft exits we had a zip line, so to speak, in which we hooked our harness up. So these past few weeks have been nonstop craziness. We run everywhere and as soon as we master one activity, its on to the next.

Jump weeks starts next Monday promptly at 0345; meaning wake up at 0300. Kill me now. There's a lot of rumors going around, as always, on what will happen during the week. But were supposed to get in 5 jumps in order to earn our wings. However, many companies have only been doing 3. There are 2 types of jumps. One's called a Hollywood jump with just a parachute and reserve; and the other is called a combat jump, where we have a ruck sack attached to our legs and a weapons case on our left side. So were supposed to do one of each and one night jump at the minimum. Bravo company, one week ahead of us, is behind already so our jumps will be pushed back unfortunately. And word has it the Air Force sent a lot of crappy broken down birds so there's been a lot of maintenance on them instead of jumping.

My graduation is scheduled for next Friday the 30th, but we'll see how that goes. The military just loves to hold all the precious information till the very end, and change it as soon as they put it out to us. So I hope to be done by next Friday. Rumor has it that upon graduation we pick up our bags and run to RIP, a pre-ranger course anywhere from a few blocks to 5 miles away. Once I get there I'll be briefed, hopefully, on what will take place. But I'll be downloading most of my extra stuff to my dad, meaning I'll be getting rid of my computer and books and everything else I won't need in order to make the run and survive day zero. Haha. The school is currently making a transition real soon if it hasn't already happened. They are extending the program from 4 weeks to 8 due to the increase of slackers getting into the Battalions and the near 200% overstrength groups. So I could be the last 4 week class, or the first 8 week class after Christmas leave. I'm really hoping I will be granted to go home for Thanksgiving as well as Christmas, but like I said, nobody knows anything.

Well, I think thats it for now. Thank you again for the love and support. If you'd like to email me my address is bawrestler@gmail.com. Thank you again and I'll be talking to ya'll soon.

- PFC Guido
I am the Infantry! Follow me!

Surprise!

Ben showed up at the house on Sat. 10/17. Wow, I almost had a heart attack! I could not believe my eyes! What is he doing at home? We just saw him last week at his Graduation!

Now that he's done with Basic Training, the rules are much more relaxed. He gets nights & weekends off, & Columbus Day off. So he decided to shock his family & friends. However it was not without travel stress of :
1. missing his original flight (the Army kept him way longer than expected),
2. the rescheduled flight required him to spend the night at the airport for an early flight next morning,
3. his ride back to the base flaked out on him, (but fortunately I was able to find him a shuttle to take him back to the base late Monday night),
4. he had not eaten since he left home Monday mid-day and everything was closed by the time he got back on base at 11:30 pm. And they don't have vending machines. Sorry! :-(

Even though he tried to visit as many friends as possible, not all was able to connect up with him. It was really nice for him to be able to see his friends face to face. He loved shocking many of his friends when he drove up to SLO Sunday evening for the night.

It was a quick 2+ day trip but he'll tell you it's all worth it. (He even asked me to give him a hair cut). He said, 'Make sure you don't mess it up!" How can you mess up cutting 1/8 inch of hair?

It was great seeing him. His ankle is still swollen but he's in good spirits. He started Airborne School yesterday (10/14). It will go 'til the end of October. Keep praying for complete healing & no other injuries during jump school. Thanks!

Grad Pix & more

Graduation

It was a very nice ceremony on a cloudy day - perfect weather! We were told to be there by 7 AM (i.e. 4 AM CA time) to get a good seat! I don't know how we pulled two-4 AM mornings (one for the day of departure), but we did it! The graduating guys had to be there super early with only couple of hr of sleep, so we couldn't complain too much. The ceremony started at 10 AM.

It was a simple ceremony with very nice marching band performance. They also had smoke clouds with attacking squad teams and big booms! I'll post the pictures soon.

We went to the National Infantry Museum where Ben was our tour guide and explained all that they did during training. Even though he didn't get much sleep the night before, he was very patient with all our questions. Matt & Jacob got to shoot a M16 & M4 (respectively, 30 rounds each) at the museum. It was fun.

Now that they graduated, the barracks are cleaned out. So he could stay with us. He's just so happy that his family came & brought his laptop & cell phone so that he could video chat & text his friends. We hung out, had Krispy Kreme donuts, candy & junk food! The Lord blessed us with perfect weather when we're there. We took a trip to Atlanta's Aquarium and saw the only whale sharks & manta rays in captivity! It was really cool. It was strange for him to wear his civilian clothes for the 1st time in 13 weeks!

So now what? He is at Airborne holding until ready to be transferred to Airborne School. He's not sure when that will happen - the earliest is on Oct 8. Airborne training is 3 weeks long.
Then he may go to Assault weapon school (or something like that, 2 weeks) or RIP (mini Ranger School-6 weeks). For now, he'll have to wait and see if the Army will allow him to swap the RIP for the Assault school. Hence we don't know when he'll be back home for his 10 day leave.

Many of the other graduates went home for their 10 day leave and then go to their assigned posts - Germany, Hawaii, or elsewhere. Many of them suspect they will get deployed soon. Yikes! Overall, besides his swollen ankle (~ 70% healed), he looked pretty good.

If you want to contact him, the snail mail address may not get to him anymore. I'll posted the new one here when he gives it to us. He LOVES to get mail! He thanks you for all your love & support. It really help him to get through this tough period. He saved all of them! But now, he'll have internet access to his e-mail & Facebook on the weekends (contact me for his e-mail address & cell phone#), and may be nights. I believe the rate is $8/hr for the internet! But he has unlimited minutes on his cell phone on weekends.