On Saturday I received a surprise call from my soulmate (well, 2 actually). We talked for a grand total of 2 hours and 11 minutes! It turns out his platoon won a PT competition and the DS were pleased. We spoke a lot about how much we missed each other and how much we love each other. We talked about our future and adventure. It went by too quickly! I'm sorry I don't have more tangible facts to pass on, but in those moments I'm just not so good at recording that kind of thing.
He does have a bit of an ankle injury though. He says it's nothing to be too worried about, he twisted it in a hole on the way back from the confidence course. He says that one of his buddies is hurt and can't carry his ruck sack (60 lbs) so Jon was carrying both! He just so happened to step in a hole and rolled his ankle pretty badly. He has it taped up and he's still functioning at full strength though. People are calling him a "ruck beast" because as a squad leader he takes the lead on the marches and he has no problem keeping the pace because the weight does nothing to him (his legs are still used to carrying the 65 pounds he lost to enlist) and he can walk forever.
I'm so proud of that guy. He's kind of functioning as platoon uncle/father/protector. I kinda knew that was going to happen. Jon is too much of a kind person to just be there for numero uno. There are a lot of younger ones there who really need some guidance. :)
I've since received a pretty long letter from Jon. Most of it is just to me, but I wanted to pass on a little bit of info:
He's right in the middle of the "Gunfighter" phase, so naturally he's shooting. A LOT. He said that on the range, he's not having any problems really. Out of every 50 shots, he makes about 48. He's still working on the 300 M targets, but that's oh... 3 football fields worth of length, so it's completely understandable!
Also, he told me a pretty funny story about one of the DS that I'd like to pass along.
"...during our return trip to the barracks I pissed off a DS that cut open his glow stick and complained that it burned. I told him that there is glass in there and it may have been cut. He yelled at me and called me a know it all. 5 minutes later I think he got bored and came over to talk to me. Apparently, he is an astronomy nut, and he wanted somebody to talk science with. So, for about 45 minutes we talked about weird science facts like common elements, dark matter, the composition of Jupiter, pulsars, speed of light travel, etc. He said, 'You're a smart mother**** Pampell, what are you doing here?'
I told him I was going into Intelligence, but he said Intelligence 'wasn't shit' and Infantry is where it's at. I like him."
36 days until I get to have my heart in it's correct place, well, at least for a couple of days. He's only got a week and a half left of white phase!
3 comments:
So good to hear that Jon's sense of humor is in tact. Sure does make the fact that he is going through H E DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS a lot easier on his mother. (trying to clean up a bit and be a lady)
Dad and I received a letter from J this week. The letter spanned about a week's time. In general, he said that what he learned from his Dad and grandfather has prepared him for what he is doing now. I think that he's saying that he has found something he really likes, and he fits right in. He is mentoring the younger soldiers in his unit. He refers to them as kids, which makes me smile. He's the same ole J. Man, do we love this guy.
Yay! :) <3 I'm so glad you heard from him!
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