2/28

Dear all,

I’m still kicking over here. Signs of life. As of about 1800 this evening, my fever finally broke. I began sweating again. I ate a whole plate of spaghetti (hadn’t been able to keep anything down for two days). Think I’m just about healed. And what a story to bore my grandkids with, you know? I’m going to sit them down and tell them about how I went through my first week of Basic with the plague. I actually can’t believe I kept going. We ran, we climbed, we did obstacle courses, and maybe a couple thousand push-ups, and I didn’t give out. Amazing what the human body can do in a tight space. I actually was so numb and dizzy through it all that it wasn’t the epic feat I make it sound like. You’re numb. You just dress right, toe the line, and obey. So I regret that my mind/personality/emotions gets no credit for this adventure…no, they were all missing in action. Props to the human body. We can take one heck of a licking and keep on ticking.

The training itself is downright enjoyable most of the time, though arduous. I’m starting to get a feel for Red Phase. Should be much easier now that I’m not carrying a feverish, mucus-filled, voiceless, migraine-bedridden deadweight around. A few good nights of sleep (that means 5 hours) and I’ll be better than new.

The Drill Sergeants are still coming down hard most of the time, but they are showing a human side every now and then. And they leave me alone. Except for Drill Sergeant M, who occasionally tells me to stop looking like I’m about to cry. No one knows why he says this. Everyone assures me that I in no way look like I’m about to cry. Yet still he seeks me out. I just take it in stride, but I’m starting to get self-conscious about this. I just have big eyes, these hideous BCGs do nothing to help with that. Yeah, I look downright ugly. But thank God I don’t have to keep the hair and the glasses.

Things are going better, all in all. It’s been a rollercoaster ride. I’m good, I’m miserable, I’m good…but I am cautiously going to claim that I’m on the up swing now. I’ll write again when practical, and in more depth. Sorry I can’t be more detailed about the past few days; I wasn’t really there. All that’s important is that despite it all, I’m still ahead of standard, the DSs don’t bother me, and the days are going in the right direction. I’ll write soon.

-Jeremy