Another Letter From Nate

8/4/10

Dad!

I love you! I'm at BEAST right now & I'm pretty gross, so if there's dirt smudges all over this then I'm sorry. We did the obstacle course today which is tactical marching, & then low crawling under wire, rifle sticking dummies, hiding behind cover, & high crawling about 50 yards up a hill of sand. All this in over 90 degree weather. Plus, I decided not to change my ABU's till Friday when we leave to cut down on dry cleaning costs. That & just to say I did it. So I'm pretty ripe.

BEAST is to practice all the deployment type stuff we've been taught. It stands for Basic Expeditionary Airman Skill Training. So we practice defending our camp, getting in chem gear when we're attacked, sweeping camp for UXO's (unexploded ordinance), & casualties. It's pretty fun I suppose. Tomorrow is the eval test, so we'll be in full chem gear from 4:45-12:00 hrs doing all that stuff. There are 5 flights in Reaper Zone. There are 3 zones. We are all competing for an award called "BEAST Excellence." You pretty much have to get that to get Warrior Flight, which means you're the best flight out of all the flights that you graduate with. So it's kind of a big deal. Hopefully we do well.

So I'm excited for tomorrow to be over because that means we are pretty much done with 6th week, which means 1 more week of actual training & then I get to see y'all! Yes, I'm getting pretty "trunky", but still working hard. I want Honor Grad so bad. I gotta have it. As long as I don't mess up royally, I should get it.

Alright, let me answer some questions. I think I got a few in my last letter, but I'll answer them anyway. After Basic, y'all will go home Sunday & I will stay here in San Antonio. That next day (Monday) I move over to another side of the base (Madina) & stay there for a week. Then that next Monday I take the PJ entry test again & if I pass, I stay & start the training. If I fail, I'm in limbo. They might discharge me, they might reclass me. So if I still can't do pull ups b/c of my shoulder, I might be in trouble. But if I can, then I will be here for 10 more weeks of Endoc. After that I'll go to Florida for dive school, but I'll have to wait for a slot to open. So long story short, the only way you'll see me soon after Basic is if I fail, & that's a big if.

I love you SO MUCH!

Nate

PS. I found a scorpion in my shoe!