letter from Jason 2-28-08

How's life back at home? Basic training so far has been pretty much how expected. Not as hard as everyone makes it out to be but still constantly on the run, on your toes making sure you don't make any mistakes, lots of yelling and a bunch of idiots all around me. Actually there are some pretty decent guys in my platoon but there are some that truly are the stupidest people on earth. I mean the drill sgt. will look directly at them and tell them to do or not do something and they will do the exact opposite. But at the same time they are the ones who provide the comic relief. Which at the same time causes problems because if we laugh too much then we get to do pushups, and other exercises for as long as the drill sgt. feels like. So far the big things we have done are go to the gas chamber and then do a couple of obstacle courses. Dad knows what the obstacle courses look like they are almost identical to the ones at the marine base we went to. Tomorrow we are doing rappelling (think that's how you spell it). Once again with the intelligence of some of these guys tomorrow should be pretty funny. One of the guys in my platoon is the cousin of the fat guy in the movie "Full Metal Jacket" that keeps messing up and getting everyone in trouble and then gets beat by the rest of the guys and then kills himself. The funny part is he looks like him, not quite as fat, but is the biggest screw up ever. He is always getting yelled at, can't do PT or running. Can't march, always whining, screwing things up, forgetting things etc. We also have this 30 year old dude from Columbia that's about five foot nothing. It's so funny watching him try and do what we are supposed to do. The other day we were standing in our room listening to the drill Sargent. All of a sudden we here this loud thud and see him laying on the floor. Some how he managed to fall asleep standing up and fell over. Then there are those that are "simple minded" and you can tell don't have a whole lot going on upstairs. But it's pretty impressive to see how the army makes it possible for those with very little going for them have the chance to make something of themselves and instill values (sort of) that they are missing. Love you all and will see you in a few months. Love Jason