Letters from Basic# 12

February 21, 2007

Dear Sweetheart,

I sure do miss you and love you. We have been to carry our M16 with us where ever we go, but I would much rather be wrapping my arms around you! I can’t wait to see your beautiful face again and to hold you in my arms. I am going to squeeze you so tight and hold you forever. I love you!

We had a great day today. We started out with another four mile march. This time we were full ruck sack and gear. It was a lot of fun. We also did some combat first aid simulations. We crawled through the mud and evaluated and treated casualties. When we were finished we were all covered with mud. We all had a lot of fun.

At the end of the day we took a class on NBC. We were issued our protective gas masks and taught how to use them and how to maintain them. We are being tested tomorrow on our ability to use it quickly and proficiently. Tomorrow is the gas chamber exercise.

I hope that everything is going well. I have not received any mail, but I am sure looking forward to it. I hope that you have been able to keep up with the bills. I hope that you are not stressing too much at work. I hope that you are getting plenty of sleep and that you are taking good care of yourself. Be sure to eat well and sleep well.

We have a drill sergeant who reminds me of Rex Hicks. He is built like him and he eats and talks like him. The other night he gave us a speech about army life and answered questions for us for a while. We have four drill instructors.

Some of the guys have been getting really discouraged, but my “Battle Buddy” and I have been doing a good job of helping each other maintain a strong positive attitude. We are the most unified set of “battle buddies” here. I will tell you more about him and the buddy system that we use in a future letter.

Well I need to draw this letter to a close. I love you and I miss you!

With all my heart,

Nicholas