Another letter from Sharpie. In it, we learn that our friend, husband, and dad is a much tougher guy than we thought!

15 April 2007

Hello from Fort Knox! I have so much to write about and so little time. Wow, I have a lot to write about. I have hardly any personal time anymore (I’m writing this in my bed after lights out) because I’ve been appointed squad leader of first squad. That’s right, first squad leader of first platoon. I am at the extreme front right coorner of the whole company formation. It’s a whole lot of responsibility to keep track of 11 privates and their needs and strengths and weaknesses and what they need to be doing & when. Sheesh. Of course I’m eating up the opportunity to serve and command & lead in this capacity. But its not like I asked for it. I was getting my antibiotics (for my pnemonia) at the Drill Sgt’s office one day this week and Drill Sgt Twocrow just asked out of the blue if I could handle leading a squad. Well of course I said yes. It’s a lot of work and a lot of pressure because the Drill Sgts will smoke (or “peel back” as they sometimes say) the leaders if something goes wrong in the platoon. So if my letters start getting sparse its because I have so much to do during personal time - I’m really sorry in advance.

So I guess the biggest news this week would be the gas chamber! Woohoo! That’s right, I survived the CS gas. One of the “highlites” of basic training is now over! It was quite an ordeal. While you’re in the gas chamber (without the mask) it is just as bad as you can imagine. I didn’t realize that it would burn my lungs so bad. It also irritated my eyes and nose until they started running like crazy but that was nothing compared to the burning in my lungs and shortness of breath. No wonder CS gas is so effective at flushing people out of houses and dispersing crowds. That stuff freaking works.

There were at least half a dozen guys that bolted out of the back door before exercise inside the gas chamber was finished. They were all very desperate and just freaking out. A lot of them were screaming that they couldn’t breathe and that they wouldn’t go back in. It took a lot of Sgts and Drill Sgts to get them back inside. One private never did go back inside - he resisted to the bitter end and the Drill Sgts still give him a hard time days later by instructing the entire company to shout out a loud “Boo” whenever they call out his name. I’m glad the gas chamber experience is over but I’m glad I did it.

Tomorrow and Tuesday we will go on our first overnight field training exercise. We’re packing tons of gear in our rucksacks and we’re going in full “battle rattle,” which means we wear out helmets, flak vest w/ ballistic plate inserts, LBV (Load Bearing Vest - the one that has ammo pouches and canteens and stuff), knee pads & elbow pads, and our weapons. We’re going to do our Red Phase testing (its kind of like a midterm I guess) and a big land navigation course. I love land nav so this should be fun. Plus we have to pull security and guard duty all night. And the Drill Sergeants said they would simulate artillery and morter attacks all night long by tossing huge firecrackers (like over-sized M80s) into the middle of our base camp. And while we’re on our guard duty we’ll have people try to penetrate our perimeter. So we have to challenge them, identify them, and let them through or detain them depending if they know the challenge/password.

Everything they teach us here is extremely modern training. Everything from getting our rifles issued 2 days into training to learning really modern first aid techniques and how to set up checkpoints and carrying our M4s everywhere and doing lots of tactical road marches. And everyone is always talking about Iraq. The rules of war have really changed. It sounds corny but basic training is not our daddy’s boot camp anymore.

It’s pretty fun to always be carrying my M4 everywhere. We can only not have it when we’re taking a shower (but we still have to leave it with a battle buddy). I’m getting really fast at doing functions checks and clearing the weapon & breaking it down and reassembling it. I know that by the time I get back and buy my AR-15, that thing will feel like an extension of my body…

Well there’s tons of more stuff I could write about but its late and I have to get up early so I’ll sign off now and say goodbye till next time. Oh yeah… this weeks pie was apple, mmmm…

PFC Nathan Christensen