End of Hell Week

22 Jul 10, 4-5 Day

Mom and Dad,

Hell week is officially over!

Right now it’s evening routine, 2100, and tomorrow is 5-1 day, the final stretch.  It’s hard to believe that finally it’s only 2 weeks to go.  Drill inspection and test 2 today went great for me, but less than stellar for the division.  I was the only stick to not get chewed out by Chief after drill.  Overall we did good, with only 2 “unsats”, but it wasn’t the best in the battle group, so the RDCs were pissed we can’t “Hall of Fame” anymore.  To HOF, a division has to be #1 in their battle group on EVERY test and inspection in boot camp.  It happens maybe once a year, and just think about how many divisions come through here.

Despite nailing all my drill moves (which you’ll see at Pass-in-Review [graduation] because it’s the same routine as drill inspection), the sticks were promised a group beating.  One team, one fight!  We haven’t got the beating yet, but the RDCs don’t forget.  Test 2 was today, which I got a 4.92 on (59/60 questions right).  Sadly, our division scored only a 4.17 average, which was good enough to flag again but not even close to the best. So HOF is out, but we can still fight for first in our battle group and get CNO Gold (a really high division award).

The weekend promises to be boring, with next week bringing firefighting.  I’m enjoying your letters, it sounds like you are doing a great job keeping busy.  My update on Sunday should be uneventful, but you never know.  The mind games are kicking up, but we’re surviving!

Love, Jackson