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“Hooah” from Fort Benning, Red Phase Completed
By Brandy Lewis
Cade had made it through reception feeling homesick at times but, as he
states, “fearless” in the end. Day one of boot camp came and so did the
shark attack. This is basically where they start screaming at you the
moment you arrive. I bet he wanted to retract that ”fearless”
line. He writes about how scared he was, but he says “I made it
through,” as though he was wearing it as a badge of honor.
I've noticed in his writing that whenever he has a bad day or is scared
he finds motivation in his family or prayer and ends the letter good.
He has made me so proud so far and he's just started!
My days of sitting in his room had ceased and I became #ArmyStrong. I
write everyday and always tell him to take it one day at a time, be
positive and be strong. My emotional state of 'losing my son’ had
turned into pride and motivation for him.
His letters were getting better. He taught us when forced to urinate in
the woods to watch where we go. He wasn't paying attention and walked
right into a spider web, looked down and saw a gigantic spider crawling
up his leg. He added in bold letters “NOT FUNNY.” We all laughed
ourselves silly.
Then another day he was paid one dollar to stick his hand in a fire
ants nest. His comment was, ”Well now I have a dollar. My hand’s pretty
bumpy from all the bites.”
Between his funny stories are stories of training. Words used like scary, hard and sometimes followed by a laugh.
The gas chamber was mentioned several times. They go in with a
mask but comes out saying the Soldiers Creed without a mask. Snot and
tears flying everywhere. The base photographer took two good
photos of him. One with a horrible look on his face and one with a lot
of snot flying out of his nose. It doesn't look like he is having a
good time but he says he can laugh at it now.
On base the church is protastant and a very lively bunch from their
Facebook website. Cade mentions church every few days and the
fellowship he is having with his new friends. It makes my heart happy
that he can practice as a Christian and always have his faith to stand
on. It was recommended to him buy one Sergeant to read Proverbs in the
morning and Psalms at night. That advice helped him through two of his
hardest weeks.
Next, was Eagle's Tower. Sixty feet up in the air and then rappel
down a rope. Once again he starts his story with scary, then hard to
climb up that high and ends it with a beautiful view. Then super scary
as you jump off the side and rappel down.
As a parent we were fortunate to receive letters from our son and a few
photographs from the photographer but there is still some uneasiness
that goes with no communication. Well at eleven days in he
finally started to get my mail. There were close to 30 letters his dad
and I had written him that were waiting to be delivered. He received a
few a couple of days in a row and then bam, they all came! Along
with our letters were letters from Grandparents and friends. He was
overwhelmed with mail and loving it.
So moving right along was the team building course. He had fallen off a
plank and ”died” so he had to go hug a tree. Well in his word it was,
“stupid” so he head butted the tree. Well, the drill sergeant saw this
and made him tell the tree he was sorry until everyone had finished the
course. “Dumb tree” is how he finished that story!
It wasn't a good few days after that because he failed his initial PT
test next. He ran his 2 miles in good time. Missed sit ups by a
few and did all the push ups only to be told he had done them wrong
when he was done. Well he fell asleep writing that letter so it didn't
have an ending to it. Probably a good thing.
Cade's letters always started off asking about the house, his sisters,
the dogs and horse. Now he was starting to answer some of our questions
like he says the food is actually good.
He's been gone one month now and still states he misses us very much in his letters but you can tell he's less homesick.
So as one month comes to an end, he talks about beautiful sunsets and
sunrises. He can't wait until we come down on family day and we can see
them for ourselves.
Our soldier in training had made it through the red phase, the first phase and they hardest phase.
We are still waiting for our next phone call. My phone is always on me
and if anyone asks, I'm an Army Mom. That means I have no idea when he
will call me. You can bet I'll be ready this time though!
#ARMYSTRONG
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