Earl and Anna

Rest and Relaxation

2011-04-27T09:51:00.000-07:00

Ok, well R&R is obviously over ... Earl left last Saturday morning.

Some awesome things that we did on R&R:
- We drove out to Gatlinburg, TN for a nice little 4 day vacation
- We rented a cute little cabin just above downtown Gatlinburg in the Smoky Mountains
- We went to the awesome Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg
- We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe
- We drove through the gorgeous Smokey Mountains National Park

Gatlinburg and the Smokey Mountains are such beautiful places, I wish we had had more time to explore everything. That definitely won't be the last time we visit there though!

We also went and toured the Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg, TN

Im not a big fan of Jack (unless it's mixed with Coke, of course), but it was really cool to see how everything was done, and to learn the history of the company and that the distillery is located within a "dry" county (which is a bit ironic, honestly).

It's weird being here by myself again ... I have to think of things to keep myself occupied.
I also keep thinking that he'll just be gone for a week or so ... But we still have a few months left in the stupid deployment, unfortunately.

It was hard letting him go again, but we had a great two weeks together.

In other news ... I officially hate spring in Tennessee.
We've had severe storms blow through every few days or so, and it's a bit annoying what with all the warnings.

I miss CA again .. I miss the beach ... I miss the fact that we dont get tornado warnings in CA almost every single day during the spring (yes, we have earthquakes, but I can deal with an earthquake!)

Spring Time Storms

2011-04-05T19:44:00.000-07:00

So it is definitely Spring Time out here in the South.

With Spring comes the storms and with the storms comes ... Tornadoes.

Yesterday we had a pretty intense storm pass through, leaving behind a good amount of damage. As damaging and as scary as the storm out here may be, I still absolutely love them. They make the storms out in California look weak in comparison.

I especially love the feel of the storm making it's way in. Everything just kind of comes to a stand still, like the world is just waiting for something to happen. It's all very ominous and a bit freaky. Then comes the fierce winds! And right behind that comes the pounding rain and the thunderous lightning.
It is definitely a sight to behold.

Yesterday I got caught sitting in my car as the storm reached it's peak. Since I was on post getting groceries, for the first time since moving out here, I heard the dreaded "tornado sirens" go off. To be sitting in my car all alone, with the wind and rain thrashing at the windows and hearing the sirens going off in the distance ... Is a very scary experience indeed.
I had to keep telling myself that a silly little tornado couldn't possibly flip over a small Honda civic (even though those silly little tornadoes could easily demolish huge buildings).

As scary as these storms and tornado warnings are, they're definitely something to be admired, if only for the sheer power that this earth can produce.

With every storm, though, comes damage in its wake.
I believe this has been the roughest storm we've had this year, with more than several people being injured (non-life threatening, though!) and thousands of dollars worth of damage done to properties all over the Middle Tennessee area. It was bad, but not as bad as some have been in the past, thankfully.

I will always appreciate the force of nature out here.

Testing

2011-03-30T10:25:00.001-07:00

Just testing out this whole blogging thing via my blackberry.

A Funky Three Weeks

2011-03-20T18:28:00.000-07:00

I'm slowly falling into a funk again ...

I've stopped drawing, but my apartment is spotless!

That counts for something, right?

Seems like I can never stick to one thing for very long ..

Maybe that's why Earl and I get along so well.

Spring has finally sprung here in Tennessee ..

All the fields are nice and green,
and the temperature got up into the high 60's at one point.

Some of the tree's even have buds on them again ... It's all very beautiful.

My urge to explore is slowly coming back ..

I want to drive around and find new places again.

Maybe I'll bring my sketch pad and be productive, who knows?

Three long weeks left until Earl is back home!

These are going to be the longest three weeks of my life.

I am a ball of emotions just thinking about R&R.

I still wish I was by the ocean from time to time.

Every now and then, on windy days,
I feel like I can smell the salty, ocean air from time to time ...

Then again, it may just be the river water ... Or just wishful thinking.

Either way, on sunny days,
I wish I could go drive down to the beach and take a walk.

I love driving the car around,
but I feel like I would enjoy the ride more if I were on a bike.
At least I'd get some exercise then.

... Three long, funky weeks. I can do this!

Where Do I Start?

2011-03-07T23:42:00.000-08:00

So much has gone on since my last post. I am horrible when it comes to updating this thing, oh well.

In January I had a good friend of mine visit me from CA. She stayed for two weeks and we spent about three of those days out in eastern Tennessee for a quick ski trip. I also learned how to ice skate, which I don't care for, haha .. I'd rather going skiing. Eastern Tennessee is absolutely gorgeous and I'm glad I got to see a bit of it. Earl and I are heading back out that way again for R&R, this time a bit longer though.

In February I made the 9 hour long drive up to Kansas City, KS to visit another friend of mine. It was great seeing her and the drive was pretty cool, since that's the longest and furthest I've ever driven by myself. I made it there and back all in one piece though.

Now it's March and almost Spring-time!

This year is going by pretty dang fast .. And yet, I haven't really been up to much.

I've been drawing and sketching a bit more, if you haven't already noticed. I'm more active over on deviantart.com and conceptart.org

Earl's R&R is literally right around the corner and I am extremely excited, happy, anxious and all around nervous! I have a lot to do before he comes home for a measly 2 weeks ..

But those will be the best 2 weeks of my life!
I can't believe we've been apart for almost 7 months now, it still feels like he just left yesterday sometimes. This is the longest we've ever been apart and I think we're both handling it pretty well.

My birthday is this week as well .. I'm turning the big 2-6.
I feel old and young all at the same time, it's a very weird age ..

Even more weird to think that I'll be 30 in 4 more years ... What happened to high school and college? Haha.

Spring is slowly creeping its way into Tennessee, finally.

I'm a bit glad that we're finally over the whole snow-thing. Most of the fields around here are starting to turn green and the temperature is slowly going up week by week. I'm excited about watching all the awesome flowers out here begin to bloom ... It's always a bit cool experiencing a new season in a new location .. Maybe I just love nature too much though, haha.

So that's it for me and for us ... On with the art!

Searching for Family History

2011-01-12T15:54:00.000-08:00

Back when I was a kid, my grandpa would always tell me stories about his past and his family heritage. One story that was always brought up was about a man named Clifford Rhea. According to my grandpa, Clifford Rhea was his great grandfather. All that I ever heard about him was that he used to be a wealthy hog farmer, lived in Missouri and had been brutally shot to death in 1921.
I remember doing a report on him in elementary school, but since then, I've only remembered those three main details.

Ever since I moved out to Tennessee, I've been compelled to look up my family's history. My grandpa always mentioned that some of my ancestors had lived in Tennessee. So every now and then I go searching online to find details about my family's history and this elusive Clifford Rhea person, and to find out why he had been shot, by who and if any action was ever taken.

Well, last night I found something. I found a lot of somethings.

I managed to uncover his death certificate, which in the "cause of death" section had been written, "homicide". So yes, he had unfortunately died by the hands of someone else.
His death certificate had also mentioned that yes, he did indeed die in Missouri, in Jackson County at St. Marys Hospital on September 3, 1921.
He had lived in Jackson County for a good 20 years with his wife, Delia (Donovan) Rhea.
Clifford Rhea had been born somewhere in Tennessee.

That's all that I really got from his death certificate .. But it was a very, very good start!

I did a little more searching around and finally came upon some newspaper articles:

Some of the articles mentioned that a Clifford Rhea had been shot to death near the Missouri/Kansas border by William Buckner and Peter Larkin, who were former railroad detectives. One article mentioned that William Buckner and Peter Larkin had shot Clifford Rhea in self defense. Nothing else about why the shooting happened was mentioned in any other article, unfortunately.

The big selling point for this news story was whether or not the homicide had taken place in Missouri or Kansas, since the incident had been so close to the border between the two states. Eventually, a judge ruled that the homicide had taken place in Missouri and William Buckner and Peter Larkin were charged with first degree murder.

So that's that. The mystery has (kind of) been solved. I have copies of newspaper articles and of his death certificate printed out for safe keeping and future use.
Although I don't know why Clifford Rhea had really been shot in the first place, I'm still happy to have found evidence of his homicide.

I've always been interested in history, especially local and family history. I had a fun time searching about and will continue to look up my ancestors as the weeks, months and years go by.

A New Year

2011-01-09T16:12:00.000-08:00

I got back last Friday from my 3 week vacation out to California to go see friends and family. It was a very nice vacation indeed.

I almost hate calling it a vacation though, because it wasn't like I was taking a break from working or anything out here. I guess it was more of a visit than a vacation.

Whatever it was, I had a very good time. I was very happy to see some friends and even happier to see my family again.

The weather wasn't too nice for the first week and a half, unfortunately. Mostly rain, wind and overcast the entire time - But that still beats the weather out here in Tennessee. I will gladly take a rainy, foggy, dreary day in California anytime over the freezing cold, ice and snow out here right now.

I got to see the ocean again as well! Which was absolutely amazing. I didn't feel like I was stuck in the middle of nowhere anymore .. I was finally back on the edge of the world.

Christmas was nice. My family and I were all together again under the same roof for one day at least. We spent the day up at my grandpa's house overlooking the ocean. It was nice falling asleep to the sound of crashing waves again.

New Years was nice as well. I spent New Years Eve out in "the valley" at a friends place. Although everyone had a good time eating, drinking and chatting away .. I feel like the whole thing was a bit lackluster. Overall it was a very quiet event and everyone went home fairly early. I think we're all getting a bit too mature in our "old" age, haha.

So that was about it ... The time went by pretty dang fast and a part of me wishes that I had never left, but I guess Im happy to be back in Tennessee. I have a lot of things coming up in this new year, which I am very much looking forward to.

Time for an Update

2010-11-23T14:06:00.000-08:00

Alright, well, I guess I should post something.
I mean, it has been 5 freakin' months since my last post!
I have a lot to post about, but I'll try to make this sort and sweet.

July

- Earl got two weeks of leave, so we took the time to drive all the way out to CA and back. What an adventure! It was awesome seeing family and friends again. I would love to drive across the country again as well, it was quite the experience.
(Photos of the trip can be found here: Our Road Trip )
- We found out the dates of when Earl was to deploy in August.

August

- Earl deploys in the begining of August and I am left here wondering what to do with myself.
- My job hunt begins.
- By the end of the month I had kind of gotten over the shock of Earl leaving and had started to explore more of Clarksville and the surrounding areas.
(Clarksville photos: Here ) (I found a farmers market in town! Photos Here )

September

- Still searching for the elusive job, with not much success.
- One month since Earl left.
- Went to the fantastic Clarksville Riverfest! (Photos Here)
- Also went to the Tennessee State Fair down in Nashville! (Photos Here)

October

- The heat and humidity finally died down a bit and you could feel a nice chill in the air.
- Two months since Earl left.
- Had two interviews for possible jobs, but didn't land any.
- Started to work out a bit and found the very pretty Clarksville Greenway (Photos Here)
- Spent Halloween Weekend seeing a local showing of Dracula and went Trick Or Treating with Lisa's wonderful kids.

November

- Gave up on the job hunt for a bit and got a ticket home for the holidays for December.
- Continued to work out and go to some awesome Zumba fitness classes.
- Three months since Earl left (I think I've sent him 4-5 care packages so far?).
- Went to the fantastic Nashville Zoo over Veterans Day Weekend (Photos Here)
- Lisa moves back to CA with her kids due to the fact that she couldn't find a job. Sad times.

So that's what I've been up to over the last few months. Not a whole lot, but I am happy that I got to explore a little bit.
As sad as I am that I wo't be spending Thanksgiving with my family, I am happy though that I was invited over to a friends house. Im also happy and really looking forward to flying back home for Christmas and New Years in December.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Everyday Life

2010-06-15T08:37:00.000-07:00

We finally have some family here in Tennessee.
Earl's sister Lisa moved out here on the 4th. Her and her kids traveled for three days by way of a Greyhound bus. It's nice to have some familiar faces in the area now. So we've been helping her get settled in for the most part.

Earl and I have built up a nice little basic routine during the week. Either he takes the car with him to work for the day, leaving me here to clean up the apartment a bit ... Or, I'll get up with him at the crack of dawn, drive him to work and then go about my day running errands. On the weekends we'll usually end up going out to eat, out to see a movie or we will go down and visit Lisa and the kids for a bit.

I am meeting more and more people around here, thankfully. Earl's platoon had a small party at someones house last weekend, so I got to meet some of the guys that Earl works with (along with some of the wives). I am happy to say that Earl will be going to Afghanistan with a good (a couple very experienced) bunch of people.

Life is pretty normal around here, things have slowed down quite a bit. This area is becoming less and less interesting as the days go by.

Our road trip back to California is coming up fast, so we're starting to prepare for that as well. I'm very excited to see the coast once again, being land locked is a bit annoying at times. At least we have a big river near by though and there are a few lakes not too far from here, which is better than nothing.

Things are slowing down and moving by fast all at the same time.

Out and About

2010-06-01T22:21:00.000-07:00

Earl got back last Tuesday from three weeks of JRTC down in Louisiana. I am more than happy to have him back. He got a four day weekend thanks to Memorial Day, which was awesome. We got caught up on a lot of things and explored a lot of new areas.

One of those areas being Land Between the Lakes, which is an hour and half drive from here. It's a beautiful area and very immense. We got lost several times both on our way in and on our way out.

For all of you back home who thought I'd be moving to a flat, farmland, hillbilly, middle-of-no-where area ... Well, you were all mostly wrong. This area of Tennessee seems to mostly consist of medium clumps of flat farmland surrounded by huge, lush, forested, rolling foothills.
Which is exactly what Land Between the Lakes was like. We drove for what seemed like a million miles of a never ending stretch of flat highway (I learned that I hate driving in a straight line for more than 5 miles), only to turn down the road leading out to the lake and come upon huge rolling hills and a massive green forest.

I've never seen a lake that huge before. The pictures I took don't do it any justice at all. For a split second I almost thought I was looking out across the ocean. It was gorgeous, I wish we had brought a canoe or something to paddle around in.

The forest surrounding the lake was broken up by a few, flat clearings here and there. I guess farmers had decided to make the most of those clearings and plant crops of corn, because every clearing we came across either had a small corn field in it or the remnants of one.

We saw plenty of wildlife in the area as well. A couple of turkey vultures scavenging on something I couldn't recognize, lots of chipmunks and squirrels, a single raccoon, a single wild turkey, a few deer (not like the kind in CA though, they were smaller and had brown/reddish fur) and a couple of turtles trying to cross the road ... And, of course, lots of bugs. There are some very strange bugs around here, and they all seem to be twice the size of the ones in CA (I blame the warmer climate here).

We spent a good two hours out at Land Between the Lakes (mostly driving around and getting lost), which was enough for us in one day.

So that's my story of our mini-adventure. I'd like to go back someday, perhaps with a little bit more planning in mind.

Again, I'm happy to have Earl back home with me. He has a three day weekend coming up, so we will see where we go then. Then in two weeks we'll be driving back to California for a quick (but much needed) visit.

On with the adventure!

Tennessee, Here I Come!

2010-05-19T17:04:00.000-07:00

Alright, lets start this thing off with the story of my first three weeks here:

Movers came on Monday, April 26th. They were very quick and packed everything up within a few hours. The rest of the day I spent with my family, driving around, doing some last minute errands and deep cleaning the (now completely empty) apartment.

I spent the night at my parents place and woke up, bright and early, around 4:30am on Tuesday to catch my plane from San Francisco to Nashville. I got to the airport on time, no major hassles or delays and was up in the air, on my merry way to Nashville, TN around 6:30am (PST). I had stop over in Houston and connect flights (apparently there are no direct flights from San Francisco to Nashville).
I had approximately 45 minutes to cross one huge, huge airport and get to my connecting flight gate. I made it about 15 minutes early and took the time to relax, go to the bathroom and make a few phone calls. From what I could see on the plane, Houston seemed extremely flat, although I think I could make out the Gulf Coast off in the distance, which was pretty cool. I got on my connecting flight and made my way (finally) out to Nashville, TN.
The plane we were on from Houston to Nashville was the smallest plane I'd ever been on (only 3 seats across) ... It was more than a little nerve-wrecking. You could feel every little bump and bit of turbulance there was (and there was quite a lot!). Thankfully though, I landed safe and sound in Nashville, TN around 2:30pm (CST). The entire trip from San Francisco to Nashville was a long and grueling 8 hours (longer than my trip from San Francisco to Georgia, oddly enough).

For the first time in two long months, I saw Earl! I really didnt think I'd get as emotional as I did when I saw him, but I cried like a little baby. After reuniting we hopped in the (brand new!) car and made our way out to Ft. Campbell/Clarksville, TN. I was amazed by landscape in this part of the state, it was so green! It was raining and cloudy! There were huge rolling hills! There were long, sweeping turns in the highway! There were huge, winding rivers! There were massive rock cliffs! ... Where the hell was I? This wasn't the flat, hot, dry, nothingness, middle-of-nowhere that I had imagined. If I had seen the ocean off in the distance, I would have thought I'd never left California. This place was fantastic!
We got to Clarksville, Earl showed me a few places he had already been. He pointed out some of the gates leading in to Ft. Campbell, and then we drove up to our new apartment. Ah, home sweet home!

Earl and I only had a measley 5 days together, before he had to leave down to Louisiana for 3 weeks of pre-deployment training, so we tried to make the best of each day. We went out in our new car and purposely "explored" the area (mostly by getting lost). I went to a mandatory "Family Fun Day"for Earl's unit out on the post somewhere, met some of Earl's battle buddies, and quickly made myself a few friends. We walked around Dunbar Cave one day, headed out to Nashville another day and then I experienced my first southern summer storm (not realizing at the time just how powerful and damaging it would turn out to be) over the weekend.

Earl left on Tuesday, May 4th for Louisiana and I was now left to fend for myself for three weeks in a place I hadn't even heard of a couple of months ago.
I've tried to make the most of my time here since he's been gone. The few friends I've made here have greatly helped me in adapting to this new environment. I know how to navigate Ft. Campbell better, I've found out new areas (the river front of downtown Clarksville,a few new stores and an Amish community in Kentucky), I've experienced the infamous (and awful) humidy (and amaing thunder storms!), and Im slowly meeting new people and doing new things each and every day.

It's been more than 2 weeks since Earl left, more than 3 weeks since I arrived here, and I think Im doing pretty well so far. Earl gets back sometime in the middle of next week. I am looking forward to spending the next 2 and a half months with him, exploring this area some more and hopefully taking a roadtrip back out to California before he leaves for the big and scary deployment.

New Adventures

2010-05-19T14:10:00.000-07:00

So, I wasn't going to continue with this blog after Earl got out of basic training.

I didn't really see the point, since most of you already know what's going on in our lives through other means.

Then I thought about it a little more, though, and thought to myself, "why not?"

So, here we go again with the many updates, stories and adventures of Earl and I.

Don't expect too much information on when and where Earl deploys. No news is usually good news and the less information I give out about him being over there, the better.
This blog will mostly be about our time here on the Tennessee/Kentucky border, around Ft. Campbell and the surrounding area.

So keep and eye on this blog, once again, and check back for updates and stories. I'll be posting some of the adventures we've had since I've been here in the next couple of weeks.

Big Change of Plans

2010-02-17T16:57:00.000-08:00

First, the Bad News:

Earl is not getting in to Airborne School.

He had a PT Test at 4am this morning and failed it. It's not that he couldn't make the requirements, it's that the instructors were being complete douche bags while giving the test. Earl would get to about 30 push up's and the instructor would start counting back down, or keep counting the same number over and over again, so poor Earl had no idea how many push up's he was really doing.
Apparently all the instructors were doing this exact same thing to almost every other guy taking the test. Earl was told that he could immediately reapply for Airborne School if he wanted because what the instructors were doing wasn't right. He made a choice though and isn't going to reapply.
He feels like he might need more time before taking the Special Forces route and that he just wants to get to a duty station and get "settled down". He was also concerned about the amount of time he'd be able to see me while training for Special Forces and was worried that we'd hardly ever get to see each other.

Now, on to the Good News:

I was surprised at how well Earl was taking all of this. I really thought he had his heart set on being in a Special Forces group. I think I was more bummed about the news than he was. I honestly thought that he'd be devastated to not get into Airborne .. But he couldn't be happier. He said that he missed me terribly and is now looking forward to hopefully spending more time together. I too love the fact that I'll get to see him sooner than expected, and am happy that we will be moving to a new duty station sooner than expected as well.

So what does this all mean, exactly? Earl will continue to wait around on Ft. Benning until someone somewhere assigns him to an Infantry unit, which could lead us anywhere in the United States (not completely sure if there are many Infantry units oversea's).

Now ... On with the Adventure!

Back In From the Peach State

2010-02-08T13:50:00.000-08:00

So, Im finally back ... And what an experience it was! I apologize for the lack of photos, I didn't have much time to take very many.

Seeing Earl and watching him graduate OSUT really opened my eyes to everything that he has gone through and everything that he will continue to go through. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder.

This trip was full of "firsts" for me: This was my first flight by myself in 10 years, my first visit to Georgia in 10 years, and my first time stepping foot on an actual military post ... Again, what an experience it was.

Going there, doing everything on my own and coming back really made me realize just how independent I can be. I really wanted someone to hold my hand and walk me through every step of the way ... But I did it, all by my little self.

So that's that ... I could go on and on about my trip, but I'll spare you all the long and boring read.

Next stop: Airborne School!

Oh, one last note: Earl doesn't have an address anymore that people can write to. So please don't send him a letter or anything, unless you would like for it to get lost somewhere in the mailing system. He does, however, have his cell phone and he has more free time than before. So send him a text, send him a photo or give him a ring sometime.

The Beginning of the End

2010-01-27T17:11:00.000-08:00

I know, I know .. I said that I wouldn't post anymore until after Earl's graduation. I just got three letters in the mail from Earl today, though, so I figured I'd share a bit.

(Wednesday) 1/20/10

Earl and his fellow soldiers went on a 4 mile run early that morning wearing every single bit of body armor that they have. Later on in the afternoon they practiced drill and ceremony marching for hours on end. They then spent the rest of the evening packing and going over their gear for their FTX (Field Training eXercise). Earl is exhausted be he is prepared to retake his PT Test again on Friday (he needs to pass it in order to keep his 18X contract).

(Thursday) 1/21/10

The weather in Georgia has be amazingly random. Just two weeks ago the temperature was in the mid-teens and there were reports of snow. This week though, it's been raining, muggy and the temperature has been in mid-sixties. Earl talked to the Special Forces liaison today about his contract, and the guy said that Earl just needed to pass his last PT test with a score of 240. After Earl's PT test on Friday, his company will have a thorough inspection of their bay. On Saturday morning Earl and everyone else will leave for their FTX, they will be out in "the field" until Wednesday (1/27/10 - today).

(Friday) 1/22/10

Earl passed his PT test with a score of 249! He did 43 push-up's, 67 sit-up's, and ran 2 miles in 2 minutes and 40 seconds. The rest of the day Earl spent packing more for his FTX.

So that's it. This is the beginning of the end. I hope to hear from Earl sometime this weekend (hopefully he will get a chance to use his cell phone). Like I mentioned before, this will (really) be the last update until I get back from Georgia the week after next. Thank you again to everyone for reading this and thank you to everyone who have supported us through these long few months.

Almost Graduation Time!

2010-01-24T20:52:00.000-08:00

Not too much to say about this week. I've only received about 4 letters from Earl for the three weeks that he's been gone.

I had the wonderful pleasure of talking to him on the phone for a half an hour last Sunday (1/17) - Not much to report on that, we just went over what he had already mentioned in his previous letters and talked a bit about his graduation.

Speaking of graduation, there are only ten days left until I fly out to Georgia to see Earl!

I'll be getting into the Atlanta, GA airport on February 3rd, around 2pm. On February 4th at 9am I'll be attending Earl's "Turning Blue" Ceremony** where I will have the honor of pinning his official Infantry Blue Cord (small braid-like rope) onto his Class A Uniform. Later that afternoon at 1pm Earl and I will attend an additional (mandatory) informational briefing. On February 5th at 10am I will attend Earl's Graduation Ceremony. On February 6th at 10am I will say my good bye's to Earl and fly back home.

For those of you who may still be sending letters to Earl: It was mentioned in a letter that I received from his Commander to stop sending stuff to soldiers after January 25th.

So that's it for a while now ... I won't be posting any more updates until after Earl's graduation.

Thank you again to everyone for reading these updates, and for supporting Earl and I through this ordeal. We couldn't have done it without you guys.

** - I wish I could explain this a little better, but I couldn't find any relevant links to it. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures though, so everyone can see what Im talking about.

The Many Adventures of Earl in Hell!

2010-01-15T14:53:00.000-08:00

Alright, it's back to the same thing as before: Updates.

So far this week I've received four letters from Earl:

1/5/10 (Tuesday)

Earl's flight back to Georgia went well, he had a guy in his platoon that had a seat next to him, so he had someone to talk to.

The Atlanta airport was crawling with Drill Sergeants when they got off the plane. They were immediately placed on a bus and were shipped off back to Ft. Benning.

Earl and everyone else were welcomed back with an immediate piss test to check for any drug use over the break.

On Monday it was only 17 degrees at Ft. Benning. I think that's pretty abnormal as far as Georgia weather goes.

1/7/10 (Thursday)

Earl and his platoon spent Wednesday night outside in the woods. They set up a patrol base and dug fox holes to sleep in. Earl could hardly sleep because it was so cold, there was ice on his rifle and his camel pack had frozen solid. They were supposed to spend one more night in the woods, but due to reports of snow, it was called off.

1/9/10 (Saturday)

New nickname: Ebony Rage

Earl and his platoon didn't do much today. Since they have a PT Test coming up on Monday, most of the guys have just been working out.

They all got in trouble due to the fact that one of their rifles wasn't clean enough. So the Drill Sergeants made Earl and everyone else re clean their rifles all day long.

Earl's watch that he bought over break (can't remember what kind it is) is exactly the same kind that Drill Sergeant Ward wears. Therefore, DS Ward has come to the conclusion that Earl wants to be just like him.

1/11/10 (Monday)

Earl, sadly, failed his PT Test by six push ups.

It was only 19 degrees when Earl and his platoon had to stand outside and wait in line (in only their work out uniforms) to perform the test. By the time it was Earl's turn to take the PT Test, he could hardly move due to the fact that he was so cold. Earl was bummed that he had not passed the test, but he talked to a few of his Drill Sergeants later on in the day and they explained that he could retake the test within the next week.

On Tuesday they started M.O.U.T. Training (Military Operations in Urban Terrain), where they get to kick doors in and clear out rooms.

So that's it for this week.

Tune in next week for more Adventures of Earl in Hell!

The Holidays Have Come and Gone ...

2010-01-09T13:51:00.000-08:00

... And boy, did they fly by fast!
As most of you know, Earl got to visit for two weeks for Christmas and New Years. We did a lot of things together, saw a lot of family and friends and enjoyed each others company during that short time as much as possible. It was a glorious holiday season indeed.
Earl is back in Georgia completing the last bits of his Basic Training. Only one month left this time, then it's on to graduation at the beginning of February.
After graduation Earl stays at Ft. Benning, GA and goes on to Airborne School for another three weeks. He graduates again and then he starts the long and hard process of Special Forces training in Ft. Bragg, NC.
Thanks to everyone who welcomed him back home for those two weeks. Im sure he was more than happy to see everyone again.

Very Slow Week

2009-12-11T14:24:00.000-08:00

This has been a very long week.
I only got 2 letters from Earl. One on Tuesday and one on Thursday.
I think this may be due to two reasons:
1. I think the mailing system is slowing down a bit due to the holidays.
2. Earl mentioned that they have been very busy training. Since it's getting close to them leaving for Christmas break, I think that the drill sergeants are really pushing the soldiers hard.

Anyways, here's what I've got from Earl so far this week:

11/05/09

Today they had an 8 hour long finance class. Earl mentioned that he thought it was pretty boring, but that he learned one useful thing: Credit card companies are obligated to lower their interest rates to 6% if the person is an active duty soldier.
Earl has been working on "Buddy Team Tactics". Im not even sure how to explain this, so here's a link to some useful information on it: Battle Team Tactics.
They also got to learn something called "Fire Team Tactics".
Basically, I think, they're just learning how to cover and protect their fellow soldier (team member) with suppressive fire as the enemy is firing back at them.
On the 4th everyone went on a long 7 mile ruck sack march. Earl mentioned that he did well for the first 6 miles, but that for some reason he started to slack on the last mile.
I think today was their last official day of training. For the next week Earl mentioned that they would just be cleaning up the PT fields and around their barracks.
Yesterday (12/10) everyone got to learn how to shoot the M2 .50 caliber machine gun. Earl was very happy to try his hand at firing that thing.

So that's it for this week. Like I said before, not much to write about.
For those of you who might still be sending Earl letters, I think it would be best to stop writing him at the beginning of next week, as he comes home next Friday on the 18th and it takes some time for mail to reach him.

One Week Left Everyone!

Down Time, PT Test and Rocket Launchers!

2009-12-04T17:40:00.000-08:00

Alright .. Update time again!

(FYI: Sometimes Earl will repeat stuff in his letters or not date them - So it's sometimes hard for me to judge what happened when)

11/27/09
Earl complains about his platoon acting like a bunch of idiots for the past week. He mentions that one guy tried to keep his cell phone with him (which they're not allowed to do) and two other guys tried to take some pain pills, just for fun. They all got caught and the entire platoon got smoked for an entire day.
Earl and his platoon learned how to shoot the AT-4 Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher. He mentions that they got to practice blowing up old tanks that were sitting out on a range. The rocket launcher is extremely loud and apparently shoots fire out its backside up to 100 feet. The tanks that they were practicing on were about 300 yards away and yet Earl and everyone else could still feel the shock waves from the explosions.

11/29/09
Sundays are the soldiers "down days". Earl mentions that they get to go to the Commissary and buy basic necessities and that they get to go and get their hair cut. They also have the option of either attending church services or cleaning the battalion area. Apparently Earl has been choosing to go to church, up until now. He mentioned that he would rather just clean than go to church one more time.

11/30/09
Today was Earl's big "pass or no pass" PT Test. If the soldiers don't pass the PT test they have to restart their entire training from the beginning. Of course, Earl passed with flying colors. He did a total of 43 push up's, 60 sit up's and ran 2 miles in 13 minutes. Go Earl!
Him and other 18x-er's had a meeting with the Special Forces Liason today as well. They told everyone what to expect during Special Forces training, what deployments will be like and to just focus on graduating basic training and to not get in any trouble during Airborne School.
Earl also mentions that the next day they will start a 2 day long field exercise. They will walk 7-10 miles with their 70lb rucksacks on. (This field exercise might explain why I haven't received any other letters from him this week).

AT-4 Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher

"Sundays in Basic Training (Wikipedia): In any given week of Basic Training, Sundays are generally scheduled as "personal time", although drill sergeants may make use of the time as they see fit. Chapel (religious) services are also held on Sundays, and are available on-base for most major religions."

So that's it for this week.
Only 2 weeks left until Earl comes home for Christmas Exodus!

P.T. Sucks ...

2009-11-27T14:11:00.000-08:00

So Earl has been doing a lot for the past two weeks. Like I said before, he is currently in White Phase of his training, which only means that they are going to push him even harder and longer.

On the 19th Earl and his fellow soldiers were lucky enough to go on, what their Drill Sergent said was, a 5 mile road march. Some of the soldiers double checked the march length on a map afterward though and figured out that they had actually marched close to 8 miles. Earl and everyone else had to march 8 miles with 90lbs of gear on their backs.
Earl and his fellow soldier also got to fight against each other with pugil sticks (big q-tip like weapons). Earl won first in his weight class for his entire platoon and second in his entire company, which consists of about 250 other soldiers.
For some reason though, after all they went through for that day, Earl's platoon got smoked for 5 hours. So the Drill Sergents made everyone do hundreds of pushup's, situp's, flutter kicks, and so many other things that ... Everyone seriously thought the exercises would never end.

On the 20th Earl and his fellow soldiers in training got a wonderful chance to work on 3 hours of physical training (P.T.). The 3 hours included running up and down 40 feet of stairs 20 times in a row, carrying huge logs around a track, flipping 5 foot long tractor tires, carrying "wounded" soldiers, and running 3 miles to a shooting range.
The shooting range was nicknamed, "10 man" Location of hits and misses" (?). The soldiers have to shoot at pop up targets and are able to check where they hit the targets on a computer screen. Earl, of course, got a score of 38/40. Almost perfect.

Fun Random Fact: Earl's Drill Sergent Ward has taken to calling him "Obama" (it was only a matter of time ...) and everytime D.S. Ward shouts out "Obama", Earl has to answer back, "no new taxes!"

I got to talk to Earl on Thanksgiving, which was very nice. I would have talked to him for a good 20 minutes, but since I was in Bolinas and in a bad reception area, my cell phone cut out halfway through our conversation. I was happy to hear his voice though. He is doing good, he just talked about what he had written in his letters. They actually let the soldiers have a real meal for Thanksgiving. Earl was more than happy to be able to actually drink real coffee and eat real food. Earl even got a chance to eat non-dairy pumpkin ice cream!

So that's it for this week. For those of you who wrote letters to him, please continue to do that! He really does enjoy getting them, even if he doesn't always have the time to respond.
Thanks again to everyone for reading this.

Pugil Stick Fighting - Wikipedia

Mr. Eagle Eye

2009-11-19T17:30:00.000-08:00

So here we go on the updates again ...

All last week and this week Earl has written about shooting his rifle.
His platoon got to practice at a "dry" firing range and a computer simulated firing range. After practicing without ammo for about a week they moved on to practicing with ammo at a real range. I was surprised to learn that the real firing range was a 45 minute drive away from where all the soldiers eat and sleep.
Earl was one of the first soldiers to shoot a real rifle. Thanks to his practice before leaving, one of the drill sergeants nick named Earl "Johnny Sniper", due to the fact that Earl shot all of his targets on the bulls eye. I think Earl was more than happy to be able to practice with and finally shoot a real weapon.

"Dry" Firing - Wikipedia

Simulated Firing Ranges

That's about it for this week. Not too much else going on.
Thanks to those of you who read this and make sure to check back next week for another update!

(One month until Earl returns for Christmas Break on Dec. 18th!)

Photos and Letters

2009-11-12T17:35:00.001-08:00

In the past couple of days I have received a lot of stuff both from Earl and the Army.

After an entire month of waiting I finally received a packet in the mail from the Commander with all of our insurance information, military ID information, Earl's company information, Earl's Christmas Exodus information and Earl's graduation ceremony information.
I am so relieved to have received all of this, as I was kind of stressing out a week earlier on what was when and where.

The three letters that I received from Earl today were mostly about how almost the entire group of soldiers at Basic Training had become horribly sick with anything ranging from pneumonia, to having Mono and to having the H1N1 flu virus. Apparently 2 people have actually died while at Basic Training from being sick.
Earl got sent to the ER for 13 hours at one point for having a fever and a temperature of a little over 100 degrees. They then sent him to the Infirmary along with 80 other sick soldiers to rest and recoperate for 3 long days.
Last Saturday Earl was finally deemed healthy again and resumed his training.
Earl has made the switch at Basic Training from Red Phase to White Phase. There are 3 phases during Basic: Red Phase (3 weeks), White Phase (2 weeks) and Blue Phase (2 weeks).

More information on the phases during Basic Training can be found here.

A few days ago one of Earls aunts husbands was able to visit Earl during Basic Training.
Earls aunt and her husband (Clarke) have been emerged in the Army way of life for a little over 30 years. Clarke is a Chaplain (A chaplain provides spiritual and pastoral support for service personnel, including the conduct of religious services at sea or in the field.) and has the rank of Colonel in the Army.
Clarke was able to also take a couple of photos with Earl while visiting him and happily agreed to pass them on to me.

So that's about it for this week.
For those of you who have Earl's address, please continue to send him letters, he always looks forward to those.
And for those of you who are interested in what Earl is going through, I am going to add a few more links about OSUT Basic Training.

Thank you again to everyone who reads this and remember to check back for updates!

Ft. Benning - OSUT Phases

198th Infantry Brigade, 1st Battalion 50th Infantry (History and Information)

2009-11-03T13:19:00.000-08:00

So, I got three more letters in the mail from Earl:

Letter One (dated 10/25)

He mentions that he his starting first aid training, which is about 3 hours long. He said that he had to struggle to keep his eyes open during class, because they had a road march before the first aid training. Apparently, if a soldier falls asleep during class, the drill sergents will make them hold their chairs up over their heads for a half an hour.
Earl also mentions that he misses home a lot, but that training is starting to become fun and that he is getting to know his fellow soldiers a little better each day. Earl doesn't seem to get chewed out much by the drill sergents, as he mentions that they don't know him too well ... Which is a very good thing.
Earl mentions that he will be able to come home for Christmas and New Years from December 18th to January 4th.

He also mentions that he is going to start sending me pages full of random observations from his little notebook (which he included with this letter).

Random Observations #1 - Drill Sergent C.
He is the head Drill Sergent and he is mean.
He doesn't come around very often, but when he does come around he likes to scream and freak out about everything. He loves to call people "penis".

Random Observation #2 - Drill Sergent Cr.
He is super strict, he has to have everything be perfect.
But he actually cares a little bit about the soldiers and wants them to learn and grow.

Random Observation #3 - Drill Sergent W.
This guy has spent 40 months in combat.
He seems like he has a loose screws in his head.
He carries around a coffee mug, and if any of the soldiers were to touch that coffee cup, they will die.

Random Observation #4 - GFT (Ground Fighting Techniques) Class
Part of the class involves getting punched in the face by a 6'7" 240 pound Drill Sergent.

Random Observation #5 - Trashing the Bay
The drill sergents completely trashed thier bay (sleeping quarters).
Beds were tossed, lockers were dumped out and trash cans were kicked over.
They were not allowed to go to bed until everything was spotless.

Random Observation #6 - Eating Meals and Laying in Ditches
Earl can apparently eat a full meal in 2 minutes and then run back to his barracks without puking (Im so pround of him ...).
At 5am he was laying in a ditch with his rifle covering his "battle buddy". They have to lay down every time they stop during a road march.

Random Observation #7 - Uniforms, Gatorade and "Fuck"
Earls uniform is either way too hot or way too cold, never "just right".
All the dirt around the base is just sand ... Where did it all come from?
With each meal the soldiers have to drink two cups of gatorade, but they've never seen a drill sergent drink a single cup of gatorade before.
Drill Sergent W. said the word "fuck" 180 times in two minutes. He can also put that word in to the middle of random words flawlessly.

Letter Two (dated 10/28)

Earl mentions that he doesnt like the weather in Georgia. The day will start out warm and by the afternoon it will get muggy and rain.
He learned how to do a "cross collar choke hold" in his GFT class.
He mentions that his in a platoon of 45 other guys and that they are all starting to work otgether as a team.
He also mentions that he wants an entire pack of oreo's, chinese food from Yet Wah and a whole pizza when he gets back, mostly because he is sick and tired of eating the same food every day.

Letter Three (dated 10/29)

Earl mentions that they have been learning about first aid the entire week and that he really enjoys learning how to save soldiers lives.
He mentions that he got a letter from Dan and that it was really nice to get some mail. His drill sergent made him do 40 pushups for the piece of mail, but Earls says that it was worth it.
He has been very homesick for the past week and misses everyone, but he's having a lot of fun and learning tons.

So that's about it ... I hope to get more mail as the week goes on.
Thanks for reading everyone!

Another Letter!

2009-10-27T23:34:00.000-07:00

I got another letter in the mail from Earl today.

It was dated the 20th of October.

He mentions that so far he's having a pretty good time at Basic Training.
They have to wake up at 4:30 in the morning and only have 30 minutes to shave, shower make their beds and clean the entire barrack. Then it's off to do P.T. (Physical Training?) for two hours, were they complete about 20 exercises. After P.T. they head on over to the "Chow Hall" for breakfast, where they only get about 3 minutes to eat everything.
He mentions that they are starting to do some "fun" stuff though, like going through a team building course, where they have to go across different obstacles and work together as a team (after all, they are an Army of One, right?).
He also mentions that they had a class on how to use gas masks and that they are going through the gas chamber the next day. He seemed excited that they finally got their rifles: Colt M4 with a M68 CCO Optic (I'm not really sure what that means ... ).
My favorite line from this letter has to be: "I love you more than my drill sergeant loves to call me penis."

So that's about it, he wrote down his address again in the letter (making sure I didn't forget, I guess?). So, if you would still like his address, please feel free to email me or send me a message on Facebook.

daisysandybanks@gmail.com