Oct. 17, 2011 Day 31

Well I suppose I will start with yesterday. It had some up points, one of which was it being Sunday number 5, but there were more low points than high.

One issue all of us in the platoon have is talking/moving in formation. You stand there for awhile waiting on a DS and the joking and conversations start. Of course, we get yelled at for it from all angles, but yesterday it caused us to lose our phase banner. We didn't (yet) get kicked back to red phase, but it is still pretty bad. You cannot understand how much a strip of fabric on a stick can mean until you have followed it for 5 weeks knowing full well that it represents you and your platoon. Now that we've lost it, we can't even call cadence with the rest of the platoon. We are all in agreement that a long smoke session would have been more bearable. Nevertheless, we are trying harder to stay focused and disciplined so that we can get it back.

So, the biggest high point, a 20 minute phone call home. Not only was it my son's birthday, and I got to sing to him, but I also found out my wife and I are having a son! I knew she was pregnant, but now I finally know the gender.

It's funny...I bragged to my entire platoon when I found out, and a lot of males responded with, "Oh, you should name him ____." It was funny to hear their first names considering that for the past five weeks I have only known their last names.

Today we went to our Land Navigation Course. We were given a map and a compass and were told to locate different coordinates. It was probably a mile and a half trek through the woods. I loved it!

After land nav, we headed back to the bay for mail call. I raked in again tonight. Thank you all so much for your messages! Every bit of encouragement helps.

My wife mentioned in her letter that she wonders about the food here. The food is actually pretty good for the most part. The only issue is that the menu rotates, meaning Wednesday's meal is always the same as last week. So now that 5 weeks have passed, some stuff is getting old Also, we aren't permitted sweets, chocolate, caffeine, etc. The only "dessert" we can have is fig newtons, and those are normally one per day (if that). I shouldn't complain though because I know it will help me trim down.