Cody's Letters August 8th-August 15th

One week from today I get to see and kiss his cute face!!






Saturday, August 8, 2009

"You've gotta love the weekends in BMT. We get to sleep in until 0545 and stay up until 2200 and do lots of fun stuff. By fun I mean we practiced Drill for a few hours and spent the rest of the day up in the dorm doing homework, folding clothes, perfecting beds, and shining our low quarters (dress shoes). Now we're just chilling up here kind of pretending to be busy. Unfortunately I have Entry Controller Duty tonight from 2030 to 2230 so I can't go to be early but I am certainly enjoying my down time."

Sunday, August 9, 2009

"So today was a super hectic day, especially for Sunday. We had to pack for BEAST (BTW: BEAST stands for Basic Expeditionary Airmen Skills Training), clean the dorm thoroughly, and do some practice for BEAST. We ran 4 different classes for our practice and I was in charge of teaching one of them. I taught a 30 minute class 4 times on all sorts of information to include security measures, chemical warnings and actions, IED recognition and all sorts of stuff. Needless to say, church was a welcome relief. Well I'm tired and its BEAST tomorrow so goodnight."

Monday, August 10, 2009

"Holy cow today was a long day in the sun and I am exhausted. We got to the BEAST site at 0630 and began right away. We were issued gear, given a general briefing, and started setting up the zone. Luckily the tents were set up but we did have to set up sandbag bunkers, some smaller tents, and chemical detection points. We also did some first aid refresher courses. It sounds easy enough. Except the 100 degree heat and 65 lbs. of gear we wore all day to include helmet, flak jacket, and rucksack full of chemical gear. Tomorrow should be just as fun."

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

"I am pleased to announce that day 2 of BEAST is over. My surprise for the morning was being promoted to a Tactical Deployment Leader or TDL. That means that I am in command of 10 other people and I'm in the 3rd tier of the chain of command. We have a Zone Leader over all 200 people in our zone, BEAST Monitors over 50 people and TDL's over 10. I got moved up because our BEAST Monitor got moved up to ZL and my TDL got moved up to BM. So I had to learn a lot and really hustle today. It was another hot sticky day and one of our exercises was chemical gear which is like wearing a parka over my ABU's. In 20 minutes in chem gear and battle rattle (flak vest, helmet, etc) I easily soaked through my ABU's. We have to monitor our water intake like crazy. We have tape on our helmets and make a tally every time we finish a canteen. People are still falling out at a ridiculous pace. We spent most of the day practicing base defense and first aid and ran a practice exercise involving a ground attack and then clearing the zone of casualties and UXO's (unexploded ordinances). Well I suppose that about sums up my day. I bet yours was more fun."

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

"I suppose that hot is a good word to sum up the day. We hit 100 degrees by 10:00 this morning. Definitely not fun. This morning we performed a mock Tactical Deployment Mission where we traveled to a different site while on the lookout for enemy troops and IED's. My group got through this with ease. Part of the march was a mini obstacle course with plenty of crawls and rolls and all sorts of stuff, all going uphill. Once we got to the site we had to set up a mini camp complete with tents and sandbag cover. After we got back to our camp we did plenty of attack drills and practice. Currently we are in the middle of a thunderstorm so we're just chillin' in the tent waiting for the lightning to life so that we can go shower. At least it's cooler!!"

Friday, August 14, 2009

"So yesterday was absolutely crazy hence the lack of journal entry. We got up at 0330 and were out doing security drills by 0500. We had our eval on everything today to determine which zone would get BEAST Excellence. We were graded on security, first aid, IED's, unexploded ordinance and chemical warfare drills. We spent the whole day in Mopp suits and boots which is the chemical gear as well as full battle rattle. When we did chem drills we were in full gear, mask and all for well over an hour.

This morning we got to find out who won and guess what? We did! Our zone got 133 out of 138 points. We beat the 2nd place zone by 2 points. Now we get a red streamer to hang from our Guidon (flag) to announce to the world that we got BEAST Excellence. We are also now 1 of 4 flights eligible for Warrior Flight which is the best flight in our week of training. It was awesome to get back to the squadron today and experience a good long shower and a hot meal. I am however, completely exhausted so goodnight."

Saturday, August 15, 2009

"Today we got Base Liberty as a reward for returning with BEAST Excellence. I got to experience Popeye's Chicken, some ice cream and lots of time on the phone and computer with my wife, Together that makes a great day."