"Someone in our family is in the ARMY!"

Dated 28 Oct 05:

EVERYONE!

HI EVERYBODY! Wow, I haven't written in awhile. I'm sorry. I have ZERO TIME to write anyone. Please make sure everyone knows that (Gr. Boyagian, etc). lol. I got your package w/Rachael's haunted house and witch. Cute Boo! Thank you for the Halloween stuff. :o) Keep trying to send a letter every night. I don't get in trouble for getting them, lol. I get messed with a little, but no push-ups anymore. XD

What else... I'm still sick... it sucks. My leg is better for the time being. Now I screwed up my back. Yeah, fun. Not. I couldn't do the 8k ruck march (foot march with all your gear on). So I was on detail to set crap up. Woo! OH, I SHOT MY M-16A2 RIFLE TODAY and I OWNED EVERYONE. IT WAS AWESOME. I <3>

Okay, I just got out of the shower, lol. You really wanted to know that. So, I told you. I don't have fire guard tonight, Woo! I'm excited. Oh, I forgot to tell you, I had my first FTX the other day. It was actually pretty fun. Field Training Exercise. That's what it stands for. Anyways, basically, what it is, is we all wake up at 4:00am, get our weapons and go on a 5k road march with 30 pounds on our backs, full uniform and a bunch of other crap and go camping in the flippin' woods for a random amount of days. At first it sucked A LOT because it was so cold. But after an hour and a half of hammering tent stakes into the ground you warm up pretty fast. They also made us put camo paint all over our faces. It was hilarious. We only went for one night because it was too cold and we weren't ready for the weather.

Oh yeah, we also did land navigation too. It's where they give you a compass, an azimuth and tell you to to find 5 random points in the woods. The first time, we all found our points in 45 minutes. The second REAL navigation too us 3 hours and we only found 3 out of 5 points. We walked about 2000+ meters for that one. It took me 83 steps to go 100 meters. That's a little fact for you, in case you wanted to know. :o)

We were supposed to start white phase today since it's the start of the 4th week, but my whole company is full of losers, so they're keeping us in red phase for another week or so. Lame. We suck. I got stuck in the platoon with the highest amount of attitude problems. Joy. The drill sgts. know me by name already. Lol. One of them always tells me "good job" and other stuff like taht and he's like the hardest drill sgt. I totally owned some guys at some physical crap the other day. HA! I'm still as awesome as... well... me, because there is nothing more awesome. BAHAHAHAHA.

You know what I was thinking the other day? Someone in our family is in the army. The ARMY. What the heck? I sometimes sit here and randomly laugh at myself when I remember that I'm in friggin' boot camp. Seriously, who would ever think that I, Lindsay Natiw, would go through BASIC TRAINING? Gah! I am so frickin' random. I got a package from Old Guard saying welcome and all that crap. It was cool! <3!>

I'm more worried about that 15k foot march I have to do to graduate. I can get pushed off 10,000 fot tall diving boards w/my eyes closed, fire an M-16, run 1.5 miles in 14 minutes, perform first aid, and survive a gas chamber, but I think if anything had a chance of holding me back, it would be the 10k, 10k and 15k road marches. They just plain SUCK! I need to think of how hot to think in them. Oh well, just pray or something. I have to/MUST graduate on time or I swear.... al;ksdjfa;sd.

Okay, this is a really long letter. I gotta go to bed. Long day tomorrow (isn't every day?). Anyways, love you all, and keep writing!!

Love,
Lindsay

p.s. What is the address to the Army website w/the photos? and SEND MORE PICTURES!!!