Mailed blog – written by Julian

1 March 11

Well, rabbit, rabbit, rabbit blog readers!  I made it to the month of graduation!  We only have ten days of training remaining and then we prep to go OUT of this place while I’m super excited for family day and graduation.  I’m trying to relish each day left.  Everyday I try to talk to someone different in my platoon.  I’ve only got so much time with all these people and most of them I’m really gonna miss.

Today we did a training exercise with ILAV’s.  Don’t ask me what that stands for, no clue.  But they are vehicles that are like Humvee’s on steroids.  The insides are insulated with fire-retardant materials and you sit in seats that are made for race cars.  It was pretty hot out today with all the gear on and we were all sweating before even getting out of the ILAV.  Let me tell you, armored vests do not breathe :).

Once the vehicle stopped, our 6 man team jumped out and started bounding up a lane toward the enemy and returned fire, at every barrier we got behind.  I was the one who got stuck in the prone position.  That’s where you jump down and kick you legs out so you’re flat on your stomach shooting.  It’s very tiring to do with 40 pounds of gear on.  But it’ll only make me stronger!  We did pretty good, killed the enemy quickly and stayed alive.  Two key objectives in war. 🙂  When not running around killing bad guys, we learned how to spot IED’s, improvised explosive devices.  Another good day soldiering.

I hope my notes are still of interest to those paying attention out there.  Things are becoming mundane as training winds down.  I’ll try to keep things lively.  Thanks for all your love and support!

xo