First Phone Call

E 1-40 Field Artillery has "phased up" to white phase!

Red phase (the first phase) is the toughest, because they are all being broken down as civilians in order to be built up as soldiers.  So, no privileges at all.  It typically lasts 3 or more weeks.  4 weeks is not unusual, some platoons stay in red phase for 8 weeks or more of the 10 weeks of training!  Ugh.

We got lucky!  Will's platoon phased up after the minimum of 3 weeks.  Hooray!  Or should I say "Hooah!"

White phase is the second of the three phases in BCT.  In white phase, soldiers can earn the privilege of Sunday phone calls to loved ones.  Notice, that is an earned privilege, not a guarantee.  So, if someone in the platoon screws up severely enough sometime during the week, phone privileges can be revoked for the entire platoon.  Double ugh.

I knew we might get a call today.

I skipped Sacrament meeting.  What if the call came right in the middle of a prayer or the passing of the sacraments?  I couldn't risk it.

I planned to go to the second hour of church, because I had a Sunday School lesson to teach.  I'd just duck out and bail on my class if I had to!  And, of course, right as I was about to leave the house...

...we got the call!!!

Oh, he sounded SO tired!  I could hear that his voice was raspy.  He confirmed that he had a cold.  Everybody there has sore throats, he said.  It was hard to hear him and hard for him to hear us, because he was outside "on the quad", and from time to time platoons would quick march past him screaming cadences at the top of their lungs.  Wonder why all the sore throats?  Partly because of all the shouting they have to do, partly because of all the germs being shared from all over the country.

I tried to contact my Sunday School teaching partner using my daughter's phone, to let her know I'd be very late and that I was oh so sorry (since I was the one who had prepared the lesson).  Then I just had to let it go, because I was choosing my son at that moment.

Will told me that the bunk flipping was actually done by the drill sergeants when the bunk was not made properly.  His bunk had been flipped several times at the beginning, but he'd finally gotten the knack of making a crisp bunk.  He said that if the ds found anyone's locker left unlocked while they were out training, the ds would dump the contents out on the floor.

He also said that he likes his drill sergeant, and that they don't have to do sit ups or push ups for their mail very often, and their letters are private.  Yay!

In every letter I send, I include a printed out quote.  Usually uplifting in some way, sometimes just humorous.  Once I sent him a picture of a soldier doing a "snow angel" on a floor covered in bullet casings.  It said "Don't mind me...  ...I'm just making Freedom Angels!"  He really enjoyed that one and showed it to some of the other guys, who also loved it... so they pinned it up on the community board for everybody to enjoy!  :)  Hooah!

He said he is enjoying the shooting ranges and said he is holding his own in everything they have done so far.  He did mention that his rifle was not zeroed properly at first, and he had to get some help in getting it fixed.  That doesn't surprise me.  I read somewhere that even if you have experience with zeroing your own rifle, you should let the ds help you zero the rifle they issue to you.

He was allowed 30 minutes of time to talk.  He spent 25 of those minutes with us, then told us he wanted to try to call a friend with his last 5 minutes.  They were supposed to have an hour, but someone lost their rifle (um, what? How does that even happen?!), so the whole platoon had to spend 30 minutes looking for it until it was found and lost that time for phone calls.  I hope next week they not only get to call, but that they get the whole hour!

I was happy and upbeat until I realized it was time to say goodbye.  That was really difficult!  I said a tearful goodbye, full of "I Love You!"

And you know what?  As soon as I hung up, I hurried to church and discovered that Sacrament meeting had run over time and I wasn't late to teach my lesson at all!  One of God's tender mercies!  I felt so very blessed.

I'm not going to stop my daily letters.  I still want him to look forward to mail call every day!