We ended up getting the day
off--organized but little training.
We saw Hamburger Hill and Johnny Be
Good. Got to buy candy and pop.
It was only 0830 but I grabbed
a Coke and malted milk balls.
Some touch football. I went easy
to avoid injuring myself. Ankles
hurt, back hurts. I'll go on
sick call tomorrow--regretfully. I
hope I don't miss BRM. On PT
test, of 35 in platoon, 10 did better
on push ups, 1 on sit ups and 6 on
2-mile run. Amazing.
Training starts all over
again tomorrow. 4 letters
to mail tomorrow. 1 to [fiance],
1 to mom and dad, 1 to Company D. One to [best man].
I was able to write a nice long letter to [fiance] over
the weekend. Let me graduate
soon! Should get 6 hours sleep
tonight. Plenty to eat today.
Felt satisfied for first time
in long time. Pay day Wednesday.
We actually had a day off as the base took a day off. Hamburger Hill was good. The other movie sucked massively. Junk food for breakfast was excellent. Injuries lingered on and I guess I didn't want to actually screw something up by playing football too hard. It looks like I resolved to get the aches taken care of after passing the task and physical tests. And I was near the top of my platoon in repetitions and running time. Given how badly my feet hurt, my run time really shocked me. But if this wasn't the time to get things checked out, what was?
I'm not sure why I wrote Company D--my National Guard unit back here in Ann Arbor. I vaguely recall the cadre telling me that if I ran into trouble, let them know. I probably just wrote to let them know I was making it through so far. I don't recall needing any assistance for anything.
Again, I'll say that I'm shocked to read that getting enough food was rare. If you'd asked me before I read these journal entries, I'd have said I had plenty. Mind you, I think I maintained my weight exactly as it was when I arrived, so I obviously wasn't starving like a North Korean private. But I have mentioned being hungry several times now.
And I was going to get paid. Not that there was much to spend it on while there. But I had rent at home to pay.
I'm sensing that things seemed downhill from this point. We'd been dogged. We'd been trained. We took tests and passed them. We had a Memorial Day to relax a bit like ordinary people. We could handle whatever else there was on our schedule.
