My flight arrived in Arkansas around 4 pm on Wednesday Sept. 8. There were 6 of us from Fresno.Two of them were my friends from RSP (drill). We ate, then smoked what was left of our cigarettes, Even the few people who weren't smokers, smoked because we were all pretty nervous and scared.The bus pulled up and twenty of us piled on. The driver said we were only ten mins. away. As we began pulling up the sun was just setting, and we slowly started seeing the dreaded Drill Sgts hats. The DS stepped onto the bus and calmly said "welcome" and to grab our gear and file into the receiving office. As soon as we stepped off they started yelling at us.! It was scary but it got me moving! We processed in at about 10PM and they tokk us to our sleeping bay. We got lucky and all ended up in a new sleeping bay. We quickly went to bed. I heard a few people crying. I kept myself from making noise, but tears were pouring from my eyes.I was scared, nervous, homesick, lost and alone. I closed my eyes and forced myself to sleep.
We woke up at 4:45AM. We formed up and they issued uniforms. They took off my rank and name tag and said we were all the same and some other B.S. After that we ate chow. Its terrible!! We also met our teachers. I have 2 really nice black ladies. They are the absolute best teachers I've ever had! The second day some boys came into our bay and started running their mouths! One thing led to another and I was pushing and arguing with some other PVT. Its blown over since then . The guy doesnt look at me at all, I guess thats a good thing! But their Bay is constantly fighting with ours! The bad part is that we are all part of second platoon and share 2 washers and 2 dryers.There are alot of Morons here.Mainly in Bay 11. My Bay has like one or two.The 14 people in my Bay have become like my brothers. We eat, sleep, shower and shit side by side everyday. My bunk mate is the most down to earth black guy I've ever met. He's 24 and got married at 18 and he's having similar probs as me. He also is pretty religious. He convinced me to start praying. Last Sunday on Sept 12th I was Baptized. Im trying to better myself somehow.We all play stupid games at night, laugh, yell, read, write, etc. We have an hour and a half of free time each night. Our usual schedule is as follows; Wake up, formation, pt, chow, school, chow, school, chow, military learning, personal time, sleep..and repeat. The time actually flies by.I graduate in 1 week and we have a bunch of cool stuff coming up! I'll write more about it later. Ive got a cold! It spread thru our Bay in a matter of hrs! It sucks but oh well. My body has adapted. Ive lost 8lbs and feel much healthier and stronger! I took my midterm yesterday and passed with a damned near perfect score1 Im in the top 10% of my class of 124. Ive elarned to deal with pain, frustration and loneliness. This first week has shown me alot about myself. Please pray for me and write. I love and miss you all. I will write more tomorrow.
PV2 Thomas Fonville
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