Wait A Minute Mr. Postman

Jackie and I received one postcard and one long letter from Graham on Thursday. A few things Graham wrote had me feeling sad, others made me smile, and one made me laugh out loud. A few of the highlights.

Regarding PT: “I have been leading the flight (that would be Skyraiders squadron, Bravo flight) physically, and I plank under those who can’t hold their plank so that their uniform doesn’t touch the ground. Our flight is still getting worked by the Cadre, but I am in high spirits and learning not to take things too seriously and when to ask for help.”

Regarding early mornings: “Our mornings begin at about 4:30 am. We don’t know if they want us to change into ABU’s or PT gear, so I sleep in a PT shirt and ABU pants. I do sleep on my bed, just not under the covers. We usually do about 15-minutes of pushups and the like, and then we are allowed to use the bathroom. Then we do more PT before breakfast. We eat at attention, and there are a lot of rules we have to follow but I haven’t gotten corrected for a long time.”

Regarding Intramurals: “We have had to switch intramural sport now (Graham had been playing soccer) so I think I’ll do volleyball.”

Regarding mental gymnastics: “Usually in the morning, they give us some knowledge or quote to know verbatim by end of the day. I’ve gotten decent at memorizing but it was hard early on because we had to memorize all the Cadre’s names and titles which nobody could, which led to a lot of PT. One thing they’ll do if they aren’t in the mood to PT us is ‘Supermans’, where they give us less than 2-minutes to change completely and properly from ABU’s to PT gear or vice versa.”

Regarding the landscape: “During early morning PT outside, we get to watch the morning sun come from over the mountains. It’s the most striking shade of red, like the Japanese rising sun. From my dorm window, I can see the Colorado Springs lights and nightlife and before taps, I take a few minutes to sit and watch. It’s nice, but it made me realize that the Minneapolis skyline is actually pretty nice.”

Regarding hygiene: “At night, they usually give us 2-3 minutes to shower, but realistically it is less because the time given also includes undressing, walking into the showers, and walking out clothed.”

Regarding the ‘bad’: “I have grown a lot tougher mentally since the first few days and am rarely bothered by anything now. My only negatives right now are that I’m getting blisters and the laundry keeps losing all our clothes. I’m also hungry all the time, and I’ve lost 5-lbs.”

Regarding the Band of Brothers/Sisters: “Although it’s not always easy, our flight has found a lot of chances to laugh together. Last night we were in formation in the hall and we were laughing already from something and trying to keep it in. Our flight commander saw one of us, Basic Smith (I changed the name here for privacy!) who was not keeping his composure very well. She asked him, “Smith, why is your lip like that?” To which Smith responded, “Ma’am, the answer is because I’m Black!” Everybody burst out laughing and we got to do extra PT, but it was worth it.”

Thursday was the last day of intramural's before the march out to Jacks Valley. And there was a cornucopia of photos of Graham playing the aforementioned volleyball. I actually think he’s grown a little! Either than, or the weight loss (he didn’t have any weight to lose!) is making him look taller. They’ve also been very busy drilling and having squadron time.

Beautiful surroundings for IM. Here we see Graham in a photo for the first time in a few days. So, he didn't get maimed by a bear after all.

"Sky" Graham.

Looks like another great time with his squadron flight.