New Letter

Highlights of a letter we received from Tim dated April 7:
1) Only one mail call last week.
2) Fired grenade launcher and AT-4 rocket launcher (tracer rounds only). Good story about another soldier who blew-up a tank with a live round.
3) 12k march with 50 lb packs, rifles and helmets at 4mph across 3 hills named "misery, agony and heartbreak." One of them was a mile long at 24% grade. Tim says hills are aptly named.
4) Tim shot machine gun well. Drill Sergeant said, "Now that's what I call shooting!"
5) Did some practice on virtual range, trying to distinguish between good guys and bad guys.
6) Now in Blue phase: more freedom, yet held to higher standards of performance.
7) Live ammo drills - shooting over each other's shoulders.
8) Grenade practice - grenades are more powerful than you might think. A sergeant standing just outside the bunker 200m from the grenade caught shrapnel in his arm.
9) Crawling under barbed wire at night with machine gun fire overhead and explosions all around.
10) Tim still not 100% healthy. Claims to be getting better.
11) They rarely get to sit on chairs - always on the floor. They sit on the floor at training and in their barracks. The only chairs they get are in the mess hall and at church.
12) Laundry is done at night by those on guard duty. You leave your bag of laundry and detergent and the guards move it through the machines and put in in front of your bunk.