Well, friends, our journey has begun. Abel is officially in Basic Training and we are a military family!
When the new year arrived, I thought, wow, ok we've got 9 weeks before he has to leave, that's a good amount of time and then, it felt like I had only closed my eyes for a second, and it was already time for him to leave. Over the past month, we really tried to do as much as we could together, knowing soon it would just be Karina and I. We made the most of every moment we had together and felt our love for each other grow so much stronger. We did lots of simple things together, but we also did a few special things.
We went to see Toy Story 3, Disney on Ice
COTTON CANDY!!!! Yummmmmm!!!
Mezmerized :)
Of course Woody & Jessie had to come :)
And frozen yogurt afterwards...so good!
Then another special thing we did was we went to Build-A-Bear and got a special bear for Karina. They have an army bear, complete with his little uniform, just like daddy's. So we got this for Karina so that each night when we pray for daddy she can give it a hug and and a kiss and daddy will feel her hugs and kisses. 
She named him Fuzzy :)
The day he had to leave, he had to report to the Army hotel by 6pm and then he could check out and spend some time with us before we had to leave him. We spent the day together and went out to lunch with his sister and brother in law and their daughter...
And this was our last photo together, moments before we had to say goodbye...
That was an extremely, extremely hard moment in my life. Saying goodbye to my best friend, the man I have shared 14 years of my life with, and have never been apart from for more than a week at a time. Having said that, it was also the most peaceful time of my life. I have never felt more peace in my life than I do right now. Yes he'll be gone for 4 months, yes, it is hard being away from him and yes it is going to be hard being the only parent right now, BUT the reward at the end will be more than worth it.
So, he arrived at Ft. Jackson on Tuesday night around 8 pm along with buses full of other recruits, and had to go through security and didn't arrive at their station until about 2 am. They had to be up by 4am. This whole week was spent in Reception, where they went through medical, dental and vision exams, given shots, haircuts, uniforms, boots, paperwork, etc...He was able to keep his cell phone with him throughout the week of reception but had to turn it in today when he arrived at Basic, they are supposed to call on Sunday to let us know they arrived, and then after that, phone calls will most likely be few and far between.
The first day he was extremely tired having not slept hardly at all, but I could hear the excitement in his voice as he just wanted to "get on with it" :)
While he was in Reception this week, the Head Drill Sergeant that they had turned out to be a very vocal Christian. During one of their formations, he told them this, "you are here for a reason. God brought you here to do something great. It was not a coincidence that you're here. Some people and even your family asked why you are doing this, but they don't realize that God has a great plan for you. When you're out on the course and you feel like you can't go on, ask for His help!" Abel said you never hear him cussing like most of the other Drill Sergeants do and he told them all that that was the reason why, because he has God in his life. Even though Abel will not have constant interaction with this Drill Sergeant, he told all the guys that anytime they feel like they need to talk to someone or need someone to pray with to just let their Drill Sergeant know and he would be happy to do it. Wow! I just thought that was so awesome!
Here's my Soldier! So proud of you babe!!
His dog tags (I had to blur out the middle cause his SS# was on there!) :)
So now, it begins for him...
Weeks 1-3: Red Phase
Soldiers meet their Drill Sergeants and begin training. While often considered a difficult week for Soldiers due to the adjustments, it is actually pretty easy compared to later weeks. Most classroom-type training occurs in this period where Soldiers learn about:
- Ballistics and Rifle Marksmanship Fundamentals
- Personal financial management
- Law of Land Warfare
- Uniform Code of Military Justice (Military Law)
- Dismounted Land Navigation (using a map and compass)
- Fundamentals of Physical Readiness
- Nutrition
- Rappelling and navigating rope bridges
- Drill and Ceremonies (marching)
- Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical (NBC) Defense (often referred to as the Gas Chamber)
- Fieldcraft
- Patrolling
I'll keep updating as much as I can. He's supposed to call me tomorrow with his address so if anyone is interested in sending him letters or cards, I'll post the address as soon as I get it. I've heard from SO MANY people who have gone through this, that for them to get something in the mail is like they've struck gold :)
Please keep us in your prayers :)
Carla
