Ranger School and Other News

Hello friends and family!  I am starting the blog again because Patrick began Ranger School on July 22nd.  As before, I will keep everyone up-to-date on what he is doing and how we can pray for him.

Ranger School is one of the hardest schools offered in the Army, and possibly in the entire military.  It is very common for a soldier to be "recycled," or made to repeat a portion of the school, at least once.  Patrick was recycled from the July 22nd class and is now home training for his reinsertion into the August 20th class.  As you can imagine from what you know about Patrick, he did not want to come home.  He was disappointed that he had to leave the mud, extensive exercise drills, and battle buddies, and he is ready to go back and conquer Ranger School!

In other family news, we have just entered our third trimester with baby John Gideon.  He is certainly a little wiggle worm at night, but he takes after his mom and likes to sleep through the morning.  Currently, everything is progressing as normal, and we are looking forward to adding a healthy baby boy to our family on November 1st.

Prayer Requests:

• Patrick to remain motivated to train and study in this waiting period
• He will be able to absorb as much scripture and teaching as he can in this time, as he will only have church services a couple of times in the 61 days
• He will be able to encourage his friends who were also recycled to remain motivated to train so they can enter and stay together through this next cycle.
• John will continue to grow and develop according to schedule for a healthy welcome into the world.

Officer Candidate School

A lot has happened since my last update.  Patrick graduated from Basic Combat Training (BCT) on November 10, 2011.  Patrick's mom and step dad came as well as my parents (and of course, me!).  We had a really nice time visiting with him.  He got to leave post on family day and on graduation day, so we got to spend a lot of time together. 

He left Ft. Leonard Wood on November 11th and headed for Officer Candidate School in Ft. Benning, GA.  The process for getting accepted into OCS was difficult, but as if you know Patrick, you know he didn't have any problem.  :)

He is not three weeks into the training.  He is currently in class for about six hours every day (he calls it "death by power point"), and in physical training for the remainder of it.  He only gets one hour of personal time each day, which is when they shower, brush teeth and wash clothes.  They also have access to their phones and computers during this time.  However, by the time they finish their chores, there's not much time left.

Patrick is currently squad leader, which is good because it's giving him leadership opportunities.  However, it has come at a very stressful time because he is trying to fill out some extra paperwork for Infantry branch.  The catch is he can only work on it during his hour of free time, but he has to be monitoring the computer use of others as squad leader.  So he has had very little personal time this week.  Please be praying that the Lord will orchestrate some extra down time so Patrick can get his paperwork finished.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support.  We couldn't survive this time apart without the blessing of wonderful friends and family!

White Phase

Ok, so I need to correct some of my misunderstandings.  First, Patrick is Platoon Guide, not guard.  He is in charge of around 45 men.  He is the go between for the men and the drill sergeants.  He is really enjoying the challenge of this task.  They are doing a lot of practice with their guns (M-4).  He has also gotten to shoot some huge weapons.  He has LOVED that!  They had Columbus Day off, so he was able to have someone take his picture.  He is in his ACU's in this picture.  If you look behind him, you see his barracks.  I don't know about you, but it's much better than what I had imagined!  Enjoy the pictures!

HOOAH!!!

Patrick called me tonight!!!  It was such a wonderful surprise!  He only had about five minutes before going on fireguard.  He had the first watch, so he's going to get a good amount of sleep tonight.  He told me that they are out of Red Phase and now in White Phase.  They have more liberties in this phase, hense the mid week phone call.  

Some other good news:  he was selected as platoon guard.  He is so excited about this.  He said there have been a couple of guys that have presented a problem, but for the most part, he meshes with his platoon.  He requested that we continue to pray for him as he enters this new role of leadership.

HOOAH!!!

A Letter from Patrick

I got a letter today from Patrick that gives a great picture of how he's doing and what his days look like. The following are excerpts from the letter.


"It's been a pretty good day today. Other than the rain, the weather was relatively warm and it cleared up in the afternoon. This morning we rucked about 1 1/2 miles out to do the team building exercises. It was a lot of fun...Our platoon has bonded really well, which helps us to more easily accomplish tasks. I'm in the 1st squad and would like to become squad leader or hopefully platoon guide as BCT continues.

"I got selected to march in a special ceremony next week for the changing of the command...We are finally starting to look, act, think, and feel like real soldiers. A lot of guys are counting down the days to graduation. I'm just focusing on Red Phase right now; specifically getting through the phase tests...

"I finally got your [and other people's] letters today. It was extremely encouraging...The reason that it is good to hear about daily tasks is because it reminds me of where I've come from. To tell you the truth, until yesterday I had kind of forgotten about what a normal day in civilian life looks like. We've kind of been in a weird black hole where you begin to think in your subconscious that you've always been here.  I would liken it to the people of the underworld in The Silver Chair [by C.S. Lewis].

"I was glad to hear that a lot of people have stayed in contact with you while I've been gone. Thanks for the quotes from Eisenhower and the passage from Exodus. They were really encouraging. I'm working hard to be really sociable without compromising my values. This environment can make that very tricky sometimes..."

"So here's some information about Ft. Leonard Wood. It's huge! Imagine the campus of UA times 20 or more. I still haven't seen all of the parts of the base, and I probably won't because I'll only be here for training. But some of the cool things about the base is seeing black hawks fly over and armored convoys from time to time. There's always a company marching around. The Marine Corps [Military Police] school is also here, which makes me laugh because it only more solidifies for me that the Army is better...

"We got our [Interbalistic Body Armor and Army Combat Helmet] last week. It felt really awesome when I first put both of them on. I was able to spiritually connect with the centuries of warriors that have come before me. I was immediately ready to rock and roll.

"Please pray for me that my leadership skills would grow and that I would grow... so that I would feel more comfortable taking initiative in my platoon...Pray that I win the hearts and minds of my [Drill Sergeants] and my platoon and that I would look for opportunities to lead."

Daily Scheudle: Red Phase

I got a letter from Patrick today that outlined their daily schedule.  I decided to put in on the blog so you could have a better idea of what Patrick's daily schedule looks like (more or less).

4:10- Wake up early to make their beds and do personal hygeine (shave, brush teeth, etc.)
4:30- Official wake up time.  The Drill Sergeant Roes comes in, turns on the lights, tells a few jokes, and instructs them on their first formation.
4:50- First formation or PT formation.  They have to be dressed in their PT uniforms with their flashlights, canteens, road guard something (I couldn't read this very well), and their gun. This is when formation officially starts, so they have to be there standing at attention no later than 4:40.
5:00- 1SG comes and receives a report  from each platoon.  They need to know how many people that are in their platoon and how many weapons they have been assigned.
5:10-6:00- PT.  Nothing strenuous so far, but this is coming from Patrick.  :)  sometimes they do interval runs.
6:00-6:15- Change clothes for breakfast formation.
6:15-6:45- March 1/2 a mile to the dining hall.  They stand in line for about 20 minutes and eat in about three.  Then they break for formation.
6:45-7:00- March to instructional area.
7:00-9:00- Block on instruction.  so far, it's been "death by power point."
9:00-9:15- Bathroom break
9:15-10:45- Block of instruction
10:45-11:00- Formation for lunch and march to lunch
11:00-11:30- Lunch
11:30-11:40- March to classroom
11:40-11:55- Bathroom break
11:55-2:00- Block of instruction
2:00-2:15 Bathroom break
2:15-4:00- Block of instruction
4:00-4:20- March to the barracks
4:20-5:00- Meet in the platoon bays for specific platoon instructions
5:00-5:15- Secure gear and clean bay
5:15-5:30- Dinner formation and march to chow
5:30-6:00- Dinner
6:00-6:20- March back to barracks and fall into platoon bays
6:20-7:30- Platoon instruction/pep talk/corrective action
7:30-8:30- Personal hygeine
8:30- Lights out

As Time Goes By

I cannot believe that Patrick has been gone for three weeks.  In one sense, it's hard to believe that it has been that long.  Teaching school has kept me quite busy, and my friends have been wonderful!  I can honestly say that I had no idea how my time would fly by during the day.

On the other hand, it feels like his return will never come.  As each hour goes by, and I am glued to my phone in case he calls, I cannot say that time moves quickly.

Through this experience, I can say that I truly understand the fervor with which we are to wait for the return of Jesus.  I know that Patrick loves me more than any other earthly thing.  He is gone from me now to prepare a financial future for our family.  Although I miss him terribly, I understand why he must go and what my job is while he is gone.  I am to keep our house in order, keep our friends up to date on his activity, and faithfully wait for his return.  But perhaps the hardest part of Patrick's absence is keeping our relationship strong through mostly indirect communication.  We talk on the phone for a few minutes each week.  All other conversation is through letters.  I have found that I must make time in my day to write Patrick.  It is not always the most gratifying thing to do with my time because there is not immediate response.  But it is absolutely necessary that we stay in close contact with each other if we are to smoothly transition back into a shared life when he returns.

Our experience as Christians is not so different from this.  Jesus, who loves us enough to lay down His life for us, has joined us in the unbreakable union of salvation. However, He has gone, for a time,  to prepare a place for us with Him.  While He is gone, we have a job of our own.  We are to keep our spiritual house in order, by removing sin from our lives and working towards a more holy life.  We are to keep everyone involved in his movements, whether that's encouraging a Christan friend with scripture, or sharing the gospel with someone who has never heard of Jesus.  We are also to eagerly await His return, counting down the days until we can be united.  However, for me, the hardest part of my spiritual life with Jesus is keeping our relationship strong through communication.  I do not always make time to spend with the Lord through reading my Bible and prayer.  Yes, I may pray several small prayers throughout the day, and that is good, but what am I doing to deepen my bond with Jesus?  One huge comfort is that Jesus is unchanging, and He does not depend on my effort to stay connected to me.  But I must make a more concerted effort to spend time with Him if I am to stay close to Him.

Yes, as time goes by, God is teaching me a lot.  Although I do not wish for time away from Patrick, I am glad that the Lord is using this to teach me how to love Him and serve Him more.