Army Strong And Mighty

Basic 14 David's Journal August 26 to September 3

2009-09-22T12:15:00.000-07:00

August 26th (Day 41) Wednesday

I woke up feeling pretty crummy this morning, but a little better than yesterday. As I stood in morning formation coughing and sneezing I said a little prayer. My prayer was: “I know there are a lot of people that are praying for my health and safety. I ask for the power of their prayers at this time so I can overcome my fever so I can do my training. I ask for angels to be with me.”

I then did the morning PT (physical training) and once I was done I felt completely better. My shin did not hurt, my knee was all better, my shoulders and back were all better, and my fever was gone. I do have to cough every once in a while, but I am feeling really good. I know that this was a miracle.

For our training today we did US weapons. We had the chance to use an AT-4 (rocket launcher), and a M203 (which is basically an M16 with a grenade launcher). It was a lot of fun. We used practice ammo so it wasn’t as strong as the real thing. They did have some expert shooters from our company shoot with the real ammo. It was cool to watch. They also shot off a claymore mine. It was so powerful that it made the ground shake and I could feel it in my body.

Both of them were cool weapons, but I probably will never have to shoot them again.

Later we had some rest time coming, and right before personal time the drill sergeant on duty had us run over four miles. I was so proud of running the whole way. I hope that I am able to do well on my run test this Saturday. I also tested myself on sit-ups. I was able to do 71 sit-ups in 2 minutes. I hope to get 80 on my sit-ups portion of the test.

August 27th (Day 42) Thursday

Today we did the second portion of US weapons. We were able to shoot machine guns. We shot the M240B, the M249 (SAW), and the M2 Browning 50 cal. The M240B and the M249 are similar in how they work, but the M240B has a 7.76mm round and the M249 has a 5.56 mm round. So the M240B was stronger, but I liked the easiness and ability to control the M249 (SAW). SAW stands for “squad automatic weapon”. They take at least one in each squad. The M2 Browning 50 cal. was pretty awesome. We only used plastic rounds, but it still had a pretty strong recoil. It was a fun day, but a little hot with all our gear on.

August 28th (Day 43) Friday

Today’s training was, “Convoy Live Fire” (CLF). This was a lot of fun. The way it worked was we had a group of fourteen soldiers get on a big old truck, seven on each side, and our drill sergeants in the middle. We had to follow orders and have our weapon ready to shoot while the vehicle was moving. We came to one stop and one side would suppress fire while the other dismounted the truck. Once they were at cover behind a wall the other side would dismount the truck while those behind the wall would suppress fire. We all would shoot another magazine of ammo while behind the wall and the second side would go back to the truck while the first continued to shoot suppressive fire. Once on the truck the second group shot and the first group returned to the truck.

Once we all were on the truck again we continued down the road. Along the way they had IEDs (improvised explosive devises) go off. We had to yell, “IED” and take cover. Then there was a path where we shot at enemy targets while the truck was moving. I was pleased with how many targets I shot, because it was hard to aim. We then returned back to the base. It was a fun exercise. We are definitely getting more familiar with our weapon.

August 29th (Day 44) Saturday

I am feeling great this morning, and it couldn’t be a better day to feel this way. The weather is perfect for Missouri; there is a light fog so it is not too cold. Today is our final APFT Test. It starts with the push-ups. I felt like I tightened up too early, but I still got my best score of 84 push-ups in two minutes. That is well over 100%. The second part was the sit-ups. I wish the drill sergeant I had would have counted out loud to help me stay focused, but I still was able to pump out 69 sit-ups in two minutes for 92%. I think next time I will just let my body relax on the way down letting it fall rather than guiding myself down like I do. I hope to get over 76, which is 100% next time.

Then we were driven to the place where we had the run, which I was most worried about. The course is just a straight two-mile shot and mostly downhill. During OCS, I don’t think we will have it that way. I did very well and cut more than two minutes off my time getting 13:30. I think if I keep pushing myself on runs during training, then I could get under 13 minutes when I take the test at OCS. I got 98%. 100% is 13:18.

My total score was 290 points. I think the key to my improvement was trying my best during smokings and doing exercises correctly. My score tied for first in my platoon as the best score in the platoon. I am doing very well physically and hope to continue to improve.

Later in the day I was joking with my drill sergeant about something and said something dumb. She asked me “do you like doing push-ups Sparks?” I said, “YES, Drill Sergeant.” So she had me go in the push-up position and left the room. She had left others in that position before, so about five minutes later I decided she was not coming so I crawled over to her office in the push-up position and knocked on her door. I said, “Drill sergeant, Specialist Sparks requests permission to speak.” She yells through the door: “Sparks you are supposed to be in the front leaning rest position (push-up position).” I said, “I am.” She then rushes to her door and opens it and laughs seeing me in that position. She then yells, “Go back to the other room!” I said, “Yes, drill sergeant.” Then begin to crawl backwards in the push-up position. She then lost it and told me to get up and go away. All my battle buddies kept saying, “You are the only one to get the drill sergeant to laugh, and you can always get out of things.”

They always want me to be their battle buddy when they have to talk to the drill sergeant, and if I do something they say it must be okay because Sparks is doing it.

August 30th (Day 45) Sunday

Nothing special. Just nice and relaxing. Got a haircut, but had to do 125 up-down push-ups before I got it. I also got to talk to Mandy and the kids. I love them so much and can’t wait to be with them again.

August 31st (Day 46) Monday

Today was a pretty lame day. We did Urban Operation training. That is where you practice breaking into homes and buildings. It was very basic and I felt that we could have done more. We then came back to the barracks after a couple of hours.

September 1st (Day 47) Tuesday

We were fitted for our Class A uniforms today. It just means that we are that much closer to graduation day. They are also called “dress greens”

We got our black berets, which means we are now soldiers. I should look pretty good when graduation comes around.

We spent the rest of the day resting and shaving our berets. Yes, we had to actually shave all the lint off of our beret. We then had to shape it by soaking it in water and holding it to the form of our head.

September 2nd (Day 48) Wednesday

I decided to title this journal entry as “Ferris Bueler’s Day Off”. The day started with me going to sick call. I wasn’t really sick, but I figured it would be a good idea to get my ear ache checked out, along with a scrape that I have on my bum, and the pain I have in my knee.

The doctor gave me all the drugs that I needed and an antibiotic for the abrasion I have on my bum, which was caused by all the rubbing that happened during sit-ups. I was done with my check up fairly early. While waiting to go back I heard that our company was getting smoked pretty badly, because the day before about 6 people were caught fraternizing, someone had a can of chew, and a group of females had plucked their eyebrows, which was against the rules. I wasn’t too excited about getting chewed out for other people’s mistakes again, so I decided to stick around the sick call clinic.

It was coming up on lunchtime and our company was eating MRE’s for lunch. I really wanted something normal, so I decided to wait even longer and eat in the sick call DFAC (dining facility). Some of the people that I was with said the hospital DFAC was even better, so we took the bus to the hospital and ate there. I had a nice sit down meal of spaghetti and meatballs, with a huge choice of deserts and soda. I just got an apple pie, but it was super nice. We waited for another bus for a while and when it finally came it took us around most of the base. I got a nice nap in during this time.

It was about 14:00 when we finally got back, and when we came back we found out that our company finally phased to white phase. Most companies do that about 5 weeks before we did. This will give us a little more freedom from the drill sergeants. Everybody was wishing they had gone to sick call with me, because they got smoked pretty hard. I felt all rested up and it felt real nice. I don’t know if God inspired me to take the day off, but I am grateful for it.

September 3rd (Day 49) Thursday

Today was “Warrior Stakes”. That is where each platoon goes against each other in a series of events.

The first event was the tug-of-war. We got disqualified, because for some reason we had 11 people instead of 10 competing.

The second event was the water jug carry. If you were male you had to carry two 5-gallon jugs about 100 m one way and then back. The females carried one jug. We got last place again on that. So points wise we were not looking good at all.

The third event was the “litter carry”. They had to load up a first aid litter with 20 gallons worth of water and four people carried it about 400 m and handed it off to another group of four to do the same. We did better on that and got second place.

The fourth event was the weapons disassemble and reassemble. We had the fastest male and female and totally dominated in that event.

After those events we moved to the PT bubble for “pugils and combatives.” They broke down the competition into female lightweights and heavyweights and male lightweights and heavyweights. It was fun to watch all the competitions. Our platoon did real well and got first overall for both the pugils and combatives. I wonder how I would do if I competed in those events, but I am not willing to take the risk of getting hurt to find out.

While fight was going on I competed in the general knowledge competition. It was a fairly easy multiple-choice test that ten people took from each platoon. Our platoon won easily and I got 100% on my test.

The last competition was “drill and ceremony”, which is where we march as a platoon in unison. We did real good. I wish we could have recorded it. The 3rd platoon drill sergeant really takes it serious and wins each cycle. After we were done with our performance our drill sergeant felt confident we were the best. Later we found out that we lost by one point because our drill sergeant forgot to do a column left, which is super easy.
We started out in last place at the beginning, but it was fun to come from behind and win the whole competition and be the best platoon in our whole company.

Basic 13 David's Phone Calls

2009-09-06T20:03:00.000-07:00

As David's Dad I have been blessed to receive almost weekly phone calls from him while he has been in basic. I am so very proud of who he is and what he is accomplishing. There are some things he has shared with me that I am sure will show up in future Journal entries, but I couldn't resist letting everyone know a little early. In his final physical training test he scored the highest of anyone in his platoon of over 250 soldiers (mostly 18 year olds). In two minutes he did 84 push-ups; 69 sit ups in two minutes; and ran two miles in 13:30. (You may remember that in the last one mentioned in the journal he was hurting from the day before and his time was over 15 minutes in the two mile). He was only 10 points short of a perfect score.

His drill sergeant called him in and told him that in the peer review that was conducted in the platoon 90% related a positive opinion of David.

Last week they had a platoon competition and David's platoon took first place in the company. They started out with a tug a war and David's platoon was disqualified because they had too many in their team. They didn't do well in the jug carry and after two events were sitting in last place. Then they took second place in the litter carry, had two members of their platoon that were really fast in breaking down and re-assembling a weapon and took first place. David contributed in the General knowledge test answering 100% of his questions correctly and they excelled in Drill and Ceremony. In the end being named the Best Platoon in the Company.

Next week they will spend four days camping and competing in laser and paintball wars, having CS grenades thrown at them and all kinds of other adventures. I am looking forward to seeing his coming journal entries.

More important David has continued to work with the members of his platoon setting an example of a great positive attitude, encouraging some of them to attend Church with him, encouraging them to live moral lives, and offering them good reasons why it is worth the effort.

David's graduation from Basic Training will be in a few short days on September 17. The next day he will be off to Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia for Officer Training. Near Halloween he will learn where he is going after OCS. Please join your prayers with ours that he will get his first choice of Intellegence. That will take him to Ft. Huachuca in southeastern Arizona for training in his speciality.

Where ever he ends up after OCS Mandy and the children will be joining him in December; a time they are all looking forward to.

Run through the finish, David. Our hopes and prayers are with you.

Basic 12 David's Journal August 17 to August 25

2009-09-06T19:48:00.000-07:00

August 17th (Day 32) Monday

I decided to do range detail today. The people that do range detail go a little earlier to the range and help prepare the range for everyone to use. Today we had to attach the grenade fuse to a casing. Yes, no shooting today. We are throwing grenades.

They let us on range detail throw a grenade before everyone else showed up. I wasn’t sure how strong the bang would be. It was actually very small, because it was for training purposes.

They had us practicing form with the training grenades, and to see if we could throw okay. Then they took us further out and gave us real grenades. It was a cool experience, but when you throw them you definitely want to find cover. They are very loud and you can feel the ground shake.

After that cool experience they had us go through a course and simulate shooting, battle buddy commands, and throwing a grenade. The drill sergeants told me I did real well. It was a lot of fun, but hopefully I never have to throw a real one in war. They showed us an incendiary grenade and how it easily burns through metal. We have already experienced the CS gas riot control grenade, and will probably experience it again in a few weeks during FTX. We also saw the different smoke grenades. The big grenade we threw was the M67 fragmentation grenade.

August 18th (Day 33) Tuesday

Today was the best day of shooting so far. We did BTT (Basic Tactical Training). I did range detail again, which was a good experience because I was able to load a lot of magazines with bullets. I also had a chance to be around a lot of the drill sergeants and get some words of wisdom from them.

The course started out with me and a battle buddy behind a wall. I yell to him, “Cover me while I move.” He tells me that he has me covered. I then pull my charging handle and move behind a car and begin shooting at targets of Al-Quida images. Once I am set my battle buddy moves behind the car and charges his weapon and asks me to cover him and moves to a wall down range. While he is moving I lay down suppressive fire to make sure the enemy does not come up while my battle buddy is moving forward. Once my buddy is set at the wall I move to the wall using the same commands. Once I get to the wall I have to do a high crawl with my weapon through the mud. I then go to a low wall and take out a few targets and protect my buddy as he moves toward the low wall that I am at. We then use all our ammo. We have two magazines and when one goes empty we need to yell to our buddy that we are empty and he protects me while I change my magazine.

I had a lot of fun doing this training and had a lot of energy because I was able to stay busy the whole day. It is so important to always be busy. When we are lazy the day is not that fun. It doesn’t really matter what we are doing, just as long as it helps others the day goes great.

August 19th (Day 34) Wednesday

Today was the first day of FTX (Field Training Exercise). We started out with an 8 km ruck march. We loaded our ruck a lot more with clothes and shoes. We also had to carry our tent and our sleeping mat. I was so happy with this march because my blisters have callused up. My body was pretty strong and didn’t have any problems.

We then set up our tents, which sadly took a long time. Then the rest of the day was spent sitting around and eating chow. We also got smoked a few times. My knee started acting up a couple of days ago, and I am starting to think that I have tendentious. I am exercising through the pain anyway. I hope that God gives me the wisdom of how to train in a way that will allow my body to heal and get stronger.

The rest of the day was spent sitting around doing nothing.

August 20th (Day 35) Thursday

Last night had a huge thunderstorm. Our tent was set up pretty good, but water did get on my feet. There was huge gust of wind that almost knocked everyone’s tent over. It did successfully knock over one of the tents. The two guys inside didn’t have the sense to fix it or get in another tent. They stayed inside for the next four hours and one of them got hypothermia. He is okay now, but a little scary when it all happened.

We spent the whole day getting classes on different weapons. When we were going over the AT-4 (rocket launcher), I started explaining some things to some people that came late due to being at sick call. The drill sergeant got angry with us and picked four of us to stand next to a puddle of muddy water. Then he would call out, “grenade” and we would have to drop face first into the mud putting our nose into the water. He did that about ten times. I could have been mad, but I thought it was fun. I thought about how it would be fun to play with Solomon in the mud when I get back. I think abut Mandy and the kids throughout all my training. It is what gets me through everything.

At night we did night land navigation. This was a lot of fun. We had three points that we needed to find. To the first point I was the point man. I didn’t know what we were looking for, so when we found it I did much better on the next two points. The next point brought us to a road and we were given specific instructions not to cross any roads. There were about five squads at the road lost. I remembered them teaching us curved lined land navigation so I went along the road with my squad leader and found the spot. About two other squads followed me when I came back to get our squad, so going to the third point was a lot of fun.

We went out about 25 meters with our red lights on and then turned them off and went stealth. We grabbed onto the person in front of us’ vest, and went in single file line through the forest leaving the other squads lost as we found the point and hurried to the starting point. We were probably the fastest squad to go through the course.

August 21st (Day 36) Friday

Last night the weather was great compared to the stormy night before. I guess during the night someone stole our phase banners. We are thinking it was our company commander and 1st Sergeant. We go smoked for it a few times and went back to our barracks.

The rest of the day was recovery time.

August 22nd (Day 37) Saturday

The whole day was spent recovering from our camping trip. It seems like they give soldiers a lot of recovery time when they go on missions.

August 23rd (Day 38) Sunday

I gave blood today. I think this is the first time I have ever given blood. I have O negative blood, which is the universal donor. So I should give blood more often. I hope to do it more regularly. I was only able to give a half a pint, because the doctor did not get a good stick. He played around with the needle a bit and that hurt, but overall it was a good experience.

The only bad thing was that we missed our bus to church and couldn’t get a bus until a half hour before church was over. I got there in time to use the bathroom, get my e-mails, write a quick email to Mandy, and feel some peace before we had to go back.

I was able to call Mandy and the kids after dinner. The only bad part was that my drill sergeant had gone home and I could not get my cell phone. So I had to use the pay phone. It was hard to hear and every once in a while I would hear other people dialing. We had a nice conversation through. Solomon loves to talk with me. I am so happy about that. Faith was funny and told Mandy to tell me that she can’t speak English any more, only Chinese. I could kind of sense her having that concern last week when we talked. She had a hard time understanding. It will be nice when I can call more often.

August 24th (Day 39) Monday

Today was a pretty easy day too, because tonight we have to wake up super early, (21:30) to go on a 10 km ruck march and do night defense shooting.

The day started with doing combatives. They let people call out others to fight. I think they let us old guys have a break. We didn’t have to fight. It was fun watching the others put their opponents in chokeholds and make them tap out.

Then they had us get shots, which I still don’t know what they were for. Then, after lunch we went to sleep. We woke up for dinner and then woke up to go on our march.

August 25th (Day 40) Tuesday

So the ruck march was pretty easy. I thought about going for a walk with my family most of the way. It was a little slower than the other marches because we were not able to yell out cadences.

Once we got to the range we were all sweaty and it was a little cold, so I think that is a part of what got me sick. I am not feeling well at all. Luckily we have gotten a lot of rest time today.

For our training at the range we got to wear NVG (Night Vision Goggles) while we shot suppressive fire with lighted ammo down range. It was cool to see where our shots were going. We then waited for the sun to come up and did the same thing. We were also able to shoot our weapons on burst, which was a group of three shots at rapid fire. I got a lot done this afternoon, and now I am finally caught up with my journal. I hope that I feel better in the morning.

Basic 11 David's Journal August 2 to August 16

2009-09-04T18:04:00.000-07:00

August 2nd (Day 17) Sunday

I was missing my family a lot today. Faith’s birthday is coming up and I am going to miss it. I wish I could be with her. She is such a wonderful girl. I bore my testimony in church about how I am beginning to understand Heavenly Father’s feelings about sending us here to earth a little more. I shared my hope that Faith and Solomon will always remember me. The spirit strongly told me that that is how our Heavenly Father feels towards us. He wants us to always remember Him. I was grateful for the Spirit sharing that with me.

After Sacrament meeting I was able to get a blessing for my back to not cause me too many problems and will heal quickly. I know I will be blessed.

August 3rd – 5th (Day 18-20) Monday – Wednesday

The days were very similar. One day we went to the shooting range to practice grouping our shots in a tight area, about the size of a quarter. I did that pretty good. There was a shot that strayed every once in a while. The next day we zeroed our weapons to help the sight point to the middle of the target. Once I did that I was grouping better. My target had all the shots hitting the man in the target, which was the same as hitting a person 300 meters away. I was pretty proud of myself. The third day was very boring, because we were waiting for others to get better. That morning we had to ruck march 5 km. That was a good experience, but I look forward to the time that I will stop getting blisters.

August 6th (Day 21) Thursday

It was a fun day today. We did the Confidence Course. The first part we had to crawl face first in the dirt under some low ropes. Then we needed to walk up and down some diagonal balance beams with our hands linked together behind our head and singing “The Army Song”. The next part was more difficult. We had ascending balance beams. By the final beam we were about 4 meters above the ground. Then from that beam we used the monkey bars to go about 10 meters. I made it farther than most, but fell on one bar that jiggled.

We then needed to climb a tower that was about 4 stories high and go commando style (face forward with one foot hooked on the rope and the other foot dangling down for balance) down a diagonal rope about 50 meters. I did really good and went super fast passing the guy in front of me. It was a lot of fun.

The next part was a group effort. It was more difficult and scary. It was a tower with about 5 levels. It started out a little narrow or small at the bottom and got wider at the top. We had 5 people in our group, and we needed to get everyone to the top and back down. It was a little scary hanging onto the side of the tower with only a small pad at the bottom. Or worse yet have to make sure my battle buddies make it up each level without falling off. It was cool to see how each part of the course helped build confidence. It was great for people who had a fear of heights.

After lunch we kept going. The next course we needed to climb up some high rope ladders and walk across a balanced beam and climb up a wood ladder and then go down a rope ladder. Before we reached the bottom we had to fall backwards about 10 feet onto a mat.

The last course we needed to climb over a diagonal wall. When I got to the top DS Smith had me go down face first instead of feet first. I was the first one to do it, and there were only a few of us left. It must have looked real cool having me go down face first because the whole platoon cheered and thought it was awesome seeing an old guy like me do something like that.

There were a lot of other parts to the course, but not enough time. It would have been fun to do more and spend another day doing it, but there was not enough time.

Also the other day I was relived of my duty as PG, because I was on a limited exercise profile because of my back. The DS said that I could not lead from the back. It was actually a big relief not having to do it any more. It was a good experience the few days I had it.

August 7, (Day 22) Friday

Today we did more shooting. In the morning we broke off into our running groups. My body was hurting but I gave it my all anyways. I kept up most of the way, but it was not easy. I am in the fastest group and they go real fast. The bad thing is we have PT test tomorrow. I hope it doesn’t wear me out.

August 8, (Day 23) Saturday

Today is Father’s Day in Taiwan so I thought about my kids a lot. In the early morning we took our 2-2-2 PT test. 2 minutes push-ups, 2 minutes sit-ups, and 2 mile run.

I did awesome on the pushups. I got 82. It was the most in my platoon. The sit-ups I did well on. I got 58, but I think the guy counting cheated me out of 10 sit-ups because he counted 1-10, 1-10, 1-10, etc. It is okay because it was just a practice test. I hope to get 80 by the final. I feel like I am getting better.

The run was horrible. I could not get any speed, because I was worn out by the run yesterday. I felt very slow. My time was 15:41. The only good thing about the run was that I became familiar with the course. I should be ready for the final. I hope to get under 14 minutes.

The rest of the day we spent playing a video game preparing us for shooting pop-ups targets with our body armor (IBA) on. It was a little fun.

August 9, (Day 24) Sunday

I still have not been able to get a hold of Mandy and the kids. I really wish I could talk to them. I miss them and pray that they are doing well.

August 10 (Day 25) Monday to August 13 (Day 28) Thursday

This week was spent qualifying for the M16A2 weapon. It was fun, but a little hot and uncomfortable for me to do really well. I qualified the first try and did not worry so much about becoming an expert. It got me real excited about shooting with the family. I think when the kids get a little older I will get them a BB gun and teach them weapon safety. I would like to take them hunting and stuff like that. I think it will be a great bonding moment.

Well, to qualify we needed to wear with our ACU (uniform); IBA (body armor), ACH (helmet), LBV (vest with canteens), eye protection and ear protection. So while we were shooting we were wearing about 30 pounds.

My problem the first day was that I was trying to stay hydrated, because of the heat. So I was loaded with water and had to use the latrine like crazy. I was in line to qualify and was not sure if I had enough time to use the latrine. So I thought that having the need to pee would help with my adrenaline. When we set up to shoot they have us shoot from three positions. The first is the prone position, which is lying on the stomach with the chest up.

Let me take a moment to explain what we are shooting at to qualify. They have these plastic green men that pop up at 50 meters, 100m, 150m, 200m, 250m, and 300m. They randomly pop up and at first we shoot in the prone position one magazine of 20 rounds. Then we shoot in kneeling supported 10 rounds. And lastly we shoot 10 rounds in kneeling unsupported. In total we have 40 rounds to shoot 40 targets.

Now back to me being in the prone position. The tower gives us the orders to fire and I look down range and my eye protection begins to fog up from all the sweat that is dripping down my face so I miss a couple targets. I dropped the glasses down a little so I wasn’t using them while shooting and I could see a lot better. Then the pee really kicked in. In between each shot, which was maybe 3 seconds I was banging my feet down to try to keep myself from peeing. I was so tempted to pee in my pants just so I could focus on my shots. It was a real bad experience. Then I went to the kneeling/supported position and wasn’t bothered quite as much, but still lost some focus. The third magazine in the kneeling/unsupported position had trouble loading so I did not get to shoot at the first target and three rounds popped out of my weapon. I shot real well and when I got to the final three targets I felt like I was in a movie because I thought real quick and remembered what a sergeant did with my weapon one time that happened. I quickly grabbed the extra rounds and one at a time popped them into the chamber and banged the bolt release with my other hand. Then I popped up with my weapon and looked down range and shot my targets. I did this with all three shots and hit all three targets. I only had about 5 seconds for each shot. I didn’t shoot to well, but those last three shots made it all worth it. I got 25/40 shots and that was enough to qualify as a marksman.

The next day instead of shooting I took care of my financial issue. I got notification from the finance department that said that because I don’t know my wife’s address I obviously don’t support her and should not receive my BAH money. When I first dealt with finance my marriage certificate was not certified and the lady going over my stuff said that I needed to have Mandy’s Taiwan address. I got all of that stuff, but they still sent me that letter. I was able to get that taken care of in the morning while everyone was shooting. So hopefully I will get all the money I am supposed to.

The last day of BRM (Basic Rifle Marksmanship) we had to do a ruck march to the range, which was 8 KM. Even though the march is getting longer it is starting to get easier. I still got a couple blisters, but not as bad as before. Hopefully, I won’t have a problem with that on the next march.

August 14th (Day 29) Friday

We are at the start of week 5 and we are still in Red Phase. Some of the reasons are privates fraternizing; (I wonder what basic would have been like at an all male basic training post); sneaking cell phones; having bad attitudes with the drill sergeants; and not sounding off as loud as we should. I feel I did pretty good at staying motivated and being a good example, but it just takes one to ruin the whole company.

Today we did the video game training for ARM training, which is shooting in the standing position and while walking forward. It wasn’t too difficult.

August 15th (Day 30) Saturday

Today we went out to the range and performed our ARM training. It was fun to shoot while moving and to start laying down a suppressive fire.

I forgot to mention that yesterday my drill sergeant wanted me to see him after dinner chow. I could not figure out why, but didn’t think I was in trouble. So my chow time got cut real short and I was sent outside with three other people from our company and we were told that the Command Sergeant Major wanted to speak with us. Finally it was explained to us that we were chosen to speak to a new company of trainees and do what is called “Troop Talk”.

Troop Talk is where the company is given some time to ask questions to others that have been through most of basic training and there are no drill sergeants around to give them a hard time.

The Command Sergeant Major was very friendly with us and it was a good experience to be around some higher ranking NCO’s and CO’s and see how I should act around them.

Most of the questions that were asked were pretty basic, but one thing that they asked me was how do I deal with being away from my family and do I get to communicate with them at all? I told them that my situation is a little different, because my wife and kids are in another country and I have not been able to get a hold of them yet. I also explained that it was actually a blessing in disguise, because I have been able to focus on my training and my wife has been able to become more independent. I trust that she is capable of taking care of the kids during our time away.

A few questions later a guy got up and just made a comment about how he was grateful to hear my comment and that it gave him a lot of hope and started to clap for me, and everyone in their company joined in. The Sergeant Major looks over at me and says, “I have never seen that happen.” Overall it was a good experience.

August 16th (Day 31) Sunday

This was probably the best Sunday so far at Basic Training. They let us go to church an hour early, so I was able to write some letters and catch up on my journal. It just was very relaxing. I got some more people coming to church and they are getting more and more curious. We have great conversations about the bible in the barracks. It is funny how everyone goes to me with their questions. It just makes more sense to them when I explain things. I don’t know if anyone will ever join, but I have gotten a couple to get a little more active at church. The best part of the day though was in the evening and I was given a whole hour to call home. What made it great was that I finally figured out how to call Mandy. I had been dialing an extra 0 in her phone number. It was sad that a zero could keep me from talking to my wife and kids for so long, but like I mentioned earlier it has been a blessing in disguise.

Hearing Mandy’s voice was so wonderful. I actually called two times because I needed to talk to the drill sergeant for a moment. The second time I called Solomon answered the phone. At first I wasn’t sure it was him, because he was speaking so much and in Chinese. When I realized it was him I began to cry uncontrollably. I wish I could be more a part of his and Faith’s childhood. I do feel that they will always be so proud of me.

Faith is speaking a lot of Chinese and it was hard for her to understand me on the phone, but the second time I talked to her she seemed to understand a lot better.

It was so refreshing to talk to everyone and I look forward to taking to them again. Mandy seems to be doing good. She has a few troubles with disciplining Solomon. Hopefully our talk helped her. I think us talking to each other not only lifted my spirit, but also lifted her spirit. It was great.

Basic 10 David's Journal July 23 - August 1

2009-08-29T15:31:00.000-07:00

July 23rd (Day7) Thursday

We now have our weapons. We each were given a M16A2. Today we did the bayonet course. It wasn’t as fun as I thought it would be. It was a very tiring course, but I did finish it. It was a tiring day.

July 24th (Day 8) Friday

Today was a memorable experience. We learned about Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical (NBC) Warfare. We first learned how to maintain our M.O.P.P. (Mission Oriented Protection Posture) suits. Once we knew how to do that our drill sergeant found some silly reason to smoke us in our MOPP suits. The suit consists of a gas mask, thick clothing to go over our ACU’s, rubber boots to go over our boots, and rubber gloves. So there was no part of my skin showing. Then, we had to put on our LBV vest, and ruck sack. Then with our weapon at low ready we had to run around the track. The weight was difficult enough, then the heat from having so much on, but the worst had to be the breathing through the gas mask. It was difficult but I was one of the first done. Now, if I have the right equipment I could survive a NBC attack.

Then we marched over to the gas chamber. That is when the fun began. We were to go in to this building with our gas mask on. Then they dropped CS gas, also known as tear gas used for controlling riots. While waiting to go in the gas was still very potent. It burns the eyes and the skin. If you breathe it which I did many times it burns the throat. This was even before we went into the gas chamber. I was the first one in our group so I was very near the exit once we all filed in. It wasn’t to bad because we had our masks on. It just burned the skin a little in places where I was sweating. Once in we were given the command to break our seal and let gas into our mask, and then we needed to reseal it. Then we were given the command to remove our masks. The discomfort was unbearable. My throat was burning like crazy and snot was coming out of my nose like a waterfall. I was close to throwing up. We then were commanded to sing the Army Song. That was not happening for me. I don’t know how long we were in there, but it was tempting to rush the DS guarding the exit and run out. I just had to keep reminding myself that I am not going to die from this. I am guessing we were in there for about 5 minutes, and the interesting thing was that right before going out it seemed as if I had built up an immunity to the gas. I hope they got a picture of me coming out because I had snot everywhere. I don’t know if I would volunteer to do something like that again, but I would if I had to.
July 25th (Day 9) Saturday

Today was land navigation. We were taken out into the forest area and given different points we needed to find using a map and compass. I was given the responsibility of team leader. I think I was a little too confident and went to the first point to quickly and got us lost. After that it was very difficult because there were four other people in my group and none of them have ever been camping. I care about each of them, but they made if tough to find our target by complaining about spiders and stuff every 5 meters. I tried to help them get their composure so we could look for the next target. We finally found another group who helped us out a lot, and from there I found the other targets without too much trouble. We were able to pass and get back to base on time, but the people in my group still blame me for getting them lost. I do admit that I messed up, but I am confident I could do it now with no problem. I think we will get to do it again. It was a fun experience and hope I can do it again and conquer it. My boots are really starting to give me blisters and it is getting difficult to walk.

July 26th (Day 10) Sunday

Today was just a relaxing day. I live for Sundays during basic training.

July 27th (Day 11) Monday

Today was the first day of first aid training. It was mostly classroom time so it was a little difficult to stay awake. Later in the day I went to take care of some finance problems.

July 28th (Day 12) Tuesday

Today was the second day of first aid training. This was much more difficult than the first day. We trained how to transport injured soldiers during a combat situation. We pulled a battle buddy about 25 meters on a skid. Then we had to do the fireman carry, where we toss the battle buddy over our shoulders with their gear on. My battle buddy is about 15 pounds heaver than me. The next exercise was very difficult. We had to keep a low silhouette by crawling on all fours. Then that same battle buddy lies on his back and interlocked his hands around my neck, and I needed to drag him for about 25 meters. It took me a long time, but it took everyone a long time, and because of it my neck hurts so much. I can barely more it. It was a big accomplishment, but hopefully I never have to use it in the battle zone. Hopefully my neck heals quickly.

July 29th (Day 13) Wednesday

Today was the day I feared the most, but it has ended up being the best day so far. Today was the day we were giving and receiving IV’s. I was super scared for both, but luckily I was one of the first. I received the IV first from a female from a different platoon. She did very well and that gave me the confidence that I needed. I then followed all the steps very carefully and everything went perfectly. It was such a huge accomplishment for me. I would not mind giving IV’s often. If it is someone I can trust I wouldn’t mind receiving more IV’s.

July 30th (Day 14) Thursday

Today was the last day of first aid training. All we did was take the “combat lifesavers” test (CLS). It wasn’t too difficult. I probably should have studied more, but did good enough to pass. I feel pretty confident that I could save a battle buddy in a combat situation.

July 31st (Day 15) Friday

I forgot to mention that yesterday I became the Platoon Guide (PG) for my platoon. I am the first in the company. I don’t really know what I am doing. It is fun but a lot of responsibility. So far everyone really respects me. I know how to keep everyone motivated and in line, but I need to work on calling out commands for marches and cadences. I will practice at it.

Today was fun doing combatives and pugils. I got to wrestle the 18-year-old kids. It was my chance to beat up on them. They taught us how to choke someone to death, break arms, and other fun stuff. Then, they let us practice it. I was paired with an 18 years old kid. He is the fastest in our platoon and probably has the best PT scores. I do have about 15 pounds on him. So he got me first and then I just went through the process they taught us and reversed it around and by the end I had him under control and if I had another minute I could have gotten him in a choke hold. The one bad thing that happened was while I was getting out of his hold I flipped him over and my back landed on his body and strained a muscle in my back, so when pugils came around I was immobile and did not participate. But Private J mentioned after we wrestled how strong I am. That made me feel good about myself. I could not do everything that they did, but kept busy the whole time doing stuff. Now my shins, neck and back are super sore. I am going to sick call tomorrow. I did not want to go my whole time, but now I need to.

August 1st (Day 16) Saturday

Today was a rainy day and I went to sick call (CTMC). It was a long morning of waiting. The doctor I met with was not very friendly. The only nice part was finding out that my back was just muscle pain. I got some nice drugs and went back to the barracks in time for lunch. The army spends a lot of money on drugs and health care. I got everything for free. I look forward to the day of rest tomorrow.

Basic 9 David's Journal July 19 - 22th

2009-08-23T11:02:00.000-07:00

July 20th (Day4) Monday

Today we did BTT, I forget what it stands for. The object of this activity was to work together as a team, and to see which stand out as leaders. There are a lot of people in my platoon that want to be leaders, but the DS at our first station make me be the leader because I am going to be an officer. This DS doesn’t seem to like me very much, and I think the main reason is just because I am going to be an officer. It is hard to tell sometimes if a DS likes you or not.

The first course we had to figure out how to get everyone across a series of posts using different size 2X8’s. We also had to get a dummy in a stretcher across. We almost figured it out and we did better than the other team, but did not finish in time. I think that is because it was our first course.

The second course was called the “Chaplin’s Bridge”. It was a thick cable going from one platform to another. It was about 15 feet high. We had some rope and D rings we could use to hook to a pulley that slid from one side to the other. On this event I did not take the lead, but I was probably the biggest helper. Me and Private M. were able to figure out a way to get the dummy across using the rope and D rings. I did okay with my knot tying, but wish I could remember them faster. While we were setting up the dummy to get across some of the stronger members carried themselves upside down across the cable had over hand. We got the dummy across very easily. I went right after the dummy which was a mistake, because they needed some time to take the dummy down. So I was stuck out on the cable for another minute or two. This was very tiring. I had to wrap my leg around the cable to stay on. This left a nice burn and bruise on the inside of my leg. I finally got to the very end, and I heard someone say I was there so I brought my legs down, but I was not close enough for them to catch me and my legs hit the ramp going up to the platform. That disqualified me and I had to start over. This actually helped us finish and win, because when I got back there were mostly females and weaker males. I figured out a way to tie a rope around their rear and use a D ring to hook to the pulley. This helped them get across quickly and easily. We were running out of time though. I didn’t have time to use the D ring and had to go hand over hand again. I was exhausted by this time and the last one to cross. When I crossed, everyone was super excited because we won the completed the task.

On our way to the next task the DS got mad at us because there were people in my platoon arguing with each other. So you can only imagine what happened to us next. We got smoked really hard. It was probably my least favorite smoking so far, because it has given me the most pain. We probably ran about a mile in our ACU’s (Army Combat Uniform). This hurt because we were running in boots. Then he had us do “Iron Mikes”. This was very difficult. We had to do forward lunges with our hands over our head. We probably went 300 m doing this. It hurt a lot. Now I have a sharp pain in my right leg.

We did two other tasks after that, but I was to exhausted to remember much about them. I do remember that my group won in each event.

July 21st (Day 5) Tuesday
Today we learned how to use an Army radio. It was a little boring going through the class, but I think it would be fun to use one. They said that each radio cost $10,000. They held information on them so there needs to be total accountability for them. The teacher said that the only thing that can stop a war is losing one of these radios or if some special turtle crawls into camp that is endangered and dies suddenly if they are scared. If they lose a radio then they need to police the desert until it is found.

In the afternoon we did the PEC (Physical Endurance Course). The weather has been wonderful the past few days, but this morning it rained and made our PEC course real muddy and wet. It was a lot of fun. I was worried about going across the monkey bar, but I went across with no problem. Another cool part was jumping in a puddle and crawling under a log. I came out so wet and muddy. The last part of the course there was a rope about 30 feet high. I thought there is no way I could get up to the top. Maybe only 10% of the privates made it to the top. I didn’t think I would make it because of the burn I have on the inside of my let from doing the Chaplin’s Bridge. When it was my turn to climb I started and thought about how wet it was, but I still tried and was able to make it to the top. The whole experience was a huge sense of accomplishment. The hard part was when we finally finished our drill sergeants began yelling at us for things we had no control over. I got really mad about this, but was able to cool down a little on the march back. When we got back to the barracks there was a huge change in our platoon. We began to work closer together and sound off even louder. It was a strange transformation.

July 22nd (Day 6) Wednesday

For physical training today we were separated into different running groups. I made it into the fastest group, the A group. Our DS calls us the A-train. It was the hardest running workout that I have had in a long time. I was proud to go strong the whole workout. Our DS averages a 5-minute mile when he runs so he had us moving fast. We did sprints and hills and then both. In total we probably did over 3 miles and non-stop.

Luckily the rest of the day we were able to relax a little while they briefed us on some boring stuff.

Basic 8 David's Journal July 15 - 18th

2009-08-23T10:53:00.000-07:00

2009 7 15-16

So we technically have not started basic training. That will start on Friday the 17th, but we still get physical training (PT) and if we mess up we get smoked. We had another real big smoking. I am guessing it was about an hour long. They break down all our muscles to total fatigue. I don’t have much time to write in a journal. I am non stop from about 0400 – 2000. We are then given one hour personal time from 2000 – 2100. And that time is spent taking a shower and organizing things. It is hard to think about writing during that time. I also was asked to give a talk in Church this next Sunday, so I need to take some time to prepare.

2009 7 17 Friday

It is officially day one of basic training. There were a lot of smokings. Our platoon did pretty good at avoiding them. We do pretty good at sticking together. I like everyone in my platoon. They are young, but I have no serious problems with any of them. We got issued some more equipment, and had some briefings on equal opportunity. We are still waiting to get our weapons. That will be nice to have them. That will be the final piece of our uniform to make us feel like soldiers. It will be fun to walk around town in my uniform. There is a lot of pride being a part of the U.S. Army.

2009 July 18 (Day two) Saturday
This was a tough day. It started early in the morning with our initial PT test, which is one minute of pushups, one minute of sit-ups, and a one mile run. I got 46 push-ups. I probably could have done more if my arms were not so tired. The sit-ups I only got 35. what happened was I started out real good. I was pumping them out fast, probably better than I had ever done before. Then I hear the DS say you can not put your knees on the feet to the person spotting me, and that none of my sit-ups counted. She said I need to start over. So I lie on my back for about 15 seconds and ask when do I start over? The DS looks at me and says I wasn’t talking to you, so I kept going and was able to manage 35 total. I am guessing I would have done more sit-ups than push-ups, which is a huge improvement. I am so happy they are getting easier. Then we went over to the track. They used some black gravel for the track. I started out fast for a little more than a lap and then found a steady pace. I was able to finish with a time of 7:20. It was fun to rub my time into some of the 18 year olds. I still need to work on endurance and keeping a fast pace for longer.

The rest of the day we spent doing the confidence tower, which is about 50 feet high. We needed to rappel down. I had fun. I have rappelled a few times already,. And I already had confidence in doing it. So, I went down in three jumps. The only problem was the person on belay was not as confident and stopped me about two inches above the ground and I ran into the tower. I didn’t hit hard, but embarrassing when a group of DS start laughing and saying that is what you get for trying to showboat.

We got to eat MRE’s for lunch, which is an easy to make military meal. It was fun. My meal was beef stew.

Well, there was a lot of talking going on watching the repelling, because it was sometimes very funny. One of my friends, Private C got a little ways down and lost his footing and starting crying to the DS to save him. The DS just laughed at him and told him to get off his wall. Then while he was trying to get down another DS took over at belay and started to shake his rope. It was not very nice, but still pretty funny. The DS’s have not been very nice to Private C.

After doing the tower we were punished for talking too much during the activity. We had to do what was called “The Granola Factory.” That is when we get smoked so hard that we throw up and the throw up looks like granola. So they took us to a covered area where the ground was hay and rubber. Then for the next hour and a half straight we exercised. I think we stopped maybe three times for water and that was only for about 15 seconds each. It was horrible at the time, but after we were done I felt such a nice sense of accomplishment.

Basic 7 David's Journal July 14

2009-08-21T10:25:00.000-07:00

The reception process is finally over. After lunch we met our drill sergeants (DS). This was the first impression our DS’s had of us, so I wanted to be perfect. With a DS it is impossible to be perfect. After screaming at the top of our lungs who we were they stuffed us onto a bus like a can of tuna. Once we arrived at our barracks they began screaming at us and commanded us to lift our camo duffle bag above our heads. I made the mistake when packing my bags to put most of my stuff into my camo bag. I had a strong impression not to fill that bag too much, but I ignored it.

Well, I am still holding that camo bag above my head. It is super heavy, probably about 50 lbs. As we struggled to keep it above our heads the different DS would go around yelling at us and telling us to quit. They had us keep it in the air until the strongest person there could not do it any more and then for another 5 to 10 minutes. I was proud of myself to never let it go past my shoulders. We probably went for about 15 to 20 minutes total doing that. Then they got all nice and let us drink water, and then got mean again and had us get in the push up position. I forget the amount we did. I think it was 100. Then we did the overhead arm clap to 100 reps, and then we had to hold our arms out. Then it was back to push ups. Then back to overhead arm claps. Then the military press, and later the jumping jacks. We then did more push ups. The DS then had us arch our back and lower it. When arching we needed to say, “Attention to Detail.” When lowering we said, “Teamwork is the key.” Then finally he had us do the flutter kick. This was the hardest for me. I am looking forward to working out my stomach so that will be easier. We were finally done with our first “smoking” (extreme physical training). There will be many more smokings these next nine weeks.

Basic 6 David's Journal July 9

2009-08-20T18:55:00.000-07:00

2009 07 09

This has been the longest day. I don’t remember it starting. We were to wake up at 0445. My internal clock for some reason woke me up at 0444. It has done that to me every morning so far. I am grateful for this. Now remember 0445 is 0245 in Arizona. We had a half hour to be outside and in formation. I was shaved, brushed my teeth and had all of my stuff ready in about 15 minutes. We were then taken to breakfast. This was too early for me to eat, and I only had 3.5 minutes to actually eat. Rush, rush, rush. I was actually able to get a lot down. I then got an advance on my pay and then spent $4.30 on a haircut. The guy in front of me had his hair totally shaved already and he saved $4.30. We later had a lot of waiting for the next few steps. We first took a picture for our military ID, then we need to go through blood test. While waiting I saw two soldiers faint and a few others who were a little weak. By this time I need to go poop real bad, but did not want to ask the Drill Sgt. When it was my turn to give blood the soldier taking my blood messed up not once, but twice. I even gave him a nice vein to work with. He finally gave up and sent me to the doctor to do me. She gets it right on my first shot, but messes up and wasn’t able to get enough blood into the four cylinders. By this time blood is dripping down my arm, and I need to get another shot. She gives it and you guessed it she messed up and I need to get another shot. Luckily I didn’t’ feel weak at all, but I definitely have not had much luck with shots lately.

After the blood test I took the eye test. My left eye is great, but my right eye has some problems. I did not pass the first test, and was sent to a second test. I almost didn’t pass it. The lady said you better go before she changes her mind. After that I got my foot sized by some special machine that measures my feet. It was pretty cool, but it didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know. After that I went and got lunch. I don’t think I have explained how chow time works. We get in two lines and stand shoulder to shoulder. We are not allowed to talk. When we are close to the trays we use hand sanitizer. (I like how convenient that is.) We then pick up a tray and silverware. We quickly order our main dish and then a side dish. We then find a seat. We need to make sure it is next to another soldier and not leave a space. We then can get some fruit, salad and dessert from the salad bar. We then get a drink. There are lots of drinks to choose from, but I always pick water.

Basic 5 David's Journal July 8

2009-08-20T18:52:00.000-07:00

2009 07 08

Woke up at 0300 and left the hotel at 0400 to the airport. They gave us $9 for breakfast and $18 for lunch. The flights were not too bad. I did lose my shaving cream at the security checkpoint, but I kind of expected that. We had plenty of food to eat throughout the trip. We first flew from PHX to Dallas/Fort Worth and then from Dallas/Ft. Worth to St. Louis. Once we arrived in St. Louis we went to the USO. This is a military clubhouse at the airport where you can eat all the snacks that you want. It has movies, t.v., computers and internet. That will be nice to go there with my family while traveling.

Then we had a 2.5-hour bus ride. I memorized the Army General Orders with a guy from Yuma named Adrian Martinez. He is going in as a linguist, and is a cool kid. When we finally got to the base, that is when the fun got started. We waited about 5 minutes in the bus for the Drill Sgt., to come tell us what to do. Then a small female Drill Sgt., comes out and we all thought she looks nice. She gets on the bus and begins to chew us out for every little thing. I was luckily at the back of the bus and did not totally feel her wrath. That has been something that has saved me a few times, just staying in the back. The weather isn’t too bad here in MO, and I have not felt the humidity yet. We went through some paperwork and getting yelled at. One guy got “smoked” (that is when the Drill Sgt. Makes a soldier do physical training such as push-ups.) This guy heard the Drill Sgt. Say cross your legs, but she actually said to not cross our legs. He did and then laughed because he knew he make a mistake. He got smoked real hard. Later we were put into our barracks and we were given 15 minutes to pick a bunk, set up, make our bed and take a shower before the lights were turned off. I think we went to bed about 2300. I heard there were 3 groups that were coming after us that night. I feel sorry for them.

Basic 4 Begin David's Journal July 7

2009-08-20T18:46:00.000-07:00

2009 07 07

Today is my 5th wedding anniversary, and the first day of 5 ½ months away from my family. My recruiter, Sgt. Gray picked me up at 0400 to go downtown to the military processing station (MEPS). It was a day full of waiting.

While getting my height and weight checked I noticed another LDS guy going through and started a conversation. He was a funny guy and we hit if off as friends. Then he asked me my name. I said, “Sparks”. Then he said with surprise, “Sparks?” So I looked at his nametag and it said Barba. Then all of the sudden I had tons of memories flood to my mind. It was Sean Barba. I grew up with him and did Scouts with him. It is funny that every time I go to MEPS I see someone that I know. I met another cool guy named John Gadbilao who was a body builder, but grew up in the Philippines and is half Chinese. I am loving all of the friends that I am making.

I went through the oath again which was still really cool, and found out my departure time for tomorrow at 0825. I will have to get up at 0300 to be ready. They have us in a nice Sheraton Hotel and fed us a nice dinner. I met a real cool kid during dinner. He had run away from the FLDS about a year earlier and we talked for about 3 hours. It was very enlightening. Too much to write in a journal. He said he plans on writing a book, so maybe then I will be able to express some of the things that their community and prophet Warren Jeffs believe. He is a good kid who is trying to find his way in our society. I wish him the best of luck and pray for him.

Basic 3: David's Sunday Call

2009-07-19T19:37:00.000-07:00

David had a few minutes and called to give us an update. Today, Sunday July 19, 2009 is the 3rd day officially of his basic training. The days previous have been about paperwork and medical tests etc. His attitude is still very positive. He is feeling the physical challenge of competing against 18 year olds, but it sounds like he is doing well. He is in the top running group which speaks well of his physical preparation before he reported. Of the four platoons in his training rotation there are only 9 that will be going on to Officer Candidate School (OCS). He says that there is a little resentment from some of the younger platoon members, (especially since he is paid at a higher rate than they are), but he feels like 98% of them accept him for who he is.

Yesterday he was repelling and really enjoyed it. However, since there was too much talking from the "troops" the drill sergeants put them all through 1 1/2 hours of non-stop exercise. He was definitely feeling the pain. He asked us all to pray for his physical health and that his body will hold up to the demands placed upon him. It turns out that he will be issued a "gun" tomorrow and is looking forward to that. He says that he has learned most of the parts of the "gun" and hopes to be able to learn to take it apart and put it back together fast.

Today he spoke in Church and said that it went well. I think he said that there are four other members of his platoon that he goes to Church with and ten from the whole regiment. There are some other members that aren't active. He does get emails on Sunday and would enjoy hearing from each of you. He is scheduled to graduate September 17th. Any one of family or friends would be welcome to attend. It is a whole day affair and then he will be off to OCS.

It is my hope that in addition to his physical well being each of us will be praying for his spiritual protection as well. Basic Training in some ways can be a negative environment. He says that it is hard to keep all the swearing out of his mind. I know that our prayers can help him and protect him from that negative influence.

Basic 2 David's Phone Call

2009-07-16T22:38:00.000-07:00

David called me today!!! He just had a minute and wanted to pass along his mailing address:

Spc. David Sparks
A-2-10 INF REGT 4 PLT
495 Iowa Av. Unit 12
Ft. Leonard Woods, Mo. 65473

On the back of the envelope put a big 4 (number 4) for the 4th Platoon.

He asked me to pass along his love to Mandy and the children. He really misses them.

He started his actual Basic Training today and says he will get a gun tomorrow. He also said that he is going to give a talk in Church this Sunday and feels good about that too.

All in all he sounds great. Thanks for each of you that is praying in David's behalf.

Basic 1

2009-07-13T14:33:00.000-07:00

From David's father, Bill Sparks: David has asked me to enter his posts while he is in basic training since he will not be near a computer for blogging purposes for the duration of his training. It is going to be quite an experience for him and I will try to keep you up to date on his adventures as he is able to pass them along to me. Today I received a preprinted card from David that was mailed Friday, July 10th. The address, salutation, and his signature were hand written.

"Dear Dad

I have arrived safely at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. I am undergoing my initial processing at 43d AG Bn (RCPT) prior to being assigned to a unit for training. I will only be here 4 or 5 days, and then I will ship to a training company. Do not write to me at the address on this card or to the 43d... I will send you my mailing address within the next week when I am assigned to a training company. Also, I will inform you as to the date that I am graduating. For more information on my stay at Fort Leonard Wood, go to www.wood.army.mil/grad.

If I should be needed at home because of serious illness or death of a member of our immediate family, contact the Red Cross Chapter nearest home, explain the emergency and give them my name, rank, social security number, and military address. They will contact the Red Cross Field Director here and the Director will inform my Commanding Officer and me. This is the only way I can get an emergency leave.

David Sparks"

God Speed and Best Wishes David, we love you

The Fourth of July

2009-07-04T00:01:00.000-07:00

This Fourth of July was special, even though it was probably the most uneventful one I have ever had. We just stayed home and relaxed. Since I will be going into the Army in a few days I pondered the many blessings we have in the country. America is special land. The liberty and freedom that we enjoy here are precious. Living and visiting other countries around the world gives me an even greater appreciation for those who have fought to protect our liberty and freedom. I am proud to be a part of that tradition.

Pre-Basic 27: How to email me during Basic Training

2009-07-03T00:51:00.000-07:00

For those of you that would like to send me a letter during Basic Training via email you can email a nice senior couple who gives letters to soldiers in the ward that I will be attending. I got this information from Afton Welker, a high school friend whose husband is at the same basic training site right now. Maybe I will see him while I am there. It is always nice to see someone that you know when you are in a new place. Afton has given me some helpful information while preparing for the Army. I am thankful to all who have shared their knowledge with me to help me better prepare for the adventure to come.

This is how you email me.
1. The couple want my name in the subject line. David Sparks.
2. They don't want attachments, photos, or articles.
3. The email address is: layhw@embarqmail.com

It would be nice to hear a note or two each Sunday for comfort. Most importantly keep me and the other service men and women in your prayers if you don't already.

Pre-Basic 26: Moving Day

2009-07-01T16:17:00.000-07:00

Today was our last day at our apartment. We have liked living here, and we are grateful for the facilities that we have had while living in an apartment. The computer center was very helpful when we needed to copy something or send a fax. The gym was great when I decided to train for a triathlon and then later when I started to train for the Army. The lobby area was nice when I wanted some air conditioning and could spend a moment with the kids watching the Disney channel. The pool was great. Surprisingly it was the best in the winter time. I loved my winter swims. The pool was heated, so swimming was great, but it was cold enough outside that no one wanted to go swimming. So, I had the pool to myself everyday as I got better at swimming. I used to hate swimming, but now I love it. Then, the BBQ was a nice addition. There were many days we would grill some hamburger, steak, or pork. So nice.

The move went fairly well. Mandy was great at getting a lot of the stuff ready to be moved. Robert, Kevin, Kendall, and Richard helped me move. We gave away some stuff, so we were able to pack everything into a 5x5 storage unit. We were all surprised how much stuff we could fit into such a small space. I am starting to lose track of how many time we have moved since getting married. I think this is move number 10 in five years of marriage. Mandy would love it if we could settle down in one spot. Being in the Army won't let that happen for a while. Luckily our life is very simple. We got rid of a lot of stuff when we moved from Taiwan back to America. This is not the life most people would dream of, but I would not trade it for anything in the world.

Pre-Basic 25: Miscalculated Mile

2009-06-29T07:17:00.000-07:00

I ran my two miles today along the canal by my apartment. I had measured it out a while ago and guessed what would be two miles. I got a time of 15:48. I was pretty happy with it. I went home and looked at google maps again and realized I had calculated wrong. I actually ran 200m more. If that is actually true then my time would actually be closer to 15:00, maybe even faster.

This is pretty good because it has been about two weeks since I have really ran. I sure hope I can handle the consistency of basic training. I know that I will definitely be grateful for it. I think I can get close to the max run time of 13:18 by the time OCS (Officer School) starts.

Here is a link to the physical training standards by age group and sex.

END

Pre-Basic 24: Faith's talk on Faith

2009-06-28T19:04:00.000-07:00

Faith gave her first talk in church. She did a great job. She spoke loud, and was very clear. She was super cute and there were some leaders there who were touched by the things that she had to say. Here is the transcript of her talk.

My name is Faith. I am going to talk about "faith". Faith starts with the letter F. (She held up a paper with the letter F that she had written on her own.) I can have faith to help my family and my daddy.

When my aunt Holly had a stroke, we prayed for her everyday. (Held up a picture of a family praying together.) She is better now, because of our faith.

My daddy is going to the Army. (Held up some camouflage things.) I won't see him for a long time. (Held up a picture of a soldier.) I can pray to keep him safe. (Picture of a girl praying.) My faith will help me see him again. (Put the pictures together.)

I have faith in Jesus. (Held up picture of Jesus.) I know that He loves me.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I was so proud of her. I don't know how much she understands about me leaving, but I do know that she understands the power of prayer, and that she will be praying for me everyday, just as I will be praying for her

Pre-Basic 23: Father and Children Campout

2009-06-27T20:17:00.000-07:00

Faith, Solomon, and I went camping with my dad, Robert, Carter, and Gabby Thursday and Friday. We had so much fun.

I liked Solomon's face in both of these pictures so I had to use them both.

After leaving Kevin and Kirsten's place we went to Robert and Holly's home and waited for Robert to get home from his first real dental hygiene experience. (We are proud of his accomplishment of finishing dental hygiene school.) We then spent a while packing all our stuff into Robert's mother-in-laws car. We barely were able to do it. Then, we were on our way to the boarder. That is on our way to Taco Bell. We got a simple lunch and started our two hour drive to the campsite up on the Mollgion Rim. The kids were pretty good. The girls are a little more high maintenance than Solomon, but not too bad.

We met our dad at the campsite and spent a little time setting up. Then, we just relaxed. The kids had fun playing around and experiencing the camping experience. It sprinkled just a little bit, but nothing too bad. We took a hike to the rim and looked over the vast space. This is one of my favorite places in the world. I could sit there and ponder about God's creations for a long time. I would have if it wasn't for some of God's most beautiful creations needing my attention.

Grandpa, Gabby and Robert relaxing by the fire.

You may think I am silly, but I was so proud of Faith for going poop out in the forest. She is very good at using the facilities no matter where she is. There was a bathroom there, but she could not handle all of the flies. Gabby could not handle the smell.

After a nice pork dinner that Robert prepared, we went to bed. It was so much fun sleeping with Solomon and Faith. I didn't get much sleep, but for some reason it did not bother me, because I was right beside those two right and they were sleeping well.

On Friday morning I did Faith and Carter's hair. Then, I took the kids on a bear hunt. We had a great time shooting the "bears" with our "guns". We also had story time where I told them made up stories using them as characters. They absolutely loved that and kept wanting me to tell more stories. They even tried to tell there own. It was cute.

This is called the puppy dog style hairdo. I think I did a pretty good job, and Faith and Carter loved it, but I don't think I will quit my day job.

Later we went to the lake, and did some fishing. Faith loved it. We did not catch anything except a love for doing it.

Grandpa helping Solomon and Uncle Robert helping Faith.

Grandpa with Carter, Faith, and Solomon.

After a nap time by Robert and my dad, (Yes, I was stuck on children duty. I did fall asleep in the chair for a few minutes and the kids had gotten a hold of the toilet paper, and... You got the idea.) we set up some hammocks. Faith and Solomon could have spent all day in them.

Here is Faith. She really got into swinging back and forth in the hammock.

After about an hour of them playing Carter fell and hit her head on a rock, and got a big cut in her head. Robert, my dad, and I gave her a blessing and we decided to go home a day early. Carter should be okay, but Faith and Solomon are still praying that her head will get better. We were able to get packed up before the sun set so that was good, and the discipline was to a minimum. The drive home had a few cranky cries, but for the most part was not too bad.

We are grateful to have spent some time with Grandpa before we leave. I am grateful to have spent some time with my kids doing something memorable. They are still young, but I think they will be able to remember this experience for a little while. At least until I see them again. We are grateful for family members who have the resources for camping. We got rid of all of ours when we left Taiwan, and have not had the opportunity to build them up again since being back in America. I hope to camping again with the kids, and next time I should have lots of fun toys to take with us.

END

Pre-Basic 22: Arts and Crafts and Sleepovers

2009-06-25T18:46:00.000-07:00

The kids spent the night at Kevin and Kirsten's house last night. Kirsten is such a good mom, and because of that Kandy is such a good girl. They were so nice in doing things with Faith and Solomon. They love Aunt Kirsten and Cousin Kandy. They are preparing the ingredients for Playdoh, so that the kids could make some.

Faith and Solomon had fun mixing the food coloring into the dough. They listened closely to their teachers as they were taught how to do things.

Solomon was so proud of his accomplishment. He loves balls, so that is what it looks like he made. I love my little boy, and I am going to miss him so much, but trust that he will be looked after by family and friends, but most importantly God.

Faith admires her cousin Kandy as she uses stencils to cut out a doll. It is so nice to have people close to us that our children can admire who are good examples to them. I am glad that Faith can share these memories with her cousins, aunt and uncle before they go to Taiwan. I hope that we will have many more times together that we can share.

Last night we also helped Kandy set up her own blog. (here) She is starting to grow up so much, and having her own blog will be good for her. I look forward to keeping up with what is going on in her family.

END

Pre-Basic 21: Sun Tzu - The Art of War

2009-06-23T16:27:00.000-07:00

I have been listening to "Sun Tzu - The Art of War". There are very basic principles in his writing. I checked out a book from the library called "Sun Tzu and the Art of Modern Warfare", by Mark McNeilly. (Link to Google Book) It has been interesting reading so far. He takes from Sun Tzu's 13 chapters and breaks it down into 6 major principles.

1. Win All Without Fighting: Achieving the objective without destroying it.
2. Avoid Strength, Attack Weakness: Striking where the enemy is the most vulnerable.
3. Deception And Foreknowledge: Winning the information war.
4. Speed And Preparation: Moving swiftly to overcome resistance.
5. Shaping The Enemy: Preparing the battlefield.
6. Character-Based Leadership: Leading by example.

The author uses examples from history to explain the relevance of each principle. I love it when authors or speakers are able to point out correct principles and then allow me to choose for myself how to use them. Reading this book has gotten me real excited about the history of war. I know that I can learn a lot from those past experiences. After all that is what the Book of Mormon is, the history of war with correct principles.

When talking about winning all without fighting he compares the western game of chess to the eastern game of go. The first starting out with a lot of pieces on the board, and it's object is to destroy each other and in the end usually there are very few pieces on the board. Go on the other hand starts out with an empty board, and in the end it is loaded with pieces. The winning color controls the losing team but has not destroyed them. They have just taken them over. So rather than destroying resources they are actually building resources. I like this strategy of war, but I am sure that Sun Tzu principles are just the base of what I will learn over the next few years.

END

Pre-Basic 20: Jackson, Sill, Leonard Who?

2009-06-22T20:00:00.000-07:00

I went to my recruiter's office today to finish my future soldier packet. We talked about my basic training location getting moved. I looked at the email and it wasn't Ft. Sill that I am being moved to, it is Ft. Leonard, MO that I will be going to. It is funny, because now I know a lot about three different bases. I think Missouri will be nice. The only thing is that it is in the middle of nowhere, and it is quite the trip if someone wants to come to my graduation.

We will see if either of my parents end up coming. I really love Missouri for some reason, so hopefully this experience will keep it that way. Two more weeks, and I will be a soldier.

Pre-Basic 19: It is SILLy, but I am moving to Sill

2009-06-18T18:38:00.000-07:00

I found out today that my basic training location has been moved from Fort Jackson, SC to Fort Sill, OK. I am excited. Fort Jackson has a reputation of being soft. It's nickname is Relaxin Jackson. I am excited for the challenge that lies ahead. I have been through Oklahoma 3 times, and don't remember what the weather was like, so that has to be a good thing right. I remember looking at the memorial from the Oklahoma city bombing. Here is a part of my journal entry from when I visited that memorial.

June 11th, 2002

"We are now in Oklahoma City where the Oklahoma City bombing occurred. It was crazy how strong the Spirit was as we drove by it to find a place to park and as we walked toward it. We were not even there yet, and I couldn't help but feel God's love for the people affected by this act of terror.

They have a statue of Christ across the street from it, and it has Him weeping with the scripture in John 11:35, "And Jesus Wept." I really felt that Christ was extra sad, because he knew that this would be the start of many terrorist acts in the world. And terrorist acts are the worst possible war tactics, or at least the worst that we have seen.

After seeing this memorial I really would like to see the World Trade Center memorial. These acts of terror have been both the worst and the best things that could have happened to us. The worst because of how hard times get with a struggling economy and of course the deaths and families affected. The best however because it helps us remember our God and the little things that we are grateful for. I am so grateful to be a part of such a wonderful family and the opportunity I have to learn from them."

There is so much to be grateful for. Right now I am still grateful for my family, but I am also grateful for this great country that we live in. The freedoms that we enjoy are abundant and I am proud to be a part of the armed forces that protect the freedoms that we enjoy each day and sometimes take for granted.

Today I did my PT test. I did not improve from before. I think that is because of lack of focus. Yesterday I took a break from exercising and that hurt me a little. My push ups were at 100%, my sit ups were at 67% and my run was at 75%. I am at least happy that I am passing, but I really want to get 100% in each area.

END

Pre-Basic 18: Water Ballon Volleyball and Ultimate Frisbee

2009-06-17T19:15:00.000-07:00

It was a combined activity tonight for mutual with both the young men and the young women. They played water balloon volleyball. I was the referee and balloon tosser. They had a lot of fun playing that. If you don't know how to play it is very easy. It is basically the same rules as regular volleyball, but we use water balloons and towels. They break off into pairs and hold a towel and try to catch and toss the water balloons that come to them.

After that we played Ultimate Frisbee. Our team destroyed the other team 3-0. After the game Jake Packer came up to me and asked if I had been exercising. I told him yes. He could definitely notice a difference with my speed and endurance. He got tired right away and I just kept going and going. It was nice to hear him say that. I still have a long ways to go, but that was a nice start.

I enjoy playing with the younger kids. It definitely keeps me young. I hope to stay young for a long time. I feel joining the army will help me do that.

END

Pre-Basic 17: Date Night and Sleep Overs

2009-06-17T15:41:00.000-07:00

Last night Mandy and I dropped the kids off at Robert and Holly's house so we could have some time to ourselves before we are separated for 5 months. Gabby was so excited to see Faith and Solomon. I guess she had been checking to see if they were coming the whole day every half hour.

After dropping off the kids Mandy and I went out to eat at Chili's We ordered Wings, Ribs, and a Bacon Burger. With two lemonades. It was nice. We don't usually go out to eat, so anything was special. Even "In and Out Burgers" would have been special.

We went to Wal-Mart together after eating. (This seems to be where every married couple's date ends up at some point.) We bought some khaki shorts for our family picture.

Then we went to Tempe Town Lake and walked around. I was looking for a Dairy Queen, but could not find it. Instead we found a Frozen Yogurt place called Mojo Yogurt. We went in and I had no idea how things worked. We saw some people getting free samples using a 1 oz. cup. After about four cups each, I realized I did not want to buy any. Not because it wasn't good, but because it was $0.39 per oz. and I did not want to spend that much money. So we left. We both felt a little guilty after we left, but ended laughing about the whole situation.

After that we went to the drive-in movies, because Mandy had never been to one before. We went to the 10:30pm show. Mandy picked the movie. We watched Angels and Demons. I liked it. Mandy slept through most of it. We should have watched X-men or Star Trek like I wanted.

We picked up the kids this morning and chatted with Robert and Holly for a while. The cousins all had fun playing with each other. They all stayed up until 11pm and woke up at 6am. They did not want to stop playing. Being a kid is so much fun.

I love Mandy and will miss her. I cherish the times that we have together, just the two of us. She is my best friend and we can talk about anything together and we totally understand each other's thoughts and feelings.

END

Pre-Basic 16: Otter Pops and Revelation

2009-06-16T16:08:00.000-07:00

Today was my sprint intervals work out. These are tough work outs, but I like them. I run 400m at a 6 min. pace and then walk for about a minute. Then I do it again 8 times. I think next week I will get off of the treadmill and do it on the track. Hopefully, I can handle the change mentally.

Also because of my bum burn I did not do sit ups today. Instead I used the resistance ball and did some exercises. They gave me a burn in the right place,

my abs. I need to learn more exercises with the resistance ball. It gives me a much better workout than the sit up

I took the kids to the library to check out some books. They were very good so I told them we could go to Wal-Mart to get otter pops, or go to McDonald's to get French Fries. They chose Wal-Mart. It was the much better choice. 100 otter pops for $3.50. I am so grateful that my children are able to make good choices.

Anyway, while we were there I saw some American flag shirts that I had been looking for so our family could get a family picture before I leave to Basic Training. It was perfect and I got excited that I found exactly what I had pictured in my mind and for only 3 bucks each. I will post the picture on my blog when we take it.

I only went on a short two mile walk, but I have a testimony that walking is the best way to get ready for any physical training

Pre-Basic 15: Sit Ups and Carpet don't mix

2009-06-15T15:48:00.000-07:00

I did well today exercising. For my run I did 2 miles, but tried to run as much as I could at a 6:30 pace. Sadly I was only able to do that for a half mile. The other mile and a half I did at an 8:30 pace. This gave me my best time yet at a 16 minute 2 mile run. A mile at pace time is where I would have liked to have been. Next week I need to hold my pace time for over a mile. 1.25 would be great.

Throughout the day I did sets of 25 push ups. I did 8 in total, making my total for the day at 200 push ups.

After my run I walked to Wal-Mart to buy my watch again. On my walk I packed a 20 lb weight in my back pack. Now my sholders are really sore, but I have my watch again.

I did okay with my sit ups routine. I have not done them for about a week and a half. I am trying to work on speed as well. The first set of sit ups took 41 sec. to do 24 sit ups. I need to be at 19 per 30 sec. or 25-26 per 40 sec., or 38 per min. (As a side note, don't do sit ups on the carpet, they will leave you with a burn on your bum. I probably won't be do sit ups tomorrow.)

Pre-Basic 14: "Watch" Me Exercise

2009-06-14T21:10:00.000-07:00

I got a watch for the first time since my mission 11 years ago. Spent a whole $9.98 at Wal-Mart on a black watch that not only tells me the time, but lights up when I want it to. It also beeps every hour. It has a cool Velcro strap and best of all a stop watch. I have fallen in love with it during my exercise routines. It has helped me pace myself during my runs, and to reach my goals for push ups and sit ups. What more could a guy ask for?

Well, last week during my wake boarding trip with the Boy Scouts. I wiped out in the water as I was tossed off of a tube. Spinning repeatedly over the top of the water like a rock skipping along it's surface. A few minutes later someone asked me what time it was, and my watch was nowhere to be found. I was devistated. (Not really, but it adds to the drama.)

So, it has been a week since the wake boarding trip and my exercise routine has gone to pot. I have only ran a few miles and done very little lifting and hardly any push ups and probably no sit ups. I am going to blame it on the watch. So, tomorrow I am going to ruck over to the nearest Wal-Mart and fork out another 10 bucks so I have no more excuses and get back to exercising again. I was doing so well before, and now I am almost back to couch potato form. Good thing the TV doesn't work anymore now that our country has switched to only HD TV. God Bless the USA.

Pre-Basic 13: Just a Little Bit Shorter

2009-06-13T21:35:00.000-07:00

I have gone another notch shorter with the clippers. I used a number one clipper to buzz my hair today. I haven't shaved for about a week and when I cut my hair it was probably shorter than my beard was. I am liking the short hair. No more trying to hide my baldness. I am bald! That is okay. My wife digs my hair or lack of it.

Pretty soon everyone will be used to me having no hair and it will be alright. It probably has taken me the longest to get used to it. I really loved my hair in high school. I was a handsome stud. Now, I am still a handsome stud, just with less hair.

I think this will be a blessing from God, to have no hair. It sure does make getting ready in the morning a lot easier.

Pre-Basic 12: Service - Why I am joining the Army

2009-06-02T17:00:00.000-07:00

Today I did service at one of our temples. I add this post to my Army blog because I feel that service is the main part of my Army experience.

Truth: When I serve others, I am serving God.

While I was going for a walk today I saw a super nice truck pulling a sweet boat behind it. I imagined it going to their real nice house, with a barbque set up in the back yard and a nice pool. That person probably has a nice cabin they go to in the summer and winter time. (These are all things that I would love to have.) Then the thought came to me. These are all nice things to have and bring a lot of joy, but none of them compare to the joy I get when I am serving others. It is a feeling that is hard to describe. When others express their gratitude for my service to them I can feel God expressing it as well through them.

I feel that my service to my country as a soldier is going to bring me so much joy. So, when people ask me why I am joining the Army. This is truly the reason why. Service makes me happy. God is going to bless me and my family in so many ways. Just as I do service in His house. I have posted some short clips of why we build temples and the blessings of the temple. I hope that you can then begin to understand why I am serving in the US Army.

Pre-Basic 11: The Soldier's Creed

2009-05-31T18:59:00.000-07:00

I have memorized "The Soldier's Creed". As I quote this again and again, my fears to serve my country go away. Yesterday as I ran 3.5 miles I would quote this out loud as I ran. It felt good that I could talk while running an 8:45 mile pace for that long. I am getting a lot better at my run. It will be interesting to see how well I do at my initial OCS PT. I hope to be able to max out with a score of 300 still. After all, "I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough." Hooah! (This is the Army Cry, it refers to or means anything and everything except no.)

Pre-Basic 10: The Hair Cut

2009-05-31T17:44:00.000-07:00

I have gone from a man trying to hide his balding to a man who is not afraid of letting the world know that he is bald. I went with a number 2 clippers all around. I am thinking about going to a number 1 later. We will see how burnt I get from my water skiing trip next week.

I got home from my last day of work in the first picture and buzzed my head. The second picture is a few days later after church. Looking at the two pictures there is not that big of a difference. I don't know what I was afraid of. No one has mentioned anything about me cutting my hair, but they have talked more about me joining the military. I am guessing they assume that I have buzzed my hair to get ready for the army.

Anyway, fun times. I remember stroking my hair for the last time. I will probably never grow it out again. Now it is time for me to get rid of the blinding whiteness that shines from my head.

Pre-Basic 9: Letters and Numbers

2009-05-28T22:24:00.000-07:00

I have been working a little to get myself familiar with the army terminalogy. Right now I am starting with the basics. The alphabet. This video will help me remember hopefully and maybe help other future soldiers reading this blog. Here are the numbers as well.

1: Wun
2: Too
3: Tree
4: Fower
5: Fife
6: Siks
7: Seven
8: Ait
9: Niner
0: Zeero

Pre-Basic 8: Unemployed and getting buff

2009-05-27T20:12:00.000-07:00

It was my last day of work today. I will have a little over a month to be unemployed. I am looking forward to this time. I don't want to rush it into the military. I want to enjoy everyday with my family.

I have loved my job teaching, and even though I am sad that I won't be coming back next year to teach I actually feel confident that my choice to join the Army is what God wants me to do right now in my life.

This is also a great time for me to get into shape physically. Today I really pushed myself with my running exercise. I ran 400m at a 6:00 pace 8x's with a minute and a half walk between each run. I have been doing well at pushing myself with the run, but this past week I have been slacking on working out other parts of my body. Exercising is such a mental test. I have been pleased with the results so far.

Pre-Basic 7: Third PT run time

2009-05-25T22:41:00.000-07:00

Today I ran 2 miles. I ran at a 6:30 pace for as long as I could. That was only 1200m, but it was a good start. The rest of the 2 miles I ran at an 9:30 pace. This cut my previous 2 mile time down by one minute to 16:35. The one bad thing was that this was done on a treadmill. Next week I will be able to start working out in the early morning to avoid the hot sun here in Arizona.

I think that next week I can run the 6:30 pace for a mile and then the next mile at an 8 minute pace. That would cut off another minute from time. We will see. If I can do that I believe I can get to my goal of a 13 minute 2 mile. I am starting to feel like I am in high school again with these workouts.

Memorial Day

2009-05-25T10:36:00.000-07:00

I give honor to the many who have given their lives for the liberty and freedom of our country. I am honored to serve along side so many who have taken an oath to protect our country. I do not know of anyone who has lost their life protecting our country, but I am grateful for each and everyone of them. May God bless them.

Pre-Basic 6: Facebook Platoon

2009-05-25T10:17:00.001-07:00

I found a Facebook group a while back for my OCS group. It has been very helpful, and there are a lot of cool guys that I will be training with. We are very diverse and will have a lot to offer each other.

Yesterday I organized our group into a platoon, and divided the platoon into three squads. Right now I am the 1st Squad's Squad Leader. We will change these each week. I think this will be fun. I am taking a risk at letting the other guys in our group thinking that I am a geek for putting this together, but I think that most of them will think it is a cool idea once we start doing it. Today is the first day. We will see how it goes.

Pre-Basic 5: Second PT

2009-05-21T20:00:00.000-07:00

I have been doing pretty good at exercising most everyday since my first PT. The hardest part has been the long distance running. I have recently started to work on the speed instead for a while, and build up the endurance.

Well today I took the PT again. The results: 76 Push-ups, 50 Sit-ups, and 17:36 2-mile. For my age bracket that is 100, 69, and 61 points. For a total of 230. I would like to max out on the points and get 300 total points. I should be able to do it with the sit-ups no problem. I am going to keep trying with the running. To max out I need to get 13:18 2-mile. Right now I am working on running at a 6:30 mile pace. We will see if I can get faster doing that.

Everyday I am losing a little weight. I don't have a scale to keep track, but it feels good seeing my gut slowly diminish.

Pre-Basic 4: MEPS Taking the Oath and Contracting

2009-05-08T20:49:00.000-07:00

Yeah MEPS!!!

I was able to show up later than the usual early time because I had to work, but they gave my recruiter a hard time about it. Silly.

This process was long too. I had a guy help me with my contract. He was in a hurry to get me done, because he had plans for the weekend to go to Las Vegas for a Star Trek convention. Enough said. Strange guy, and didn't really know what he was doing. He gave me a date, and I wanted an earlier one. I talked to a higher up and they tried to tell me that there was no way to get an earlier date. Finally he told me how to get a earlier date. I need to have my recruiter call every so often asking if there is an opening for that date. If you want to get answers. You got to press these guys, because they just want to run us through.

Actually after it was all said and done I was happy with the date I was given and felt better and better about as I thought about it more. I will be leaving to Basic Training (BCT) on July 7th 2009. (That is Mandy and mine 5th wedding anniversary. Happy anniversary Honey.) I will join OCS group 504-09 on Sept. 20th 2009.

After some finger prints and paper work I took my oath. This was a real cool experience for me. I felt very patriotic. Family members were allowed to watch this and take pictures. I kind of wished I had some family to experience this with me, but at the same time I would not want them to have to go through MEPS like had to. Here is a picture of what it was like, except mine had about 15 people taking oath at the same time.

Here is the oath that I made:

"I, David Sparks, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to the regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."

I got a little teary eyed as I made this oath. I felt a great pride for serving my country. I know that what I am doing is what God wants me to do, and that I should not take this oath lightly. "If a man vow unto the Lord, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth." (Numbers 30:2) I know that as I keep this oath I will be blessed by God.

I hope to serve God, my country, and my family with honor. Thank you for those of you that offer prayers in my behalf. More than a prayer of safety, this is what I hope most of the prayers are based on.

Pre Basic 3: MEPS OCS Board

2009-05-06T19:21:00.000-07:00

Back at MEPS in Phoenix. When you go to MEPS just expect long days of doing nothing. I wish I brought a book. I did pretty good at making conversation with others around me. Today was my board interview for OCS. We all needed to dress in a suit and tie, which was not difficult for me, because I wear one everyday. I waited about 6 hours to have a 10 minute interview. It was just a formality. I was not able to take oath today, because I needed to wait for my age waiver to be accepted. The lady that usually does that was busy due to a General change of command. So I will have to come back on Friday.

There were about 25 people going through the board today. There was a wide variety of ages, race, background. But, we all got along very well, because we all had the Army in common. It got me really excited about the people I will come in contact with while in the Army.

The actual interview was kind of cool. It was fun coming in front of the board very respectfully standing at attention and reporting to the officer of the board. There was nothing difficult about it. They just asked me questions about my background and why I wanted to be an officer.

Well, it looks like I will be back at MEPS on Friday. YEAH!!

Pre-Basic 2: MEPS Physcial

2009-05-03T19:19:00.000-07:00

I had to wake up at 0400 to go get my military physical. It was an all morning event. There was a big group that stayed over night at a hotel that the Army paid for that were also doing the physical. After being handed camouflage bible from a chaplain we started the physical process.

First was checking the blood pressure. The guy before me (another OCS named Gamble) had his so low, the lady said that if it was any lower he would be asleep. I asked him if he was tired, he said he was just super relaxed. He is a cool guy. I think he just graduated from ASU.

It was crazy seeing my high school star quarterback Mike Moreno at the physical too. We chatted and reminisced on old times. He is going into OCS too. He won't be able to board until next month though, so we probably won't be put into the same OCS group.

Next I had my eyes checked. The guy giving the test to me was pretty rude. I need to start getting used to that for basic training. I passed no problem. My left is perfect, and right has problem. I am not color blind either. They had me look at colored dots and one color would form a number. I had to say the number. One guy did not pass the color blind test. I thought it was super easy.

Then the part I was worried about came. The hearing test. My hearing is not very good. They have you put a head set on and you listen to beeps at different pitches and volumes. You press a button if you hear it. I think I was trigger happy and pressed it too much. I should have just pressed when I heard it. Needless to say I barely passed the hearing test.

We were then all taken into another room and filled out a lot of forms and were given a breathalyzer test. That was the first time I needed to do that. Don't worry I was not drunk. By this point I needed to go pee badly. I wish they had us pee in a cup earlier. If you are planning doing this physical, you don't need to hold your pee. There will be plenty of time for you to fill up with water and go later. Being in the bathroom with a group of young guys going pee tends to get a little immature. Luckily I was one of the first and went in and out.

The next part was a doctor check. This was very basic. I passed.

After that I gave blood. While waiting a girl joining the Marines was giving blood and fainted. I had to run to her and catch her before she fell and hit the ground. They had to let her sniff something to wake her up. She must have felt weird when she awoke and saw me holding her. Pretty crazy experience. I then gave blood and made sure I got the other person to take my blood. I don't think that was a better choice. She had trouble finding my vein and poked the needle and missed it. She then began to dig around looking for it. That was painful. The only thing I could think about was that I need to be tough because this will be nothing compared to an arm being blown off. I need to be strong. (hopefully I never have a body part blown off)

I then went into a room with about 15 other guys. We all had to strip down to our undies, we then were weighed and measured. I am 170lbs and 5'9". We then were given calisthenic commands. There were a lot of doctors in the room looking at us, which was kind of weird. We had to do all sorts of things. They were just making sure I body moved in the proper way. We had to waddle like a duck, kick legs quickly, turn ankles, and walk quickly using our heals. I can't remember all that we did, but it was kind of refreshing doing the exercises. I need to do more calisthenics.

Then it was just paper work that I had to do and I was done. Long morning, but for the most part the people I was surrounded by were good people. There was one boy (17) who had lost over a hundred pounds to join. He barely missed the body fat check. That means he has to wait one more month and do it again. I hear that sometimes they wait for everyone to leave and they let people like that through anyway. I got to give him props for losing that much weight.

Pre-Basic 1: First PT and ASVAB

2009-05-01T07:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my birthday and I am now 32. Today I am starting to really get close to joining the army. I took my Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT/ PT) and my ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) test. My recruiter was very easy on me. Instead of 2 min. pushups, 2 min. situps, and 2 mile run, he only required me to do 1-1-1. Pushups I did not have a problem. I did 49 in one minute. Situps were another story. I was only able to do 33 in one minute. I don't know if I could have done much more if I had another minute. I really need to start doing crunches to build up that core muscle. I used to be able to run the two mile in 9 minutes in high school, but on today's run I did the one mile in 7:48 and I think it was a little less than a mile. Ouch. I am hoping that running with others will really begin to push me and that by the end of Officer Canidate School (OCS) I will be in the 13 minute range for two miles.

After I got cleaned up I went to downtown Phoenix to take the ASVAB test. I wasn't too worried about it, but wanted to do well on it. If I do well on the test than I can get a better choice of my Military Occupation Specialty (MOS) once in OCS. The recruiters at the Gilbert station were making bets on how well I would do on the test based on my practice test. I did not tell them that I went home and studied a little taking a full practice test online. That helped me get more familiar with the test. For those of you thinking about taking the test it is at http://www.petersons.com/ You should be able to use it free for a while before they make you pay. Anyway, here are my results. I am pretty pleased with myself. Hopefully you understand.

...............................GS AR WK PC MK EI AS MC AO VE
Standard Scores: 55 66 66 69 70 50 45 50 68 68

.............................................GT CL CO EL FA GM MM OF SC ST
Composite Scores Army: 137 136 122 124 124 119 111 120 128 128

AFQT Percentile Score: 99

99 is the highest you can get on the test. My best areas were Math and English. My worst were Auto, Electrical, and Mechanical. However, I was able to do well enough to get any job in the army that I want. It felt good to do well on a test. It has been so long since I have taken a test.

Tomorrow I go in to get my in depth physical. Wish me luck.

My Weather

2009-04-30T12:31:00.000-07:00

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Army Games

2009-04-29T14:01:00.000-07:00

goarmy.com Army Target Practice

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goarmy.com Basic Rifle Marksmanship Game

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goarmy.com Patriot Missile System Simulation Game

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