catching up--some fun and challenging reports

An insane busy week. Wed and Thursday were "out in the field" days that began at 5AM and ended well into darkness. Pretty much the reason for lack of posts this week. I have a somewhat light weekend so that should enable me to catch up on some stuff--including the ole blog.

On Monday we marched in out helmets and vests (30 pound flak jacket, or IBH, or whatever they call it) to Victory Tower. 5 stories high. You had to climb a ladder up it, rappel down it, climb up it again and then climb a ladder down it. Being afraid of heights this represented quite a challenge. It was scary but I did it all and was VERY thankful when I hit the ground for the last time. There was a female drill sgt. up on top who hooked me up to the safety rope before I rappelled. She didn't seem too interested in casual conversation and demanded that I kneel right next to the ledge so she could hook me up. Being terrified, I went what I thought was close enough to the edge--not close enough for her taste and she proceeded to share her heart with me. After I finally got hooked up, I had to basically plant my feet on the side of the building and lean back (remember, I'm 5 stories high). It was quite unnatural, but a few second later I was safe on the ground.

Later I had to climb back up so I could stick my feet over the edge and climb the cargo net back down. I was dreading this but did it with no difficulty. Quite the adventure.

On Wed and Thursday we were in the woods with maps and compasses and protractors. We were given coordinates and had to find certain markers. Proud to say that we found the marker when I was the lead navigator.

On Thursday I did what was, so far, the hardest thing I've done since I've been here: the low crawl in sand. Basically you've got to lie as flat as possible in the beach sand and pull yourself forward with one of your arms. Oh yeah, with your helmet and vest on. We had do do that for like 15 yards, than roll over and crawl under a barbed wire fence on our backs, than roll to a log wall and get over that. Torture. It was very hot (100 degrees), you go much slower than you think, and they have the sound of bombs and stuff blaring in the background. It was much harder than it sounds. We had one guy collapse after finishing and he ended up in the hospital. He's still there. Matter of fact a number of guys collapsed.

Not long after that my platoon had to clean up the mess and run with all of our stuff a couple hundred yards to catch the bus. Our leaders were yelling "hurry up", "get moving" and "we're waiting for you". ....In normal world there'd be a shred of compassion because you just went through torture and then cleaned up while everybody else strolled casually to the bus but this ain't the normal world. We had to run with like 75 pounds of gear in 100 degree weather......then.....

Then the bus driver went to the wrong road (it's a wilderness area) and we had to march in the heat and with all of our stuff for another 1/2 mile. We lost 2 more guys on that trip. I thought I was gonna drop too but I made it. Truly the strength of the Lord carried me.

Then we were tested on things like the gas mask, first aid, radio and map reading. No problems there.

Today was a class on the Myers-Briggs and some luncheon where I must of ate bad food cause I'm feeling quesy............. I also had a hearing test where it was made official that I've got a small amount of hearing loss. Nothing major but it's there (or not there, in this case). I remember standing in front of the speaker at he Ian Hunter concert at the Living Room in Providence and thinking to myself that while this might seem cool now--it comes with a price. Time to pay the piper.

I also found out that my blood type is 0 positive. I never knew that. 41 years old and I never knew my blood type. I was excited when I found out and started telling the lady who told me how happy I was to discover that I was O+. She didn't seem to share my joy....

Back in the classroom, the class received papers we handed in early Wed. morning. Of 140 students, only 10 got passing marks. I was one of them. Yipee! No rewrite for me.

I had a great conversation with a guy from Chicago last night. We were leaning against a tree in the deep woods, all sweaty and dirty in our army uniforms. The subject was the grace of the Lord and how He uses His people to dish it out. We both agreed that when one truly tastes the grace of Jesus, real change takes place. We also agreed that only a few actually ever taste it because we're all so afraid to share our frailties (or our "upstairs" if you remember that sermon), which is required in order to get to grace. We'd rather just talk about grace and hope we look good. It was a great talk and desperately needed to connect with a brother on that level.....

Let's see, what else?????? gonna skype Keri tonight and hit the sack......

grace and blessings,

I miss you all a lot.