July 03 - 3rd Letter From Bradley

This letter came today 7-7-09. What a surprise. We are so glad to be getting letters on a more regular basis! Again...here are excerpts from his letter dated 03 Jul 09.

****"Dear Family, I've sent you at least 4 letters by now. I don't know why it is thing so long for the letters to get to you. A lot has been going on here. I'm exhausted. Its
's our 4-1 today, well yesterday was (weekends don't count as days in boot camp). We did alot 2 days ago. We had this thing called 'marlinspike'. It is a replica of a smell ship and we all had to work with the lines. We had to get the ship docked and ready to go in 12 min. It was insane! A lot of yelling. Not by the RDC's but by each other. Yesterday we had a PI WTI (Physical Inspection and Weapons Turnover Inspection). It was a long inspection! The PI is basically - an officer comes in, usually a petty officer, but we had a Chief. He inspects our clothes, boots and everything on us and asks us each aone question about Rank and Recognition (chain of command, collor devices, sleeve insignia). The WTI is basically - properly turning over a 9mm with a question along with it. The whole thing was about 2 1/2 hours long! Standing at attention the whole time. It sucked! I got one hit because i got a question wrong. But some people failed the inspections and they're going to get 'AZMOED'. (sent back to 2-1 day) LOL. So far we have had 10 people Azmoed out. Most of them for medical reasons, but a few got kicked out because they were'nt following orders. One kid (well he was 27) left during our 2- week. He said he couldnt take it any longer.

Its the 4th of July tonight, we can hear the fireworks (thats all we can do). It sucks, our RDC's left early so they can go see the fireworks. I can only get 4 tickets for graduation (so everyone gets an equal opportunity).

I might be able to make 1 phone call a week if I'm lucky. If everything goes good with the inspection then we get a phone call. But that's if everyone does well, all 80 of us. And we cant get any compartment hits. My RDC's say we are the worst division in the ship (score and team wise). Our scores are low and we constantly fight with each other. So we are not going to get any special rewards. But everything is fine here.

Its our 4-2 day and 5-1 is the beginning of 'hell week'. I cant wait because I'm really bored. I don't get frustrated with the things we do here (constant marching, drill practice, etc), I'm just bored...even when we IT. I'm just tired of it. But I'm almost done, just 4 more weeks.

Hopefully you will get my call this week. We might get to make it on Wednesday (if they let us). But tell me whats going on in the world. We have no contact with the outside world. It feels like this place is the world and there is nothing past the gates. LOL

Well write me a lot, because I can only send letters on Sundays.

Love you all, Bradley"****


Well we are all proud of Bradley! And from the letter it sounds like he is determined to get thru it all. Not letting it get to him. Poor tired kid :) His PIR (pass in review = graduation) is set for 7/31

Everyone feel free to write to him. Just include dates so he can organize his letters. I guess they get letters in a bunch...not daily.

June 23rd - Another letter from Bradley!

We got another letter from Jr last week before vacation. Here are some excerpts:

June 23rd

****"Dad, I got your letter. Ive sent 2 so far but my RDC's (recruit drill commanders) said that the Navy's mail system is the slowest out of all the branches. Things have been kinda slow lately. We're on our 2-3 day (week 2 day 3). The first week I was here didn't count.
I signed up to be a Bone Marrow Donor. I don't have to do it though. They take you to Missouri I think. IDK (I don"t know).
Five people got sent home because of medical issues. This kid got sent home because he almost died during our PFA (personnel functionality assessment?). And a few days ago during the running part of the PFA he dropped and it looked like he was having a seizure. He had to go to hospital. When he came back he said they told him he wasn't getting enough oxygen to his brain. Then about 4 days ago he dropped again for no reason in our compartment. Another guy passed out during chow because he was choking on food. He tried to eat regular food after getting his wisdom teeth pulled. Another kid fell out of his top bunk and dislocated his shoulder. I saw it happen because his bunk is right next to mine!
I found out that my division is a 'grad and go' (they immediately go on to their 'A' school after graduation), but I should go to A-school right across the street (at Great Lakes).
I've spent 2 nights on this letter, for some reason one of my RDC's are letting us write letters now. It's 9:15 pm and we're about to IT (intensive training). It sucks, we're going to bed wet tonight.
I heard Michael Jackson died today! That's crazy! My RDC wont tell me what happened though, so you gotta tell my why he died. Oh, send me a paper in the mail, please. Or just tell me everything that's happening. It's so dumb we gotta IT. We got 7 minutes left, we already did PT (physical training) today. I'm so tired. We gotta do it because these 2 kids got us a compartment hit. They messed up the watch log. So thats 100 push-ups. And another kid got a demerit because he was marching wrong.
Well it's one night later.... nothing happened. Well almost nothing.. We had an IT session this morning because we took 30min to brush our teeth, shave and dress. We shave everyday. We had 15 minutes, but it took all 83 of us 30 min. But oh well. IT only sucks while you're doing it.
We went to classifications today... I got stuck with HT (hull technician) as my job. I do alot of welding, electrical, HVAC, and plumbing. Not what I wanted as my top choice. They said I could pick my job but that was a lie, and I might not get my bonus. My school is here, its 12 weeks long. I get free college, all 4 years. So if I decide I like what I do in the Navy then Ill get my business degree or whatever and maybe start a business with you.
They said I can change my job in 2 years, I kinda want to switch to SEABEES or Corman. My best friend here is going into the SEABEES as an Electrician. Both jobs work with the Marines. We've been handling guns, well just a 9mm (for now). Boot Camp is boring now, I know how to do everything. I just want to go to my A-school ... I'm sick of this place...LOL
Oh and those showers... we get 12 min for 40 of us to shower. There's 12 shower heads. We get 3 min for all 40 of us to use the washroom.. there are 18 stalls. Our racks are about 3 ft wide and about 6ft long! LOL I haven't gone to church yet, I've been too busy, I promise I'll go though." ****


We all (Brad, Melissa, Ryan, and Rebecca)wrote back to him and sent a News Paper also. Its great to hear from him. There is excitement when we check the mailbox. Especially later in the week as they usually write on Sundays.

A real letter!

Well, earlier this week we received a postage due notice from the post office. They didn't list who the object was from, so we had no clue. Today, out of curiosity, we went to the post office to see what it was that was going to cost us $.95. To our delight, it was a heavy letter from Bradley. He had managed to stuff a large booklet inside a small envelope and that's why it was too heavy for one first-class stamp. It was from the Navy Credit Union-he wanted us to read it and tell him what we think. His timing was eerie because i had written a letter to him this morning and had planned to mail it to him at the post office. Brad said to wait just in case the postage due was from Bradley...and it was :) So we added some stuff to the letter and got it off to him. It was so great to hear from him. We have been waiting for something of substance and here it was. Poor kid is exhausted. Said they work them hard from the time they get up til they go to bed. No free time at all except on Sundays and then it's only 4 hours. They either have to polish their boots, write letters, or go to church. It sounds like he hasn't been to church yet, which is disappointing, but he has to make his own decisions now. He said he has made some friends, but you can't count on any of them yet. There is some in-fighting in their division but Bradley says he thinks they kind of set the guys up to do that. Guess they break them all down before they build them back up and this is a side-effect. He says he just keeps to himself (big surprise!) and does what he has to do. He said he's not miserable, just really, really tired. I guess that's good, but I can't help but feel bad for him. He said that food's not bad, so that's something! :) Thousands of boys survive bootcamp, including my younger brother, so I know Bradley will too.

We also received his graduation information on Friday. He graduates bootcamp on Friday July 31st. He only had us listed as attending, so I'm wondering if they limited it to 4 people? We'll have to leave Nathan at home even though I know he misses Bradley and wants to see him. But that's a long time for him to sit still, so he will have to skip it. I wrote and asked him if more people could come so we'll have to wait and see. The Navy letter also said that most recruits will go straight from boot camp to training with no break. We were really hoping Bradley would have a day or 2 at home after bootcamp (or longer) but I guess he won't. Training is 8 more weeks, so he will be at Great Lakes until the end of September at least. After that, who knows.

At least we know he's basically ok, adjusting to his new schedule and life, and misses us. That was a nice bonus to hear :) We sent him stamps today so hopefully he'll continue to write and can respond if anyone else writes.

We'll keep you posted!

Navy News!

We finally heard from Bradley - sort of. It was mostly form letters from the Navy, but on the bottom of one of the pages, after his mailing address so we could write to him, was a 3 line note. Basically saying that he was fine, and "even though we get yelled at from the time we wake up to the time we sleep, it's still kinda fun". LOL - Guess I made him immune to yelling by hollering at him all these years :) It was great to know SOMETHING, even though it wasn't much, it was a lifeline. We know he's mostly ok and now we have his address so we can write to him. for those of you that want to write to him, look on the right side of our main page for his address. I'm sure he'd love notes, stamps, phone cards etc.. They can't get any food there - so no homemade goodies. I was looking forward to sending that stuff, but guess it'll have to wait.

Official Navy Oath...

June 3rd - the big day. Bradley is being sworn in with 87 other recruits ar a Sox game tonight. The Navy set this up with the Sox, Navy Appreciation night, and they did this every years. The families are able to buy tickets for half-price, in the section where the recruits are sitting and after the ceremony, we can sit together. Of course, we live in the Great White North, so it took us over 2 1/2 hours to get down there, so we missed most of the ceremony. We did get to see Bradley and sit with him and this time, the other kids got to say Goodbye too. They called him away at the end of the 6th inning, so that's when we left. It was sad to see him go, but he was still fine with it all and ready to go.

Bradley's off to the Navy

Wow - here we were, all ready for Bradley to leave on June 3rd. Well, as ready as we could be. When he first enlisted and told us that he wouldn't actually be leaving until June, it seemed a long way off. But when it got to be May 30th, and we were having the combined "Bon Voyage/Graduation/3rd Birthday" party for all the kids, it seemed too soon. We had the party Saturday and on Monday, June 1st, Bradley received a call at 9:30 am from his recruiter telling him to report to his office by noon that day. He still had his braces on! So, after panicked calls to Brad asking him to come home, the orthodontist asking him to squeeze us in a day early and ASAP, and calls to family and friends letting them know he was lea=ving early, we headed out. Brad was lucky to be close to home and his boss let him leave, the orthodontist squeezed us in, and the braces were off by 11:00am. The recruiter was right up the street, so sadly, we drove him there and said goodbye. And I cried like a baby, while my sailor-to-be just laughed like I was nuts. He was fine with leaving - said he was ready and that leaving early didn't bother him. Brave or just hiding his real feelings? We didn't know but off he went.