Letter from John

Hello everyone,
Here's the latest letter from John. It's not dated but it was mailed on March 21st.

Dear Mom and Bloggers,
I can officially say white phase is better than red phase. Today, guess what I did from 5:30 until 9:00pm? Whatever I wanted to do. No drill sergeant breathing down my neck. No one yelling at me. It was great. I wasn't however allowed to leave the batallion area. (An area of about 500 acres). There isn't much to do in this area so you know what I did...I ran two miles on the track, and I did 110 push-ups. I can't help but laugh at myself. Now I am doing what the drill sergeants want, and they don't have to be there. Actually, I just want to pass my PT test so I can get out of Basic. After running my two miles (in 14:58) I went back to the barracks and spent some time reading my bible and some time writing letters.
I'm looking forward to seeing everyone for graduation, and family day. You know family day is the day before graduation right? Also, I'd thought I'd tell you some of the strange things that have entered my vocabulary since coming to basic...First and foremost, I say "scouts out" about 1000 times a day. This phrase means just about everything. It means yes, I'm sorry, thanks, woohoo! etc. It is our batallion (2/60th) motto. Next is "negative", a phrase used humorously to tell someone they are just plain wrong. It's funny to yell when the drill sergeant is wrong. (Even though drill sergeants are never wrong) When someone messes up we like to say "beat your face", meaning "do push-ups." I also say "Yeah Boy," a phrase we say when the last person at chow sits down, ex. "last cold steel seated"...everyone yells "Yeah Boy."
One drill sergeant calls everyone who messes up "Mr. Wizard." Ok, just now everyone in the bay just broke into a disco party. People are beatboxing and flashing their red and blue flash lights. It's funny, but we are going to get the hell smoked out of us when drill sergeant notices. Oh well. That was crazy. Alright, off to bed when the disco stops.
I love you,
John
P.S. After writing this letter I was unable to send it because we were put back in the red phase. GAH!