Second Week in Combat Medic Training

Well Pvt. Buchanan had made it into his second week of training.  No calls last week or this week as they are finishing the rest of his AIT.  Hard to believe this young man who left in November to serve his country will be finished soon with training.  He graduates on the 17th of June and we cannot wait to see him.
While he is in the field, a production company there in San Antonio, with permission from the US Military is filming their combat training.  Because they are in active training we cannot communicate with them on a daily basis, so this production company has it set up for us to post a shout out on their facebook page and they will give it to our soldier when they see him.  I did not know that we would get a shout out back.  As I was watching their video, low and behold, my boy was the second soldier to shout out.  With his awesome sense of humor the card read, "Hello Clarice, Pvt. Buchanan".  Of course it made this momma burst into tears.  Love that boy.  So to make a long story longer, Zach can impersonate several movie stars from the terminator, Christopher Walken to Anthony Hopkins.  Anthony plays a creepy serial killer in Silence of the Lambs and works with an FBI agent named Clarice (played by Jodi Foster).  In the movie he calls her on the phone and says, "Hello Clarice".  The running joke is I make Pvt. Buchanan say that to me when he answers my call in his creepy Anthony Hopkins voice.  So to see this personal shout out to me with our inside joke warms this Mommas heart.
He completes his training this week and then we are off to collect our boy.  Praying for our troops, our country and God bless this nation and our next president.  I pray my son never has to use his newly acquired skills.
The name of this production company is Hupomon productions.  If you want to shout out to Pvt. Buchanan before tomorrow night, go to my facebook page, find their post, go to their facebook page,  and find their post with a video link.  Leave a comment with Pvt.Zach Buchanan name and whatever you want to say to him.  They will get the shout outs to him.  God Bless our troops and God Bless the USA!

San Antonio, Texas

     It has been quit awhile since I have last written about Pvt. Zach Buchanan.  Now that he is in AIT I can talk to him almost daily.  I think I have written a handful of times and sent plenty of packages now that he can receive them.  I guess there is no fun in it if he doesn't have to do extra push-ups.  He made it to Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas.  Pvt. Zach Buchanan has finished his classes and will be in two weeks of field training.  He won't have his phone with him until he graduates.  During the time he has been in Ft. Sam Houston, he was called to the hospital and informed when he got there that they were going to pull his wisdom teeth.  They weren't bothering him, but he was informed that he couldn't be deployed if he had his wisdom teeth.  So they pulled both of them and he was a little high all weekend on Percocet.  He pulled high scores in class, he was 2 points off from making the Dean's list, so he was a little disappointed there.  I am very proud of him, it is hard to do 6 mos ~ 1 year of medical training in less than 16 weeks.  The Army is more disciplined with their soldiers and for the first three weeks they were confined to their barracks, while the Navy and Air Force solders were free to move around base.  It was killing him because there was a Taco Bell just across the street.  He has had some Liberty weekends since then and he saw Cpt. America twice.
     He was thrilled to think if someone needs a trach that they were going to be able to put their mad skills to the test.  Unfortunately for him, no one has needed one.  Whew, not that I don't trust my son's  skills, just thankful no one was in dire need of recieving one.  I am excited to hear about his two week training in the field and what new experiences he is having.  I am proud of him and his fellow battle buddies, who have a desire to serve this Nation in this era.  He has had a strong urge to serve his country since he met up with the recruiters in High School.  Such a fine young man, with loyalty to his country.  God Bless the USA!
   

Ft. Sam Houston

Well our Pvt. Buchanan made it his first week in AIT.  He is in a two man dorm/barrack.  They do not have the freedom to move about the base yet which he is disappointed, especially since there is a Taco Bell across the street.
He started his EMT classes and they are cramming 6 months of training into 6 weeks.  I sent him some Anatomy and physiology flash cards and color books to help, but he may not have time to look at them as they have a heavy load.  8 chapters in one day.  It is endearing for him to call me with questions he has while studying.  Makes this Momma feel useful.
He loves San Antonio, Tx.  Says it is warmer than OK.  He wants us to join him for his graduation there.  I hope we can pull ot iff.  Would love to be there for him and support him.
I have his new address so again, please IM me for it.  He can have care packages but please note, food is not allowed in his room, so anything he recieves he has to eat it right there.  Other than that he loves what he is learning.

Graduation

We made it to Oklahoma City, OK and the weather was cold, rainy and windy.  Brrr....the land is flat and the airport was small. Made it to our hotel which had long hallways and I swore I could see a set of twins in blue dresses standing at the end of the hall (The shining).  Regardless, it was a place to sleep and our main attraction was seeing our Pvt. and his accomplishments. 
We had a snafu with the rental car, but it ended up working better than what we could imagine and were headed to Lawton/Ft. Sill the next day.  We arrived in time to get our passes and get through the gate (or so we thought).  I guess this was a very large graduating class and they processed more than 500 people that morning.  We waited for two hours before getting through the gate and missed the family demonstration.  Our young Pvt. was waiting for us outside the building and once I saw my son, I, like a mom, started to cry.  An overwhelming power of seeing my son, his accomplishments and pride in what he has done made my eyes water (a lot). 
We were able to pick up our tee shirts of his graduation class and took him off base quickly as he ha been chomping at the bit to go.  He looked handsome in his dress blues (although, they don't call it that anymore).  We saw all of Lawton in two hours.  Ran out of places to go and see, We took in one of the best BBQ places called Johnny Cooks, had the best BBQ there.  We went to a game place, the mall and the artillery museum in two days.  At the end of each day we were able to walk back with him while he stood in formation until the Drill Sgts excused the family. 
Graduation day was the moment he had been working up too.  All these fine young men and women who are serving our country made it this far.  The soldiers recited the soldiers creed, they also repeated their oath and each soldier made their way to the stage, stated their name and where they were from.  In all of the 200+, we counted five from Oregon.
We were lucky to have Pvt. Buchanan until 1945, before he was being shipped off to AIT which is the rest of the training in his field.  He is going into the health field and was told they have only two chances to pass the test, Otherwise, the military will find another position for him.  He is a smart kid, I know he will do well, as long as he is not distracted.  So far he loves serving and is anxious for deployment (something a Military Mom doesn't want to hear). 
He requests we come to San Antonio, TX when he graduates AIT.  How can I say no to that.  He has communicated since he has been at Ft. Sam Houston, says they are more liberal with the freedom there than they have been at Boot Camp, he is in a barrack with just to beds as opposed to a bay with 200.  He is bunked with his buddy from boot camp during reception and currently doesn't have an address to send letters and packages too.  As soon I as I get it, I will let those who IM me his address.
I did get a video of their training and saw our own Pvt. in three different places.  I have a disc of pics from their training and he says there is another one on the way.  In the meantime, I will post pictures to this post of just how handsome he looks. 

Graduation Date coming up

I can't believe that soon our private will be graduating from bootcamp.  He has been anticipating this moment for weeks.  We will get to see him on family day and graduation.  He will be leaving immediately for his combat medic training after graduation.
Big thank you to everyone who sent him letters while he is in bootcamp.  He passed his PT, even exceeded the Army's goal.  All those extra push ups from letters helped.  Lol
His graduation class has their own Tee shirts.  We are excited to pick ours up on Family day.  When Zach makes it to AIT I believe they are more liberal on care packages.  I will send out his new address as soon as I get it.

Marksman

      It appears that we are getting letters from Zach once a week, which is great, I love to get letters from him.  This week they have been busy qualifying his weapon.  I've seen video's from their Facebook page.  Keep looking for my soldier, but there are so many blondes with shaved heads it is hard to separate him from the rest.  If you are interested in what he has been doing the Facebook page is F Battery, 1-40th Field Artillery.
     In his letter he was telling us the difference in qualifying medals and they are as follows: Marksman of 23-29 (which is the bottom of qualification), Sharp Shooter which is 30-35 and expert which is 36-40.  He says this is out of 40 targets.  Proud to say he is a sharp shooter, he hit 33 out of the 40 targets.  Not bad for someone who has only experienced shooting a weapon during Boy Scout camp.  He gets his gernades next week.
     It was nice to hear how much he misses us.  What every Momma loves to hear.  He wants everyone to continue writing even if he doesn't get a chance to write back.  But I did find out some great information from an former Army Soldier who served in Afghanistan and had his training at Ft. Sill, he agreed that every piece of mail he gets, he has a to do push ups, however, he also said that the size of the envelope (card size) and color, he may have to give more push ups.  I have been sending multi-colored cards.  Uh Oh.   More push ups for him.
    Less then a month and I will be able to see all the hard work he has been doing.  I am anxious as any mother who has been separated from their child, to see him and make sure he is OK.  It's a Mom thing, very proud of him as his Dad is.  I think Chas is living vicariously through him as Chas always wanted to serve, but couldn't do to being Diabetic.  He is very proud of his son.

He's alive

It has been quiet on this part of the country when it comes to hearing from Pvt. Buchanan.  We finally got a letter from him.  He is back into the grind of basic training.  Had a hard time readjusting because he had a great time while home on Holiday.  He said he was homesick.  Ahhh...what every Momma wants to hear.
He continues to say how easy training has been.  He received his military weapon an M16A2 assault rifle that he has named after his lovely girlfriend Chandler and calls it Chan.  He says he is having fun and is looking forward to family day.  Family day is scheduled the day before he graduates from boot camp where the family members of these brave men and women in uniform get to spend the day with loved ones on Ft. Sill and show them what they have been working hard on and have been living for the past 12 weeks.  The following day will be graduation from boot camp with ceremony and then they are off to their schooling.
Zach didn't have any fun stories to tell me as of yet (totally disappointed), I'm hoping he will have something fun to share with us.  He did have PT test day and he was able to shave 2 minutes from his run even though he didn't run.  I blame the two weeks of holiday where he worked out for all of two days and then he let the best of being home get to him.  So keep those letters coming to Pvt. Zach as he has to do 25 push ups for every letter he receives.
Things are moving quick at Ft. Sill for these soldiers as they are learning Combat Casualty Care and tactical care, he said he aced it all and truly enjoys the military's way of teaching and testing.  He says it is more practical.  As he was writing his letter he said they are going to drop them off in the middle of the woods with a compass, protractor and map.  Results of him finding his way is pending...hmmm...I hope I hear from him.
He did complete the combat conditioning course, he says 200 soldiers all participated.  After all of them ran it they chose one solder from each platoon to represent their own platoons.  Zach was chosen by his peers to represent.  Pvt. Zach gave it his all and did everything correctly, but came in third place.  He says they are not the strongest unit, but they are pretty dang smart and more disciplined.  Pvt. Buchanan has been receiving more leadership positions and states he is not chosen from the Drill Sargent's but he from his peers.  Knowing how Zach is, he stands up for what is right, he is fair and he doesn't take any one's bullshit.  I can totally see him having the respect of his peers as he supports and see the brighter side of things instead of putting other down.  Something I knew about him his whole life.
As for this Military Momma, I am sending letters almost daily.  I've been trying to send him medical terminology and abbreviations he may encounter while being in training.  Plus I need to make sure he stays in shape by doing his push ups and pray he passes his physical training.