It's A Hard Knox Life

Yes, as you can tell I am a very proud Army Mom; hoorah!! My second oldest son Drew, enlisted in the Army and left for basic training on October 7, 2008. He is stationed at Fort Knox, in Kentucky. He is training hard and soon will be learning everything he ever wanted to know, or was afraid to ask, about the M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank.

First, he has the pleasure of enjoying 8 weeks of "BCT"; Basic Combat Training. He refers to himself as a 19K but I have no idea what that means. I'm gleaning much information from his letters (his brother and I run to the mailbox every day to check for letters and fight over who gets to read it aloud) and the website I linked to above. Believe it or not, he actually gets to come home for Christmas. His basic training is over December 12 and his father, his younger brother and I are driving to Kentucky to pick him up. He will get to be home for over two weeks. He doesn't have to report back to the base until January 3, 2009. Unfortuately, I will have to share him with his fiancee. I wouldn't mind the sharing part so much except that she lives in another state; over 6 hours away.

My son, surprisingly is a great letter writer; if you overlook the misspelled words and misuse of grammar; lol. He is very descriptive; giving day by day accounts of what's going on there. He's written most of these missives on Army stationary; very cool. He tells that all the guys talk about are the 3 "F's"; Food, Family and Fun. They swap stories of their favorite meals and count down the days until they get to see everyone again. He longs for a day to lay on the couch and watch a movie all the while eating nothing but junk food; that sounds like "heaven" he writes.




I was proud to hear that Drew took 4th place out of 140 men in the Pugil Stick competion. I wish I could have been there; although as a mom, perhaps I wouldn't have enjoyed watching someone beat upon my son.








Last Sunday we received an extra special phone call; my cell phone rang and I recognized the area code for Kentucky. Drew had attempted to call on two different occasions but wasn't able to reach us. We were so excited to hear his voice; even though he only had exactly 5 minutes to talk; we throughly enjoyed every last second. He had written that he had been sick for some time. Of course I've been worrying but praying helps greatly. He still sounded sick to me but he assured me he was feeling better; he said that the gas chamber experience a few days prior had cleaned out his sinuses; awww gross. (click the link if you dare)


We said lots of "I love you's", "We're so proud of you", "Keep up the good work", and "We're praying for you daily". The call was over before we knew it and I was left crying. As a mom, it's very difficult to know that one of your children is going thru a rough spot (even though I know he'll be a better person in the end) and not want to somehow "fix" it for them. He and I will both mature as a result of his enlistment.

Well....I must be about my day. It's quite cold today (only 20's I think) but at least the sun is brightly shining.

Until next time,

Military Mom