Week One - Fall In

--Reporting and saluting
--Medical and dental appointments (blah)
--Fitness and nutrition
--Education benefits briefing (MGIB/Post 9/11) (you know, in case I didn't do my research before joining)
--ID card issue (so since being issued my first military ID when I was 10, I've only had to live without one for less than a year.... hmmm... I wonder what that says about my life)
--Individual drill
--Flight drill
--Dorm preparation
--Warrior role
--Law of armed conflict (because, you know, you can't just shoot at people. There are rules to these kinds of things)
--Chain of command (which I almost already have memorized)
--Air Force rank insignia (which I already have memorized)
--Weapon issue (Not a real weapon, just a working replica. Thank goodness)
--Weapon parts identification
--Human relations and cultural sensitivity (for those insensitive military buffs)

This has been a scheduled post.

Noble's Address has just arrived

For those of you interested in contacting Noble and sending her any sort of letter/package, her address has just arrived. I'm against posting names/addresses on blogs if at all possible, so if you'd like to get that information, please contact me:



Just send an e-mail requesting her contact information and I'll get it to you right away. Basic training isn't easy, so I'm sure she'd love to hear from us!

Week Zero - Orientation

This week has been full of processing and learning the basics. The physical training hasn't started yet, but today is the first fitness test.

Things that have happened this week:
--In processing
--The men all got their hair cut
--Learning reporting statement (although I had this down before I left)
--Flight assignment (more information on my flight when my first letter arrives)
--Clothing and equipment issue
--Dorm and drill basics (learning how to make beds and roll tee-shirts, and how to march)
--Individual duty assignment (more information on my duty assignment when my first letter arrives)
--Entry control procedures (no boys allowed!)

This has been a scheduled post (all information taken from the Air Force Website)

Four Years

I have been out of high school for four years now. It feels a little weird, because I didn't really do anything progressive in those four years. Sure, I took some college classes, most of which I dropped, and at one point I moved out of my parents house. But until now, I haven't don't anything in my life that allowed me to be independent, that allowed me to be an adult. In a way, I've had an extended teenage-hood.

It's been three days since I've started my true adulthood. Hopefully it'll stick this time.

This has been a scheduled post.

The start of the rest of my life

Well, today I start Air Force basic training in Texas. I will be unavailable until the middle of July. However, this blog will continue to update at least once a week. (I wrote the posts back in February, and scheduled them for specific days that coincide with my training and with special occasions.)

Here's how it's going to go down. Saturday, there will be a post about what I did at basic that week. (All information taken from the Air Force website HERE and HERE, so it might not be exactly accurate to my training) Interspersed there will be posts for special occasions, like my parents anniversary, my youngest brother's birthday, etc. Plus, the letters that I send to my family, posted by my good friend Balgram.

(May 1st Edit:) So, here's how yesterday and today is supposed to go down. Monday, I checked into the hotel near the MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station), then went and had dinner with my family. After dinner we went back to the hotel and dad gave me a Father's Blessing before we said goodbyes. It was tearful, lots of hugs and so forth. Then I watched a little TV and went to bed early. Tuesday, they woke me up at 4:30-4:45am, and I rode a bus/charter van to the MEPS. Once there, there was a lot of paperwork and processing, etc. Between 8-9am, depending, I was officially sworn in to the United States Air Force. Then I was taken over to the airport to wait for my flight down to Texas. This flight took place between 11:30am and 4pm (Right now I don't know when). Once in San Antonio, I got on a bus to Lackland AFB, then I went through processing again. The rest of processing and getting everything taken care of will last until about 2am, after which I will finally be able to go to bed, until they wake me up again at a ridiculous hour. Sergeant Rouhoff, my recruiter, said that this will be the longest day of my entire career.

Keep me in your prayers, and wish me good luck. Until I return, this is Noble signing off.

This has been a scheduled post.

Counting down the hours

So, we're down to less than twenty-four hours before I'm leaving home for good. I'm all kinds of nervous now. The thing I worry most about is physical training, because I still can't do even one proper push-up. I just don't have the upper body strength yet. So I'm going to get yelled at a lot for that.

Monday morning and afternoon is going to very VERY busy, because I don't have all my things packed away yet. And I have to cut my hair again, get my graduation box ready (everything I want my family to bring me when they come for my graduation; music, books, my flashdrives, etc.), laundry, the list goes on and on. And on top of that, I'm going to the house of a lady in the ward to see her baby horse. One last country thing to do before heading back to the big cities.

I hope everyone prays for me while I'm down in Texas. I will definitely need it. And I have a special request for you dear readers; please pray that I get assigned Korean for my language. I would appreciate all the divine help I can get.

All my love,

Noble

A New Experience

As you all know, I have a cat. She's not the family's cat, she's mine. She's a pretty black and gray tiger with the occasional orange spots, and I named her Calico. Mom also has a cat, a black male named Timothy. Once we got them accustomed to the outside, they kind of like it out there, and are spending longer and longer periods outside. While I was doing the dishes after dinner, I let them both out, then forgot about them while I went on with my evening. It had been a cloudy, rainy day, but it hadn't rained in a couple hours, so I figured they would be okay.

Then, around 11:40, it started raining again. I went to check the open windows in my room to make sure water wasn't coming in, and notice that the sound of the rain was different than it had been earlier. It was much louder, almost like gun fire. Then I realized it was hailing. My first thought was making sure my brother's dog was okay. A moment later, after I had decided that he would be fine in his dog house, I wondered if the cats were still outside. This worried me, because they hadn't been outside in a rainstorm before, much less a hailstorm. So I headed out to the main part of the house, and checked out the back door. When they didn't come running inside, I wondered if they were already inside. So when mom came down to check the windows a minute later, I asked her about it. When she told me that the cats were still outside I had this unexpected rush of fear and worry. After checking the front porch, I went and got some flip flops and my raincoat on, grabbed an umbrella, and headed outside.

My cat, Calico, was crying, hiding under my dad's storage trailer. I crouched next to the trailer and tried to convince her to come out, but she was too terrified, and had every right to be. There was occasional flashes of lighting, and the hail was coming down fairly hard. Mom tried to convince me that she would be okay outside, but I was so worried for my poor cat that I couldn't just leave her there. I finally dragged her out by her front paws, which I could barely reach, and quickly carried her inside, where mom and I dried her off.

When she was dry, she kept looking at the door and running around to all the windows, probably worried for her brother, Timothy. I was worried too, so I went back outside to see if I could find him. Mom wouldn't let me stay outside, though, since the lightning got worse and there was a metal rod on top of the umbrella. So I was forced to leave the other cat outside. I don't think I'm going to get much sleep tonight, because I'm still so worried.

I've never experienced this before. The last time there was a rainstorm, I was fascinated by how much water was coming down. This time, I didn't even care about the water. We've had cats before, and I had a dog a long time ago, but I've never felt like this towards an animal, never worried about her like she was my own child.

Do you have similar experiences?

Watch me melt

Yesterday was ridiculous. And by that I mean 'Holy Hannah, it's the beginning of May and already it's 101 degrees outside. I think I'll go melt now.' That kind of ridiculous. It was fine in my room with my fan on at high speed, but when I went upstairs where there are no fans and no A/C, it felt like I was melting. Compared to the downstairs, the upstairs is about ten degrees hotter. So three quarters of the way up the stairs the heat sucked away all my energy. It would have been comical, if it wasn't so stop-your-brain hot.

So we had two days of beautiful spring, then went straight on to summer. Just like Utah. Will I never escape the heat?

Note: It cooled way off today, though. It's been raining and it hasn't gotten hotter than 71 degrees. So yesterday was just a fluke. Thank goodness.

Unfortunately, most of my summer will be like yesterday, since I'm going to be in Texas. Sad face.

10 Days Left

So, I have ten days left until I leave to Texas. I'm definitely getting excited to be leaving, but most of the time I don't even think about it. When I do think about it, it seems to me like it's not really going to happen. Like I'm living in some kind of dream, or something. It's really quite bizarre. But, I've lived most of my life thinking my next younger brother would be the one joining the military, and I never EVER pictured myself joining, so I'm kind of living in a daze. I've been watching a lot of videos on Youtube about basic training, and half the time I think I can do better than the trainees in the videos. The other half of the time I start to panic and wonder what I'm getting myself into.

This coming week I'm going to be adding videos to the blog, just an assortment that I've found so that you can see a little bit of what I'm going to be going through. That way when I'm gone you can think loads of good luck my way, because I'm definitely going to need it. Then, while I'm gone my friend Balgram will update the blog with my snail mail address and any letters I send home.

If you love chocolate and you love food that makes your mouth on fire, you will love Lindt Excellence Chili Dark Chocolate. Best chocolate ever! Though you can only eat one small piece at a time, otherwise your mouth is as hot as the sun, and though it's a little bit expensive, it is still amazing.