1/13/09-1/17/09

I got a letter today that finally has an address. Chuck passed his PT test wih flying colors. He has gotten tired of reception. He said that they have no toliet paper, no hot or warm water, only 2 washers and dryers that work, and they got forks taken away and can only use spoons to eat now. Not sure what caused that. He did ship out on Friday to start Basic. He said these barracks are a lot nicer. They have 8 men to a room and a shared bathroom and shower for the entire floor. They had a shower drill last night and he said that everyone got in line wearing shorts and towel and soap in hand. They have 30 seconds to take their shower. I did find out that basic graduation is march 19/20 and AIT graduation is May 6/7th. He thinks he'll get to call on Sunday so that'll be nice. To bad it's only for a minute or two. The address to send to is

PVT SCHUTZ,CHARLES
F TROOP 5/15 Cavalry 4th Plt.
3576 Wilson Rd
Fort Knox, KY 40121-5728


I will keep everyone updated as I hear things.

Nel

Jan 10/11 2009

Another letter today, but still no address to send to. This letter is from before he actually started Basic, while he was still in reception. It is actually dated before the previous letter, and sent before the previous letter but I didn't get it till today. He said in this one that he thought there might be a problem with some of his pay, but everything is OK with that in the next letter. He said that he did finally get some sleep on Saturday, but still can't sleep for more than 1/2 hour at a time. He got to clean the barracks on Sunday. You either clean or go to church. He said cleaning was OK though, because they put you at the front of the line for chow. He also said that there are 2 big commercial coffee pots in there full and they can't have any of it. "That's torture!" Today I also got some info about getting my ID card. Not sure exactly what to do so I'll maybe have to call his recruiting officer and ask some questions. Well, that's it for now. I'll keep everyone updated.
Nel

1/11/09-1/12/09

I got another letter in the mail from Chuck today. We said that they haven't been doing much. Sunday they sat around and talked all day. He has met a 39 year old cop from Idaho that is also a Cav. Scout so they have been talking quite a bit. Finally got his promotion and pay straightened out. He had to get more shots and a hearing test on Monday. He said on Tuesday the were going to be doing their PT test and just finishing everything up. As far as he knows he will be starting basic Friday. He had to do fire guard duty from 0300-0400 that night so he went to bed early. I will keep everyone updated as I hear things. Nel

First Letter

I got a letter in the mail today from Chuck. He didn't think that he would be able to send it yet, but obviously he did. He said that he arrived in Ky at 1045pm on Wednesday, then got on a bus for the ride to fort knox. When they got there they met some of their drill sgts and had a quick briefing, then ate and went to bed at 2am. They were woke up at 4am and started all the paperwork and medical and dental checkups. He got 4 shots and got blood drawn. He said that 5 guys passed out and one hit his head and had to get staples. That night they went to bed at 9pm. Woke up at 3am the next morning. He got his hair cut and finally got to go shopping Friday( this is the day that he called me). He said that they are getting yelled at a lot. They only have 8 minutes to eat their food and they are being screamed at the whole time. He said the food is good though and there is a big selection. He is having a hard time sleeping, said that he can only sleep a few minutes before waking up again. He ended the letter here because they were getting yelled at for some guys talking. I still don't have an address for him yet, but I will let everyone know as soon as I get one.
Nel

Chuck got to call today!

The phone call was a little late but it did come today. Chuck called at 10 this morning to tell me that he got there OK. It was hard to hear him because the phone didn't get very good reception. He got there late Wednesday night. He is stuck in reception till next Friday. Reception is where they wait till basic starts. They make sure all the paperwork is in order, and everything is ready to go. By the sounds of it this isn't very fun because all of you sit in the big building all day and night and can't do anything. Can't send letters, can't run. They did get to go to the base store today which Chuck said was good because they took his deodorant from him at the airport and he had been without it for 2 days. I'm guessing he got his haircut already, but he didn't say. I only got to talk to him for about 2 minutes before he had to go. He did say that he had written some letters already and would send them as soon as he could. So Basic starts next Friday and if all goes well I will get to see him 10 weeks after that. I will keep everyone updated as I hear things.

Nel

So, since I said that it would be a while till I heard from him , Chuck just called to try out his phone card. He said that has been sitting at O'Hare for about 8 hours and has another 3 hours till his plane leaves. He won't be in KY till later tonight, so hopefully he'll be able to call tomorrow and tell me he's there. That's it for now.

Left Today

So as everyone knows, Chuck headed out at 0430 this AM. I (Danielle) will be taking care of the blog and keeping everyone informed while he is gone. He had to go to do more routine testing today, before he could get on a plane for KY. He is supposed to be able to call and tell me when he gets there. Not sure if that will be tonight or tomorrow sometime. I will let everyone know when I here that he is there OK.