Letter Number 7

This letter was written on March 22 - 25th. It was Anthony's first letter in black ink instead of blue.

In the top right corner he smeared some machine gun grease. He know's I'm sentimental like that! He fired an M249 SAW and a 240 BRAVO. The instructor told Anthony that he did a good job, better than most and it made his day. The amount of time you actually hold the trigger down is the time it takes to say "Die, Terrorist! Die!" It lets off about 9-15 rounds at a time. He had a lot of fun doing it though! He apologizes for not being able to write as much because of how busy he is, but that's okay, and I understand that he's incredibly busy. Anthony received his orders on the 22nd. He has to report to AIT on April 30th and was assigned to Alpha Company 232nd Medical Batallion in Ft. Sam Houston, Texas. He catches a plane on the 29th. I pray that I can see him off that day before we come home from his graduation. He did more of the MACP and it was basically like a refresher course for him because of his Jiu-Jitsu background. He said that it was fun! He got to fire the M203 grenade launcher and the AT-4 anti tank weapon which is kinda like a rocket launcher. He's really excited about that! He qualified with his M-16 on the 25th. He said he "shot like a badass." He hit 35 of the 40 targets and qualified as a sharpshooter. He was only 1 target away from expert. He broke the company record and he shot the highest score out of his whole company! The targets are timed. He prayed that god would give him a steady hand and that he would have the strength and skill to qualify and know which targets to shoot. He sharpied my initials onto his trigger finger so that he could feel like I was there helping him. He said that it was a great day! He said that he thinks about my often during PT because it's still dark out. He said that it reminds him of how we used to spend a lot of time together in astronomy in highschool. We had it so easy back then and took everything for granted. He also said that he misses my singing, and that he would give anything to hear my voice again. He apologized for ever getting mad at me for singing and telling me to be quiet. He said "you can sing as much as you want babygirl" Because Anthony's platoon has been doing so well he was allowed to have the contraband out of his MRE. He said that they were probably 5 years old from the stale taste, but they were awesome none the less. He said that Basic is only getting easier and easier. Today he leaves for his FTX2, or second field training exercise. He will be coming back on Thursday, so I probably won't be getting any mail while he's in the field, and I know he won't be receiving any. He said that he looks forward to his mail when he gets back, and that I am his motivation and he will write again soon. He completes the letter with "I love you, see you soon beautiful, with all the love I have to give, -Anthony"