 
Welcome to Frank's Army page. As most of you know, he is in boot camp right now at Fort Knox, Kentucky. I have created this page as a diary of sorts, so you, his friends and family, can keep up on his journey as a soldier. I will update this page every time I receive a letter from him. If you wish to write to him, please contact me for his address. Thanks! PS. Yes, I'm leaving out all the mushy stuff :o) February 23, 2003 "Well, it's my 3rd day here and when I woke up this morning, there was snow everywhere! It was like 30 degrees outside. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten to see it snow yet, but I'm sure I will soon. Hopefully I will get to start boot camp next week. I went to the church service this morning. It was a regular Baptist service with hymnals, organs and preaching." Go to top February 24, 2003 "We had our physical fitness test today and I passed! Now I'm going to basic training for sure, no turning back. I'll ship out Thursday and start boot camp Friday, so please pray for me because I'm going to need it." Go to top February 25, 2003 I went to see a doctor today and he said I have psoriasis on my scalp so he prescribed me some cream to see how it works. I pretty much spent all day waiting to see the doctor so I only got half of my paperwork for you guys done. I also got to pick where I would like to go for my first post. Hopefully in the next few weeks you'll begin to get some money." Go to top February 26, 2003 "I found out today that I will for sure start boot camp tomorrow. I'm pretty excited, kinda nervous and anxious all at the same time, so please pray for me because tomorrow around 1pm I will be getting yelled at nonstop, I'm sure. I finally got to see it snow today, just for a little bit, but now I know what it looks like!" Go to top February 28, 2003 "Well, today was our first official day of boot camp. It was hard and boring too. We had to sit in a class room from about 9am to 4pm. The drill sergeants were all mad because people were not following instructions so they made the whole platoon (53 guys) do push ups because of a couple guys. It sucks, but it's the only way to teach everyone teamwork. I have managed so far not to be singled out by the DS's. I do what I'm told, I speak when I'm told, and I eat as fast as I can. I know these next 3 weeks are going to be tough physically because mentally the drill sergeants don't get to me. They yell a lot to stress everyone out, but I just pay attention and do what I'm told. It's really very easy, you get instructions on what to do and where to go, you just have to listen. I have a feeling it's going to take a lot of push ups to get through to a lot of these guys. Please keep praying for me because I know it's working. I have this peace about me even when I'm hurting and sore from exercise. I'm excited to be here and I can't wait to graduate!" Go to top March 1, 2003 "Today we had our preliminary physical fitness test, but since they have been working our butts off doing pushups and other exercises like that, I didn't do very well. In the next two weeks I need to improve, and I'm pretty sure the drill instructors are going to take care of that. Next week we are going to do some kind of obstacle course and I believe the week after that is a thing called the Victory Tower which is repelling from a 45 foot wall. You know how I feel about heights, but I'm actually excited about it. I'm so sore right now, but it's a good kind of pain, because I know it's making me stronger." Go to top March 3, 2003 "The drill sergeants can be mean, but they seem to be pretty cool. I have a lot of respect for them and not an ounce of hate or dislike for them. They are tough, but fair, and I always try to learn everything they're teaching us. Physically, like I mentioned before, has been pretty tough, but it's all part of the training and I'm taking it all in stride. I guess what I'm trying to say is, it's not that bad. You just have to do what you're told, when you're told and how they want it done. Some of these guys just don't get it and we all suffer because of it. Keep me in your prayers as I do you and our babies in mine." Go to top March 4, 2003 "I think today I feel good, not as sore or weak. The physical training the drill sergeants put us through is hard, but it has a purpose. I actually kind of like the challenge, well, not at the time they are making us do push ups and roll around in the mud! Anyway, overall I am doing ok here. I'm beginning to get used to it. I go to bed at 10pm and even though we can get up at 5am I usually set my alarm to wake me up at 4am. We have been practicing a lot of marching and learning to turn correctly and all that. Today was the first day that our platoon did something right as a group. It felt good and our drill sergeant actually gave us a compliment!" Go to top March 6, 2003 "Today we learned about chemical equipment that we need to wear for a gas chamber we have to go into in a few weeks, but don't worry, it's all part of the training and it's not as bad as it sounds. On Monday we are going to do the repel tower which is 60 feet high and you scale off the wall with just a rope harness. Needless to say it's going to be a challenge for me, but I'm trying not to think about it too much." Go to top March 8, 2003 "It's Saturday and I have what they call here KP (Kitchen Patrol) all day so that means I don't have to deal with the drill sergeants or do any exercise, so it's a nice break to recoup from this past week. It's one week down and just over 7 weeks to go! Tomorrow I go to church for about 3 hours and it should be an easy day for the whole platoon. I heard from our drill sergeant that more than likely when we all graduate from our job training we will all be sent overseas for the war." Go to top March 9, 2003 "Tomorrow (Monday) we are doing the repelling tower first thing in the morning, so hopefully I won't get too nervous. One thing I need you to keep me in prayer for is that I'm having some pain on my right knee, just like before, so keep me in your prayers and keep everyone informed about it because I don't want to be put on profile which basically means around here that it could take me out of training for up to a month and obviously delay the whole process of me getting out of here on time, so please pray that I don't get badly hurt. I just don't want to end my Army career before it even begins. Physically, I have begun to see the difference in my body. I can do about 10 more sit ups and 10 more push ups than I could about a week ago, and my run time has improved as well. I just have to keep on pushing. I got my head shaved again today and my scalp has gotten a lot better, you'll get to see it at graduation. There's a lot of challenging things out here that are tough at times, but they are fun. It's true what I've heard around here, basic training is only as tough as you make it and your attitude is 90% of it." Go to top March 11, 2003 "Yesterday we did that repel tower which is about 40 feet high and all you do is make a rope harness, strap in, and bound off the wall as you are looking down. Sounds scary huh? Well guess what? I didn't think about it at all, even climbing up the stairs, which could have freaked me out. I bounded off that wall in 3 bounds! It felt really good to overcome my biggest fear and I conquered it! Next we have an obstacle course on Wednesday and hand to hand combat on Friday. Also, we are learning drill and ceremony which includes marching and doing different manuevers with our M16 Rifles." Go to top March 13, 2003 "I'm very sore today. Yesterday was a very long day, we had a 2 mile run at 5:30 in the morning, then we went to the obstacle course but it started raining so we could only do part of it. The parts that we did were pretty challenging for me because I'm short, so I had a hard time on some of them, but overall it was kinda fun. Then we screwed up as a platoon and the drill sergeant was so pissed off that he said we were all going to "The Pit." Needless to say, as you can imagine it was hell. Basically, "The Pit" is a sawdust pit in which we did a lot of exercises. Some got kicked in the face and got sawdust in their face. After that we came back to the barracks and we had to move a bunch of wood and sand bags from one side of the parking lot to another. Then the drill sergeant made all of us clean our barracks till lights our at 10pm and we had no personal time or even a chance to take showers. Last but not least we are supposed to be on extra duty for the next week and be restricted to our barracks with no PX or phone calls, but we are still waiting on the verdict. Yesterday on one of the obstacle course events I went to lift myself up on a wall and as I pulled myself up my rib cage caught the edge of the wall and I felt a pop on one of my ribs. This morning it was a little sore so I didn't think anything of it, but this afternoon we were practicing drill and ceremony marching and on a turn we did I felt that pop again on the same rib, but this time it hurts a little more and I'm having a little trouble breathing. I really don't want to miss any training on Friday because we have the hand to hand combat training. I'll see how I feel and decide if I can wait until Saturday. For now, just pray for me." Go to top March 14, 2003 "Today we had hand to hand combat training. It was so freaking cold out and they wouldn't let us wear our hats so our heads were pretty cold. The training was pretty interesting but kind of crazy because they taught us moves that would allow us to kill someone with our hands should the situation ever come up in battle. We then had a tournament where we picked 5 guys to fight against 5 guys in each of the other 3 platoons. Three out of five of our guys won their matches and we won the bragging rights against all the other platoons as the big boys in this company. My throat is pretty sore from all the screaming we did today, but man it was fun! Today, Friday, we started our 3rd week so I'm excited about that because we only have a month and a half left until we graduate. I've heard someone say that graduation will be around April 30th, but I'll know better when we get closer to the date." Go to top March 15, 2003 "It's Saturday and today is a pretty lazy day. We have been cleaning our barraks and getting our lockers to "Army standards". It seems like we are finally becoming a team slowly but surely. Physically I'm getting stronger every day. My upper body is getting toned up a lot and all the fat around my stomach is slowly going away. I have improved a lot on my push ups and sit ups but I'm still struggling a little with my running. My right knee is still bothering me a little but my ribs are getting better. I think they were just bruised and not cracked or broken." Go to top March 16, 2003 "Man, today has been such a drag, all we have done is clean and eat and it's made the day so long and boring! This week we are supposed to learn bayonet fighting skills, also we are supposed to have tournament based on the skills and moves we learn with pugle sticks, so basically we get to hit the other guys and not get in trouble. The other thing we are supposed to learn this week is land navigation which I'm pretty good at so that should be fun." Go to top March 17, 2003 "Happy St. Patrick's Day! Hey guess what? I didn't get pinched today because I was wearing green! hehe So we had a busy day today. We learned some basic CPR techniques and we learned fighting moves with our bayonets which is a knife at the end of our rifles. It was quite a work out. We ended up doing the training for like four hours and my arms and legs are a little tired. Oh yeah, we also did some running this morning and I ran a 2 mile in 17:36 which is quite an improvement from the 18:18 that I ran last time, but I need to get down to about a 16:35 or so to get a good score in my individual training test. My knee still kind of hurts but I just run through the pain and I get motivated when I think of you and of course, our babies. Tonight we got to watch the speech President Bush gave and, well, what can we do but just continue our training and know that there's a high chance we will all go to war after our job training. I'm not worried about it that much because you and I both knew this was a possibility and we took a chance. I'm proud to be here and excited that I get to do something worthy of giving my life just so that you and our babies can have the freedom to do what you want. Granted it's a little scary of course, but right now I wouldn't want to be doing anything else." Go to top March 18, 2003 "We had sort of an exciting day today. We had a class on CPR and mouth to mouth resuscitation. It was kind of boring but it's a great thing to know how to do nevertheless. We then had a pugle competition against the other platoons. We lost, but we still had a lot of fun. By the way, my knee is feeling a lot better today. I hope it's going to stay that way. Thank you for your prayers and keep praying because it's going to get tougher next week physically. I'm going to keep pushing my body, I just hope it doesn't give up on me. We are supposed to do some sort of obstacle course tomorrow or Friday so pray that I don't get hurt or anything. Next week we begin the next phase of our training, it's going to get pretty hard but I know I'll make it. This next phase focuses on the rifle shooting technique. It's supposed to be two and a half weeks long, so that to me sounds like fun, a lot of shooting on the range and target practice I have to qualify in order to move to the next phase. Next week we also have the gas chamber which hopefully is not as bad as it sounds, but I'll let you know more as I find out." Go to top March 20, 2003 "I'm doing good today. My knee is feeling good, I'm not sick anymore, overall I'm feeling great! Today was such a long day, all we had was classes, no exercise or anything. We had more first aid classes and a 5 hour land navigation class. Tomorrow we have a test on all the stuff we have learned so far about knowing your weapon, and my courtesies and tradition and stuff like that. We also have a physical fitness test which consists of push ups, sit ups, and a 2 mile run. My goal to pass is 35 push ups, 45 sit ups, (I get 2 minutes to do each of these) and the 2 mile run I need to run a 16:36 to pass. I've been running like a 17:20 or so, but I hope my knee feels good tomorrow and I'm going to run my heart out! When I write you tomorrow I will let you know how it went." Go to top March 21, 2003 "It's been a very physically challenging day. We had our first official PT test today. Remember last time we did one on March 1st and I did pretty bad. I only did 6 sit ups, 22 push ups and an 18:18 2 mile run. Well, today I did 42 sit ups, 38 push ups and a 15:27 2 mile run! So you can see how much I have improved in the last 3 weeks. I feel great! My knee doesn't hurt and I feel myself getting stronger every day. The best thing about it is that if we were to do our final physical fitness test today, I would have passed to graduate from basic training! I gotta go for now, but tell all our friends I said HI and tell all your friends on the net thanks for all their prayers." Go to top March 22, 2003 "We had our navigation class today. It was a lot of walking, but it was a blast! We got lost, but still it was a lot of fun. On Tuesday we begin rifle shooting training and we'll be doing that for the next 2 weeks. The drill sergeant said that it's going to be very long days from like 7am until midnight, so the next two weeks will be very tiring and exhausting." Go to top March 24, 2003 "Well, one of the worst things in boot camp is now over for me: The Gas Chamber. I'll tell you, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy! My eyes still burn and my skin still stings. It was one of the worst experiences I have ever had, but it's over now, Thank God! The rest of this week we begin learning how to shoot rifles and on Thursday afternoon we begin shooting. From what I've been told it's going to be a lot of 'hurry up and wait' kind of thing, but I'll let you know how it goes." Go to top March 25, 2003 "I'm pretty tired tonight. We had a 5K road march this morning, then we had7 hours of rifle training and it was such a drag. Tomorrow we have 11 more hours of rifle training leading up to beginning shooting our rifles Thursday afternoon.I hope the training gets a little more exciting than it was today." Go to top March 26, 2003 "We had another long boring day today. We had a class on procedures for the shooting range, then we had a prequalification shooting with a computer type video game rifle and we were supposed to shoot with accuracy in 9 shots and we needed to get at least 7 but I shot 9 out of 9 so now I can move on to shooting the real thing. I think it will be fun, I just need to concentrate and focus on qualifying to move to the next phase." Go to top March 27, 2003 "We had a good day today. It was the first day at the range and it was fun! It was the first time I shot a weapon and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I completed all my tasks today so now I just have to practice to qualify so I can graduate. We have Friday and all of next week to qualify so hopefully I can take care of business right away. By the way, I have a name for my rifle, it's "Jenny". I figured that would be a fitting name since I'm in the Army now and sometimes I feel as dumb as Forrest Gump around here! Physically I'm doing pretty well, no major complaints to tell you about, just a lot of sore muscles and aching feet. Sometimes in the morning when I get up I feel like an old man, but hey, I guess I'm getting old being that I'll be 27 in two weeks. Anyway, I'm half way done in my training already, and most of the worst parts are over!" Go to top March 28, 2003 "Today was a slow day today for me because I got everything done yesterday that was required of us today, so I did a lot of sitting around. Tomorrow we begin shooting pop up targets, so that should be a lot of fun and it's only going to get better from here on." Go to top March 31, 2003 "Today we had an 8k road march at 4am with our full equipment. The road march took us to a range where we pretty much spent all day shooting pop up targets. It was very challenging, but a lot of fun. I'm getting used to shooting my rifle and I'm getting better and better at it. I shot 27 out of 44 possible targets and I only need to hit 23 to qualify on Thursday, so I'm doing pretty well. Tomorrow we go back to the range to pre-qualify so I will get an idea how well I'm going to do. Next Monday we begin the last phase of our training which basically means we get a lot more privledges. We will get to make longer phone calls, get to go to the PX more often and the drill sergeants wont be around as much. Oh, and we get to throw grenades! I can't believe I'm halfway done already!" Go to top April 1, 2003 "We had our pre-qualification day 1 today. We went to the range and got 40 bullets to hit 40 pop up targets. I ended up hitting 22 but to qualify you had to hit 23. SOOO close huh? That's ok though, I'm getting comfortable shooting my rifle and every day I keep getting better and better. Tomorrow we have our second day of pre-qualifaction. From what I've been told, that range is easier than the one we shot at today so I'm confident I will do very well tomorrow and I will qualify on Thursday with no problem." Go to top April 3, 2003 "Well, today has been an awesome day! I got to the range this morning and I felt good, I felt confident, and I ended up doing pretty well! I shot a 31 out of 40! Pretty good huh? Everyone in our company did really well today. I guess we broke a record here on Fort Knox for the first time qualifying. 97% of us qualified on the first try. The company commander was really impressed and they are trying to find out if we some kind of record for all the basic training boot camps in the country. So, because I qualified and all, I got my first Army medal! One of many to come, I'm sure." Go to top April 4, 2003 "We had our PT test this morning and I keep surprising myself by doing very well. Do you remember last time I did 38 push ups, 42 sit ups and a 15:27 run? Well today I did 52 push ups, 61 sit ups and a 15:06 run! Can you believe it? So anyway, tonight we went back out to the range to shoot night fire and to shoot with our gas masks on. It was a lot of fun but now I'm tired. Tomorrow night we have this thing called operation appreciation, which means we get to go to Louisville with the chaplin and relax without drill sergeants around for about 5 hours or so. It should be a lot of fun. Next Tuesday we have a 10k road march with our backpacks, rifles and the rest of our gear and when we finish our march we will end up at the grenade range and we get to toss a grenade. I think it will be a lot of fun!" Go to top April 6, 2003 "I am in desperate need for some sleep! We got back from the Operation Appreciation thing like around 11pm then went to bed. I had to get up at 2am to do fireguard for the 3rd night in a row and with the time change I only ended up getting about 5 hours of sleep! Maybe tonight I'll get some decent sleep I hope. That Operation Appreciation was pretty cool. It's basically put on by a bunch of volunteers from a non-denominational Christian group and they put on a rally for us. They sang some songs that brought me home for just the slightest moment. As I was singing I closed my eyes and I felt like I was back home and you were standing next to me. After the little church service they had fellowship and fed us hot dogs and gave us pepsi to drink, oh and ho ho's! I couldn't handle much of the sweets since I have been eating healthy for so long now! This morning I went to a Christian concert put on by the Chaplin. It was this Christian Country singer by the name of Kenna Turner West. She is a great singer and have everyone a CD. The DS has taken away our phone priveledges this weekend due to a stupid misunderstanding so I won't get to call you. Hopefully I can use the phone next weekend! For now I have to go, we have a lot of cleaning to do." Go to top April 7, 2003 "Oh my goodness, I have the best news for you! Today there was a representative from Fort Eustis here and he told all the guys with my MOS that we get 7 days authorised leave and 2 days travel, which basically means I can go home with you guys right after graduation! I'm so excited you just wouldn't believe! The only couple things I need to do is get it approved by my commander here at the company which shouldn't be a problem and I need to get the plane tickets from here to CA and then from CA to VA." Go to top April 8, 2003 "Well, it's Tuesday afternoon and I am finally back in the barracks sitting in my locker writing you this letter. I'm all muddy, my legs are extremely sore, my feet are throbbing, my right shoulder is sore, and I couldn't be happier this day is over! We got up this morning at 3am and we did our 10k road march to the grenade range. Needless to say, it was very painful going up and down steep hills with a 20lb backpack and an 8lb rifle in my hands and walking at a brisk page the whole time. Once we got to the grenade range it started pouring and we did our training on how to throw a grenade in the rain, in the mud. We did an obstacle type course which I passed but felt I could do better. We then moved on to the live grenade range where I got to throw a real grenade. Those things are so stinkin loud and you feel the precussion of the explosion all over your body! It was a rush but jkind of scary at the same time. Tomorrow we are going to get our class A uniform which is the one I will be wearing at graduation. I'm sure you will love it!!" Go to top April 10, 2003 "Today was a horrible day! The course we went through was a course where you crawl on your belly in the mud and water puddles and wet saw dust! It must have been like 40 degrees out so it was pretty painful to crawl on your knees and elbows. Oh and did I mention that this morning we had PT and we ran 3 miles and I sprained my groin muscle. I'll be ok, it's nothing major, I just need to stretch more next time." Go to top April 11, 2003 "I ended up coming up to sick call, and that's where I am at right now writing this. When I woke up this morning my groin muscle didn't feel any better. I thought it was just sore but I am still limping. The doctor put me on a "no running profile" for 4 days and then run at my own pace for 3 days after that. He gave me a muscle relaxer which makes me really sleepy and ibuprofen for the pain. I'll be ok, I just need to stretch and rest. I can't believe there is only 19 days left till graduation! In about 10 days we have our final PT test and our final field training exercise. That invloves going out to the woods and camping for 3 days, we will do a lot of team building exercises and from what I've heard we don't get to sleep at all. Go to top April 13, 2003 "My groin muscle is still pretty sore, I can't seem to shake it off. I just need to keep stretching. We have our final PT test on Friday so just keep praying for me to recover quickly. This week we have to do the high crawl/low crawl course twice, so I need to get better at least by Tuesday. That means I'll be rolling in the mud on my birthday. Oh goodie. I don't think I'm going to get to call you again today because our drill sergeants are pissed off because we failed our barracks inspection yesterday and we didn't win the drill and ceremony competition, so we are being punished. :o( Maybe I'll get to call you next weekend!" Go to top April 15, 2003 "Well, another day, another birthday. Yay for me! :o) Yesterday we had another course we went to. It was a course where you would crawl around and shoot at targets but we had live ammo and it was a two man group so I'm running to get behind a tree while my partner is shooting live rounds right next to me! Needless to say it was a little scary but there was a lot of safety involved including a lot of yelling and screaming by the drill sergeants! Today is going to be a long day. We have scheduled 10am training until midnight. Appearantly we will be learning to set up our tents and other camping stuff for our FTX next Monday. Well, it's now about 1am on Wednesday and I'm still awake because I have fireguard. I'm exhausted, but overall it was a fun birthday. I never thought that I would spend my birthday shooting rifles in full camoflage and face paint and acting like one of those Soldiers you see in the movies! Tomorrow night we have our final infiltration course, then Friday morning is our final PT test. I'm still a little sore in my groin muscle but I'm just going to have to suck it upand run through the pain if I have to." Go to top April 17, 2003 "I had a good day yesterday, it was our last training course! YAY! It was another live fire course and we had to crawl through this very large sand pit while they were blowing up simulation grenades. I was right next to one of them that shook me right off the sand! It was cool! :o) Then I kept crawling while bright red bullets keep flying over my head. It was pretty crazy, but it was fun. I have to tell you that a couple months ago that would not have been fun, but last night was a blast! Please keep me in your prayers because I have FTX to overcome. We leave on Monday morning around 3am for a 10k road march and we will be camping out in the woods all day Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and come back to the barraks early Thursday morning. Oh and did I mention we will not be sleeping the whole time?!? On the way back we will do a 15k road march which is 9 miles, so like I said, pray for me that I stay strong and don't get blisters and that everything goes well. I'm pretty tired and I'm so ready to just be done. I can't wait to go home and rest and be able to eat my meals in peace without getting yelled at or being rushed through it. Go to top April 18, 2003 "I found out we did set a Fort Knox record for highest scoring in qualifying for the rifle! 96% qualified and the 10 guys who didn't qualify the first time qualified the second time they tried. I'm done with my PT test! YAY! I did 50 push ups in 2 minutes, 67 sit ups in 2 minutes and I ran 2 miles in 14:37. My final score was 240 out of 300 and I was only required to get a 150 to pass, so I think I did pretty good! I'm so glad it's all over. All I have left now is the end of cycle testing which is going to test me on basic knowledge of the things I've learned these last 9 weeks from things like first aid to U.S. weapons. Then we have our FTX and when we get back from that on Thursday morning we will be DONE! The rest of the days after that is just turning in equipment and getting ready for graduation! YAY! I am still a little sore but I got through the run and that's what I was worried about. I'll see you in 11 days!!!" Go to top April 19, 2003 "Well, It's Saturday afternoon and I'm waiting to eat dinner. We had our end of the cycle test today and I passed! YAY! There were 20 questions/tasks to do and I got 18 out of 20, so now I'll just need to overcome our FTX and I'll be done!" Go to top April 24, 2003 "Well, I'm doing ok for having gone through 72 hours of training with only 8 hours of sleep. The 10k (6 mile) march was pretty hard on my pulled groin. I fell behind, but even though I finished last I still finished with my own two legs. The training at FTX was pretty much everything we have learned in the last two months put to the test for 3 days. Some of it was fun but the nights were horrible. It was cold and we had to lay in muddy foxholes for hours at a time during the night. I didn't shower for 3 days, didn't change my clothes, and on top of that we had to wear camoflauge on our face (like makeup) all three days so my face broke out on some spots and I'm still finding it on some spots on my face. I'm glad the FTX is over. Oh yeah and the 15k march back was pretty bad too. First of all they made us sleep on the floor with no blankets or jackets, just our BDU's from 8pm till midnight; then we left around 12:30am. It was so cold. I still can't believe how bad I was shaking. We marched up two hills that were pretty bad. One was called "Heartbreak" because of how steep it is. I did ok on that hill but my lower back was screaming with pain. The next big hill we did was called "Misery" because it was a road that winds and feels like it's never going to end. We stopped for a water break about 3/4 of the way up and the drill sergeant called out my name, he said, "Private Garcia! Get up! You are going to KP!" Man, it felt like I won the lottery because it meant that I didn't have to march anymore. God knew how much I could take because when the DS called me out my body was ready to give up. My lower back was aching and I could feel several blisters on my feet. I didn't want to give up but my body was ready to! I did get mail at FTX, it was kind of cool. They would give us mail at dinner chow and then send us back to our fox holes. It was weird the second night, I was sitting in my foxhole and reading your letters and for a brief moment I understood what many, many soldiers have gone through when they go to war. I felt like a real Soldier and it felt good." Go to top From Renee: This is the end of this journal as this is the last letter I have. Thank you all for reading and sharing in this part of our lives. You have been invited to this page because you are friends or family or both and we cherish and love you all. Frank graduated April 30, 2003 from Boot Camp. My mother, the kids and I all flew to Kentucky to be there. His mom, step-dad and sister drove up from Texas as well. You can see pictures of his graduation and short leave home by clicking the "next" button below. As you know, Frank is in Virginia now for his job training. He gets to call every day, so no letters! Sorry! I will send out updates via email or you can write to me for his address. The Garcia family will be whole again on November 13, 2003. That's all from me! Renee Go to top 
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