Seriously?

Asa got the letters I sent, but there need to be a few changes. You can only write in black ink, and the "3" on the back needs to have a circle around it. He had to do a bunch of push-ups for everything that was messed up!

The letters I got yesterday broke my heart. He sounded like he was depressed and really having a hard time being away from us. But he sounds a little more upbeat in his letter today. He got my letters and a letter from his mom and uncle, so that probably perked him up a little bit. They are also going on an overnight "ruck" that he said he was excited about. And he will also get a chance to call home sometime soon, to make sure we know when to pick him up at the airport.

The bad news is that the Drill Sargent told them that it is very likely that they will get deployed to Afghanistan right out of training because of Obama's recent announcement. It makes my stomach hurt to think about it. I really didn't expect it to happen right away, but I guess that is what we signed up for. Never knowing what could happen. It would break my heart, but we are strong enough to make it if it did happen.

I can already tell how much Asa is changing. He seems so mature in his letters and he misses Marley terribly. In his letters I got yesterday, he was trying to decide if he should change his MOS, because some of the other recruits are telling him it is extremely dangerous. He has also heard from a few people that he can change his MOS after training is over. I tried to research on the internet if that was true, but I couldn't really figure it out. But in this letter, he sounds a little more upbeat and says that if he can't change his MOS, then he will be the best combat engineer. I don't know what to think about that since everyone told us before he left that he was more of a support person, not on the front lines. So, when I wrote him back I told him that he should wait until he figures out more from the Drill Sargents. The other recruits don't know anymore than he does, so they could just all be feeding each other lies. It sounds like he has a reasonably nice Drill Sargent, and he said that they are not nearly as hard on them as he has seen other Drill Sargents being.

He also said that he wants to spend every second with us that he can when he gets home for Christmas. I cannot wait to see him, hug him, and and laugh with him.