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Hi all,
We received two letters from Jared yesterday, and the postings follow. If anyone feels inclined to send a "treat", a book of stamps would be greatly appreciated, not food. Thanks for keeping him in your prayers!

Letter-undated
Hey family,
I finally got letters the other day. It was a very happy time. I ended up getting about 18. Pretty cool. I still haven't read them all, so if I seem to be missing something you wrote about, that’s why. I spent about 2 hours that night reading. Last night I had to sleep, and tonight I decided to write a letter. So I'll get to them soon. I had mentioned a small cough in an earlier letter, it got worse. I went to medical today and it turns out I have pneumonia. So I got bed rest today and I’ll have a follow-up tomorrow. Now don’t worry too much. It’s not really a huge thing. It’s just a lot of coughing. Other than that I’m fine. In fact, I’m so fine that yesterday when we did the obstacle course, I completed it. Twice. And that’s quite a feat because at the end you have to climb this 25-30 ft. rope. I tried a rope earlier but couldn’t make it, but yesterday I did it twice, right after all that running and pull-ups and jumping over logs and stuff. I was pretty happy. We also did pugal sticks yesterday. We only got to do it once but I won. J I was pretty upbeat after those things. Anyway I did all that while I was sick, so I don’t think it will affect me much. You wouldn’t believe how many people are sick here though. Everyone’s coughing, some worse than others. Anyway, apparently it is pretty normal to get sick in the first few weeks. Anyway, its well past my bedtime so I need to go. Keep sending letters. I’ll catch up on them soon. By the way, we don’t have free time yet but it looks like we might soon. Keep praying for me and I love you lots. Jared

Letter from Sunday, September 10, 2006

Hey there family,

I just got done reading all your letters. Man there was a ton. They kinda built up over those two weeks. This letter is gonna be a Q/A letter. I wrote down most the questions you had, so I’ll answer them. First of all, I’ll address my sickness. I went to medical two days ago and slept the rest of the day (couldn’t write). Yesterday I went back feeling a tone better with a cough. So they gave me light duty (no PT or anything physical really). But I still drilled. Today Medical wasn’t open so I stayed on light duty. But not a lot of PT is done on Sunday anyway. Tomorrow I’m going in for a follow up and plan on going back to full duty and continue taking my meds. Really, I stress that I’m okay. Somehow I can see my caring mother real worried. I think it peaked before I went to medical.

Now, time for Q/A.

-Yes, I got glasses. Here they’re called “Birth control glasses”. They aren’t too attractive. I don’t wear them even though its supposedly required. I’ll wait till the rifle range.

-They checked my teeth here but I don’t need any work. Some people have to get their molars out. But I guess I avoided that.

-Not many friends yet. No time to socialize. A couple people I’ve seemed to click with though. Westman, my 1^st rackmate and I get along. He reminds me of Joe, and with a shaved head, looks just like VinDesiel! Then Thatcher, my rackmate now-he’s short and cross-eyed. He’s quiet and is sure to work hard. That’s good, cause rackmates help each other with making racks and stuff a ton!

-Church is awesome. Worship especially. My favorite songs are “Lord, I lift Your Name on high” and I forget the other one. Songs that get to everyone though are “Days of Elijah” and “I can only imagine”.

-Eating here is rapid and….rapid. If you have time to talk and look around you must be done, so there’s no talking, eyes on your plate. At first the food wasn’t so bad, but its very repetitive and I’m getting tired of it. So when I read the letter about the State Fair food...I was in a dream world. I get cravings for different stuff. The most common thing is cotton candy. Weird, I never eat that anyway.

-If you want to print off my emails, you can, but at this point I’m not too worried about it. I still have plenty to read at this point.

-Thanks for the stamps, letters, phone card, your help with Adrienne and everything. It does mean a lot. Hopefully, I’ll be able to figure out how to use the phone card if I get the chance. Happy B-day Dad! I don’t remember if I addressed that the last time. Miss you all. Love, Jared