USMC Boot Camp Letters - Letter #6

It is my hope that everyone who is thinking of Katie from afar and praying for her mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health will be emboldened by her words.

Letter #6                                                                                                                                     not dated but must be August 18th

Dear Mom/family

I am currently sitting in a class on terrorism... quite cheery! This class then bleeds into a class on domestic and child abuse. These classes in total add up to 3 hours. Three hours of smiles.

We woke up around 04:00 this morning, we had our first PFT (physical fitness test) this morning. It is the IST but with a 3 mile run. We ran our IST the 1st week of Bootcamp. I got 7 pull ups, a 2:30 plank, and a 12:26 1.5 mile run. Today I hit 11 pullups, a max out plank at 3:45, and a 25:44 3 mile run. It doesn't seem like I have improved a lot, but I can tell that my body is getting stronger, but it is so tired all the time. We are always moving & always working out, whether that be running back and forth across the bay, or stacking and unstacking footlocker, or actually PTing with the platoon out in the sand. We have a planned workout everyday accept for Sundays. Sundays are the best.

Random question: what is the price of gas right now?

I wanted to tell you about my drill instructors:

Of course, our Senior: Ssgt Peraza. She is... interesting. I respect her, but she has very little patience to teach and then very high expectations for instant perfection. Granted, my platoon is proving to be slow. Very slow, and childish. So Ssgt Peraza might just be treating us like adults, telling us to do something and expecting us to do it, but 1/2 the platoon doesn't... no one is hand holding us.

I will change that statement actually... we are told how to eat, when to pee, when to put our left sock on. That may count as hand holding... But we are expected to act as adults. Senior can turn from happy go lucky to making us sprint with rifles and then handing us over the the kill-hats.

My favorite Drill instructor is our J-hat. The J-hat is the one that teaches drill (marching & rifle drill - or what they call "popping sticks"). I would say she is a character. I love her. She is tough as nails, ripped, but also so girly. She always has her nails done, she shaves her arms! And uses a glittering lotion. We've also noticed during PT (mom don't read this one out loud) that she has nipple piercings. She is so girly but so bad-ass. When she is in a good mood where we are drilling, she will talk about lifting our feet and showing off our pedicures, or pivoting like we're kicking our ex to the curb with a straight leg. She gets sassy, I love it. yesterday we were standing in formation (in-line formation) at port - arms with our weapons, and she - DI SSgt Jimenez - stops in front of me and said "Damn girl, you've been working that rifle." She then goes on to poke my bicep and point out the veins in my forearm. I was trying so hard to keep my bearing. It was so funny to me that she actually stopped in front of the whole platoon and commented on my muscles. I was so flattered! And then today! We were doing an obstycal course for PT and the series commander - Captain Yung, she is awesome - called me out and asked how many pull-ups I could do. I think that meant she was impressed. She is the commanding officer of platoons 2105 (mine), 2106, and 2107. The obstycal courses are fun. We finish them off with climbing up the really tall ropes.

Back to drill instructors, our knowledge hat - the DI that teaches us the knowledge we'll be tested on, our uniform regulations and our weapon maintenance - is DI Sgt Bejerano. She is cool, nothing too crazy. She is the one that sings cadence to us while marching. Her voice is beautiful. I will go more in-depth on the next 3 drill instructors another time. They are all Kill-hats - the ones that mess with us - Sgt Pizaro, Sgt Westley, Sgt Arnell left arrow the craziest

I picked up this letter again today, I started it yesterday. Today is going by fast! It is already past lunch chow. And then tomorrow is Sunday again. The days and the weeks are starting to go by so fast. Only 2 more weeks until we head up North. Next week is team week, then Finals week, then up north that saturday. I am so excited, I just want to hike already!

This week has been slightly rough. I've been noticing the maturity gap dad and uncle evan spoke about. So I'm praying for patience, grace, and plenty of love to pass around, even when frustrated. My people battery is low. Pray for me heart and I think I have fire watch tonight, which just means being awake during chores for one hour at night. But! The fact that tomorrow is Sunday makes it doable.

Sunday, August 20 (?)

I miss you guys the most on Sundays during church. I miss sitting with you guys, standing and singing with mom, even walking to church with the family. I march to church every sunday now, no DIs though. Recruits march on their own in groups of 10. I have been designated the cadence singer :) I love it. I love you guys so much.

Katie wrapped the letter in a separate piece of paper with another note...

I'm continuing this letter on an actual sheet of paper. I will be honest I miss you guys like crazy today. I was crying and praying that God would just grant me peace and comfort. For all the worship portions of the service I found my buddy Collins from the pool, he, champlin and I shipped together, and then my girl Fediev, and we all joined arms and held each other and sang at the top of our lungs. Then, we prepared for some rain because there is a tropical strom passing over SD right now, but there was barely any rain this morning. After praying for some comfort though, I slipped out of church to a complete downpour - Seattle style - It made me so so happy. So I marched my damp little squad back to the house in pouring rain, with a huge smile on my face. It's Sunday, God's day, I can let my bearing slip a little. There aren't any DIs too close by.

I am going to end this here and get some quiet time to myself. One more week down. 7 1/2 left to go. 5 down. I love you all so so much.

- Your daughter & sister, 

Katie

oh! And! tell ben I got his letter and loved his jokes and tell Dad that his letter meant the world. The. World. Please send more.

One more thing... I've been thinking about the O'Connells a lot. Specifically sitting on their back porch in the evening. Tell Laura and Dave hello for me.

USMC Boot Camp Letters - Letter #5

It is my hope that everyone who is thinking of Katie from afar and praying for her mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health will be emboldened by her words.

Letter #5                                                    

Dear Ma,

Yes! Please keep sharing my letters. It is relieving, actually, because I only have so much time to write, so all the loved ones I want to shower with letters but don't have time to, can take some of the love from these ones. It all sounds like a good plan, you can open the blog up to anyone you wish. heart

I love the pictures so much. I have my little circle of girls around me while I read, and then I enjoy showing them your faces. We are all grasping for further context! We only know each other in the context of bootcamp, that pictures are like filling in the landscape behind a painting. Context!

I have to wrap this up. I love you. I will write soon.

- Katie

USMC Boot Camp Letters - Letter #4

 It is my hope that everyone who is thinking of Katie from afar and praying for her mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health will be emboldened by her words.

Letter #4                                                                                                                                August 13/2023

Dear Mom and family,

Hello!

"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies..." Psalm 23:5a

the verse on the screen @ church right now :)

I am currently sitting in the big church theatre right now. Maybe 6 of the recruits around me right now are asleep. I'm actually enjoying this Sunday's pastor. His message is short and simple but true. 

There is so much I have to update you guys on. This Friday we had Initial drill, a drill competition within the company, you can look up videos! My platoon felt so good and ready, but then got out on the parade deck and freaked out. We barely passed. I wanted to cry. I had been so so excited to do well, and the 90 of us couldn't pull it off. The DIs were not happy so we got messed with for the next couple of hours. We have 2 weeks to clean up and perfect ourselves before Final Drill, the ultimate competition. You can pray that we prepare properly and gain the confidence needed to do well.

Okay back in the house again for some quiet writing time. Like I said, there is a lot of random things to inform you of. Just some moments worth sharing. And! I just got your letter saying you received my first letter! There are more coming! I have been getting letters from everyone. Ms. Rose, Ms. Zonnoff, Nick, Lucy, Reed, Moniz & SSgt Riley, Grandma and Grandpa B and S. So many people, even from my pool! It has been so heartwarming.

Moment #1 worth sharing: The platoon was practicing drill one day and our J-hat, the DI that instructs Drill walked up to me, slapped my elbow to adjust it slightly and whispers to me "Schei your my best one in 1st squad with the rifle, act like it." It was a hidden compliment, I was trying so hard not to smile, I was honored that she told me. So apparently, I'm good at swinging rifles around!

#2: There are often times when I pipe up and instruct the platoon or tell them something, and people have been following it up w/ "Schei should be squad leader", so after Final drill, I think I am going to try for squad leader or guide. I will let you know how that goes. :)

#3: God has totally been working through me. I've been reaching out to girls in the platoon that are struggling. Just building relationships in general is paying off. This week I had 2 girls come to my rack and wake me up at night to ask me stuff. One, her name is Molina, woke me up to ask if I could help her w/ her hair. There were girls in the head already that helped her out but I was so grateful she came to me first like I told her to. The second was a girl name [can't read Katie's writing here]. She woke me up crying because she had gone to the head and saw she had really bad pink eye in both eyes and didn't know what to do. So I calmed her down and walked her through what she had to do. It was a cool moment despite the pink eye. Then, I was on gear guard yesterday, (gear guard is when 4 recruits stay at the house all day to clean while the platoon is out doing stuff) and a girl asked me what motivated me, what kept me going when things got tough. It turned into this really beautiful conversation. She was having a rough day and i was able to pick her up a bit.

There have been so many good and beautiful little moments, as well as really hard ones, but I have 90+ girls with me all going through the same shit, and I am watching God answer my prayers and strengthen me left and right.

I am already 4 weeks in. I will graduate in 2 months on the dot. It has already almost been 1. It is going by so fast! I am becoming a Marine! That hit me hard yesterday. We are now in phase 2, so we get to blouse our boots and undo the top button to our blouse :) We also all get to wear sock buns now, as long as we keep Senior happy.

This week is swim week, that will be fun, then team week I think. I've heard fun things about that too. Things to look forward to.

I love you all so much. Tell dad to write me! I want to know how his trip went. And hug the boys for me and then have them hug you, Ma. Tell the boys I need some memes. Oh! and Nick told me Mora is going out of business?? If you can, buy a pint of the blackberry ice cream and save it for me.

How is Harper doing? I hope he is continuing to heal.

Hug Jackson and miles for me. We switched places. Me in Cali, I have never been this tan before!

I weighed in @ 135 this morning. So I have actually gained some weight! and it feels like muscle. It feels good.

Okay, I'm going to wrap this up for now. I love you all, I can't wait for your next letter. heart

Your daughter and sister,

Katie

arrow pointing to flip the paper over

oh! And thank you for the stamps!

And could you send more pictures? Of you guys and us. Also, a few of me. Friends are wondering what we all look like as normal people, so if you could send a picture or two of me as a normal civilian, that would be awesome! But, priority photos are of the family.

Thank you Jackson & Miles for the pictures :). 

Reed sent me some pictures from some hikes the group has done while I've been gone, that was so sweet. He said when they get together, there is always one person that asks what they think I'm up to. So sweet.

USMC Boot Camp Letters - Letter #3

It is my hope that everyone who is thinking of Katie from afar and praying for her mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health will be emboldened by her words.

Letter #3                                                                                                                                    August 6th

Dear Mom,

finally, a breather. I am writing this in a quiet squad bay w/ NO Drill Instructors and only 5 other recruits. I just got back from church and decided to skip the bible study class to get some quiet time and finally read your last letter that I got a couple days ago.

Your letters are my favorite. I love them so much. I love you so much. I miss you guys like crazy.

It has been a rough week. Today's church service was a lot of singing and crying and decompressing. I wrote you a letter the first day I was at medical. I had gotten a yeast infection! Then I went back the next day because the cold and sore throat I had had got worse and I was dizzy and all. So I was already coughing up flem and blowing green snot when I woke up on the third day with pink eye, which has been going around the platoon. We were all sick. So, this week I have felt so sick. Yeast infection, influenza, and pink eye. I have had no energy and very little motivation, but chow to chow. The weeks are going by faster. I am on the uptick! Yeast infection's gone. Pink eye almost gone as of today, and the flu is getting slightly better. That one might last a bit.

Our days are pretty predictable. We were issued our rifles during our 2nd (early second) week here and immediately started marching/drilling with them. It is cool, now that I think about it, that I now know how to sling a rifle around and do those cool transition, as well as march! We do cool but basic drill/march movements. We do not walk anywhere. We are always marching or running. Either or. So we are sweating a lot & burning a lot of calories! I am so hungry... all the time! I stuff as much in my mouth as I can at chow. We also get evening snack right before bed during our square away time.

Everyday we have some form of PT, whether that be a workout or what we call MCMAP, which is fighting techniques, but they make sure to make it a workout. We also have a class of some sort everyday. We have history classes, weapon classes, war technique classes, etc. All kinds of things, even ethics! The history classes are not as entertaining as Mr. Seems though. :)

I have plenty to say about my drill instructors, but I will save that for another letter.

I love you so much. The sports bras are actually alright! They fit! Please pray that God continues to give me strength. And that I would be healed! I'm tired of being sick. I want my energy back.

For now, I am getting emotional and I don't know what else to say heart so I have a good friend here with me, and I'm going to get her help re-gelling my hair. The slick back bun.

I'll have chow here soon, then more drill.

I love you so much. Hug everyone for me.

- Your daughter, Katie

USMC Boot Camp Letters - Letter #2

It is my hope that everyone who is thinking of Katie from afar and praying for her mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health will be emboldened by her words.

LETTER #2                                                                                                                             August 2

Dear Mom and family :)

Good morning I think. :) It is August 2nd and I have been at medical since 6 something this morning! The whole company has a nasty sore throat and cough going around which I caught 4-5 days ago. I wasn't going to use up one of my "sick" days for it, but then I got a yeast infection a couple days ago and my senior drill instructor told me to go to medical, so I'm killing two birds with one stone. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to be writing letters right now, or if the DI behind us cares if we do, but just in case I'm writing you in my notebook on top of my study materials :) I bet it is obvious I'm writing a letter though, but they haven't yelled at me yet! The guy next to me is writing letters too and the DI just passed him and didn't say anything... I think I am safe!

I'm loving the letters, they are keeping me going somedays. I only really have time to read them after light, so I sit in my top rack - head near an open window! - and pull out my little field flashlight and read and look @ the pictures :) heart

I can't remember exactly what you said in your first letter, but I remember a stream of questions or comments you made that were accurate and spot-on about me. I was smiling like an idiot. I love you so much. I loved the pictures of the cats!

Thank you for all the updates on Harper. I am so grateful he is healing. How is Ben holding up? I imagine he is playing it tough, but he has such a huge heart, I know he must be hurting. Give him a huge hug for me. heart

I don't know exactly what to say about boot camp. It is very true that they break down your sense of self! And you don't realize it until you look in the mirror, or for example today I recited my whole name in the doctor office and I almost started crying! Giving some tangible identity to myself. I have come no where close to losing myself though. Just my name! We are not allowed to motivate at all, or else we get in trouble, but I've started holding the doors for the platoon when we pass through some place so I can whisper encouragement to the girls. Sometimes it is the first nice thing they've heard all day. The DIs are mean.

It has been working though.Yesterday I had two girls pull me aside in the head (bathroom) and tell me I should be squad leader or guide because I am such an encourager. And previous to that, my drill buddy Walter pulled me out of sight of the DIs and gave me a huge hug, and told me thank you for pushing her during the IST & PT. This is also the same friend tht is two racks away from me, and yells "love you guys" every night before she falls asleep. It makes me so happy, so I told her not to stop. It is now a daily thing.

So yes! I have been making friends! The girl I hung out w/ at the airport and I are still close. We are designated battle buddies. She is awesome. Her names is Fediev, but it is pronounced FED-EE-IV. She rock climbs! And is just as hippy and outdoorsy as me + more. She shared some hikes with me that I have to do over leave.

I've been getting plenty close with some of the other girls too. There are now 91 of us, we picked up a few so it is a challenge to know everyone's names, but we are all growing close despite it. The girl in the top rack to the left of me asked what my name was yesterday - first name - and then said "goodnight Katie" when we were falling asleep. That was a special moment.

Last week, during Senior Drill Instructor square away time (free time to talk to our senior drill instructor normally - we still have to say "this recruit") SSGT Peraza told me to relax, (I was standing at attention) then she smiled at me and asked what my name was. She made eye contact w/ me and all! It was so human. It felt like a breathe of fresh air.

The exhaustion hit me hard starting this week. I hit my pillow and am out cold. I feel like I'm running on fumes today, but I think that is just because I am sick and tired.

I got a letter from Victoria Hutt. She was so encouraging and she made a great point about boot camp: It is a game you will never win until the end. It was encouraging. The yelling & pushing won't stop until the end, it is inevitable, so I just have to deal with it :) Muscle through! I'm good at that! I'm tough.

The days fly by too. I will probably be excused from my bench here to go eat chow w/in the next 2-3 hours, maybe sooner. Then I will wait some more, then evening chow, then drill, then lights :). Then Thursday! Almost done w/ the week already! Then only 10 more. I will see you so soon. :)

Grandma and Grandpa Berges, as well as Aunt Hannah asked me what prayer requests I had. Would you mind passing them on?

1) Strength to not slack off. I want to give my 100% all the time.

2) Feeling God's presence all day everyday.

3) knowing how to serve my platoon, whether that is to pick up a leadership role, or just keep encouraging from where I'm at.

4) Peace. Just peace. And mental & emotional peace and rest w/in the busy and the yelling.

I love you so much. Give dad a huge hug for me. I'm missing the Dad hugs!

Tell the boys I love them and think about them all the time. I wish we were doing this together. We would make it fun. :)

Again, I love you, I will write again soon.

- Your daughter, Katie

(can you send me some stamps? Thank you!)

USMC Boot Camp Letters - Letter #1

It is my hope that everyone who is thinking of Katie from afar and praying for her mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health will be emboldened by her words.

LETTER #1                                                                                                                                 July 30th

Dear Mom,

I read your letters yesterday in my rack, I received them just an hour before. I teared up a bit. I missed your handwriting! I am writing between songs in church and now during our bible studies. Mom, church is amazing. The service takes place in a theatre, the same one you will get briefed in on family day, right before you get to hug me. The theatre is packed full, 1st & 2nd platoons. with recruits & Marines. Most of the service is worship. It is magical, we all wrap our arms around each other and sing. The whole theatre is filled with voices and swaying recruits. It is so powerful. People raise their hands and cry and laugh and shout for joy. Today our "older sisters" in the column next to us called us girls over and joined arms with us, encouraged us, hugged us. We call them big sisters because they are graduating this week. My company is still little sisters. But! No longer the babies! A new company picked up on Monday.

I am a little scatter-brained, I'm sitting in the bible study class right now. It is lead by an old 'nam vet, who actually reminds me of grandpa Berges. :) 

I can't get over how magical church here is. I'm going to miss it.

After this class we will go back to the squad bay, or what we call "the house", we might get messed with a little, then off to chow. Then probably PT (which is easy!) then maybe some drill, then our evening routine. Lights out is 9pm. We wake up @ 5am (5:30 on Sundays). I won't lie, mornings are rough! They mess w/ us right off the bat, but all I focus on is getting to chow. The food isn't too bad! I just wish we had more time to eat. It is funny though, we all run out of the chow hall directly into formation outside, we are all silent and standing at attention, but you hear random burps echo through the formation.

On the daily I'm in the woodland cammies and boots, but my trousers are cuffed, not bloused. I got my issued glasses yesterday! They are so goofy! But we are all looking goofy together.

There are 90 girls in my platoon, we had 94 but we are still going strong. All in all, I am doing good. I am tired and worn out, but I'm living chow to chow. The days go by fast that way. Already two weeks done!! I think we leave for Pendleton week 6 or 7? Once we get there - "up North" they call it - boot mellows out mentally. I just have to make it to that point, no problem. :) Then begins the hiking! I'm so giddy for that!

I've been craving Grub Hut burgers and milkshakes, that might have to be my first eat-out during my boot leave. :)

I love you guys so much. I miss you all a lot. It hit me hard a day or two ago. 11 more weeks to go. Time does not stop. It will be Sunday again soon.

Hug everyone for me, pet the cats, pet Winnie. Also enjoy your morning coffee too! I miss that. I can't wait to come back and enjoy quiet moment w/ you in the morning. My inner clock will wake me up early! Blankets, coffee, books, early in the morning sitting together on the couch.

This letter is slightly scatter-brained, but more to come. I love you so so much, Ma.

- Your daughter, Katie

Katie wrapped the letter in a separate piece of paper with a short note...

I love you all so much. I will write more soon. I love you all. (we march everywhere. Miles a day, and our DI just started singing our cadence. It is so incredibly beautiful. I almost started crying the first time she did it. It was early morning and surprisingly foggy. Lovely.)