It's taken me a while to get this update posted, but non the less.... a week later, here it is!
I got to talk to Nathan! He survived BEAST week. BEAST is an acronym for "Basic Expeditionary Airman Skills Training." It is where the airmen test everything they learned in Boot camp and are taken to a field training site, to go through a simulated combat deployment. To me that means that they are having a really-intense-multi-day-paint-ball-gun-fight, but I know it's more intense and organized than that. Nathan said looking back on it, it was fun, but actually doing it wasn't. He's happy to have earned some man points doing all those manly things that week. Let it be known, we joke about him being only 51% male. I did not marry him for his manliness... I have yet to find someone who is better to take shoe shopping. The man has taste in women's shoes.
He lucked out with the chores though this last week. He was in charge of handing out MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat). He had to open boxes of MREs and pour them into a bin for everyone to take. On top of this being an easy job, he got to see which ones had the most desirable desserts and he kept the ones with Skittles for himself and his buddies. He loved that sugar. It's funny how when you can't have something, that's all you want. No sweets being served at boot camp leads to a lot of people craving ice-cream and candy.
Nathan has been making requests in every phone call for me to embrace the fat kid in me and spend the majority of the time he has off base, eating ice-cream. I told him I could make that sacrifice for him. But honestly, I love ice-cream and would eat it all day even if my arm wasn't in a twist.
He gave me some tips on how to first find him when I get to tap him out. Tap out happens after the coin ceremony where the airmen are presented with the Airman's Coin to symbolize their transition from trainees to Airmen. Friends and family then go find their Airman in a sea of blue uniforms, where they all stand in formation until a family member touches them (hence, tap out). He told me to hold up my left hand with four fingers up (note my Hunger Games Nail Polish!).
Then to look at my ring finger. That is the position his flight is going to be in. What a smart man giving me a visual, cuz otherwise I would have had no idea what he was talking about. He then said something about the layout of the place we will be sitting in and tried to give me direction on that as well, but I retained none of it. He said he'd tell me again in our next phone call because he knew I wouldn't retain that info.
Nathan also told me I had better be running to find him and knocking down old ladies with their canes to get to him as quickly as I can. Not because he doesn't want to stand in formation for forever, but because he wants me in his arms as soon as humanly possible. I'm totally okay with that.
I'm terrible at finding him in a crowd and I'm a little afraid that him wearing the same outfit as everyone else, on top of not having any hair, and wearing funny glasses will make this process even harder then normal. I will have the Airman's run before hand to try and find him and imprint his new look on my brain so that I can find him later though. The Airman's run is on Thursday morning and it will be the first time I get to see Nathan in 8 weeks! It's a celebratory run to say Hurray! Boot camp is over! He will be running 2.5 miles with his flight and singing jodies (marching songs). I wont get to say hi or anything, but hopefully I will be able to get a good enough look at him to know what to look for in the coin ceremony.
I'm so happy that this time next week I will be in Texas with him!
I got to talk to Nathan! He survived BEAST week. BEAST is an acronym for "Basic Expeditionary Airman Skills Training." It is where the airmen test everything they learned in Boot camp and are taken to a field training site, to go through a simulated combat deployment. To me that means that they are having a really-intense-multi-day-paint-ball-gun-fight, but I know it's more intense and organized than that. Nathan said looking back on it, it was fun, but actually doing it wasn't. He's happy to have earned some man points doing all those manly things that week. Let it be known, we joke about him being only 51% male. I did not marry him for his manliness... I have yet to find someone who is better to take shoe shopping. The man has taste in women's shoes.
He lucked out with the chores though this last week. He was in charge of handing out MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat). He had to open boxes of MREs and pour them into a bin for everyone to take. On top of this being an easy job, he got to see which ones had the most desirable desserts and he kept the ones with Skittles for himself and his buddies. He loved that sugar. It's funny how when you can't have something, that's all you want. No sweets being served at boot camp leads to a lot of people craving ice-cream and candy.
Nathan has been making requests in every phone call for me to embrace the fat kid in me and spend the majority of the time he has off base, eating ice-cream. I told him I could make that sacrifice for him. But honestly, I love ice-cream and would eat it all day even if my arm wasn't in a twist.
He gave me some tips on how to first find him when I get to tap him out. Tap out happens after the coin ceremony where the airmen are presented with the Airman's Coin to symbolize their transition from trainees to Airmen. Friends and family then go find their Airman in a sea of blue uniforms, where they all stand in formation until a family member touches them (hence, tap out). He told me to hold up my left hand with four fingers up (note my Hunger Games Nail Polish!).
Then to look at my ring finger. That is the position his flight is going to be in. What a smart man giving me a visual, cuz otherwise I would have had no idea what he was talking about. He then said something about the layout of the place we will be sitting in and tried to give me direction on that as well, but I retained none of it. He said he'd tell me again in our next phone call because he knew I wouldn't retain that info.
Nathan also told me I had better be running to find him and knocking down old ladies with their canes to get to him as quickly as I can. Not because he doesn't want to stand in formation for forever, but because he wants me in his arms as soon as humanly possible. I'm totally okay with that.
I'm terrible at finding him in a crowd and I'm a little afraid that him wearing the same outfit as everyone else, on top of not having any hair, and wearing funny glasses will make this process even harder then normal. I will have the Airman's run before hand to try and find him and imprint his new look on my brain so that I can find him later though. The Airman's run is on Thursday morning and it will be the first time I get to see Nathan in 8 weeks! It's a celebratory run to say Hurray! Boot camp is over! He will be running 2.5 miles with his flight and singing jodies (marching songs). I wont get to say hi or anything, but hopefully I will be able to get a good enough look at him to know what to look for in the coin ceremony.
I'm so happy that this time next week I will be in Texas with him!
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