Quick Disclaimer: This one is pretty lengthy but my life is boring now so in the future they will be much shorter For the last week of Cadet Basic Training, through a combination of a 9-mile ruck march and a 15 minute LMTV ride (think of the trucks people ride in WWII movies), we ended up in an area called Lake Frederick. While at Lake Frederick, we spent our morning doing culmination training, taking what we had learned throughout the summer and competing against other companies. There were grenade throwing events, disassembling and reassembling machine guns, and carrying people around on different litters to name a few. Another day we beat the crap out of […]
Week 4
From Warren’s letter to Mom: “I had my last letter in before the Field Training but the unit just sent stuff this morning, so you’ll probably get these on the same day or at least close to it.” They both came this morning. 🙂
Week 2
Breakfast: pancakes, eggs, cereal Lunch: Chicken, Rice, sub sandwiches Dinner: Meatballs, more chicken, potatoes. Every meal with chocolate milk cartons. Bedtime snack: Hoist (think Powerade) and a protein bar, maybe once a week This is some more information about my roommates: Rusch was an EMT before coming here. Rennie grew up on a farm. Things cadets do to be supportive: Cheer each other on during smoke sessions, fix problems with uniforms before cadre notices, and literally push slow people up hills on formation runs. Honestly, send anything. I really appreciate stuff but my only time to really respond is after lights out when we are supposed to be in bed. I am getting ahead on […]
Week 1
Hello, everyone! We just got off the phone with Warren from his half-way call. He’s doing GREAT! He sounds happy and he says things aren’t as physically hard as he thought they might be. There are still very challenging days, but he’s really doing well. We’re learning that there is a big lag between when Warren writes letters and when we receive them. Here’s his week 1 update, which arrived to our house a few days ago but we were out of town. We should have another letter update within a few days. Some of the experienced West Point parents suggested sending the cadets with these form letters to help them quickly get a report […]
Where’s Waldo?
This is Jenny. We haven’t heard from Warren yet, but we’re checking the mail box every day. West Point has a very active social media presence, and we’ve been lucky enough to find Warren in a few pictures featured this week. The cadet parents all say that these weeks of Cadet Basic Training is a little like playing Where’s Waldo because the cadets all have shaved heads and they all wear the same uniforms. So, we got lucky. One Tuesday a friend shared this screen shot from the West Point Instagram stories. They were showing highlights from the cadets arriving on campus. Later in the week, I was browsing through the West Point Flickr account, […]
It Begins!
We dropped Warren off at the airport early this morning. He made it to the East Coast, along with a few other cadets that he met along the way. Tomorrow (Monday, June 26) is Reception Day (R-Day), which marks the beginning of Cadet Basic Training. As part of CBT, he’ll turn in his phone until the summer program ends in early August. Until then, he will be able to send and receive only traditional letters in the mail. We’ll keep everyone posted with letters he sends. You can write him at the following: New Cadet Warren Hansen PO Box 1586 West Point, New York 10997-1586