So I leave on Monday for Indy and head out from there on Tuesday for Basic Training at Ft Jackson in South Carolina. I will be there for 10 weeks starting the 13 of January. I will be home for a week most likely the end of March to help Jake and the kids move down to Columbus, GA. We are still looking for a place for them down there but I wont' be able to post anything about that until after we have moved most likely. I plan on sending out a few post cards from the day spa a.k.a. boot camp. If you want one send me your address before Sunday night as that will be the last time I check myspace for a good long while. Just assume that I don't have your address if you want a note. I can't find my address book right now (it is still in a box somewhere) and won't be trying to scrounge for it in the next few days.
I haven't started freaking out yet but I am sure that I will be the sad sorry person on my flight that can't stop freaking crying. Pathetic I know. But once I enter basic I am all business. I plan on being the best soldier I can be....and then when I am an officer I am going to come back and rip my recruiter a new a%#hole for lying about some pretty big things. It will be right at the top of my list of things to do when I am officially awesome. LOL.
If you have spring break after the end of March let me know and you are always welcome to come down to Georgia and kick it with the Nelsen's. I will have weekends off. Most of the time.
Later all.
January 11, 2009
one last kid update...cuz i dont' think jake will do these. lol
Heidi's contact info while on the inside
This is Jake...no, she isn't out for 7 1/2 more weeks.I have never posted anything before so hopefully this IS so simple a monkey could do it.
Heidi's address in da pen is:
Pvt Heidi Nielsen
C Co 2/13 Infantry Regt
1st Platoon (Rangers)
Ft Jackson, SC 29207
Please write her or send a post card or something (pics and letters only) the rest is a BIG no no (i.e. food, porn, a file to get through the bars...). Keep in mind that she has to do 30 push-ups for every letter she receives so long ones are better than a bunch of short ones. I can vouch from personal experience, though, that mail is a huge help with getting through the days.
Thank you for your support. She is doing pretty good. The Drill Sgts all call her OCS (Officer Candidate School) and have made her the female in charge for her platoon. That is a lot of pressure and extra work but she can do it. She just really misses her babies (all three of us).
So stop reading and start those pens-a-squigglin'.
out of the big house....
Current mood:
amorous
So I really did it. I survived basic training and lived to tell you all about it. This will be pretty short but I have missed my myspace over the last eleven weeks. I lost 35 lbs, went from a size 16 jeans to a size 8...and I look HOT! Jake picked me up and we left after graduation....we got back to our new place in Columbus GA around 7:30 PM Friday night. I have to check in at Ft Benning in the Morning and they are supposed to put me on pass at least for the weekend and hopefully until classes start on the 6th. We will see. At least I will get the weekend. I have missed so much but Thor warmed right up to Mommy again and Baleigh did too. She took a couple of days to do it but she started calling me mom and loves me just as much as daddy again. I am so glad! I have to charge up the blackberry but i will be in touch with many of you in the very near future. Later.amorousApril 12, 2009
week one down.
This was the first real week of OCS (officers candidate school). Monday started bright and early at 4:30 AM with a height and weight test. This was the first time I made weight and did not have to get "taped" to determine my body fat. That was nice and a relief that I made it. After that we had lots of boring classes and didn't do any but we did manage to have to stay busy until 9:30. yuck.
Tuesday was even brighter and earlier with a 0400 wakeup. APFT (army physical fitness test) Day! WE have to do as many situps and pushups as we can in 2 minutes as well a two mile run. IN the push up event my grader did not count any of my first ten pushups and sent me to an alternate grader...I was about to puke - I was so nervous I would not pass. I passed with 75% in that category. My situps I had an 80% and *drumroll* I ran my fastest time ever maxing out my run time for the very first time!!!!! giving me a raw total of 255 - the cut off to get into the program ended up around 209....I MADE IT!!!!! Later in the week my platoon trainer called me out in formation and told another trainer to look at me and guess how fast I ran. He said he did not expect someone who looked like me to run so fast and that I should be proud of myself. I got a warm fuzzy just hearing that.
Wednesday we did combatives for PT and I think I am going to kick some butt and take some names in this event. Maybe not with all the males but I don't see a female there who comes close to my skill level. Woot!!! Then it was just more in processing and paper work.
Thursday morning we did PT ad then off to the obstacle course. Our Squad won against the three that we were up against but as a platoon we lost in the end. The obstacle course was a 1.5 mile course that started with a run up "cardiac hill" and then we had to carry 2 5 gallon jugs of water and 4 boxes of MRE's through the course. The only event I did not complete was the dang monkey bars. They are harder than they look when slippery with mud. I finished strong though and my team had nothing but good things to say about the part I played. The rest of the day was BS stuff again and the commander released us at 7:30 to go home. The rest of the weekend has flown by as it is almost 9 AM on Sunday morning ...i will try to do brief updates every week but that depends on my time. Week one down - 11 more to go before I am LT nielsen.
..
April 19, 2009
week two in a nutshell
Monday - Classes and a run in the pouring rain. Not fast but a run none the less. My running shoes were soaked for two days straight. yuck!
Tuesday - In the classroom learning about calling for fire. I think I get it now...but I admire the guys who do it alot more cuz I never want to have to do that. Then to the field for Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills (wtbd). We learned how to call for a medivac on the radio, two radio operating systems, and all of our weapons...to include brand new M4's that we will be using in a matter of weeks.
Wednesday back in the field for more WTBD and to be tested on hand grenades, weapons assembly and dissassembly while being timed, radio operating, and basic first aid. While my roomie was disassembling her weapon the spring popped out (she was doing it wrong) and it went through her lip and chipped two teeth. They called me and told me to grab my stuff because I was going to the hospital with her. WE were there from 4pm until about 11 PM - no food since 11 AM and that made her and I very grumpy girls. She got three stitches and lots of pain meds. She is ok and back in business and thankfully I had thought to bring all my study books in my back pack (I"m a nerd i know) so I studied the whole time we were there. IT was time used wisely at least.
Thursday - can't remember what we did.
Friday - 5 am ruck march with 40lb pack. Not bad at all. Then our call for fire test that I think i passed. Then off to the pool for a swim in all our gear. I swam 15 meters in my uniform and boots, with our load bearing vest(LBV) and a weapon. Not as easy as some people made it look but I passed thank God. We ran back to our company area - about 2 miles - good run. I am getting in better and better shape every day. That night we watched two episodes of Band of Brothers to compare the leadership styles of the officer in it.
Saturday morning we had a map reading class that flew by and before I knew it Jake and the kids were there to pick me up. Now our time together has flown by and we are fast coming up on the time that I have to return to "school" as we are calling it. I just wanted to up date you all on what has happened this week.
Nielsen Out!
April 25, 2009
Week three down....
This week was mostly filled with running and class time. Not the most exciting week but the longest one thus far. We ran on Monday- ability groups. It was 4.9 miles and then up and down the Doughboy Stadium stair at least 20 times. Fun stuff. The class we had with the Chaplain on ethics was very interesting and engaging. That was a nice change because most of our teachers are rather dry.
We ran again on Wednesday- This time a company run - 5 miles straight up hill- both ways I swear. It was tough but I didn't' fall out!!!
The best day was Thursday morning. we were supposed to do combatives but ended up doing Pugils (American gladiator style fights) in platoons. It was great and I was chosen to represent our platoon in the Company competition. I had to fight 3 other girls in the company level and I kicked their butts! As a result my captain gave me a positive spot report and I got ten extra points for it. I was so happy.
Friday was a big day! We did a three mile release run that you had to complete in under 27 minutes. I did it in 24 min and 14 seconds. Not bad for an old lady. lol. Then we had a test on our ethics and military justice classes. I think I did well. Following that we ran in our ACU's and boots for a mile or so to the obstacle course that we were being graded on in squads as well as individual. The first obstacle was a 7' wall that leaning toward you. The objective was to get over it keeping a low profile- it took several attempts but I was finally able to navigate it alone. The second was a large log that was about 3 feet from the ground with a rope hanging in front of it. The objective was to jump off the log grab the rope and climb up about 15 feet- i didn't manage that one. Oh well. Then we climbed up a tall ladder and down a cargo net- cake. Following that we had to do a low crawl through a bunch of sand under barbed wire, climb up a wall/ladder type thing then down the other side face first- not that easy but I did it faster that every guy in my squad! The next one that really kicked my butt but I finished with pride was the "weaver' It is an upside down V shaped ladder like obstacle. You have to go under one rung and over the next- at the top you were probably 40 feet off the ground. I managed to get all the way over and was just two rungs from the bottom (about 4 feet) when I slipped and fell flat on my back. IF you have never had the wind knocked out of you it is an interesting and uncomfortable feeling. I got up and walked it off though and although it made my Sgt laugh at me and say that that must have been a blow to my pride I got right back on and did it again -this time without falling. There were several more obstacle but they are nothing great to write about. I will post pictures later but I am even more bruised up this week than I was last week. I actually just layed on the floor last night and couldn't move. But I was given kind of a boost right before I left from post - a guy who gives me crap alot came up and said that he had seen me on a couple obstacles and heard from a few people that I was really quite a trouper and he said that seeing someone really give it their all was motivating for alot of people. It was kind of a warm fuzzy moment. : )
Jake and the kids came and picked me up and were early so a few of my buds got to meet them. One girl was actually in tears for how cute the kids were. She wanted to keep baleigh. I got called to an informal formation by our Captain so I took off running and left the kids with Jake - Thor thought my running was great so he took off after me- he ran right through 2nd platoons formation and so I took him to ours. Our captain didn't mind he just told all the guys to make sure the language was clean. lol. Take care all - Week four is just around the corner!!!!
May 2nd, 2009
Week Four is now over with....
So - this week went really fast but at the same time drug on for forever! WE only got released here on Saturday morning and so that made it take forever. Moday through friday was pretty much just classes and running this week. I did run PT on Tuesday - I didn't' do too badly and everyone was pretty good at telling me what I did well and what I need to improve on. We are now known as Easy platoon - for those of you who have watched Band of brothers you probably know what this means in a way. We are the only freaking platoon that gets no free time and trains longer and harder than all the other platoons. It is sucky and good. Our Platoon trainer Captain Komives is a nice guy who really cares about the kind of leader that we become so he is helping to shape us by challenging the heck out of us! WE did spend all of Thursday in the field doing land navigation stuff - not bad. Our teacher was Sgt major from the Australian army. He was amazing -and not just because of his accent. lol. Friday during lunch the cadre called me out. I had to go up to their table for a talk. I had gotten cheated out of 30 points on the combat water survival test we took several weeks ago and Friday was my re take day. I passed with no problem! I was so thrilled since that puts me 30 slots higher on the board for selecting my branch in a few weeks. Not terrible. The crappy thing about my branch is that they have no slots for the one branch i had my heart set on. Oh well I guess. Looks like i will be a quarter master now. : ) but if things go badly I will end up either chemical or transportation - neither of which I really want. WE had a locker inspection on Friday and we didn't' pass - although easy platoon only had one person fail the rest of the company was all jacked up so they locked us down to the company area and we had to have a re-inspection on Saturday morning. Jake and the kids came for a little while last night and the kids just played in lawn out front of our building for about and hour.
I did find out that I will be the platoon Sgt here this week. Only 11 people of the 42 in our platoon will get picked for that during our stint at OCS and somehow i stood out just enough to get picked for it. yeah!!! SO I have alot of work to do this weekend...as if it wasn't short enough already. yeah toast! That's about all from this week. No huge accomplishments or major injuries - Next Friday we have our Leadership reaction course that should be interesting.
May 3, 2009
Nielsen Turtle Rescue!
Today after lunch we went out to the park for a walk around the lake....as we were looking for a good place to park we saw a little turtle crossing the busy road. I jumped out and picked him up to take him to a safer place. The kids were really excited to see a turtle and when we got to the lake side we took time to look at all his amazing parts...turtles have amazing little claw-like fingernails and it is fun to watch them blink underwater. Thor was determined that the "baby turtle" needed a kiss and at one point when I was not watching he swooped in and kissed it on the face..gross. : ) anyway....we let him go and spent a while enjoying the nice sunny day.Just thought i would share our little adventure....not such a great story when its down in black and white.
May 8, 2009
Week five under the belt!!!!!
Last week I was on Staff Duty on Sunday morning (0300-0500) and I got a call from the MP's wanting us to come and pick up one of my guys at the station. He apparently got drunk and passed out on a bench somewhere so they picked him up. I was sure that he was going to get our weekends revoked but we just had to come up with a plan to make sure it never happened again and he got booted from the OCS program. I feel bad for him but he's going to be fine.Being platoon Sgt for the week was the most stressful thing that I have had to do so far. We had a tough week from the start so it was busier than most weeks are. There were lots of activities that we did as well and for the most part it went off without a hitch...or at least I think so right now. WE didn't get our test scores from today back so I may have bombed the test we had today. Thank goodness we get to retake it if we failed. I was actually falling asleep while taking the test so I am not sure how I did. I really averaged about 4 hours of sleep a night this week in case you were wondering why I was so tired. The guy who got booted from the program had three CQ shifts this week and since he is gone guess who got to do them....that's right. I don't' get evaluated until next week so I will see what people have to say about my leadership.
That's about all - not really alot of exciting moments this week. Just a lot of work. : ) only 7 weeks left!
May 16, 2009
I'm branched now and a senior officer candidate as of monday.
This will be a very short update as I just got home an hour ago for my weekend that will end around 11:15 AM tomorrow. Grr. Any-who.
We had our branching ceremony yesterday and I selected Chemical as my branch. I will be doing my training at ft leanord wood (sp) in MO early next year....yes most likely next year.
I failed my first test....History is a wench! any way....I retake it Monday and if I pass I will go out to the field with the rest of my platoon. If I fail it again I will go back to HHC for three weeks and join up with Charlie company- I don't' want to do that because I love Alpha Co. 30 people failed it so I don't' feel like such a retard.
IT was mostly a running week (broken up by a 7 mile ft march with 50lb ruck)....someone counted the miles we ran total this week and it was roughly 25 miles. good stuff.
Next week I will be in the field doing land navigation Monday thru Friday.
Gonna go hang with the kiddos. Grandma Diane is coming to visit on Wednesday thru Saturday.
May 18th, 2009
history update.
I failed my history test this morning so I am back at HHC for three weeks and will class up with C Co then. I was so close i got a 68% and I needed a 70%. bummer. Spent most of the day crying and then trying not to cry. I am happy to know i will have this weekend off for sure now. I will be home every night for the next three weeks as well. Later.
May 24, 2009
quickish update....
This is the end of my first week in purgatory ...otherwise known as HHC. It is eternally long days of pretty much nothing. The PT is lame and unchallenging, the details are gay and I can't wait to class up with any other company.
Grandma Diane got here on Wednesday night. Jake and the kids went to pick her up at ATL that night.
WE went to Pine Mountain Animal Safari together yesterday. It is a drive through park that you can see a variety of animals as well as pet many of them. I will be adding pictures later of the day. The most memorable part of the day was the fact that Baleigh was TERRIFIED of all the deer that we were feeding from the bus. When I say terrified I mean screaming and hysterical crying. In the military they would call it a significant emotional event. She kept saying "a bite, a bite, a bite" because she thought they were going to eat her. After we moved her from the window she calmed down and promptly passed out for the next 20 minutes. By the end she was OK but when we saw a lama in the petting zoo later she flipped out again. Silly girl.
Last night Jake and I went out to see the Evans vs. Machita fight at Buffalo Wild Wings. It was a good night - Jake was really hoping that Matt Hughs was going to win and he did by decision as well. HE felt vaguely sick all night and about 5 this morning he actually got sick. This doesn't come as a huge shock since on Thursday night without any warning Thor proceeded to puke all over his new outfit that grandma had pick out for him. He seemed ok after that and Jake says he feels a lot better just tired now since he didn't sleep well last night.
Well I am the only one up with the rug rats right now and they want stories so I will finish this later....maybe.
May 31st, 2009
Part of C Block now....
I classed up with C Co on Friday after lunch. It is a totally different, disorganized, undisciplined, poorly run company. Not to mention that 50% of my roommates suck. She is the tattle tailing type that I can not stand and honestly hope she sprains an ankle so that she go to a different company. Terrible but true.They still haven't' been able to give me an SOP for my drawers or my locker (and they give out class 2 discipline action for that - not good lets just say) and I have no clue what is expected - or - accepted here. The guys seem pretty cool and I have been accepted with a majority of them -as well as one of my roommates - she's just has a major language barrier that we need to overcome - she's Russian.
Thank goodness we did get this weekend - or part of it off at least. We got off around 1100 on Saturday morning and we don't' have to be back until 1650 tonight. That is nice since they didn't' get any weekends off prior to this. I came in at a good time I guess.
I will try and update this next weekend and let you know how field prep went but it may be that I don't' get home and I don't' like typing my blogs on by crackberry. Too tedious. lol.
The kids are in bed for their naps so I am going to go enjoy a house marathon that is on tv. I watched my first couple episodes of that last weekend and I am a fan. Later all.
June 10th, 2009
i hate ocs
Current mood:
drained
I have to go out and do land nav tonite after doing day land nav yesterday. I jogged 6 miles in two-ish hrs and I am so sick of it. I just want to be done with the bull shit. We are going to be out in the field til Saturday nite and then back in for 24 hrs before going out for the next 9 days. At least it will be all down hill after that. I'll just leave you with this little gem... Enjoy the little things in life like hot food, a bed - with soft blankets, and the ability to tell people to go screw themselves when they tell you to do retarded things like run around in the woods in the middle of the night. ; ) drainedReal story - over the last three days Max has bitten Thor three times - twice drawing blood and on the face to make matters even worse. So last night Jake and I decided that he had to find a new home. We were planning on taking him to the shelter first thing this morning but I also thought to put up an ad on Craigslist explaining the situation. We had one person call and she ended up coming and getting him at 10 this morning. She has two older kids who will no when to leave Max alone and that is something that Thor just doesn't get.
So we are one pet less now. What an eventful fourth of July we had. One trip to the ER for me,dog attacks child, down one dog, major haircut, and four glorious days off. I am so ready for this week for a change.
July 25, 2009
graduation, leave, and going away again.
I graduated from OCS on July 16th. I am officially 2LT Heidi Nielsen now!!! its about dang time. I feel like I have been in training FOREVER!!!! The day after I graduated we set out to go to Chicago. IT was a short notice trip in case anyone was wondering. We decided the night before that since Thor has been wanting to see his "pee paw" (grandpa Nielsen) for a while we would forgo our trip to Sea World and go home to Chicago.WE set out late on Friday morning and thought that we would make it all the way thru to Chicago in one shot. That was before we factored in the every 2 hour stops. That being said we called Jake's brother Adam around noon and let him know we would be in town late that night if he was going to be around so we could meet Jake's first nephew Wylie. WE didn't' hear back for a while so we also called our former neighbors the Carlson's. They invited us to stay with them for the night so we took them up on it. Just south of Louisville we discover a crazy road side attraction called dino world. Yes over 100 life size dinosaurs and many different attractions in one park. WE wanted to keep moving so we promised Thor we would stop on the way back home. The kid sat in the back seat for the next 40 minutes pouring over the tri fold brochure that we got at the gas station there. Every few minutes he would turn it around and look at a different dino. Too dang cute.
WE got into Indy around midnight and the Carlson's being the great hosts that they are had a bed ready for us and we all went straight to bed. WE had just settled in when one of their cats, a smokey gray one with a white face walked by Baleigh and she let out a blood curdling scream! She was up and crawling frantically over Jake before we could even figure out what happened. It was hard not to laugh at her. The only thing that I could figure out to get her to calm down was to give her a "big money" (one of my silver dollars that I was supposed to give out for salutes). She clutched it in her chubby paw all night.
The next day we hung out for a while after a late breakfast we headed out to visit with Adam Sara and Wylie. WE didn't hang out long because we wanted to hit the road and really there is only so much you can do with a little blob of chub at this point. The kids were not ready to get in the car but when we stopped for gas we got Thor some "frech fyes" to keep him happy for a while.
Thor was OVERJOYED when we pulled into the driveway at Peepaw's house!!!!! HE was out of his car seat before I got out of the car. IT was great to see him remember grandpa and be so happy to see him. We went up to the Lincoln Park Zoo with grandpa the next day and had an absolute blast. Thor was on a mission. When we were looking at the Lions (which he had talked about all the way to the zoo) he wanted to see the Big Cats, then from there he wanted to see 'Rillas (gorillas) , on to the Rhino's and then the Lions again. WE also managed to squeeze in a quick trip past the bears and through the reptile house. IT was a really great trip.
From there we went to Grandma Diane's. She lives up on the north side so it was only a few minutes to her house. We went out for dinner and then a little shopping before heading to the park for some play time. Baleigh had a blast on the slides there.
WE were staying at the Walona Motel in New Lenox so that we had our own space. It was the best sleep the kids have had in weeks. They didn't' budge at night they were so worn out! YEAH!
We got together with my friends Traci and Katie on Monday and had a quick portillo's lunch that I was feeling for a while. IT was so worth it though.
We headed back to Georgia on Tuesday after a nice breakfast of blueberry pancakes at grandma and grandpas. IT was slow going to due to some construction but we managed to make it back to Dino world about 45 minutes before they closed. Since it was still early we wanted to get back on the rd and since Military families are free there we decided to have a whirl wind tour of Dino world. Thor and Baleigh walked/ran thru the whole thing. I still have to upload the pics from there but it was great. They even had a family of Mammoths at the far end of the park that the kids got their pictures taken on. Thor still talks about the mammoths. I'm so glad he had a good time.
We stopped just south of Nashville for the night and the kids slept good once again. I got up early and went running for a change of pace (i needed it). Then when I got back Thor was up and wanted to eat so we went down and had some muffins and juice in the lobby. There was an old couple there that thought he was the cutest darn things. Not that I can disagree. lol. We got the car all packed and everything ready to rock so that when Jake and Baleigh woke up we were ready to roll. WE made it home about 4 on Wednesday afternoon. Not too bad. No major issues and a nice visit/vacation.
Now it is Saturday night or technically Sunday morning by 11 minutes.... and I leave for fort sill on Wednesday morning. I really don't' want to go but I have to so I will. Jake and the kids will be moving to Ft Leonordwood in September to meet me when my school gets out on the 18th. I can't wait for that. Later all.
August 10, 2009
bolc 2
Jake and the kids are good. They are learning so many new things.. They are both do smart. Thor talked to me on the phone tonite and told me about his pep-roni pizza. Then he started to talk about his newest cartoon Johnny Test. Baleigh loves just listening to me talk to her but when I ask her to give the phone to Jake she runs away and just repeats mommy over and over again.
I have found us a house in st Robert Missouri . We won't know for sure that we got it till Friday. But its sounds amazing. Only 2 miles from base 3 bedroom with 2.5 baths in a quiet neighborhood ... The kids are gonna love it! Plus we have room for anyone to come visit us. Thanksgiving at our place anyone?
Tonite we went to an frg Halloween party on post. The kids had a blast and everyone thought they were adorable. Thor was a triceratops and baleigh was nemo. Neither won the costume contest but they were cheated. At least Thor was when asked his name I said Thor and he said "no, I'm a triceratops!" Lol too cute. When he walked across the stage he wiggled his butt so his tail wagged behind him. He was having a ball. The girl who he was up against was a witch. Just a plain old witch.and she was not even cute. Cheaters. Lol. I'm so proud of baleigh winning a huge box of cookies at the cake walk tho. She did awesome.
We have been here at ft len. Wood in Missouri for 2 months now. The kids have even grown used to it here. When asked if they want to go for a ride they automatically respond with " mee mart" otherwise known as st Robert's shopping mecca Wal-Mart. Lol.
We had a combined birthday party for the kids this last weekend. Both sets of grandparents showed up to celebrate with us along with my bestie Katie. It was a great weekend and everyone had a good time. Baleigh got a new baby that she loves and Thor got some crazy fun play dough toys that offer hours of fun.they also got some beautiful name plaques from Katie that are now hanging over their beds. I can hardly believe that my baby girl is going to be two next Sunday and Thor is already three.
Classes are going well. I am averaging in the high 80s and that is fine by me. We only have 5 more tests left and then we are DONE! All tests will be over by Christmas so I don't have to study or worry about a pt test after the 18th of DEC. I've made some good friends here and am looking forward to going to ft Hood and making more. Thanksgiving will be at my parent's this year and then Christmas in Chicago. We are going to spend Xmas eve with Jake's real mom in Chicago and then xmas day in new lenox with the Nielsen clan. I am looking forward to the whole magic of Thor knowing who Santa is and having a wonderful Christmas.
I got fitted for my officers dress uniform today and I have to say I look pretty good in them. Will post pics when I get them altered.
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