PVT Stephen Elliot Arthur, Ft. Sill, OK
Former Salisbury City Council Candidate Stephen A. Arthur has joined the National Guard on the way to becoming an “88 Mike” with the local Transportation Unit. RFP asked him when he shipped out to update us when he could. Here are some excerpts from his letter.
Hey, sorry I haven’t sent any updates recently. I’ve been busy and haven’t had time to sit down and write anything. Right now I am in medical quarters. I was having pain in my teeth and they had to remove my wisdom teeth, so I missed a couple of days of training. However last week we were working on our rifle marksmanship and I was the first to qualify and thus, I was able to afford missing a few days.
Basic training is broken into three different phases, called Red, White and then Blue. I have just moved from red phase to white phase after being tested on things we learned in Red Phase like M-16 operation, gas masks, marching commands and basic military knowledge. The first few weeks of White Phase we spent on rifle qualifying and next week we will have grenade practice, a confidence obstacle course and our second PT test. I did well on my first PT test, scoring 230 out of 300 points. I hear a night camp out and tactical maneuvers are next.
I have roughly four and one half weeks left of Basic them I’m off to train to be an “88 Mike.”
I hope everyone back home is doing well and I look forward to returning home.
For those of you wondering, Stephen is not allowed a cell phone or access to the internet during basic. He promises to update his Facebook as soon as it’s allowed. A salute here, to Mr. Arthur. National Guard and Reserve troops have been deployed in harms way many times during our nation’s history.
