Chemical Burns

Just a short post today, but I thought you'd be interested in hearing about Jordan's ordeal Saturday. They had to be sprayed with a substance similar to pepper spray, only much much stronger. I believe he called it OSD? Anyway, he said it was made with Habenero peppers! For those of you not familiar with the culinary world, Habeneros are the hottest peppers on earth. When you cook with them you have to be extremely careful not to touch your eyes, and you have to wash your hands frequently to prevent the burning sensation. So of course, the military creates a powerful stunning spray out of them, and in order to be allowed to carry it, our soldier had to be sprayed from ear to ear, then go through a mild obstacle course, pretty much completely blind. I believe he was sprayed in early afternoon, and he was still burning when he called me around 8:30, even AFTER taking a long shower! He said that the soldiers had to be very careful when showering to lean over so the water didn't run down their bodies, spreading the burn to certain valuable areas. I imagine there was quite a lot of screaming and shouting in that locker room! A fellow soldier, Matt, got sprayed today, I'm anxious to find out how he fared. He is the fiance of a new friend of mine, Lauren, who I met through the Family Readiness Group. She's my so-called Battle Buddy. He was teasing Jordan the other day because Jordan was burning, so we'll just see how HE handled it! Haha!

Well this ended up longer than I meant it to, but that's how it usually goes. Keep Jordan in your prayers tomorrow. He has to be awake and ready in "Full-Battle Rattle" (all of his gear) at 5 am tomorrow so he can stand in line to get yet another Anthrax shot. He STILL has a wound from his smallpox shot that he was administered a few weeks ago! (He isn't the only one, don't worry, that was the first thing I asked, to make sure that was normal!) These shots really take their toll on Jordan, he is NOT a fan of needles, and it seems like every time he turns around he's getting stuck again, so keep him in your thoughts (as if he wasn't already there!).

1 Month Down...

17 left to go.

Can you believe how fast this first month has gone? So far it is going pretty well for Jordan, and hopefully it continues to. They've had some rough exercises lately. He had to learn some kind of hand-to-hand combat yesterday, he told me it was the same kind of thing Steven Segal uses in his movies, but as I've never seen a Steven Segal movie, I have NO idea what he's talking about. He was pretty sore last night when I talked to him, thinks he pulled the muscle behind his knee, but I'm sure he'll be fine. He had to go up against 5 trainers wearing big pads. "Haley, I so kicked ass in that ring! I only got pushed down once, and when I did, I landed in a roll and jumped right back up again like it never happened!" His confidence is growing with every training exercise, and his perspective on life is starting to change. He's still the silly, obnoxious Jordan we love, but I think he is growing up. As much as I hate to quote that ridiculously stupid motto, he really is becoming "Army Strong."

Jordan has a Mustache

Sigh...for some reason he thinks he looks good with a mustache...anyway, here's the most recent picture. That is Specialist Maag next to him.

Funny story, we were talking on the phone and I was teasing him about his mustache. All of the sudden he started yelping like a wounded puppy. He had switched positions, and in doing so, raked the phone across his face, yanking out some of his new mustache hairs. I TOLD him that mustache was a bad idea!!

Short Update

The training continues...classes on GPS and radio-speak, driving around the desert in a Humvee, things like that. He seems to be doing well, he's gotten into a basic routine. I hear from him almost every night, unless there is night training.

Also, I created a Facebook profile for Jordan, so if you are online, you might add him. He misses his friends and I think wants a way to communicate more easily. He may not check it every day, but if you leave messages, he'll get back to you when he can. Also, I've set it up so this blog is imported onto his Facebook Note section, to make it easier for his friends to read.

Unfortunately that's about all I can give you for now, just keep praying for him, as the time away is starting to show in his fellow soldiers and himself.

Pictures from Texas

Jordan borrowed his buddies digital camera and computer and sent me these pics, personally I think he looks pretty silly in his sunglasses and helmet!

Jordan's New Toy

Hey, I know some of you will like this pic. Apparently he got a new gun, but to tell you the truth, aside from the brand new scope, I really can't tell the difference between this one and his last one. It is pretty awesome though!