Sarah Morgan
Talked to Matt last Sunday after 2 weeks in; he’s in the challenge of his life. He had a head cold because a week before they hosed his class down at 5 AM in the cold rain already, before they ran their daily miles. He has blisters from constant running after sand got in his boots. Doing thousands of pushups, always crawling in the mud, etc., etc. Because he’s an aviator, he has to do the water exercise a lot more than the others – they jump from 12 feet into the water, swim 150 yards and inflate their shirt and pants. In the first week 24 of 50 in his class got bumped out for some failure – mostly physical. 3 are completely out of the program; the others are bumped back into a later class to try again at the same point they departed. 2 of the 3 friends he picked up at the airport the day before they reported are gone. He passed a basic engineering test but only 11 out of 50 passed, so the whole class is being punished physically with extra bullshit. They get 7 hours of lights out a day but that’s the only time available to study for their exams, so they sneak flashlights under the covers like little kids. This is the first class in Newport after the move up from Pensacola and they’re not done building what they need. So his class is in filthy old barracks that have not been used in 5 years; he said he didn’t see any rats yet.
He’s hanging in there and pretty positive, but he’s not allowed any email, can only call out once a week, not allowed any incoming calls, and he had to open the package I sent in front of his drill sergeant. But he can get and receive regular mail.
So if you have any time to send him a note or a card I think it might really help him; he could use it.
Thanks and love.
OCPO2 Matthew Morgan
OCS Class #02-08
Officer Training Command Newport
Officer Candidate School
47 Chandler Street
Newport, RI 02841-1210
