Edit Letter: John Elliott Letter to David Elliott 08 Feb 1999

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Dear Dad -- I've got some free time, so I thought that I'd write you. I tell you, free time is hard to come by here. We're supposed to get an hour every night, but there's always stuff that needs to be done besides writing letters. I had my End-of-Cycle-Test, or EOCT, yesterday. They tested us on 21 tasks, everything from correcting malfunctions of the M16 to preventing shock. I got one no-go which means that I failed that task. I forgot to put the M60 machine gun on Safe after I unloaded it. We could get a maximum of two no-go's, so I'm still on track to graduate. I'm pretty much done with the basic training part. We leave tomorrow morning for our field training exercise. That's three days and two nights in the field playing war games. Did you go to Sandra's birthday party? I didn't know if you would or not with it being over at Trisha's or if you had school. I wish I could have been there. Only 52 more days to go. I can barely wait for all of this to be over. I am sending your other pictures to Heather the same day I'm sending this letter, which will be tomorrow morning. I also sent, besides the 5x7, another calendar. I thought you might like to put it on your desk at home or take the picture out and put it in your wallet. Did you see the T-shirt that I got for Sandra? From what Heather has told me, Sandra went wild when she saw it. Can you do me a favor? If you don't already know, find out exactly where Fort Riley, Kansas is. A few people in my platoon are going to be stationed there, and one friend of mine especially want to know exactly how far it is from Kansas City. He and I are planning on getting together with our wives and going out on the town every now and then, and he wants to know how long it would take to get to KC, since Heather and I will be up there fairly often. How is Heather doing on money? I would ask her, but you have access to it and she doesn't. Do you think there will be enough for live off of, pay the loan off we have with you, and have some left over for us to move on? I hope so. I will probably get the first $5000 of my bonus on April 1st. That's the first paycheck that they will have after I graduate. If it comes that soon, then we really won't have anything to worry about. If not, then we will need to make sure that we have the money in the bank. I don't know if Heather has mentioned it to you or not, but we have decided not to file taxes early like we have in the past. Even though it will delay our refund to wait, we thought it would make thing easier. I can fill out the forms and file them while I am up in Kansas City helping with the moving and cleaning of the apartment. I can't guarantee. it, but most likely, it will be around the very first of April because they will likely have me report for duty and then immediately put me on temporary duty to move. Well, it's about time for me to go. Take care of yourself, and tell my kids that I love them next time you see them. I tell Heather to do the same, but this way they'll hear it from two places. Love, Dave

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