The twenty-four men of Basic Training Unit 64 advanced into the Battalion last Friday. During the eight weeks of Basic Training, they were put through many different kinds of hardship. And it has been good, so very good for them. The world screams at us to run from hardship. Medicate the pain. Take the path of least resistance. Get rich quickly without even trying. Take the elevator up the mountain. But it is enduring those hardships that makes us into the men and women that we are called to be, not running from them. Life is hard; it will be hard and will continue to get harder. The last thing you should do is to run from those hardships. Instead, let God use them to shape you into who He wants you to be.

Stand strong,

Major Jesse Boulden
ALERT Basic Training Commanding Officer