Off to Basic

Howdy!

This is Allegra's friend Sam. We've been friends since we could crawl (even though I'm pretty sure neither of us really remembers the details of those days). Before she decided to join the Army, Allegra called me and asked what I thought about the military and what I would think if she decided to join one of the branches. I told her I thought that would be an amazing and exciting thing for her to do, and that I thought the life would suit her well. Her dad went to West Point and was in the military for some time, and I knew when she told me she wanted to follow in his footsteps that that was the right choice for her. I told her I thought it was the piece of the puzzle she had been so frustrated to not know for so long.

We chatted for a few days about how we had both had a serious interest in joining the military for a long time. Though I am currently driven to finish music school and trying to figure out next steps in my professional life as a musician, until she enlisted Allegra had been working to become a nurse and was beginning to feel miserable because she felt some element was still missing. So when she told me becoming a Combat Medic was something she wanted to do, I supported her 100% in pursuing that dream.

Now the day has come when my friend is going somewhere I cannot. Basic Training starts for her at Fort Sill today, and because her path is now so decidedly separate from my own I cannot be her Partner in Crime anymore. I can't be there to watch her transformation from civilian to soldier. I can't be there after Basic is over, to watch her back or to remind her when she's feeling down of all the people back home who love her. I can't help her heal the wounded or carry the bodies of the fallen off the battlefield. All I can do is support her from my dorm room in Nashville, and hope like all the rest of you who are reading this blog that she is successful and happy learning what her future will hold.

That future starts today.

Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers, and send her some good energy and some good snail mail in the days ahead. Those things will keep her going even longer than the food and water she will consume to keep her body healthy; your support and love from afar will give her the spiritual strength to continue when others would be defeated. I know that for the next few years I will be telling her in every way I can that she will always be my friend, that I love and support her no matter what, and that I'm excited for her to be pursuing her dreams.

Thank you, PFC Ramirez, for your service to this country. Hooah!

Over and out.

-Sam