Ninth Letter from Boot Camp

20140921

This week, we got our uniforms. We switched from tan cammies to green ones with our names on them. We also got the dress uniforms, though we turned them in right away to be tailored to fit properly. Still, holding that dress blue jacket and imagining wearing it gave me motivation to keep going hard. Let's see, at the beginning of the week after initial drill, we did the gas chamber and rappel tower. I did really great at both of those.

Tomorrow starts grass week. That's where we learn to shoot without ammunition. I can't wait! I hope to shoot expert on firing week, next week. Time is going to fly by for me the next few weeks. We have a lot to do. I do enjoy boot camp for the most part, but a lot of times all I can think about is what I'm going to do when I leave here.

Eighth Letter from Boot Camp

20140914

We have Initial Drill and and Initial Knowledge Test tomorrow so I don't have time to write much. Time is starting to fly here. We are more than one third done. Next is testing week, some more obstacle courses and stuff like that. We did this crazy PT yesterday plus an obstacle course. It was physically one of the toughest things that I've ever done, but I did really well and I was so proud when I finished.

Tomorrow is initial drill. Our platoon has a good chance of winning both the drill and knowledge tests. That means the highest score out of 6 platoons in Charlie Company. I want us to be the best. I've kinda reached a point where boot camp is becoming fun. The things that suck, I'm just used to them, and some things are starting to be pretty fun. Like we do the rappelling tower on Tuesday. This week doesn't have a lot of stuff in it, but next week is grass week, that's where we practice with our rifles, but no bullets. It will probably suck, but be fun too.

20140915
So guess what? Platoon 1081 won Initial Drill test. In fact, we knocked it out of the park. We scored outstanding, beat the closest runner-up by a large margin, and were only 1 point away from breaking the Regimental record. We got a trophy of a guilded boot for our platoon to display. Sadly, we only came in third for the knowledge test. But we're still strongly in the running for honors platoon.

Anyway, we were all pretty hyped. We were getting so pumped prepping for drill, our Senior Drill Instructor blasted loud music from his radio while we got our uniforms on, and we had several prayer circles, which is why I think that we won.

Birthday letter from Boot Camp/Seventh Letter from Boot Camp

20140911

I got birthday cards from people at church today. That improved my birthday a lot. I also got a nice present from a Navy Corpsman (Medical Assistant) at Dental. I had to go to get some fillings done. The Corpsman lady came and got me from the waiting room, took me to a dentist room, and me lie back. She said that she saw that it was my birthday in my file and that I could lie back for like 45 minutes before the dentist came. She got her phone out, opened Pandora and asked me what kind of music I wanted. So for the first time a month, I relaxed and listened to Gospel music. I shed a tear when it started playing. Pandora played like all my favorite songs. After the crazy of boot camp, 30 minutes of rest and Gospel music was an amazing birthday present.

20140912
Just had time to dash out a few more lines. Had pugil sticks 3 today. I destroyed my opponent. That's 3 wins and 1 loss. Not too bad. All our tests are on Monday, but when we pass we go to phase 2 of training.  

Sixth Letter from Boot Camp

20140907

Not quite sure of the date, they don't tell us. I had pugil stick fights again. I only got one fight, but I destroyed my opponent. We also did some fun Martial Arts this week, and the confidence course, which is a type of obstacle course. It was a lot of fun. I was one of the only ones who did the slide for life (look it up online) correctly and didn't get dropped into the water.

Other that that things have mostly sucked. They push our platoon really hard, a lot of PE and IT punishments. I get the feeling its because we are doing really well, but I'm not sure. They trash us after every drill for being lazy. I'm not, but other's are, so we all pay.

On the plus side, I'm getting close to halfway. Today ends week 4 of 12 training weeks. 2 more and I'll be halfway done to Marine week. Marine week is family day, and graduation. :) Next week is swim week. I'll pass that no problem. That will end phase 1. The week after is testing week, and after we pass we switch to green cammies. We get official name tags on them, and we get to blouse our boots. Then we are in phrase 2, where we do rifle training. I'm excited for that.

P.S. Sunday Evening

We had a really good drill today, plus church and extra free time, so it was a good day. Tomorrow starts swim week. I hope to qualify on the first day. Next week is testing week, so pray for me and platoon 1081. We've been working really hard, and we want to win all the tests. I mean score the highest out of all the platoons.

Fifth Letter from Boot Camp

20140901

Wow, September already. I don't know what to write right now. We have pugil sticks again tomorrow. So I can't wait for that. I also think that we have a drill inspection coming up. My platoon is pretty bad at some drill stuff so pray that it will go well. (It'll be over by the time you get this.) (Concidencally his platoon passed the drill inspection 1st on the Monday of this week that I am writing this.) We got a lot of extra free time for labor day, but I hope that it doesn't mess up training. It already pushed the obstacle course back a week. I can't wait for that. :) It's weird, I eat insane amounts of food, but I'm still hungry a lot. I think its just how crazy active we are. I'll write more later.

(Later the same day)
Wow, it's weird having this much free time. I like almost want the DI's to come back and tell us what to do. Almost. I get this is what it feels like after boot camp. I can't wait to be a Marine. It's easy to discouraged here, but I stay motivated pretty well. I can't describe the experience to you. It takes over your life . When I go to the head at night, I hear people yelling, "Aye, Sir!" and other boot camp stuff in their sleep. They tell me I do it too. It will be hard to go back to normal for my 10 leave. Then, MCT, then MOS school. But neither of those are like boot camp. This is some crazy stuff. I can handle it, don't get me wrong, but it's crazy.  

Fourth Letter from Boot Camp

Sunday Morning 20140831

Whew, Boot Camp is exhausting. I'm pretty fit, fitter than a lot of my platoon, but all day, every day activity really wears you down, especially when you actually put out the effort like I do. It is very frustrating when others don't put out. I've screamed and yelled myself hoarse, but our platoon keeps getting messed up for not screaming, because a lot of the platoon doesn't yell everything.

Its very frustrating to hear fresh voices from platoon mates, when my voice is so sore. We do a lot of drill, which is fun when we get it right, but we don't get it right very much. I see potential though. Had pugil sticks last week. I barely lost my round 1, but totally kicked butt in my round 2. Our platoon mostly won all their matches. Only one of ours got his mouth piece knocked out, and our guys knocked out like 6 mouth pieces from the platoons that we fought.

It is very physically and mentally tough going here. I live chow to chow. But I can feel myself getting stronger and tougher because of it all, so even when we are getting trashed I try to stay positive. Chow is crazy, we cram into the line so tight we can barely breathe, you rush through grabbing what you can while workers slap chow on your tray. Sometimes DI's block the drink station and send away people who don't yell loud enough. Once you sit down, you have like 10 - 15, tops, sometimes 5, before you have to stack trays and rush back into formation. Its still the highlight of the day though. I eat twice as much as I ever ate before, in half the time. I eat so fast I tend to finish early and take stuff from slow eaters. Anyway, I'm still going strong. It's still more fun then lots of things that I have done. I'm still motivated. :) Can't wait until the Crucible.  

Third letter from Boot Camp

20140827 - Wednesday

Life kinda sucks today. Today I got my teeth pulled, all 7 of them at once. It took over an hour and was very not fun. The doctor said I was really, really tough about it though.

20140828 - Thursday

To finish my story, after the teeth surgery, I was a little woozy and feeling weird, the desk lady (otherwise known as a secretary) called my DI about me and then I got in trouble because they thought I was misbehaving rather than just disoriented. Then I was on bed-rest for the rest of Wednesday and part of today. It was supposed to be 3 days, but our Senior Drill Instructor told us to go back to training after afternoon chow. I was honestly glad because bed-rest sucked. It was boring and they kept putting us on other decks where other DI's would yell at us and treat us like dirty wimps. When they finally brought us back to our own squad bay and our Senior Drill Instructor told us to go back to training, I was so happy. I never thought that I would miss our squad bay and our mean Drill Instructors so much.

Speaking of which, we have three. Our Senior Drill Instructor is not around much, but he is like our daddy. He will give us a break if the other two are pushing us too hard, but only is we are doing our best. If people are being lazy, or disrespectful, he will trash us worse than the normal Drill Instructors. Our regular DI's are a "heavy hat" and a "kill hat" (side note: Since I am the one typing these out, (Joy Glass, Jonathan's Wife), please don't ask me what heavy hat and kill hat means, because I don't know. Okay end of side note.)

Our heavy hat is with us the most. He teaches us and also messes us up a lot with the punishments. He's a lot like the DI in "Full Metal Jacket." (Disclaimer: The movie is pretty good. But I would advise against ladies watching it because of a few things in there that I don't think are good for ladies to watch. That is just my preference and I thought that I would warn any ladies who are thinking about watching it.)

The kill hat does the punishment workouts, but apart from that, he's not bad. He's obviously very new and so he's just not scary or intimidating, unless you get IT'd (punishment workout), and then he messes you up.  

Second Letter From Boot Camp

Don't even remember the day. It's like 20140820, I think. Nothing, bar nothing, no movie, or youtube video, or book can prepare you for meeting your drill instructors. Boot Camp nearly broke me in the first two days after they took charge of our platoon. The yelling, punishments, running around doing dumb stuff because one, one person screwed up. But once I accepted that every platoon was doing the same stuff, and that it was all part of the process, I got my motivation back in time for training day 1 and 2.

Its hard, but drill is fun and I'm okay with the rest. I do get really mad at recruits who are motivated and don't run and yell hard like I do. It is hard and rough here, but I am can feel myself getting used to it and even starting to enjoy it. I get along well with my platoon mates, at least the good ones. I might beat up the nasty recruits who don't try to do well.

T1 (that's training day 1) we had classes, and MCMAP, Marine Martial Arts. Less fun then it sounds, especially when I already know the basics he was teaching. Mostly it was just tiring from doing the same thing over and over. T2 was morning PT, which trashed me, drill and classes. Everything before that was "forming" or basically processing us and teaching us to be recruits. The rest of the week is a lot of PT and classes. Hope it goes well.

First Letter From Boot Camp

Hi everyone

This is Joy Glass, Jonathan Glass' wife. I will be posting letters that I get from him at Boot Camp (Recruit Training) on this blog for him.

Thursday 20140814
Things happened so fast that its hard to keep track. They throw stuff at you, and then make you inventory it, yelling and ridiculing those who mess up. It happens a lot. Even I mess up occasionally. I already almost "this recruit" instead of "I."

The arrival was pretty crazy. A female drill instructor came up to the van door and just starts hollering in our faces. It was really hard to do what they asked us to, right after going through to silver hatches (oh doors) because my hands were shaking and they were screaming instructions while we had to shout, "Aye, sir" or "Yes, Sir." They took us to a lot of rooms, threw stuff at us and gave lots of instructions, then yelled at people who messed up.

Oh yeah, can't forget the medical check-ups. Shots are tomorrow. That will suck even more. Learning (and failing at) all the little details like how to hang up a bag. A lot of people are really dumb sometimes and get us in trouble. Our platoon gets yelled at a lot and we don't even have official drill instructors yet. We get them Friday. Still having fun in spite of it all though.

 

We Have An Opportunity For You "Time to Go"

The call came on a Tuesday, it was my recruiter, Sgt. Lovett. He said they had an opportunity for me, to go to recruit training on August 11th. I told him I would talk to my wife about it and call him back. I had previously turned down an offer because my wife and I weren't ready for me to leave. Since then we had taken steps to ensure that we would be prepared if another such offer came. This opportunity gave us almost three weeks to complete our preparations. Considering that it would let me get started earlier in the year and thus get me back home earlier next year, it seemed like a good idea.
One hiccup that I discovered was that it involved changing jobs. Where I previously was contracted as a Field Radio Operator, my job if I accepted this offer would be 2841 Ground Radio Repairer. It's a more technical job, that doesn't necessarily involve much field work. But it's also a job that offers new skills that have a place in the civilian market. Besides this I already know I enjoy working with electrical components because I did wiring at a sign factory for my very first job.
I talked it over with my wife, and we decided to accept. My new ship date placed me leaving for boot camp exactly one week before our 1st anniversary. We agreed to celebrate a week early. The following morning was a wednesday, I went to the recruiting station early in the morning for PT and to fill out paperwork. Sgt. Lovett told me that I had to do the 1.5 mile run portion of the IST because I didn't do it at the pool function. At that time I wasn't on the short list to ship, so I went to the PT at the track field instead. Sgt. Lovett drove me to where they did the timed IST run. I ran as hard as I could, hard enough that I retched and nearly threw up at the end. We had used my watch to time the run by eyeball, and Sgt. Lovett said that he recorded it as 11:20, but that being unfamiliar with my watch it was possible that it was as fast as 10:20. Either one is a pretty good time, and since I ran my fastest It's nothing to be ashamed of. After that we returned to the office and I initialed and signed the new contract paperwork. We talked about doing my reserve brief Monday morning. The reserve brief would consist of driving me over to where my Reserve unit was and talking to someone there about where I would be working.

The next few days were weird. It was hard to think about going to boot camp without my heart racing. My wife broke down crying at least once every day thinking about me leaving. Her parents offered to fly her to Austrailia to stay with them during boot camp, and she spent several days drying to decide what to do. In the end she decided to stay in America so we could keep our home and she could be closer to me for writing letters.

On Monday, the day after my wife made her decision, I had my reserve brief. My reserve brief was just that, brief. I went to the recruiting station at 8AM, and had to re-sign the contract paperwork due to a mistake on the previous one. I've gotten used to this by now, I've filled out this same form at least a dozen times since enlisting. After that My recruiter drove me to the reserve station in Alabama. It was a large building, with a central gym type area that I glimpsed through an open door, and countless offices and halls, a veritable maze. Sgt. Lovett guided me to the Marine wing where I was introduced to the 1st Sergeant of the unit I would be joining. He briefly explained how the reserve unit works and gave me his card. He asked if I had any questions and I asked if I could see where I would be working. He called over to the Comms area and told a Sgt. that we would be coming over. We exited the back of the main building and walked around a large steel building that looked like one of those storage units. The comms area was in an identical building on the other side. The Sergeant there introduced himself and showed me the work area. It reminded me a lot of my work at Adam's Signs, the sign factory in Ohio where I did the wiring. Plain concrete floor, steel building, and electronics and equipment for working with electronics everywhere. The Sergeant explained that they don't do much actual repair on site. Mainly they diagnose the problem and send off the equipment to be repaired. He opened a cage and showed me the shelves upon shelves of radio equipment, which I shall not describe in detail for many reasons. Suffice to say that it was fairly interesting. I asked him if they ever get to go out in the field and the sergeant said that it is possible. He said that to get in the field as a radio repairer you have to be exceptional: in top physical shape, a good radio repairer, and a better radio-man than the radio operators. Well I would feel like I was letting myself down if I was anything less than all of the above anyway, so no problem. Sgt. Lovett asked how many radio repairers he had and the sergeant said that he recently lost several. He mentioned that one of them had left to join MARSOC. This piqued my interest and I asked how possible it was to make it into MARSOC or recon from this job. He said it was definitely possible, but not probable and not to get my hopes up. I said I understood, and that it was just nice to know there was a chance of doing something more challenging. I know what I've signed up for, and understand that nobody is obligated to let me do anything other than diagnose, operate, and repair radios.
I will strive to be exceptional in every area of my life and work, and If that opens doors for special opportunities, fine. If it doesn't, also fine. Whatever I do I'll do to the best of my ability for the glory of God.


Sergeant Lovett and I had an uneventful and fun drive back to Pensacola. I found out that he was also a gospel singer when he was younger, and sang in church and with his sisters who he described as being exceptional singers. We sing different types of gospel music, but love for music and singing crosses the boundaries of genres and church denominations.

All that remains is to finish putting my affairs in order so that when I leave I won't have to be worried about anything left undone.

Lessons I've Learned

Before I leave for recruit training I'd like to share some things that I've learned along my journey before I've even gone to boot camp. Some I learned through the process, some I learned outside of it, but strongly apply. Some are big, some are small, and some are downright trivial. Some are amusing, some I think are important and want to impart on others. 

1. Always tell the truth exactly and simply, even if it is uncomfortable. 

At MEPS, one Gunnery Sergeant asked us if we understood a document we read. We all said yes, and were then grilled on it and chastised because we did not actually understand it fully, so the correct answer was NO. I took this simple lesson to heart. Sometimes we tell half truths or slightly bent truths because it seems easier than explaining the whole truth, or because we think that it's what someone wants to hear. Or we simply say yes when it's really only an 80% yes. Well 80% yes might as well be 100% no. While it might seem easier to skip hard truths, in the long run it might come back to haunt you, so just be completely truthful the first time, even if that means taking an 80% yes and simply saying no. Better to feel dumb for a couple minutes than to find out later on that you really needed that 20%. 

2. Never hold back, always give 100% effort. 

I learned this through PT, but it applies to all of life. I've never regretted the times I pushed myself to the limit and broke. Like puking after the Murphy challenge, or being unable to do even one pullup at the end of a workout. But I have regretted the times I quit before I was really done, and I've regretted not spending more time improving certain things. Sometimes things in life will be hard, even painful. But that isn't an excuse to go easy on yourself or give up. If you give 100% of everything you have and you don't make it, you at least won't have regrets. The feeling of accomplishment after doing something difficult that you didn't think you could do, is simply amazing. But you'll never have that feeling if you don't leave it all on the field. 

3. Do it faster

At the last pool function PT we had to repeat the same movement multiple times until everyone was doing it at max speed. I realized that at recruit training we will be expected to do every single thing we do with speed and intensity. But I also realized that there's really no excuse for doing anything less, ever. Speed and intensity is important at work too. Why should I casually perform a task that I can perform just as well quickly, leaving more time for other tasks and running the job more efficiently. 

4. Bearing is key

I made the mistake of grinning a little bit while being reprimanded at MEPS. I was not smiling at the reprimand, but at myself for being so dumb. Never-the-less, it got me a proper and deserved tongue lashing. It is ironic that during my time working at the teen shelter I learned to conceal my frustration or anger perfectly, but I never learned to conceal amusement. Now I'd better learn to conceal all the rest of my emotions or I'm going to get thrashed in bootcamp. 

5. Hurry up and wait! 

I said that speed and intensity is important, but from MEPS I learned that sometimes you just have to wait with speed and intensity. Don't get mad or frustrated at the situation, because it's just life and its going to happen alot. Wait patiently, but don't be that guy who zones out and doesn't notice that its his turn finally. 

6. How to shave with a regular razor

I've spent my whole life shaving with an electric shaver. Well they don't have those in boot camp, so in preparation for my departure (before I got my august 11th ship date) I finally bought a Gillette razor and some shaving cream and taught myself to shave with it. 

7. How to shave with a regular razor… without shaving cream

After a recently returned from bootcamp PFC mentioned shaving with hot water, or even with things that are not shaving cream, like hand sanitizer. I proceeded to practice shaving with just hot water. Surprisingly, I think I like it better. I always hated that messy shaving cream. 

8. Goals

Before I enlisted I had been training towards some Parkour goals. I went from zero physical activity, to being able to do intermediate parkour, simply by setting goals. As I achieved each goal I set for myself I set a new one and started training towards it. In a real sense this was the thing that drew me to the Marines over the Army. The Marines set goals and expect you to achieve them. Setting goals and achieving them through hard work is basically what the Marine Corps advertises about itself. Before parkour and the Marines I wasn't setting very many goals or trying very hard to achieve them. But without goals, without targets to strive for, we as people stagnate. We become leaves in a stream, just going where we're carried. Our nation and world is full of people like that, and sadly many of the people in the world with goals have bad, yea evil goals. The terrorists have goals, and they're willing to put out the effort and sacrifice to achieve them. I have a goal to serve my country and help defend it against those guy's goals. I also have a goal to become a chaplain and help other young military men and women. 

But below those lofty goals is another level. You can set goals in every area of your life. You don't have to become a Marine, or join the military at all to make a positive difference. You can set a goal to be a better employee at your job, to improve your physical fitness, or to spend time reading your Bible. Don't be satisfied with where you are, reach for the stars, achieve something. Make a difference in your school, church, and community. I've got a long ways to goal to achieve those goals myself. But now I know that I can achieve anything I set my mind to. 

Semper-fit- Third Poolee Function

I've decided to switch to past tense for now. I'll only use present tense for special occasions. 

I knew well in advance when this pool function would be. I got a text from my recruiter, Sergeant Lovett, two days ahead of time that said simply "Pool function Saturday at 0745. Mandadory and locked on. If you don't know what that means then call me." followed by the uniform requirements. I did text him and ask what "locked on" meant, and he explained it simply meant to come prepared to follow instructions and protocol and be motivated no matter what. I knew that wasn't an indicator of an easy day. 

Saturday night I couldn't sleep, thunderstorms woke me up at 4am, and I never went back to sleep. It was still raining pretty good when I arrived a good ten minutes early at the recruiting station. I was surprised to find about a dozen other poolees already inside. More piled in pretty quick and we just stood around speculating about what we would do, considering the rain. There was a brand new Marine, fresh out of boot camp there in his desert cammie bottoms and boots, and tight fitting Olive T shirt. We all crowded around him asking questions about boot camp, which he happily answered. At 0745 Staff Sergeant Castleberry (male, his wife is also a Marine recruiter at the office) called for us to line up in alphabetical order to be weighed and sign in. We all immediately turned to each other and began sharing last names. We got worked out into line pretty quickly. In Boot camp it would never be fast enough, but it satisfied the recruiters. I was only 2 pounds over my minimum weight for my hight, definitely need to gain weight. 

After that a list of names was called for the IST (Initial Strength Test). The IST consists of a max set of pull-ups, max number of crunches you can do in 2 minutes, and a 1.5 mile timed run. Those individuals who were called lined up in front of the pull-up bar. The rest of us milled about briefly before being instructed to form ranks and sit down. This we did, all crammed together on the floor. We sat for quite awhile watching poolees doing their pullups. We cheered them on and boo'd the ones who quit before they were really finished. As the last of them headed for the bar the recruiters worked out a SNAFU and decided everyone else was going to do an IST as well, while those who'd finished pullups went outside to do crunches. By this time the rain had stopped, so it was on. We all got in line for the pull-up bar and waited our turn. When we got to the bar we had to say "Poolee Glass requesting permission to mount the bar." Then the recruiter would say "mount" and then "begin," and count for us. I managed 11 pullups, despite giving my all to get one more. I had done 12 less than a week ago and was hoping to repeat that performance. As soon as I finished my pullups I jogged out to a grassy area a short distance away where poolees were being lined up for crunches. I took a spot at the end of the line and the next poolee to arrive became my partner. After filling the grassy area we got down and began. My partner did 60, I matched my all time record with 86, but just wasn't able to exceed it. The ground was very wet from the rain, and our backsides got all muddy. I didn't let it bother me, which would turn out to be a wise move. Once we gave our scores to a recruiter with a clipboard, we were sent back up to the parking lot to form a formation. From there we lined up and re-filled our water-bottles, then re-formed again and were split up. Those completing the IST were sent one way to do their run, the rest of us were instructed to go to the nearby college track for PT. 

I hopped in with somebody and we carpooled the short distance to the track. It was a very short track, probably 1/8th of a mile, with just open grass in the middle. There our little crowd of poolees was greeted by a very large, heavily muscled man wearing a Marine shirt and woodland marpat Bottoms and combat boots. He was wearing a Marine Veteran ball cap, so I deduced that he was not an active duty Marine, but somebody brought in to torture us. As he introduced himself my deduction was proved 100% correct. He introduced himself as a Veteran of OIF and OEF, a former Football player, and current certified "Semper-fit" instructor working at a nearby fitness gym. He briefly explained that we would do a short warm-up formation run, some formation PT, and then split up into a circuit using various exercise tools that were placed in intervals around the edge of the field, along with some stations with no equipment that involved simple exercises. Once his short explanation was finished, he called for four squad leaders to step forward. I know I want to be a leader, so I stepped up along with three others. The rest of the poolees fell into lines behind us, and the Boot Marine acted as guide. We swung our formation around onto the track and ran around it once calling cadences with the Fitness trainer. From there the trainer instructed us squad leaders on what to do and had us form up facing the rest of the poolees in a wide open PT formation. We then proceeded to do some of the Marine Corps PT staples: side straddle hops, leg lifts, pushups, and mountain climbers. We performed these with the fitness instructor setting cadence, and us providing the count. He frequently stopped the exercise to correct our various and sundry mistakes, then making us start the count over. I also learned that you can never move fast enough from position of attention, to exercise, or back again. You have to move as fast as possible, and when somebody isn't fast enough everyone has to do it over till they all get it right. When you go down for pushups, you don't lower yourself, you just fall straight down. I'm happy to say that after the first time we were corrected I was one of the fastest. I figured that as a temporary squad leader I needed to set an example. 

Once we were all panting, we were given a walk-around of the circuit stations, where it was explained to us what to do at each one. But when the instructor tried to have us set our water bottles down in an orderly fashion it went FUBAR in a hurry. We were yelled at roundly and placed back into the formation we had used to PT. From there I figured we would divide up by squad, but instead we split up by rank, which put all four of us squad leaders as one group. This turned out to be interesting, since being high level A- type personalities, who felt that we should be setting an example, we probably pushed ourselves and each other much harder than would otherwise have happened.  At each station we assumed the position of attention until instructed to prepare, then we would exercise for one minute at the max pace we could manage before running to the next station within 30 seconds, standing at attention, and beginning the next exercise. There were 8 stations total. Our squad leader team tried to be as organized as possible, even setting a cadence for ourselves for some of the exercises. Halfway through it started pouring rain, and we just kept right on going through it, slipping and sliding in the mud the field had become. By the end of this mad dash PT session I thought I was feeling the hurt. We re-formed into formation for water and rest. But when the instructor asked if we thought we could go another round, I loudly joined in with a hearty "yes sir" along with most everyone else. This time we did 30 second sessions with 30 second breaks in between. It wasn't raining anymore, which made it a little more bearable, but this time around you could start seeing the strengths and weaknesses of our little group. I petered out on pushups, and mountain climbers, but I had no trouble with squats, crunches, or weight swings. Others excelled or flagged at different stations. We stayed motivated through it all. By the end of the second round I was definitely hurting everywhere. Once I caught my breath it felt really good. We re-formed for water and rest and after a short speech from the instructor about the pride that comes with pushing yourself and not quitting, and the pride of earning the title Marine, we were dismissed to return to the recruiting station. 

The last half hour at the station once we got back consisted entirely of hanging around chatting with other poolees, and the Boot Marine. We swapped stories of the amusing things that happened to us at MEPS and the hotel, and talked about the stories our military friends had told. Eventually everyone who didn't have shipping paperwork to do was dismissed, though a couple of us hung around talking for a few more minutes anyway. 

It I had had any ideas that boot camp would be easy (and I didn't) they would have been crushed by this pool function. The new Marine fresh out of boot who was with us at the field PT, assured us that PT in recruit training is harder, and the drill instructors aren't as nice as the fitness instructor was. He also said that those who excel in boot camp, those who do well, get extra attention as the drill instructors try to push for their breaking point. I want to earn PFC in recruit training by being a leader and setting an example, so I suppose thats what I have to look forward to. I went away at the end of the day with fresh determination to never quit or give up, to give 100% at all times, at work, church, or boot camp. 

Unprepared

Today I was less than 48 hours away from the gate of Parris Island and a pair of yellow footprints with my name on them. I got up early to go PT with my recruiter at the station, but he called me at 6am when I was about to leave home to say that he had an early appointment he took from another recruiter and he wasn't going to be there to PT. I opted to just knock out a few sets of pullups and crunches later since I had a sore achilles tendon and didn't want to run without consulting my recruiter about it. For now I decided to go back to bed for a little. I wasn't tired and didn't really sleep but it felt nice to lay down.

Around 8:30 there was a knock at the door. I peaked through the blinds and saw dress blue deltas. I hopped out of bed and threw a shirt on pretty quick. Staff Sergeant Thorne was at the door. He said "A slot is open for 0321 Recon-man." I asked when, but I knew the answer since he was at my door. "You come over to the station, we put you on the shuttle to go up to the hotel, then you process and go to recruit training tomorrow." My heart about stopped. This was what I wanted. From the moment I found out that recon was an option it's what I wanted to do. I've always dreamed of working in military special operations. I briefly paused to mention that I had been considering trying to get into active duty, but Staff Sergeant Thorne pointed out that I would need to replace my reserve slot to do that, which isn't likely to happen soon. He also pointed out that I would be earning active duty pay for the next year while going through training. By this time Joy was up and dressed, and she in her wife smarts invited the recruiter in so we could sit down in the living room. I knew that the biggest issue with this opportunity was that my affairs are not in order. My wife has no driver's license and depends on others from transportation, my car needs Florida tags, and there's a dozen other little things that need to be done. I told Staff Sergeant Thorne this plainly and he said he understood and that the recruiters and their wives were available to help in any way they could.

The next hour was a bit of a blur. I determined from the start that my main concern was my wife. I knew that I could go to recruit training and do just fine, even with such short notice. I asked about my physical state, since I had been told they wanted people to pass an IST with certain standards in order to take a recon slot. Staff Sergeant Thorne said that he had been tracking my progress and had talked to the recon unit's commanding officer. He had gotten clearance specifically for me to go, because I had shown dedication in working toward my goal. It might be the only opportunity that will arise to take an 0321 recon slot and he only just got word this morning.

My wife was pretty nervous, but she was taking it surprisingly well. She talked to Mrs. Thorne, the recruiter's wife on the phone, about what it was like to deal with the separation. I called and talked to a friend, my Pastor's son, and he advised me that there was an awful lot that needed to be squared away still, and that I be sure that there was some sort of solid plan to get it done without me. Finally I talked to my wife's parents, a very important call since they are the ones who have volunteered to take care of her financially in my absence. Her father told me that they are supportive of my decision to join the Marines, but that he was very concerned about this timing. Joy is totally dependent on others, without a drivers license or any experience with handling the car or finances. Plus we still have one month to go before our first anniversary of marriage, and he was worried how she would take that. He said he would not tell me not to do it, but that I needed to think carefully about what I was doing. I thanked him and went inside with a heavy heart. I could tell that he did not want to tell me what to do, but that he strongly felt that it was a bad idea for me to leave today. I could tell that he saw it as leaving Joy in a bad situation.

I went back in the house and looked at my wife, she was talking with Staff Sergeant Thorne, clearly in control of herself in spite of the major shock she had just received. She is strong, whatever she thinks about herself. At that very moment she was thinking that I was about to leave, and had spent the past hour thinking that I was about to leave. She knows that this is what I've always dreamed of and assumed that I was going to go, but she wasn't blubbering or incoherent. She's a wonderful woman and deserves better than to be dumped with all the responsibility of taking care of herself, without even having some of the most basic tools to do so.

I told Staff Sergeant Thorne that I could not accept the offer. I told him that I knew when I signed up that might not be able to have the job I wanted, and that my decision to join stands firm regardless of whether I get to join Recon or not. The situation is that my wife is just not prepared, physically or emotionally, and that leaving now would probably damage my relationship with her family. I told him that saying yes would have been the easy choice, following my dream right now. But putting my wife's good before my own was the right choice. Staff Sergeant Thorne was very understanding. He said that he could understand why I made my decision and that he would use it as an example to his recruiters. I told him that I had made a mistake by assuming that I had yea however many months before I would be leaving, and had been lazy in taking care of my affairs. I determined to learn a lesson from this, and I would ensure that if he showed up in a couple weeks, or a couple months with another chance, we would be prepared.

Staff Sergeant Thorne departed, and so did my chance to be less than 48 hours from Parris Island. It was a very sobering experience to say the least. I was faced with a very difficult decision, and I made a very hard choice. I could have been on my way following my dream, and really the only thing that held me back was my failure to prepare for this possibility. I assumed that I had time to prepare for my departure and I focused alot on my physical preparation. I've worked very hard to grow stronger and faster, and set myself up for success, but I failed to set my wife up for success. I will learn from this and make sure that we are both ready for anything that the Marine Corps might throw at us in the coming months. So for now my priorities are clear, get Joy her driver's license, get her enrolled in college for the fall, and make sure she has the ability to take over the finances and car at a moment's notice.

Also, I think Joy and I will both value the time we spend together a lot more, because we don't know when another knock might come to the door and yesterday will become the last day we have together for a long time.

"Double Time!" Poolee Function on the Beach

(All set up to grill some burgers and hot dogs.)

I arrive a good fifteen minutes early, a good habit to have. The Recruiting office isn't even open, so I just sit in my car. This Pool function was well announced and all the Poolees for the Pensacola and Pace Marine recruiting stations are supposed to be here today. Within a minute a truck pulls up next to me. I see a Marine Corps sticker and figure that it's another poolee. When the driver gets out wearing his poolee uniform, the navy blue shirt with maroon emblem, and required black shorts, I'm proven correct. I get out of my car too and greet him. Within a couple minutes we are joined by several more poolees. We discuss when we ship out, and the plan for the day. Originally we know this function was supposed to be a run on the beach followed by a grill out. The weather was really nasty yesterday calling this plan into question, but by the looks of the morning it might be back on. We won't know till later. By the time 7:30 arrives, the time I was told to be there, there are many poolees gathered around the door to the recruiting office. More keep arriving too. I hang around chatting with various and sundry poolees. Most are pretty sharp, both in appearance and intelligence. Most are between 17 and 19, only a couple others are in their 20s. I estimate around 40 poolees in total, and an exact count later gives 37. Around 7:30 the recruiters start arriving. Staff Sergeant Thorne opens the office and comes out a minute later with a clipboard. He gives it to a poolee and tells him to start having people sign in. The poolee he gives it to wears a black "Pain is Weakness Leaving the Body" shirt. I met him at the last pool function. He is a fitness nut and has a lot of experience in NJROTC. He apparently passed some insane challenge at a previous poolee function, which is how he earned the shirt. He ends up selected as the de-facto platoon sergeant for the pool function. While everyone signs in, conversation continues. Staff Sergeant Throne pulls his truck up and calls for volunteers to unload the grill and propane. I quickly hop up with another poolee and we hand the grill down to other willing hands. After a time, I hear a voice loudly call "Fall In", which just about causes me to fall apart. I have no idea what I'm doing. I see other poolees scrambling into a formation and I find a place in it as best I can. Eventually we form a very sloppy formation standing at attention. First off we have to fix our formation. We are instructed on how to spread out our squads (rows) by having the first rank take so many steps forward, the second rank (where I am) take so many steps forward, the third rank stands still and the fourth rank steps back. Then we are allowed to relax to parade rest. 

Next Staff Sergeant Thorne reads off the names of the six week and thirty day shippers. These are the poolees who are within six weeks, or within 30 days of their ship date. He reminds them that they must be ready to go to boot camp right now, as within the 30 day window he can call them at any time and tell them they're leaving tomorrow. Six weeks shippers also have some paperwork to do in order to be ready for their 30 day shipping window. Now for the fun part. Staff Sergeant Thorne announces that we will have inspection. We should be wearing the correct uniform, have our Marine water bottles and knowledge books, and we should be clean shaven. I'm good on all of those except the knowledge book. I forgot I was supposed to bring that. Staff Sergeant Thorne starts at the back of the formation, Sergeant Hensley starts at the front. Neither go easy. I can hear Staff Sergeant Thorne somewhere behind me asking Poolees if they're going to "forget" their rifles or ammunition or other crucial equipment if they become Marines. These poolees forgot their water battles or knowledge books, or forgot to shave. That last one seems to be a big one. Sergeant Hensley is verbally more abusive. I hear him calling every other Poolee a "Nasty little thing" for not shaving. Some tried shaving the night before in order to sleep in a little longer this morning, they don't get any mercy either. I consider myself lucky, Sgt. Hensley walks right past me and looks at my face. He shakes his head and says something about "Nasty little thing" as he walks away but I'm not sure if he's addressing me or still grumbling about the previous poolee he inspected, who got a real dressing down. He is so focused on the shaving (which appears to be a big issue with todays poolees) that he does not ask about my knowledge book that I forgot. I resolve to put my lucky escape on this issue to good use by not forgetting it next time! Once the inspection ends the recruiters address us as a group about the shaving issue. All poolees must shave the morning of pool functions. If we have this problem at the next pool function, we will do group PT as punishment. The threat of what happens if you "forget" things in boot camp, is held heavily over our heads. 

Next we do hight and weight. By squads (rows) we go into the office where Staff Sergeant Castleberry (female) has us give our name, step on a scale, and give our hight. I only weigh in at 146 pounds, 2 pounds over the minimum for my hight. Granted I haven't eaten yet today, but still, I feel the need to gain weight. After the hight and weight It feels like we stand in formation for quite awhile. At one point I hear a poolee in the first squad try to request a head call. He gets it wrong and is told by Sergeant Hensley to try again. He still gets it wrong, about five more times before he manages to get it correct at the top of his lungs. "This Poolee requests permission to make a head call!" Then he is allowed to go use the restroom. Staff Sergeant Thorne addresses us about the day's plans. We're going for a "fun run" on the beach in formation while calling cadence. He calls up Staff Sergeant Castleberry (male) who is going to start off the cadences. Staff Sergeant Castleberry asks who does not know how to run to cadence and I raise my hand along with about half the poolees. He has us run in place and demonstrates. I'm getting a little pumped by this point, this sounds like a lot of fun. They ask if any poolees know cadences and would be willing to lead them, much is made about how "C130 rolling down the strip" doesn't count because everybody knows that one. Nobody volunteers. 

Staff Sergeant Thorne also explains that we will need to carpool to Pensacola beach. He instructs us to figure out within our squads who is driving and riding. I turn to my left and right and announce that I have two seats. The two poolees on my left need rides so that pretty well settles it. A little later Staff Sergeant Thorne asks if everyone has rides and who the drivers are. He gives final instructions and dismisses the formation. I grab the other two poolees who are riding with me and we hop in my car. One sits in the back and is really quiet. He doesn't say much at all. The fellow in the front and I enjoy conversation about various things. Turns out he has played a lot of airsoft, like me, so that makes for fun talk. At the meeting spot at the beach we meet other poolees gathering outside the bathrooms. We stand around talking about what our run will be like and how hot and sunny it is. When the recruiters arrive they have us move to a large pavilion. A a few poolees help unload large coolers of water as well as the grills and food supplies. I start stretching, along with some of the other poolees. I don't know how hard this run is going to be, but it will be easier if I'm stretched out. A poll goes out who would prefer to run barefoot and who would prefer to wear shoes. Barefoot wins and everyone has to take their shoes off. After a time we are called into formation again inside the spacious pavilion. This formation is not the same as the previous, we don't all end up in even remotely the same spots. Once it's formed it gets slightly re-arranged when Staff Sergeant Thorne has slower runners take the spots that will be at the front of the run. He says he wants to set a slow pace and not wear everyone out. 

When we're ready, we move down out of the pavilion, then right face, which aligns the formation for the run, and head towards the beach. One of the recruiters sets the marching cadence. We mostly don't know squat about marching, and the formation sort of gets messed up, especially trying to weave around beach goers, but I do my best. When we reach the beach we wheel left and come to a halt. I am on the right side of the formation, and I'm knee deep in surf. I realize that this is going to be a little bit wetter than I'd imagined. Recruiters hand out final instructions, at the command double time we are to shout "Marine Corps" and start running. Then the order comes, "forward march" and we start walking. When the double time command comes a few moments later we shout "Marine Corps" and start running. Sort of, it seems like the shout fizzled out. Once we start running Staff Sergeant Castleberry starts out the cadence with what I call the "lefty righty" cadence. It consists entirely of variations of "left" and "right" along with calling noises. I think it is designed to set the cadence and help us get into rhythm. A problem immediately becomes apparent however. We're running in the the surf, the noise is crazy. I can barely hear Staff Sergeant Castleberry and sometimes I can't hear him at all. As soon as he leaves the lefty righty cadence and tries a real one, most of the formation is unable to hear or follow along, and the thundering unison turns into more of a weak quartet of whoever is closest to Staff Sgt Castleberry. I resolve to just make noises that sounds vaguely like whatever I thought i heard, and I wind up doing that quite a bit to be honest. Things improve slightly when Sergeant Lovett or Hensley takes their turn at the cadences. Their voices are a little louder and they alternately speed up and slow down so that they are sometimes near the back of the formation and sometimes near the front, which helps keep everyone able to hear sometimes and thus motivated enough to at least make those vague noises when they can't hear. Sergeant Lovett has a nice simple call he starts his cadences with that everyone can follow. First "Left foot!" a couple times, then "Drill Foot" then back, or sometimes "Kill foot!" then he'll launch into a cadence. He calls a couple that sound a lot like those called by the fictional Drill Instructor Hartman in the movie Full Metal Jacket, which makes them a lot easier to follow since even when I can't hear I know what is supposed to come next. The running itself is not that hard. I'm slogging through water that is sometimes up to my waist, but the pace is pretty slow and a couple times we halt briefly or walk to give us a chance to catch our breath. To my surprise I notice that some people are falling out. I know this only because several times I have to move position in the formation as the people in front of me are shifting to fill gaps toward the front of the formation. After awhile we come to a stop, then wheel all the way around and start back toward where we started. Now I'm on the beach side of the formation, which is nice since it's a little easier to run with water only around my ankles, and I can hear a little better. On this side I'm able to notice that we are running past hundreds of beach goers. Many are cheering us on and taking pictures. On the way back I notice more people falling out of formation. One comes right down the middle, flagging and slowing down with the formation flowing around him. We all slap him on the back and shout encouragement as we pass. In filling gaps I wind up moving from the back to almost halfway to the front of the formation. I'm in the zone by now, calling cadences and running steadily at a slow pace. The recruiters seem to have recognized the hearing problem and are calling the "lefty righty" cadence a lot, since it's easy to follow even when you can't hear. Sergeant Hensley even does the "C130 rolling down the strip" cadence he said we weren't going to do, presumably because if everyone knows it they can follow better. When we come to a halt where we started my first thought is "that's it" I don't feel very taxed at all. My body is telling me I've been using it, but I'm not winded, tired, or sore. For our finisher we receive instructions on falling out by column into single file and running back to reform in the pavilion. The guidon carrier (carrying the maroon colored standard for our recruiter's unit) takes the lead, with the column behind him running behind him as he heads off, then as soon as the last person in that column passes the first in our column we fall in running behind them in single file, and so on all the way back to the pavilion. This short run, up hill through deep sand, gets my wind going more so than the whole beach run up till that point. I'm actually breathing heavily by the time we sloppily re-form the formation. 

The recruiters immediately instruct us to retrieve our water bottles and begin sipping them to hydrate. We stand at parade rest sipping on water for a little while. I hear one girl ask to retrieve hers as well. Sgt Hensley asks why she did not get it when she was instructed, and tells her to listen closely to instructions. Then he tells her to go get and double time. She starts walking and he starts yelling "go go! Faster! 13, 12, 11," he counts down and she doesn't make it back to her spot in time. He yells "on your face!" And a random poolee in the first rank drops to the pushup position. "No not you." Sgt Hensley begins, then changes his mind. "Nevermind, everybody on your face!" He tells us that we need to pay attention to instructions, and to move quickly when we are instructed. Then we all do 20 pushups. After this Staff Sergeant Thorne addresses the group. He asks who was embarrassed and a lot of hands go up. He says they should be and scolds everybody for not showing motivation and sounding off loudly in cadence. He does say that plenty of us did fine, but that it seemed like some people were acting like they didn't want to be there. I certainly don't feel embarrassed. I ran steady, sounded off loudly, and at least made noise when I couldn't hear. It really was hard to follow the cadences over the sound of the surf. Once Staff Sergeant Thorne walks away Sgt Hensley gives a more sympathetic address, which I find amusing considering how hard he has been on people so far. He says that we did good, and that most of us should be proud of ourselves. Then he allows the de-facto platoon sergeant poolee to dismiss the formation. Some of the recruiters and poolees go to cook burgers and hot-dogs. A couple other recruiters are talking with poolees about their experience. I hang around chatting with poolees I know while we wait for dinner. I bump into Sergeant Lovett, my recruiter, who asks me how it was. I tell him it really wasn't hard, just fun and I could do it again. After a while Staff Sergeant Thorne gets everyone's attention and instructs us to form a line down the pavilion ramp and around to the grills. I realize that where I've been standing I'm at the very front of the line, and poolees begin falling in behind me. "Ladies first!" I call out, and others echo. The female poolees gratefully come around and form the line in front of me, leading us off to lunch. The burgers are good and I enjoy chatting with the poolee I drove down with too. Eventually the recruiters call for their particular recruits to gather around. Sgt. Lovett congratulates myself and his other poolees for running well. None of us fell out of formation and some of us expressed willingness to go again. He tells us that we are free to go or we can stay and continue to hang out. One of the poolees I drove up with needs to head back so all three of us throw away our lunch plates and cups and head back to the station. I drop off the other two and bid them farewell. I actually go back to the beach, my wife works right nearby the beach and I have to pick her up in the near future. But it has been a full hour by the time I get back to the beach and everyone is gone, so I simply go to my Wife's place of employment to wait the hour till it's time to take her home. The poolee function is officially over for me. 

(Some of the other poolees hanging around talking after lunch.)

This poolee function was a great time, I got to experience an inspection and some formations, and had a motivating cadence run. It is a good reminder of what I am getting into. The close order drill maneuvers we butchered so horribly as poolees must be performed to perfection by the end of recruit training, and the drill instructors who will teach us will not be merciful like our recruiters are. The verbal grilling offered by our recruiters during the inspection paled in comparison to what we will face when our drill instructors inspect us. The recruiters didn't raise their voices, or get in anyone's face, something they made sure to remind us. Everything the Marines I've met in this enlistment process have done has had a purpose. At MEPS the Marines did their best to intimidate those who were processing to join. Why? Because they don't want undisciplined recruits. In describing my experiences to others I have frequently heard "I couldn't handle that," "I'd get mad." "You're not even in yet!" To which I respond that that is the point. The Marines don't want people who can't handle that. They want people who can handle anything that might be thrown at them, from harsh words to hand grenades. So the recruiter's goal with the pool function was to help prepare poolees mentally for boot camp, as well as motivate us and keep us excited about what we're doing. It sure works for me. 

"I Love The Staff Sergeant's Surprises." My First Poolee function.

Well what do you know, I enlisted on Tuesday and I'm showing up for a Poolee function the very next day. I walk up to the office past a group of seven young men. Inside Staff Sergeant Thorne tells me to go stretch with them. I introduce myself and meet my fellow Poolees. A couple look like they are in terrific shape, the others look about average, like me. Nobody knows what we're doing today, just that an IST (Initial Strength Test) is involved, consisting of crunches, pullups, and a mile and a half run. After that the only thing they know is that Staff Sergeant Thorne has been mentioning a surprise. During stretching Staff Sergeant Thorne has those of us who haven't had pictures yet go inside. I'm last, and the camera on SSgt Thorne's phone stops working. After a few comments about how I've been in the DEP for a few hours and already broken the camera; and an amusing "drop test" on the phone, he gives up and my picture remains untaken. I go back outside, and after a few minutes Staff Sergeant Thorn comes out. He has us run down to a little grassy area nearby to do our crunches for the IST. We pair up, me being the second tallest, I go with the tallest guy. 

I do my crunches first, only making it to 71. I'm ticked since I made 85 last time. But I still managed to do better than some of the group. My partner makes it to 72. After that we go back to the office to do the pullups. Sgt Lovett is inside talking to a young man and his family who are interested in the Marines, so we go in by pairs to do our pullups so as not to disturb them. I manage 10, my partner does 8. After everyone is done Staff Sergeant Thorn announces his surprise. We're going to do the Murphy challenge. This consists of a 1 mile run (approximate), followed by 100 pullups, 200 pushups, 300 squats, and another 1 mile run. I admit, I'm very daunted. I don't think I can do that. I feel much better when it is explained that we will do the challenge by pairs, with both of our efforts contributing against the total for each exercise. The only thing the Staff Sergeant adds is that we can choose to do 300 pushups instead of 200 and 100 pullups. 

We hit the run first, down the road, up the road, then back up to the driveway to the office. I have no problem with this, but it certainly gets my breathing and adrenaline going. After that some of the guys start knocking out pushups, planning to skip pullups. But me, I want to do Recon, and I'm currently a mere 5 pullups short of what I need to qualify. I want to do some freaking pullups. So I drag my partner up to the office to PT there. We go in a circuit with several other poolees. We take turns doing max sets of pullups (which quickly go down to one or two in a set) and doing sets of squats and pushups. I do my pushup and squat sets 30 at a time at first, then 20 at a time. I don't let myself slip to ten. I struggle on the pullups though, never getting more than 2 at a time after the first couple sets. I finish my 100 pushups and 150 squats while only managing 25 pullups. My partner also does his half of the pushups and squats while managing 25 pullups. So now we know we have to do 50 between us. It is a daunting number when neither of us is managing more than one or two at a time. Luckily, one of the really fit poolees who did pushups instead and has already finished the whole challenge with his partner, offers to do some pullups for our count. He adds them 5 or 10 at a time, pumping them out like a beast. My partner and I still just add one or two at a time. In the office, another guy is struggling to get his last pushups out. Everyone gathers around him, yelling motivation and telling him not to quit. Finally, I get the honor of doing the last pullup for our count, and my partner and I head out for the second run. I'm trashed, and I know it. But I tackle it with a will. I'm really dragging, and by the halfway point I have a bad cramp and have to walk for a short ways. My partner offers motivation, forcing me to start running again and not letting me slow down too much. Finally he has us make a sprint for the last twenty five yards to the finish. As I come to a stop I feel a horrible unsettle in my gut, and I immediately throw up in the grass. I puke a couple good spurts and then I'm done. My partner takes me inside to get some water from the water fountain, and then I feel fine, great in fact. 

Back outside another poolee is getting ready to puke. He is on his face, retching in the grass. The rest of us are done, and we stand around offering advice and encouragement. Eventually the poolee pukes horrible orange chunkiness on the grass, he barely has strength to move his head and keep his face from falling into it. We help him up when he's done hurling and sit him down on the front step of the office. Myself and another poolee place our legs behind his back for him to lean on, he doesn't have the strength to hold his body, or even his head up, he's swaying back and forth. His water bottle his thrust into his hand and he drinks liberally, squirting more water on his head. At about this point a fit looking young man gets out of a car and goes over to the Air Force recruiting office right next door. He finds it closed. He looks over at us and sees the state we are in. "Hey, wanna join the Marine Corps!" I yell. The recovering poolee who got really trashed manages to raise his head and give the guy a thumbs up. "Marines is where it's at!" He gasps out. Staff Sergeant Thorn comes out around this time and greets the young man, who describes his college degrees and says he wants to find out about officer training and see if he can use his physical training/rehabilitation degree for a position. Offering further proof that my recruiters do not fit the smooth talking conniving profile that recruiters are given, Staff Sergeant Thorne tells the young man straight out that there are no doctor's in the Marine Corps. He does start to talk with him about what options there are, but we take the exhausted Poolee inside and don't hear the rest. After a few more minutes of recovery he says he wants to finish the challenge. He has 9 pullups to go and thats it. We all cheer him on as he knocks these out with ease. Way to recover from a low point! His determination does him credit and totally motivates me, and probably some of the others too. 

We meander around and enjoy the heady feeling of success till Staff Sergeant Thorne comes back in. He gathers us around and holds a brief discussion and lecture about the Marine Corps values, what they mean, what they mean to us, and how to apply them as Poolees. He tells the story of a Marine who was manning a "Toys For Tots" box outside a best buy when a thief with a knife ran past him. The Marine chased the crook down and well, according to the Staff Sergeant "the bad guy fell off the curb in the struggle and suffered some injuries." I eat all this up. Honor, Courage, and Commitment. Those words mean a lot, and I believe in their meaning. When he is done we all sign our names that we have had this "Values based training" lecture, and we're free to go. I linger for a couple minutes to ask Staff Sergeant Thorne if I have a ship date for Parris Island yet. He checks his computer, and says it's not in yet. He shows me on a calendar that I'll most likely be taking an available slot for October 6th or 14th. I thank him and head home. My legs and arms feel like jelly, it's a really good feeling. I've been working out and running at home, but never that hard. I haven't worked myself that hard, since Kyokushin martial arts in Poland. The feeling of exhaustion reminds me of many hard days of training, and the rewarding feeling of accomplishment when you complete something so demanding. I think I've been missing that in my life since then. The last time I felt this way was after the Parkour jam I went to in Gainsville Florida, and although that lasted some 8 hours, nothing I did there matched today's intensity. The funny thing is that I feel like I didn't push myself hard enough. That one guy could barely get his last pushups and collapsed on the floor. I knocked out my last set of pushups at a decent pace, although i could feel myself flirting with muscle failure. Same with the squats, and even the pullups. I still had pushups, squats, and pullups left in me, so I kinda wish I had pushed harder, at least to do longer sets, if not more reps. I resolve to harden my personal PT, and push myself further. I'm going to be a Marine, no doubt about that. Based on my IST I could probably go to boot camp tomorrow and make it through. But I don't just want to be a Marine, I want to be a really good Marine, one of the best. That means I need to work harder, and motivate myself and not just depend on others. I need to make that 300 PFT (100 crunches, 20 pullups, 3 miles in 18 minutes), not just because I want to pass the IST and get my contract switched to recon, but because I won't settle for less than the best. That's why I chose the Marines, and that's the attitude I want to guide my actions. 

Second trip to MEPS: "Raise your right hand."

I got the call with my date to return to MEPS right before starting work at Subway one day. I'll be leaving the next upcoming monday. 

I show up around 10:45 this time, to leave at 11:30am. There are a couple other people there. A tall fellow with a bag, and a shorter girl with her mother. I have to fix or update a couple pieces of paperwork with Sgt. Lovett, then I go to meet the other two. The young man's name is Kendrick, he is going to MEPS for the first time for processing. The girl is shipping out to Parris Island. Right after I introduce myself Staff Sergeant Castleberry goes over to her and gives her mother a full brief on what she will be doing for the next 13 weeks. He describes how she will go to MEPS, get a last physical and interview, then depart by bus to Parris Island. He tells mom to expect a last phonecall which will be scripted and hectic. He goes on to talk about each phase of Recruit training, concluding with family day and graduation. I listen in and find the conversation very motivating. The van arrives around 11:30 and the familiar driver Leroy comes in with his clipboard for us to sign in. Then we head out to get in the van. There are three young men (none of whom appear to be in particularly good shape) all surrounded by family members with cameras, and a few with veteran hats. I deduce that they are shipping out too. Kendrick and I claim the backseats for future Marines and sit in the very back with our bags, while the girl who is shipping sits in the seat in front of us. Kendrick and I hit it off pretty quick, we both want to be Marines and that's enough. The girl who is shipping is a little nervous, but clearly has motivation. We encourage her and tell her that we would love to take her place. The three guys in the front of the van turn out to all be shipping to Air Force basic training. They're pretty quiet and we don't really try to talk to them much. Air Force basic is not interesting. Instead Kendrick and I watch videos of Parris Island on our phones and talk about our MOS interests, PT, and boot camp. Along the way we stop off in Pace and pick up two guys and a lady who are shipping to Army boot camp. MEPS is closed for memorial day so at the end of the van ride we are dropped off in front of the splendid Renaissance Hotel. We all go in and up the stairs to the second floor for our briefing. The briefing room is closed and instead we follow the signs to a waiting room till the briefing room opens up at 3pm, there are some twenty other people also in the waiting room. By their "Army Strong" shirts and overheard conversation I conclude that most of them are also shippers. After only about 10 minutes wait, at 3 we all traipse down the hall to the briefing room and find seats. The civilian employee sits at a desk in the corner of the room and instructs everybody to take a form from the first table and fill it out. The form, same as last time, lists the rules of the hotel, which are now familiar to me and almost everybody in the room. I sit at a table with Kendrick, the girl going to the Island, and the army girl we picked up in Pace. We wait for an hour and a half in that room while more and more people arrive, filling the room, then spilling out into the hall sitting on the floor amidst camouflage bags. All the Army and national guard shippers have ACU backpacks and "Army Strong" shirts. I'm ok with this, but I can't imagine wearing or carrying anything with the Marine Corps emblem on it, which I have not yet earned. On a flatscreen on the wall the movie "We Were Soldiers" with Mel Gibson plays. I watch it on and off but the volume is low and the conversation with Kendrick and the two ladies is mostly more interesting. Kendrick donates his phone to allow the Army girl to call her husband.

(The line to sign in to the hotel, most of the young men in this picture are shipping to basic training tomorrow.)

Finally the civilian employee turns off the TV, gets everyone's attention and after a very short briefing we line up to sign in. Kendrick and I wait in line together, meeting and chatting with those around us, who are all shippers. We ask to room together and get keys to a fourth floor room. It is a quarter to 5pm by the time we head up to our room. Dinner starts at five and neither of us have eaten all day, so thats about all we can think about. We drop our bags in our room and then explore the Hotel while waiting for dinner to start serving. We head to the Hotel restaurant right at 5. We bump into a very nerdy looking kid complete with the glasses, wearing an Army Strong shirt.  Along the way we strike up conversation. He is shipping tomorrow and makes good company so the three of us sit together at dinner. We all order the cheeseburger and talk about the military. I think we make a very odd group, but the military is a wonderful equalizer. Skin color, background, interests, none of it matters here, not even the branch of the military you're joining. All that matters is your heart to serve and nerdy kid has it. One thing that comes out in our dinner conversation is cause for a great deal of conversation. We're talking about the difference in boot camps, I mention that Ft. Benning is the home of the infantry, that they send all the grunts there. I know a fair bit about Benning because two of my friends went there. Next to Parris Island or MCRD San Diego I'm convinced it is the toughest boot camp in the US Military. I say that I think that only infantry MOS's get sent there, but our nerdy friend announces that he's going for a computer MOS and he's shipping to Benning tomorrow. Kendrick and myself instantly rag all over this poor kid. In fact, he comes up frequently throughout the rest of the night. A nerdy guy with a computer MOS at Benning is going to have a rough time of it with all those testosterone charged infantry guys. We wish him the very best of luck and tell him to stay motivated and don't quit. If he makes it through he'll be the toughest techie ever. 

After dinner we go outside for some fresh air, sort of, Kendrick wants a smoke. A very redneck looking young man is smoking in the smoking area out front. Kendrick asks if he can spare one to which the guy replies "what branch you joining?" "Marines" Kendrick says. "Hell yeah I always got a smoke for a Marine!" The fellow drawls. He is joining the National Guard Special Forces program and ships to Ft. Benning tomorrow. We tell him to look after our nerdy friend. Gradually lots more guys come out and conversation is rife with expletives and inappropriate conversation, smokes are lit and smoked prolifically, most of these guys are shipping and are getting their last smoke in. I don't participate in any of that, but there's plenty of good talk about the military too. It is interesting to note the type of people and what they are planning to do in the military. The majority of guys who gather out front are patriots and stand up guys on the whole. One guy is joining the Air Force Pararescue Jumpers, a couple others are Army Infantry. Only one guy that we meet out front is joining the Marines, though he's not a shipper. It is interesting the responses that branches and specialties elicit. Nobody looks down on the guys who are doing non grunt and non special operations jobs. But Marine, infantry, and special operations wannabes definitely get an extra measure of respect from everybody. Maybe some of these guys aren't signing up for the most hardcore branch (The Marines of course), but infantry is infantry and Special Operations is the real deal and anybody who chooses to take challenges like that earns a little extra respect from me and others. I also think that the willingness to sign up for a job that involves extreme danger and possibly personal combat in wartime is a large factor. 

Eventually the group out front breaks up and goes their separate ways, we have a lot of time to kill before the 10pm curfew. Some go to the workout room, the pool, or their rooms. A few go to sign out and take a walk to find a store to get some sodas and smokes. I leave Kendrick bumming smokes from people (he is an admitted tobacco addict) and walk around the Hotel for awhile. I check out the pool and curse myself for not bringing any shorts I could go swimming in. I don't even have anything appropriate to wear to use the workout Gym or the quarter mile jogging track around the roof where the pool is. 

At one point I come back out front and find Kendrick we walk over to four other guys who are off to the very end of the Hotel sidewalk smoking. Kendrick of course bums a cig. These four guys are incredulous when they hear that he is joining the Marines. "The Marines! My God, No no you'd never catch me doing that!" They say that's crazy. We ask them what branch they're joining. They're all shippers, two air-force, one navy, and one national guard, all for very behind-the-lines-not-getting-shot-at jobs. They make a couple comments about how they don't want to get sent to Afghanistan and one even says "If they tell me to go over there I'll be like nuh uh!" When Kendrick wanders away I linger for a moment with these guys, mostly out of curiosity. As soon as Kendrick is gone one of them says "That guy is going away for 2nd degree murder, he's probably all like 'I want to kill somebody' joining the Marines. I bet he'll come out of bootcamp all like 'My rifle is my friend.'" I respond to this by standing up straight and loudly reciting the rifleman's creed while they stare at me. Then I walk away without looking back. I'm frankly disgusted at their attitude and lack of motivation. I sort of wonder if they'll even make it through the basic training for their branches. I can't understand the mindset their words seem to come from, what is the military for? To defend our beloved country. I don't expect everybody to be a grunt, but attitudes like theirs are unacceptable. After this incident I mostly wander around the hotel alone, striking up conversations here and there and stopping to talk to those I've met already, including the two girls we rode up with. I walk around the jogging track, and text and call my wife. Then eventually a little before 9 I go to the room and start watching a movie on my phone. Kendrick returns to the room around 10 and we talk for a bit. I'm not really tired so I finish my movie before turning in around 11. Kendrick spends that whole time on his phone, talking to his Marine friend, and other friends and family. Once I put the phone away I fall asleep quickly. 

My phone alarm for 3:45 am goes off before the wake-up call again and I get up to get ready. I showered the night before so all I have to do is basic hygiene. I also iron the collared shirt I plan to wear, it got wrinkled badly in my bag and I don't want to go to MEPS like that. Kendrick and I head to breakfast around a quarter after 4. We turn in our room keys and hit the restaurant. It is crowded, with a long line for the breakfast buffet. We get our plates and squeeze in at a table with the two girls we came up with and a couple other shippers. Several times during my time at the Hotel I feel like the two of us are the only ones not leaving. We both mention frequently how we wish we could be the ones leaving. Conversation slows the eating, and when the busses arrive at a quarter till 5 my companions rush to grab their bags and head out, leaving their unfinished breakfast despite my insistence that we have time. Pretty soon we're waiting out front beside two large coach busses. Kendrick and the girls agree that they could have at least finished their plates. After a little while the bus drivers open the bus doors and we board the busses for the drive to Maxwell Air Force Base. Along the way I have a horrible realization. My pocket knife is clipped to my pocket. I always carry it and I haven't even thought about the fact that I have it, or that it will be contraband until now. When we unload the busses long lines form going in to sign into MEPS. I put the knife in the front pocket of my bag and as soon I get in I step out of line, go up to the front desk and declare it. They attach my name to it and stow it for me, saying I can pick it up when I leave. I feel so stupid, I knew the rules, I just didn't even think about the fact that my knife is always on my person.

(Waiting to board the busses to Maxwell AFB. Many shippers in this picture.) 

At the initial briefing those getting full physicals are released first, only about a dozen people. Those who are there for other things are released next, another 20 perhaps. I enter the Marine liaison office and get to skip the briefing and sexual harassment video I had last time. They know I've had it already. Instead they look for the papers I need. They're missing, and I get sent downstairs to the front desk to retrieve them. The front desk lady gives me my name-tag and a green folder and sends me to the third floor, the medical floor. After waiting in a line there the medical desk attendant looks over my paperwork and has me sit down off the side with two other guys and a girl who are there for "consults". We wait for over an hour while Shippers wait in a long line and are sent down the hall for final physicals and interviews. Finally, after some 50-60 shippers are sent to process we are called back up to the medical desk and handed sealed folders with addresses on them, and our names. We are told that a van will pick us up to take us to our consults we should go down to the first floor room with the pool table and wait to be paged. In the pool room four guys are just starting a doubles game of pool. After only a couple shots one of them is paged and leaves. I take his place and get a few shots in myself (without luck) before the four of us for consults are paged. We go meet our van driver and board a regular 15 passenger shuttle van. I am by far the most talkative out of the four of us. I introduce myself to each of the other three and ask what their consults are. The two guys are joining the Army, one says he is going for a hearing exam, the other an eye exam. The girl is going Air Force and says that she has to see a head doc because she panicked on her first trip to MEPS and put "anxiety" on her paperwork. She says that when she went to college she bawled for days and her mother told her she probably had anxiety. Mom isn't a doctor and can't diagnose medical anxiety. She admits that this was pretty dumb, she was just panicking because of the threat of jail time or a 10,000 dollar fine for fraudulent enlistments. I'm sure she'll have no trouble getting a waiver. 

I'm dropped off with one of the guys at a large hospital complex with many doctor's offices. Mine is on the fourth floor, his is on the seventh. I wish him luck and head to the dermatologist office. I sign in and wait in the waiting room for about an hour. Then an assistant calls my name and takes me to a small room with all the usual doctor's office stuff in it. She asks me a series of questions about what I'm there for, along with the usual health stuff about medical history and drinking and smoking. Then she leaves me alone. I wait in this room for nearly half an hour before the doctor finally comes in, an older white haired gentleman with a cane. I stand, and he introduces himself. He asks me if I've ever had eczema, I say no and explain the poison ivy incident. He listens, then briefly explains why eczema is a disqualified for the military and talks about his own career as a Navy doctor. He spent two years serving at Parris Island. He then pulls out my folder, it is already re-sealed. "I already had my assistant fill out the paperwork saying that you have no chronic skin problem, just contact dermatitis from poison ivy that is in recovery. I have a soft spot for Marines, and I wish the best of luck to you!" Then he shakes my hand and he's gone. I walk out of the office on air and take the elevator up the seventh floor to meet the other fellow. He is still in the waiting room at a neurologist's office. I sit down and strike up a conversation. He was really quiet on the van ride and when we came in, but once the ice is broken he talks freely and is a really nice guy. He has an extremely rare condition where his eyes are constantly moving back and forth slightly. He passed the eye exam at MEPS but because of his condition, which the MEPS doctors had never seen or heard of before, they want a second opinion. His condition is very strange, I can see his eyes moving back and forth every second, his head kind of bobs all the time too. I suspect a natural response to steady his vision and compensate for the involuntary eye movement. he demonstrates his ability to read and also his superior peripheral vision. Because of the constant eye movement he can notice things that are as far back as behind his ear. Finally his name is called and he has a fairly short visit with the doctor. He comes out happy, the doctor has said that he can so no reason he shouldn't be able to join the military and has granted his waiver. We call the van driver on his phone and then wait in the lobby downstairs swapping stories our friends have told us about boot camps. The van picks us up after about fifteen minutes, then we go pick up the other two. The other army guy is disappointed. His hearing test isn't terrible, but he does have trouble with some higher pitches in one ear. He's not sure if this will disqualify him or not. The girl is a little upset when we pick her up. Not because of her results, but because she waited for two hours for a two minute visit in which the doctor asked a few questions and told her she didn't have anxiety problems. Upon arrival back at MEPS we sign in with our "magic finger" at the front desk then turn in our paperwork at the medical desk on the third floor. The attendant places our papers back in folders and then sends us down the hall to see a MEPS doctor in the medical interview room. We wait quietly and apprehensively in the hall. Anxiety girl goes first and is told she must have some blood tests because she has sickle cell trait. She walks away pretty annoyed. Hearing guy is next, and I overhear the doctor saying "they disqualified you at the New Orleans MEPS, we don't have to go by that here. Go down the hall and take a hearing test here." He leaves the office determined to get cleared for service. I'm next, the doctor takes my packet and asks what the dermatologist said. I repeat the deal about "contact dermatitis" while he looks at the papers the dermatologist sent back. "Well, based on this we're going to clear you for service. Take your packet to the medical desk, good luck with the Marines." 

I again walk on air as I go to the desk, then once they look over my papers, down a floor to the Marine Liaison office. Another enlistee is getting ready to knock on the door so I just decide to follow on his heels. In the seconds while waiting I ask Kendrick how his process is going and he says that he failed the ASVAB. He had his full physical and passed that, but he'll have to come back and try the ASVAB again in 30 days. When we get inside the office we face a tirade from the Staff Sergeant about how if we weren't chit chatting outside the door we could hear them the first time they tell us to enter. I guess I let it show on my face that this is amusing because next thing I know the SSgt is asking me if I think this is funny because I'm the only one. I wipe the grin off my face right quick! The Gunnery Sergeant gives us long surveys to fill out, and the other guy gets the paperwork to register to vote as well. Then we go out into the waiting room to fill it out on clipboards. It is tedious work, and to make matters much worse, lunch time is rapidly approaching. The Gunnery Sergeant comes out a couple times to tell us to hurry up. Then he goes downstairs telling us to be done by the time he returns. I have a dozen questions left, the other fellow is just getting started on his because he had to do the voter registration form first. The Gunnery Sergeant returns after only a couple minutes to tell us that if we spent more time filling in the survey and less time talking we'd be done. Then everyone is paged for lunch while we're still sitting there filling out the survey. I finish only a couple minutes later. My poor companion is barely halfway through. I turn in the survey and go downstairs. Some people are still signing out for lunch so I don't feel so bad. I walk to lunch with the Army guy who had the hearing consult. He is angry because he passed the hearing test, but failed a TAPA test or something like that, which he has to take because of his education history. He has to wait 30 days to try again. I try to cheer him up that with the hearing issue squared away the TAPA is the only obstacle, and he can try that again. He tells me I'm a "glass half full" kinda guy and he likes that, but he's been trying to join for a year and he was so close this time. I can only imagine how frustrating and disappointing it must be to be told to wait again. I know how I felt when I got the news about my poison ivy. 

At lunch I meet up with Kendrick again and we sit together with a bunch of other people we don't even know. Some of them are shippers who haven't left yet, a couple others are also processing. The other fellow who was working on the survey makes in to lunch just in time to wolf some food down and head back. 

After lunch I return to MEPS and wait for a few minutes before being paged to come up to the Marine Liaison office. I and one of the other enlistee's are told to go to the first floor and down a hall to get fingerprints. We arrive and tell an attendant what we are there for, then wait for a couple minutes with the girl who had the anxiety consult before being taken back to a cubicle with a computer and a finger print scanner. We let the lady go first, while we wipe our fingers thoroughly with a special wipe we are given. When the lady is done, the other Marine enlistee goes. He has a lot of trouble. The civilian worker who is taking his finger prints keeps telling him to loosen up and un-tense. Finally he finishes and leaves. I get all my fingerprints on the first try, then the worker writes a 10 on my nametag to indicate that all 10 of my fingers have been scanned, and I go back upstairs. Now myself and two others are given a clipboard with a form on it. What follows proves to be an interesting experience. Firstly, there is a lot of banter going around the room between the two Gunnery Sergeants and the Staff Sergeant. It is completely hilarious but after my last experience I'm struggling to maintain my bearing (a straight face). I admit I crack a few smiles and chuckle silently, but I don't feel too bad because neither of the other two guys are keeping any kind of straight face. At any rate, the Marines are ignoring us while they talk to each other. Second, before we can even start on this form the guy who filled out his survey at the same time as me gets it back and is told to fix it. "Fix what sir?" he says. "Everything you screwed up on it!" He is told, it takes him a minute or two of searching to find his mistakes and fix them. Then, now that he has made the painful mistake of drawing attention to himself, he is forced to read the entire page we have been given. He struggles through it, mispronouncing words, skipping lines by mistake, and having general trouble reading it, to the great amusement of the Marines who hurl insults with glee. When he is finally through the Gunnery Sergeant asks if we understood it. We all say "yes sir!" At this point the other Gunnery Sergeant interrupts, I can tell from the behavior of the first Gunnery Sergeant that this was expected and he knows what is coming. 

"I just want to clarify something. Now I believe I just heard you all say you understood that paper correct?" 

"Yes sir!" we say in unison. 

"If that's true you won't have any trouble explaining it right?" 

Uh oh. 

He asks each one of us in turn to define a word or phrase that can be found on the paper we just read. The other two are completely flummoxed. I'm asked to explain "deferred adjudication." At first I feel relieved, I know what that is from my time at the shelter for troubled teens. But when I try to say it my thoughts won't come together and my definition sounds lame and hackneyed. 

The first Gunnery Sergeant says "He's close." But the one who is grilling us just says. 

"Bullshit, he's wrong. Now you all said you understood that paper, but you can't explain one thing from it. That means you lied! Now let me ask you again. Do you understand what you just read?"

"No sir!" we echo in unison again. 

"That's right, now let the Gunnery Sergeant explain it to you, and don't you dare lie again or I will send you home! Carry on!" 

The first Gunnery Sergeant dutifully explains the paper in detail. It talks about how we must disclose our full medical history, drug history, and history of police involvement, and explains the penalties for fraudulent enlistment. Once he has explained it, we sign the bottom and flip it over. It has a list of questions related to the above mentioned histories which we must answer yes or no and explain. We are told to fill it out in the waiting room outside, then come in one at a time to talk about it and get a chance to come clean if there is anything we have failed to previously disclose. 

I finish my form first and stand before the Gunnery Sergeant while he reads through my answers. He has me write down the dollar amounts of my two tickets, and then asks me if all my answers are fully truthful. I reply to the affirmative. Lastly he reviews my contract with me, then he gives me my packet to take back to where we got finger printed, only this time I'm to be interviewed. I follow instructions, only this time there is a Marine at the desk in that wing of the building. He takes my packet, reads the front and says "George Glass?" 

"Jon Glass." I say. 

"George Glass." He says again. 

"Yes sir!" I reply. 

a couple other employees, one Army and one a civilian in a wheel chair, chuckle. 

"Good answer." I hear one of them say. 

"Well George, have a seat for a minute." The Marine tells me, and I comply. 

The man in the wheel chair takes my packet back somewhere, then returns and has me follow him to another cubicle. There he tells me that the next step is swearing in, but first I must pass this interview. It turns out to be easy, he has me swipe my finger to pull up my information, then has me confirm that it is all correct. Then he takes a list of questions and reads them off in order. I answer them all with "No Sir" or "Yes Sir" easily. I'm telling the truth so I'm not even nervous. Everything has been disclosed and documented already. I'm just confirming it all one last time. When the interview is done he takes my picture, then sends me out to the pool table room to wait. Another Marine enlistee is also waiting there. It is only about five minutes before a list of names for swearing in are called. We go back to the fingerprint wing and are sent from there to a briefing room off to the side of the hall that connects the two wings. (Note: the Marine at the desk still refers to me as George during this.) Eight of us wait in the briefing room. Then an Army captain comes in and starts a video on a flatscreen. The video talks about the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and describes the definitions of AWOL and Desertion, and the penalties for such, as well as how they apply to us after we swear in. The end of the video gives us a quick briefing on how we will swear in. How to stand at parade rest, then come to attention, and how to raise our right hand. The Captain cuts it off, then has us line up while he fires up a computer in the corner. One by one we come up, and he makes sure we know what our contract is for. Then we sign it biometrical with our fingerprints and have our picture taken again. When all eight of us are done he asks if any of us were in JROTC three others raise their hands, and he instructs them to make sure we are situated properly next door. Then he opens a door and sends us into a room with plush maroon floors and walls, the swearing in room. We line up in two lines of four, at parade rest. Then the captain enters and we snap to attention. He corrects one or two of the guys positions of attention, then stands in front of us. 

"Raise your right hand." 

We do so, then he says "repeat after me." and we go through the whole pledge. Swearing to protect the constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. When it's over, we continue to stand at attention while he dismisses us one by one, handing us back our packets and saying congratulations and good luck. I depart last, right behind the other young man who enlisted for the Marines. As soon as we get outside we exchange a spontaneous high five. "We made it!" He says. We've just met, but the feelings of camaraderie are already there, we both know what we have chosen to undertake. We talk about when we think we'll ship and find out there's a good likelihood we'll both be going in october. We agree that it would be great if all the hopefully future Marines who we've processed with today could ship out together. We go back upstairs to the Liaison's office where we find that the Marine liaisons aren't so bad. Maybe it's a change in their attitudes, and maybe it's a change in ours, I'm not sure. At any rate we are given a folder with the Montgomery Marine Recruiting Command newsletter, a welcome letter from its commander, sheets with basic knowledge to study, and a copy of our contracts. We also receive the Gunnery Sergeant's congratulations and a navy blue T shirt with the Marine Corps emblem on the front, and the word "Marines" on the back, all in maroon. Then we are dismissed to await our rides. I'm too excited after that to do much. I find Kendrick in the pool table room playing pool. There's only a handful of people left there, all waiting their rides home. I don't make much conversation for once. Leroy arrives with our transport van after only a short wait, and I say goodbye to my fellow new Poolee. Then I grab my bag, sign out, and head out to the van with Kendrick. We are already out of Montgomery by the time I remember that I left my pocket knife with the front desk! I'm a little upset, it was a nice knife and one that I'll miss. But after all it was my fault I lost it, and besides, I'm going to be a Marine! Nothing can dampen my spirits much. We arrive back at the recruiting station in Pensacola around 6:45-7:00ish. Sgt Lovett congratulates me and tells me that he will schedule a visit to my house to give my wife and I the full welcome aboard speech and package. Staff Sergeant Thorn just tells me to be at the office tomorrow for the Poolee function and PT. I say that I find out my work schedule today and I'll be there if I don't work. Lastly I drive Kendrick home, since he lives almost on my way home. We agree that we should try to go swimming and/or running together from time to time. I also remind him to get a book and study for the ASVAB so he can pass it when he goes to try again in 30 days. I tell him if he needs a ride to go to the library I'll give him one if need be. 

Then I go home to see my wife and celebrate with her. 

With this hurdle down, the next trip I take to MEPS will be to go to Parris Island...