Bay Fest 2008

Hey everyone,

Training is constant and has been for the past 3-4 weeks. There never is a day where we dont do something to prepare us for our deployment. We found out the dates we leave for training in Louisiana and our deployment dates. We leave for Louisiana between the 25th and 27th of July, and will return after three weeks.

We had some much deserved time off for the 4th of July. Let me tell you, military bases know how to celebrate our nation's independence. Fireworks happen every night this weekend after the concert. The bands playing were Little Big Town, Rodney Atkins, 3 Doors Down, Live, and Everclear. I saw Little Big Town, Rodney Atkins, and 3 Doors Down. They were all amazing, but the country bands had a much bigger stage presence and more exciting show than the rock band 3 Doors Down. Again, they were all awesome. I included a video here to show you my two favorite groups I saw. Enjoy.

Snorkeling

Another long week of work, and another fun weekend. This week I was enrolled in the MRAP course. The MRAP is a newer vehicle which is slowly replacing the HMMWV. The MRAP is larger and can transport 9 people including the driver and vehicle commander. This weekend was a blast. Elsworth and I went kayaking with a guy who just walked up to us and asked if he could tag along. He is a pretty cool guy. His name is Randall Wilcox. Anyways, we went snorkeling in Kaneohe Bay after we Kayaked to Coconut Island...the island where some of Giligan's Island was filmed. The snorkeling there was great! We saw a ton of different fish and more of them than we ever have. Here are some videos! Enjoy!

Hey ya'll. This past weekend I went sky diving with my best friend Maxwell. He and I had a blast jumping out of a perfectly good airplane...Check out the video.

Hey everyone,

I decided I would keep this going so that you can kinda keep up with everything I have going on. Hawaii is sweet. No matter where you are on the island it is beautiful. Its even beautiful here on base. I am schedualed to leave for Iraq in late September or early October. Before that we will be doing our final training in Louisiana. I am not training for artillery either. When we deploy our mission is Convoy Operations. Basically we do security for vehicle convoys. The base here is nice. I begin my first set of training this week at a rifle range. I'm not exactly sure what it is about but I will fill you in later on that. I have to be up at 03:30 so I will end this short.

Surprise! Another letter arrived!

I guess he's getting very anxious to graduate as we received another letter yesterday. So, here's the latest from "recruit Huck", our soon to be Marine :)

"It's Thursday morning about 0930. I can hear the motorun (motivational run) going on... families screaming, clapping, whistling, and platoons chanting and clapping as they run past. It's rough to hear it going on because time is going by so slowly. All anyone wants is to be at family day or graduation.

I just finished taking another practice Prac test. It's gotten to the point where I will read, 'What is the policy...' and I already know the answer is "C", tobacco is not permitted in DOD buildings or vehicles.' It's the same for about 60% or more of the test. It's drilled into our heads so much and we take so many tests.

Last night we had a pretty good PT. We marched over to the chow hall and did crunches in the front lawn and the other half of the platoon did pull ups. After about ten minutes we switched. I got a pretty good workout and felt some awesome pain. We all know the Marine Corps saying, 'pain in weakness leaving the body.' My body is really starting to take shape so I'm excited. After PT we received our MCMAP belts (Marine Corp Martial Arts something.) It feels so good to wear them. To you, you'll probably see a belt, but to us recruits it's something we worked hours and hours for; striking pads, getting struck by fellow recruits, getting thrown to the ground, and much more. One thing that I love about the Marine Corps is you have to earn just about everything. Once you receive what you've earned, (a belt) you feel so proud to wear it knowing you worked hard for it and really did earn it. Anyways, I'll continue this letter later.

We had drill this afternoon and sucked. We're a hell of a lot better than first phase but still not where we should be.

Well, it's Friday now. Oh my goodness do I have news. Today I had a working party at the Generals building. It''s a building full of offices with high ranking officers including the Brigadier General of MCRD. It was pretty sweet, but only ten of us were able to work there.We were hand selected because there are so many officers and high ranking enlisted Marines that our drill instructors wanted ten of the most trust worthy and alert recruits. It was sweet. [That's our Michael :)]

After our working party we ate afternoon chow and got hair cuts. My hair is so long... probably like 1/3 inch - at least. Then when we got back from hair cuts we went to PT and we did a mock PFT (personal fitness test.) I did better than great. I did awesome! Improved by two pull-ups to put my total at 14, 20 more crunches for a total of 131 in two minutes, AND I cut 2:20 off of my run time for a total 3-mile time of 24:40. Man o' man was I excited! I still am. Now we're doing more practice Prac tests. I'm waiting for my test to be graded. Wow, I missed 5 out of 139. I am on a roll today. Did someone pray for me or something?

Well, I need to get back to studying. Only 13 days until graduation, 12 until I see Mom and Dad, Kyle and Theresa. You'll be hearing from me again soon - as usual. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. I miss you.

Love, Mike"

It appears that this letter was sent the day prior to the last one. It doesn't matter since I'm thrilled to hear that things are going so well for Michael.

I need to keep moving here. Doing laundry and getting things ready to pack - AGAIN! I'm so excited I couldn't sleep last night. Went to bed at 1 am and woke up at 6 am. We will leave for Omaha tomorrow morning at 6 am. I can't believe we're actually flying out to San Diego tomorrow morning!! This has been a somewhat long 13 weeks. All I can say is Thanks be to God and to you for all your support and prayers. Couldn't have gotten thru this without all of you!

Love - Julie

Last Letter from Boot Camp

This is the final letter from boot camp - written Sunday, November 18, 2007:

"Dear Everyone,

Today is Sunday! We only have eleven days until family day and twelve to graduation. So, this will be my last letter. However this will not be the last post. I plan on having Mom type up a final post on her thoughts of me and graduation. I will also put up a final post on my thoughts of graduation and of being a Marine. If anyone has sent a letter after this I hope I receive it but may not.

Thank you all for checking the blog, but more importantly thank you for your thoughts and prayers. I couldn't have made it without them. I'm sure I'll see some of you in a couple of weeks. I miss you. Semper Fidelis.

Love,
Mike"

I have to add that Ken and I had a wonderful visit with Katie, Ryan and Kyle in New Jersey. Just got home to night and are gearing up for our visit to San Diego. Leaving bright and early Wednesday morning. You have no idea how excited we are to see Michael this Thursday!!!! I'll write my thoughts when we get back. Thanks again!

Love,
Julie

Third Phase Is Interesting.....

Ahhh.. another letter arrived yesterday. I can't believe we'll be getting ready to fly out to San Diego NEXT WEEK!! I've got several lists of things I want to take out. Michael already gave me explicit orders of what civie clothes to bring. Geez, these Marines are strict :) I love it!! Anyways, here's the latest............

"I'm back in the waiting room at Dental. It's approximately 0630 on Tuesday morning. I have a follow-up on my oral surgery. I've been feeling pretty good but still have a little trouble eating and I bleed quite a bit when I brush. I'm sure it's normal and nothing to worry about.

Well, our days are interesting here in third phase. Whenever someone in the platoon messes up pretty bad, the Drill Instructors mess up our house. They put a different shoe in different places, (right boot in the shower, left boot in the whiskey locker, right shower shoe in the back of the house, etc.) They make us dump our bags and place different items at different areas of the house and our least favorite, rip off all name tags and markings from hangers, bags, canteen and more. Oh, I almost forgot they make us take all the linens off of our racks. After that they give us either eight or ten minutes to fix the house. There's quiet chaos as everyone scrambles to get their gear and racks made. It's happened four times since we've returned from up north. It really sucks, but what do you do? If only those few people who keep screwing up got dropped.....life would be so much easier. Oh well.

Well, I'm going back to full duty. I hope I get out of here soon. I believe we get hair cuts today. My hair is getting pretty long! We started getting our high and tight cuts last week. They look awesome. Last night when I was shaving a couple of guys commented that I look bigger than when I came - "stockier" is the word they used. They say my neck, arms, chest, and back all look more defined. So maybe you'll notice some change. Mom, I know you were looking forward to seeing me all buff. (yeahuuh... that's my man !) When I look around there are a lot of us that are stockier than we were when we showed up and stood on the yellow foot prints. Chelsea (my cousin for those who don't know the family) sent pictures of when our family took a trip to Colorado this past summer. They're taped to my foot locker so I look at them everyday. I look at myself in those photos and really see how much I've changed. You'll still recognize me but I feel that I've changed a lot. And, not just physically.

We have classes in our house with SDI SSgt. Smack over life values. We talk about family, friends, co-workers, life at home, future jobs, work life, habits, alcohol, tobacco, rape, abuse, having kids, managing money and time, and a whole lot of other things. Some of what we talk about I let in one ear and out the other simply because I don't agree, or don't want to change or need to change an aspect of my life. Other things I really take to heart and plan on using or applying to my life. Yesterday evening we talked about suicide. In the situation given we the recruits narrowed it down to having problems at home. Then we spoke about life at home for awhile. SDI gave us a lot of good info on how to keep a good relationship with your wife, kids, and extended family. He also talked about keeping everyone happy by providing for them. It was a pretty deep conversation and I took a lot of it to heart. I realized that this is one of the reasons the marine corps exists. They teach us more than how to kill or defend, but how to save, care for, and protect others, ourselves and our families. The ARMY doesn't do that. Sweet!

Man, I took two more practice prac tests today. The first one I didn't miss any questions and the second one missed .... like 10 or so. I don't remember but the test had 139 questions on it. I've said it once and I'll say it again, I'm not worried. They are constantly drilling knowledge into our heads and it obviously pays off.

We still haven't left to get our hair cuts yet. I'm anxious if you can't tell. Time has been going by very slowly since we've returned from up north. I don't know if it's because I'm excited to see family, graduate, or if it's because I'm so anxious to get out of this place. Either way all involve time and time continues to drag on.

Well it's Wednesday now. Yesterday I had a working party at the picture place. It was awesome. We walked in and two nice ladies greeted us, showed us around, informed us of our jobs and tasks to accomplish and then showed us to the RADIO!! Oh my goodness. It was great. From 1000 to 1600 (4:00 pm), 6 hours, we listened to country and hip hop and two rock songs. It was glorious to hear music. After our working party we returned to the house and the rest of the platoon was learning how to tie ties.....a full windsor. Sorry, I probably should have mentioned earlier there were 6 recruits including myself who worked at the picture place. Well, I'm standing in line now waiting to take my picture for my military ID. Well, the line is moving. I'll wrap this up so I can send it out today. I miss you.

Love, Mike

According to the Training Matrix this week includes travel arrangements for home today. Tomorrow is a 2 mile run and whatever the DI feels needs to be done during DI time. For sure Prac test and Drill will be at the top of that list. Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) Michael will take the Prac test (a written and a hands on test required for graduation.) This is the knowledge they've been studying and working on from Marine Corps history to first aid and how to report when they board a US ship. They they get to do something fun - repelling. I don't think Michael is afraid of heights so he should enjoy that. Friday is a big day - the final PFT. This is a must to graduate. The guys have been working on this the past 10 weeks and they'll find out who the top man is in PT. Saturday is the company commanders final inspection. He will come thru the company and look at everything - their beds, lockers, the house, and they'll be asked questions - some of them about their knowledge. They'll have their weapons also and will be doing some drill movement during this inspection. All of this to prepare for the battalion commander's inspection next week.

Well, Ken and I are flying out to New Jersey tomorrow to have Thanksgiving and an early Christmas with Katie and Ryan (daughter and son-in-law.) Kyle (our #1 son) will be joining us on Thanksgiving Day. I'm VERY excited!! We'll come home Sunday the 25th, have 2 days to re-group and then fly out to San Diego Wednesday, the 28th. Life can't get any better than this can it??

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. If we receive any more letters I'll update you when we get back.
Love to all and God's blessings for a wonderful turkey day!

Julie