In Response to...

So I had a few questions from y'all on my last post that I will now answer.

Kate-about getting bombed. It's funny that Mike would say that because I had seriously thought about that. As it goes are track record is pretty good. There is Beirut Lebanon in 1983 that was a disaster but other than that Embassy duty is considered very safe. Even the "hardship" tours aren't necessarily dangerous, they are just in 3rd world countries. Besides that is why we are there. to kick butts and take names when crap hits the fans!

Mom- About picking where you go. This works the same way as the rest of Corps. For each tour you are given a set of options and you pick your preferences but in the end we are assets and will go according to the needs of the Marine Corps. You can pick my preference will be Lima though!

Cami-about Legos. I haven't played the Star Wars but I am definitely getting it when I get back. It is a very fun type of games with lots of puzzles and stuff!

Kellie- is a hard thing to get into? Shawn said that part of your time is suppose to be this type of thing. Is that correct? That or recruiting?
It can be difficult to get into. Marine forces are up to about 202,000 and those on Embassy duty are numbered at about 1300.However with the screening my chances get a lot better. I have good scores across the board, a very high ASVAB score, 2 meritorious promotions and I already have a clearance which is apparently the hardest part of getting the duty.

If you want to stay in for 20 years and get to the top of the ranks you have to do a B-billet. This is either Drill Instructors (which is INCREDIBLY competitive and hard to get into because of my field), Recruiting (I HATE talking to new people and trying to sell them), School of Infantry Instructors(which goes 75 percent to grunts) and MSG. There has been talks of making I and I staff a B billet but it probably won't happen until after I leave the unit so I would have to some time go back to a reserve unit and teach again.

MSG really just seemed like the reasonable course, plus it has the bonus of going places no one else in the Corps gets to go. If they makes I and I a B- billet then I wouldn't mind doing this again.

Kara-when I find out and start. This is the crummy part. The screening team was actually here on Al Asad about 4 weeks ago but nobody was informed at our unit. If I had done it then I could have got orders cut as early as March 09 to go. As it is the Monitor works pretty quick so if I get accepted I will have to be flown to see a screening team and my time frames look more like June to August 09.

Hope this has cleared some stuff up!