I'm Leaving on a jet plane...

Actually it is a C130...which is not at all comfortable.

the time has come, bags are packed and we are waiting for the final word. Could be tomorrow and it could be a week. Such is the War Machine! Hopefully it is Sooner and not later because I would really like to see PFC Fullmer become an official member of my beloved gun club.

Either way I should be back in Denver beginning of February and life will go back to the level of normality it was at pre-Iraq. I got a car to fix and ladies to flirt with. Oh and Taco Bell.

A few things I have learned over that last week...70 men stuffed into one tent makes for a VERY stinky home! Rounds somehow jump magazines, it is a strange phenomena but a common one. Irock (pun intended) at combat fitness!

The Marines, in their never ending pursuit on being better, has started an new physical fitness test to get us back to our roots. This test includes Ammo Can lifts, a half mile sprint in boots and Cammies, Causality evacuation, grenade throwing and a lot of running throw cones. This course takes about a total of 7 minutes but it is some serious work and a great measure of ones overall MANLINESS and AWESOMENESS!

Though this new test is not yet graded by points but rather on a pass fail basis, we took scores down for input and I took third overall. Hows that for 3 pounds overweight huh? Everybody must have been drinking WEAKSAUCE while I was drink Milk!

Can't wait to see y'all!

The Crucible

I can't get on my laptop where I saved Jared's password so I am going to do his blog from my own.

The last two weeks were probably boring. Lots of inspection, which stink, and lots of "Final" stuff. Apparently Jared's Platoon broke the Battalion record in Final Drill. This is a HUGE deal. Final Drill isn''t just graded on how the Senior Drill Instrutor preforms, but how well the recruits preform as well. no easy task!

Today he was shipped back up to Pendelton. This week he will do the Crucible as well as the gas chamber. The crucible is pretty grueling. less than 4 hours of sleep a night for 3 days, 1.5 MREs for food and lots of forced marching. He also has to finish several team tasks that are all a big pain in the...well you get the picture.

The final morning is a hump in full gear for about 5 miles afterwhich he climbs the infamous Reaper. This hill is no joke. Every time you think you are done it just keeps going. At the bottom of the last rise his Plt will form up and rush the hill warcrying. Mostly just men being men but everyone feels a huge sense of accomplishment

At the top he will recieve my beloved Eagle Globe and Anchor. This is our emblem and with it comes a a whole lot of pride and a whole lot of brothers. At this moment Jared will officialy be a Marine and with this comes a whole lot of reponsiblity and expected honor.

Of course at the bottom he still has to hump the 5 miles back and that is almost just a hard!

Pictures to come

New Stuff! and no more mail

Lots of new things have been occurring that mark us getting closer to departure. We have mailed all our extra stuff back to the unit leaving only the bare(military) essentials to drag across the world with us.

Today is our last day in our cans. We move out and into the tent city Circus Circus. That's really what it's called. All the other living sites, tents or cans, are named after memorable Marine battles, locations or people...and then there is Circus Circus. 70 stinky males all shoved into 1 tent. This wouldn't be so bad but the ops crews are constantly coming and going all hours of the day and night. There has already been an Email from our CO saying he wants NO animosity between Maintenance and OPS. I guess they are trying to get a peace treaty before the war starts...which is good because OPS is Gaza and Maint. is Israel.

The New RADAR gets here soon. We don't know when but rumors says that we will tear down Roxanne and build Lazer before we leave. That's right...Lazer is coming back to visit us for a few days.

For any of you who are a tinsy bit confused Lazer was our RADAR in Denver but since she is in the best shape(and the sexiest) she is coming out to work hard. It will be an exciting 2 hard days of work. Roxanne hasn't been torn apart in nearly 2 years so she is bound to give a little fight.

We are having our last BBQ tonight se we can all watch the Eagles/ Giants game. No real word on when we will officially be back but we are in the final steps!

Last thing...please don't send anymore mail because it will just get turned around. I will let you know my new address as soon as I do!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Merry Christmas from the Marines in the Sandbox. Thank you Kata Ata for the Christmas Video. Funny how much everybody changes in 5 years(I think).

I am trying to call but the good phones are off for Video Conferences. If I don't get to call...oh well I guess I am sorta at war or something.

Thank you all for your continued love and support.

Momma sorry that I joined a boys club that takes me away from you during Christmas. Thanks for the book and the cookies. I got the package today and the pumpkin cookies were a HUGE hit.

I love you all and to all a good night.

Remember what Chester says "It's not easy being cheesy!"

I'm bringing WHAT back?

I bought a suit. It is sexy!

I paid $500 for a 3 piece suit(black with really thin pinstripes), 2 shirts(burgundy and baby blue) 2 ties that work well with the shirts, 2 sets of cuff links, 2 sets of really pointy shoes and 2 belts all tailored to me. I kinda felt stupid cause I got this deal and I should have got matching handkerchiefs. Anyway a few pictures to show off my good looks even though the photography is horrible.


I also bought a new camera because the old one broke and it takes way to high quality of pictures. I have been waiting about 30 mins for 5 pictures to upload.

Okay nevermind the picture won't co-operate I will try and put them on my picaso instead. Maybe I will take them again, lower quality. Anyway my profile picture is a preview.

Just askin...

If anybody wants to come to Denver and see me fly in, you are all invited. I know everybody is busy and I don't expect anything. However if anybody DOES want to attend I need your full name and date of birth so you can get on base.

It should be a few days after Jared graduates.

There I have done what I was told...invitations extended!

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!