Private 1st Class

Lisa received an early promotion to Private 1st Class on November 6th.

A walk on the beach

I thought this picture really captured Lisa well. It is from a great day we had at the coast as a family while she was home.

Parris Island

On our way home

The fatigue of graduation has finally caught up with Lisa above. This was on the flight home. The fact that she had a 102 temperature two days earlier didn't help. Expect a withdrawal from your recruit shortly after graduation when all the activities have died down. In addition to being fatigued your marine will have to adjust to 10 days of civilian life. After 80+ days of having almost every minute of their time scheduled it is suddenly very difficult to adjust to having "free time" " My advise is to step back, smile a lot, don't try and make them talk a lot. And whatever you do don't ask them what is wrong with them. There is nothing wrong; they have just finished the most intense military boot camp in the world and now they just need to decompress and take in what they have been though and what the future holds. Just be close and ready for when they do want to talk.

Lisa and her Grandma

Lisa and some of her fellow marines. Expect the joy of graduation to be followed by withdrawl as your marine adjusts to civilian life during their 10 day leave. They have been through some intense shared experience with their fellow platoonmates.

With her Senior Drill Insturctor (SDI)

SDI, the person you marine will remember for the rest of their life.

Graduation Ceremony

Sharpshooter

I almost forgot to add that in spite
of having to clear a rifle jam and only getting half her shots off on
the moving target table, Lisa still managed to qualify at the
Sharpshooter ranking and finish with the high score in her platoon and
the 2nd highest score among all the female recruits.

Squad Bay

Marine Museum

Family Day Leave

Lisa was still showing the affects of the 102 degree temp she had the
day before. But we were thrilled to have her for the afternoon.

Less then 3 weeks!

This last week was BWT - Basic Warrior Training. The recruits do a lot of crawling around on the ground, running through the trees, more crawling around at night. They also spend the week in tents. Several graduates have said that BWT week in whole is more difficult then the Crucible.

We saw a note from on coach on the shooting range, posted on the marine parents message board, that indicated that all november company recruits had qualified on Saturday. This was different from the first qualification which was done on static targets at 200, 300 and 500 yards. The Saturday qualification was on moving targets at what I'm sure were shorter distances. As I understand it from my daughters earlier letter they are allowed to count any points over 60 onto their first qualification score. So I know she was hopeing to pick up the 5 points needed to move up to the Sharpshooter ranking.

We finalized our order for graduation t-shirts and the days seem to be flying by now.

Flag bracket is mounted

A little over a week ago our order came in for the Marine flag we will be hanging out front with our US flag once our daughter completes the Crucible and has earned the title of Marine. Today was chance to get the flag mount attached to the front porch. It turned out to be a rather simple project.

First two weeks

Of course mail was sent pronto. It is worth pointing out that the Marines are different in respect to the other branches of the military. There is no contact with recruits other then old fashioned US Mail. No email, cell phones or even pay phones. It is not impossible to be granted permission to call home for 5 minutes but it is very rare and we don't expect it to happen.

For six days a week the recruits schedule is generally get up at 5 am. and then have pretty much every minute of their day planned out. From 8-9 pm they are supposed to have square away time where they can write letters, read mail make sure all their things are organized and in order or do any needed studying. However it is not uncommon for Drill Instructors to take up some of this time playing "games."

Sundays are a bit different. Recruits get four hours of square away time. During this time the have the opportunity to attend church if they wish. Most do. The afternoon and evening are generally scheduled with classes and Physical Training (PT)

The first week of arrival is called Forming. This is like controlled chaos for the recruits. Controlled by Drill Instructors that make it clear to them that they can't do anything right or fast enough. Actual training begins on the the first Tuesday after they arrive. By then they have been assigned to a platoon. In Lisa's case she is in one of two platoons in November Company. Starting out with 56 recruits in her platoon it can be expected that 15% of those will not make it through. All recruits are considered to be, well, recruits. It is only near the end of boot camp when recruits complete the 54 hour Crucible test that they are called Marines.

Typical of recruits Lisa found very little to like about the first two weeks. They only things she liked were mail call and Church service. Lisa loves palm trees and said that is the only other good thing to be found. However she reiterated that she is determined to earn the Eagle-Globe-and-Anchor. This is the pin that is awarded awarded at the end of the Crucible when they are called Marines for the first time.

Starting out

I set this up because is seems like an easy way to keep family and friends up to date with Lisa's new adventure.

After testing and training through the spring Lisa reported to the Portland Military Entrance Processing Station. Originally Lisa was scheduled to report on Monday evening, have all her paperwork processed, proceed to her swearing in, and then fly out to Paris Island, SC. for recruit training. All this was to take place on early Tuesday. However due to delays with other recruits her swearing in did not happen until that afternoon. You can see a video of that here. That allowed us to have dinner before dropping her off at her hotel and saying goodbye. No matter how strong you try to be that goodbye is pretty difficult.

Flying out the next morning by herself we got a quick call from the Dallas Airport telling us that all was fine and that she was just waiting for her plane. When you enter Marine Recruit Training you are allowed to take $20, the clothes you are wearing and a bible if you choose.

Later that night we got the 15 second call from Lisa telling us she had arrived at boot camp and was safe and not to say anything or else the conversation would be ended. Also that we would be receiving an address in the mail where we could send mail to her - goodbye. All this took place in 15 seconds at a speed that would make an auctioneer proud.

About a week later we received a form with her address.