My Marine (recruit) Monday

Only 1 letter this week, but since it's 6 pages long, I am not complaining.

He is going through some really personal issues (as I can imagine anyone would in 13 weeks of hell) so there is much I am not posting.  But it's fun and interesting to hear the things that he is doing though:

9/9/10

DEAR FAMILY,

WHUS GOOOOOOOOD?!?!

I'M AT CHURCH EARLY AND WANTED TO WRITE YOU GUYS!

THIS LAST WEEK WAS HUGE!   WE HAD THE SENIOR DRILL INSTRUCTORS INSPECTION, ALONG WITH INITIAL DRILL! IT WENT REALLY WELL AND I PERFORMED GREAT.

IN BOOT CAMP THERE ARE 3 PHASES.  PHASE ONE IS OVER!  SINCE WE DID WELL AND IMPRESSED SENIOR, WE ARE ALLOWED TO BLOUSE OUR UNIFORMS.  IT'S PART OF SHOWING YOUR TRANSITION INTO MARINE FROM CIVILIAN

THIS LAST WEEK HAS BEEN PRETTY INTERESTING.  I HAVEN'T HAD ANY FRIENDS WRITE TO ME (OTHER THAN 1 OR 2) AND I ALSO REALIZED HOW MUCH SISSY MEANS TO ME NOW THAT I REALLY CAN'T SEE HER.  I'M PLANNING ON TAKING HER TO LAGOON ON LEAVE : )

MOM:  I DECIDED TO WRITE HER A LETTER BECAUSE OF HOW MUCH I ENJOYED READING YOUR JOURNAL POSTS YOU WROTE TO ME WHEN I WAS A TODDLER.

.......ANYWAYS IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THINGS I TALK ABOUT IN THE LETTERS GET IN TOUCH WITH COLONEL SMITH (O-6) 1 SILVER EAGLE  : )

THERE IS TOO MUCH TO EXPLAIN IN THE LETTER ABOUT SDI INSPECTION, BLOUSING, INITIAL DRILL, SWIM WEEK ETC.  AFTER THIS WEEK, WE HEAD OUT NORTH TO CAMP PENDLETON.  THERE WE WILL HAVE GRASS WEEK, FIELD WEEK AND TABLE WEEK.  I WILL BE SHOOTING MY RIFLE ALOT!

LUKA/TUFFY:  DUDE, YOU GUYS HAVE NO IDEA HOW AWESOME THE M-16A4 I HAVE IS!  I KNOW IT'S PARTS AND CAN TAKE IT APART AND PUT IT ALL TOGETHER AND EVERYTHING.  IT'S SICK!  I CAN'T WAIT TO SHOOT!

DAD:  SOOOOOO BASICALLY MY SKILLS IN ORGANIZING AND DISCIPLINE, ALONG WITH ACCOUNTABILITY ARE GETTING VERY HOMED IN AND GOOD.  I AM SURE I'M ON THE RIGHT PATH TO GETTING AS GOOD AS YOU WITH THIS STUFF.  I'M TRYING TO PROGRESS MY WORK ETHIC TOO.  I FEEL LIKE I'M ALWAYS DOING SOMETHING!  I FEEL VERY PRODUCTIVE.  I LIKE IT ALOT.  I AM IN BED ASLEEP AT 9 AND UP AT 5 EVERY DAY.  QUITE A 180 DEGREE IN SLEEP SCHEDULE.

ALRIGHT, SO I WANNA KNOW....HOW IS SISSY DOING??? WHAT NEW THINGS IS SHE UP TO?  LET HER KNOW HOW MUCH I MISS HER AND LOVE HER VERY VERY MUCH.

LUKA:  HOW IS WORK AND ANY NEW LADIES AROUND?  HAVE YOU TESTED OUT OF YOUR SPANISH CLASSES?  WHAT'S  ALL NEW WITH YOU?

TUFFY:  WHAT'S GOOD BRO?  HOW IS WORK?  FOUND ANY NEW JOBS OR WORK?  HOW ARE THE NEW MOVIES THAT HAVE COME OUT?

DAD;  HOW IS WORK GOING?  HAVE YOU AT ALL BEEN ABLE TO SELL THAT CAR BY CHANCE?  HOW IS FOOTBALL THIS SEASON?  I WISH I COULD WATCH IT!

MOM:  HI MOMMA.  HOW HAS TRAINING BEEN GOING FOR YOU?  THINGS AT WORK GOOD?  I'VE BEEN MEANING TO TELL YOU THAT EVERY TIME I'M RUNNING OR PT, I ALWAYS PICTURE DOING IT OR RUNNING WITH YOU AND HAVING YOU PUSH ME.  ALWAYS HELPS!

I RECENTLY JUST FOUND OUT THAT WE HAVE A SPECIAL GRADUATION DATE AND WE WILL BECOME MARINES A WEEK BEFORE WE GRAD.  I GUESS THE DAY WE BECOME MARINES IS LABOR DAY!  HOW FITTING IS THAT HUH?

OH AND ALSO I FORGOT TO MENTION, THE OTHER DAY DURING PT SESSION WE HAD THE COMMANDANT OF THE ENTIRE MARINE CORPS MAKE A VISIT AND WATCH US.  APPARENTLY THAT IS EXTREMELY RARE!  ASK COLONEL SMITH.

PRETTY MOTIVATING TO SAY THE LEAST.  I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT ALL OF THE THINGS I WANNA DO WHEN I GET HOME AND CANNOT WAIT!

ANYWAYS, LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL

RECRUIT CATMULL

PS  RECENT PICS AND OLD PICS OF SISSY AND I WOULD BE GREAT!  THANKS GUYS!

I'm thinking the boy has his dates mixed up since we already had labor day.  Maybe his days all just run together.  Not sure what he means by the early graduation when he becomes a Marine, but I am assuming it is the Crucible.

You can bet that we immediately sent off some pictures of his daughter and him with her.  And as for asking the Colonel - yeah we pick his brain as often as we can  : )

Semper Fi