Annual Training

Well, since Dec. 4th, I've been in Columbus doing the annual training for the Marine Corps. It isn't the whole 2 weeks like normal, but rather just 10 days. I got some good news to report: yesterday I was kinda promoted billet wise to fire team leader. So, now I am responsible for 3 other Marines. In addition, the hotel room I am staying in has free Wi-Fi. The bad news is that I found out over the weekend that instead of leaving on Sunday the 12th, we have to stay till Monday the 13th. Then on top of all that, after they let us go, I have to drive to Brookpark (near Cleveland) for 3 more days of training. True, I did volunteer for this Combat Life Savers course, but they told me last month that it was during this week's training, but it isn't. So, I took another one from the Corps and won't be home till next Friday the 17th. Which leaves me with only 17 days left before I leave. I am now starting to think about everything that I wanted to do and things I need to get done before I leave. Throw in Christmas and New Year's, that doesn't leave me with a lot of time to get things done.

It is starting to hit me that I might be gone for a long time. We were told that we should expect to be activated for a whole year, and maybe even longer. Some more good news, I just got issued a bunch of new gear and equipment. It is a lot better than the crap we had before including the lighter kevlar, better goggles, better pack, and the SAPI plates for the flak jacket (so that I can take a 7.62 round to the chest and not be injured).

I tell you what, I am getting sick of all the stupid crap we have to do around the drill center like busy work and endless classes. Today, we had a 4 hour class with only a 5 minute break. I was fighting myself to not fall asleep. I was in like a daze and not really learning anything. I can understand the fact that we need to know this stuff to help stay alive and fight better, but they are just drilling us with knowledge at every minute and keep telling us to stay busy going over this or going over that. 10-11 hours a day of this stuff starts to wear you down mentally and it has only been 3 days. God help me.