1stSgt. Kasal

This post is not about what's going on in my life. I just walked through the mailroom and saw a poster up with the picture associated with this story, and realized I had to share it with you all; I don't know how many of you may have heard about it, or to what extent. Our drill instructors told our company about it at boot camp, with a great deal of awe and reverence.

This is 1stSgt. Brad Kasal from Afton, IA, a tiny farming town not far southwest of Des Moines, being helped out of a house in Fallujah he had rushed into to save three Marines. This article explains it better than I could, so please read it.

These are the men I call brothers. This is the brotherhood I am proud to be a part of. 1stSgt. Kasal is a well-known hero throughout the Marine Corps by now, and all the Marines I've talked to about it are in awe of him, speaking of his story in almost hushed whispers, with deep respect and reverence. His story illustrates all that is good about the Marine Corps, all the high ideals that distinguish the Marine Corps from all other services, and the deepest reasons I joined.

Also, and this is on the side, please note in the picture that after taking seven rounds and absorbing shrapnel from a grenade he threw himself on to save another Marine, and losing 60% of his blood, he kept his finger straight and off the trigger. Oorah.

Sweatshops: Another Day, Another Dollar

I don't know, I just needed a catchy title.

This week went by quickly, probably because we had Monday off. We started learning about actual comm stuff this week, like different kinds of callsigns, different kinds of networks, propagation of radio waves, etc. Nothing too exciting. Thursday night was field day again, and though cleaning probably only took us an hour and a half, waiting for the two different NCOs to show up and inspect our room took about three hours, so not much free time Thursday nights, it looks like.

I don't know if I mentioned that my roommate Klauer is class commander, as in basically the student in charge of the class. Well, three of our four squad leaders got fired yesterday for failing our first difficult test, and so Schauer and Heller, my other two roommates, are now squad leaders. I'm the only one in our room without a billet. I guess I oughtta start applying myself or something, IF I decide I have any desire to be a squad leader or anything along those lines. I'm not sure I feel like putting up with it, but on the other hand, I feel like I'm the slacker of my little four-Marine group for not being locked on enough to be put up for squad leader.

We PTed on Wednesday like I have never PTed before. We did a lunge run first, that is, running around for awhile then doing lunges for awhile. That transitioned into running up a mountain in soft sand, which is about the worst possible thing we could do around here. It was wretched. If you consider how thin the air is around here and the fact we were already pretty exhausted from the lunge run, and the fact that overall the run was probably four miles or something, I would hope you could have a little sympathy for us. Or maybe I just like to bitch. Regardless, it exhausted me, and I'm still aching.

I got a few pieces of mail this week, which was very exciting. My books finally arrived (I'm a hundred pages or so into book 8), as did a copy of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue from Matt Berge, which I found to be exceedingly thoughtful. If you were male and lived on this base for awhile, you would understand just how thoughtful. The male to female ratio is something like 150:1 or something, and that's just females, not attractive females. Young men need something beautiful to look at, you know!

Anyways, I also got a very nice letter from my friend Eavie back at school, including a few pictures from my last Monday Ribco, and Mom sent my new debit card, which was probably not a good idea on her part. I did, however, just change my direct deposit from the goofy Marine Corps-issued bank out here to the credit union back home, so my folks can pay my bills and such, should any bills arise (like too many charges on my charge card).

Being quickly bored with the books I had bought at the store to kill time while waiting for my new ones to arrive, I ended up starting and beating Freelancer on my computer. What a great game. Now I'm smuggling drugs and scavenging wrecked spacecraft for heavy weapons, so that I can get the biggest damn ship with the best damn weapons and fly around worry-free. Also, flying around in that game and playing the storyline again makes me want to write fan fiction for it again ('again' meaning I want to finish the story I started a year or so ago; I won't pretend to have actually finished a story anytime in the recent past). I haven't had much luck coming up with more for the story I had been working on.

We had our first pre-test day quiz on Thursday, and I aced it, so I got cocky about the test and ended up with an 87. I was pretty upset with myself over that, but it got me roaring to do much better on the next test. At least I didn't fail the test, like 21 of the 55 people in our class! Our instructors were pretty peeved over that, which is why I now have the room to myself for four hours today and tomorrow, as my roommates are supervising study sessions for all those who failed.

Schauer and I caught up with a few Marines from my unit on Tuesday at the bowling alley, and they mentioned that while we were at MCT, the Commandant came to talk to the company, or maybe it was the whole battalion. I'm a little upset over that; I would have loved to meet General Hagee. He's something of a hero of mine. I think the only way I could do one better is to meet LtGen. Mattis, who I revere as a demigod. I think LtGen. Mattis may very well be the next Commandant, anyhow.

R&R: Just what the doctor ordered

It's been a good weekend so far. Friday night we hit the PX and I grabbed a couple books, namely some fantasy I can't even remember the title of and a collection of short sci-fi stories that won L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future contest. So those are holding me over til the Wheel of Time books arrive (probably on Tuesday, as they've just been sitting in L.A. for three days now). Friday night I just stayed in the room, chatted online and read. It was refreshing.

Yesterday I sat around the room for quite awhile, playing Freelancer on my computer and reading. In the evening, Schauer got a phone call from one of our buddies from the unit, Valluzzi, saying that they were back from the field, so we suited up and headed over there to catch up. It was damn good getting back with those guys. We ended up all heading over to the enlisted club and getting our drink on. Absurdity ensued.

Valluzzi mentioned to Schauer and myself that the platoon was grilling out today, so we thought we'd head over. At about 1400, they decided we were direly needed over there to finish off some brats and beer, so Valluzzi called and relayed an order from our platoon CO, Capt. Chun, to get our asses over there immediately, which we gladly did. We headed over and found a couple of them playing guitar and the rest just chewing the fat. I ended up drinking a number of beers on government dime (your hard-earned tax dollars at work!) and enjoying some of the aforementioned brats. I took a few pictures, and am working hard trying to upload them to Yahoo Photos, but for some reason my internet is fighting against it. I'll put a few up here and post the link later, provided I ever make it work.

I got a good, long beer nap in at the platoon squadbay earlier in the evening, so though it's past midnight I feel wide awake. I imagine I'll stay up nice and late and sleep in nice and late. Oh boy do I love long weekends.

To hell with this. Here's a temporary link at a website I don't think I like. I'll try and find a better place for the pictures later.
http://photobucket.com/albums/e399/rogerwilley/
It's a mix of 29 Palms pics, pics of today's cookout, and MCT pics.

At long last, Friday, and a few days off

We only had a half day today, which amounted to taking our first test (which I aced) after our first PT. Last night we had field day, so after evening chow we cleaned our room for three hours and waited an hour for it to be inspected, leaving little time for relaxation, so the four of us ended up staying up pretty late. Today we were all tired to beat the band, especially after our first strenuous PT in quite awhile, so after noon chow we came back and slept for about three hours. We needed the rest. Due to President's Day we don't report back til Tuesday morning, so we're changing over to civis and probably heading to the enlisted club tonight. I'm pretty excited about the prospect of having a few beers.

I don't know what to do with myself this weekend. We are on a phased liberty system while in comm school, so for the first three weeks we can't leave base at all, and there's not that much to do on base. We could go bowling I suppose and perhaps see a movie if any strike our fancy, and play some pool at the E Club, but other than that we might as well sit around our room and entertain ourselves here. Sadly, I'm still waiting on those Wheel of Time books to get here from Vernon, CA (only two or three hours away!), but they probably won't be here til Tuesday. I reckon I'll pick up a book at the PX if I can find anything interesting. Failing that, I might try to do some idea brainstorming for my story, and probably play a few computer games.

Not much else to report here. Hope everything's alright back there. Take good care of yourselves!

Off to Radio Operator School

Yesterday, we received our orders for MCCES (Marine Corps Communications Electronics School) and moved all our gear out of our platoon's squadbay, into dorm-style barracks at Comm School, roughly a half mile down the road. There are four Marines from 3rd and 4th Platoons with me here, namely three former Charlie Marines and one former Bravo Marine: Klauer and Heller from Charlie, my unit in Waterloo, and Schauer from Bravo, the Joliet unit we originally came down here with. So far we just set ourselves up in the room, tactically acquired a secure wireless connection, and went through a bunch of check-in stuff, to include registering for a mailing address, which follows:

Willey, Roger, PFC
LOC# 1333 MCCES
29 Palms, CA 92278-8253

Any commercial mailings (FedEx or UPS, anything not USPS) must include "BLDG# 1657" in the address after the line with "LOC#" and all that.

I finished book seven of the Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan on Saturday, so I moved on to Flags of Our Fathers, of which I'd read roughly a third, and now I'm almost done with [update: just finished] that, so I bought the next three books in the Wheel of Time series on Amazon.com (made possibly by receipt of my new address). Those books are like crack.

We filled out a security disclaimer today, because much of what we'll be taught here requires a Secret level clearance, so supposedly I won't be able to tell you much of what I'm learning. At least, I won't be able to get into specifics, but you wouldn't be interested in them anyways. I'm just excited to be able to reply "I'm not at liberty to say," when someone asks what I'm learning.

Not much else is new. It's Valentine's Day and I'm single, so that sucks, but it wouldn't matter much anyways, being so far away from home. Also, it seems I got paid yesterday, which is nice. Right now, all the five other Marines I went to MCT with are on their ways home for their 96-hour liberties. Jerks.

Speaking of Flags of Our Fathers, which made me reflect at length on my reasons for joining the Corps while I wasn't getting choke up, Alex asked me in an email recently why I joined the Marine Corps, and suggested that I post it here. So here's what I wrote back to him, unabridged and uncut:

I joined the Marines for a huge number of reasons, but I'll try and name the most significant ones. First, I wanted to give back to the country that allows me so many assured freedoms, as in I wanted to be the one providing those same freedoms for others so that others would not have to; I wanted to put myself on the line so that some other person, either someone I love or a stranger, would not have to fill that spot for me. Second, I wanted to be an elite warrior if I was going to serve my country, like I wanted to be on the team of people who tie together elite training, harnessing basic predatorial instincts, and high standards of integrity and valor. Third, I wanted an opportunity to go over to the Middle East and kill those hajji bastards. Fourth, I wanted to be part of a proud brotherhood of men of honor with a long heritage of upholding and exemplifying the highest values of our country. I could name a million more, or at least expand for hours those reasons I listed, but those are the four basic reasons.

It wasn't terrifically well-written, and I barely scratched the surface, but I thought you should all know why I did it. I find myself saying all the time, "...and that's why I wanted to be a Marine," about a dozen different things, and when I realized how many things I say that about, I tried to classify them, with varying degrees of success. So there ya go.

Sgt. Mullane, my platoon sergeant, was back around the squadbay yesterday once he returned to 29 Palms from his early 96 (due to his leaving early for advanced party to Iraq). In that little time, he managed to reenlist my help as his computer slave. I was updating some rosters of his when I noticed a "Promotions" spreadsheet. I was one of three Marines slated to be promoted on 1 Feb, but I thought I wouldn't be promoted to Lance Corporal til 1 March. So we'll see if anything comes of that, though I doubt it. Still, I got some orders the other day that had me marked as a Lance Corporal, which I took to be a mistake. Oh well, if not this month then March 1st I'll get it.

I might amend this later if I realize I forgot to mention something, but for now, I'm out.

[edit] I've been reading a lot of Marines jokes and such online, and I found a good website. Women and those easily offended shouldn't follow this link. And it's pretty long, but only about half of it is actually Marines stuff, and only about half of that is any good. But that's still some good stuff.
http://www.stevenshiles.com/mchumor5.html

Back in Twentynine Palms

It's good to be back in Cali, where there's zero rain and plenty of sun, and I'm almost too warm in my cammies in early February. Supposedly we're starting Comm School on Monday and finishing that on the 28th of March then hanging out briefly and flying off to the sandbox. We'll see, though, since I've learned not to take anything for fact until I'm in the middle of it. We've heard about six different versions of what we'll be doing in the past few days.

Supposedly, we get a wireless signal with internet in our squadbay, though none of us have of yet managed to make it work, so I'm at the internet shop right now paying something like 15 cents per minute. Hopefully that will change if and when I get to Comm School and am living in the barracks, but we'll see. If nothing else, I think I'll be slightly closer to here and the PX, maybe.

The past two days we have spent ten hours a day literally sitting doing nothing over near admin while they're supposed to be processing us back in. Fortunately, our command is pretty awesome and our company commander and company first sergeant encouraged us to bring in our many electronics devices to entertain ourselves, so I grabbed my PSP and mp3 player, which makes things slightly less boring between naps. Sounds like the same is planned for tomorrow. Yuck.

I've been in a really bad mood today. Just pretty down and withdrawn. This is a problem that could be solved if it was a normal Friday night back home. I could use a day off. But that's probably not in the cards until next weekend, and that's only if I get into comm school.

Certainly there's more to say but I can't come up with it and don't want to drop too much money. Take good care of yourselves, folks.

Augustana Observer article

The Augustana Observer, our school newspaper, did a front-page article on me. It was probably the only decent article they've published since I enrolled. Here it is for your viewing pleasure.

Oh yeah, and I bought a PSP with Liberty City Stories. And Predator and Sin City for the PSP. But I swear that's my only big purchase til I get back and can buy a nice truck or something to replace my dilapidated Camaro.

Man oh man is the Gladiator soundtrack good.

MCT...awful.

Well, MCT was not that fun. Granted, shooting machine guns and grenade launchers and throwing hand grenades is pretty cool, but after being spoiled by southern California's beautiful weather, the cold, wind, and rain of the North Carolina winter is bad enough to make the experience drag. Add in being treated like we're straight out of boot (like many of us were, but not me), and it got pretty tedious.

On the other hand, I learned to love MREs (meals ready to eat), and I truly appreciate every moment of sleep. Also, the training was definitely high speed, particularly things like the urban combat training and combat marksmanship drills, which are basically new, and, I'm told, particular to the Marine Corps, meaning your standard Army grunt's not going to get nearly the training I got. I'm told that in terms of combat training, regular Army infantry is about on par with Marines non-infantry, and in some ways not even close. Then again, I'm hearing that from some pretty biased people. Still, I prefer to believe it. Is it true that there's actually a ribbon in the Army for throwing a hand grenade? Because every Marine has thrown one. Let me know. (Oorah)

I made some pretty good buddies at MCT, including one who is a conservative libertarian poli sci major and into the same cigars I'm into. Good stuff. I was a fire team leader, and my fire team of five was (according to my lofty assumptions) far superior to all the other fire teams in our platoon of 97 in wit, intelligence, capability, and professionality. I can't remember exactly, but our average ASVAB percentile score was around 87, which is extremely high. I guess my being a genius didn't hurt that, but my capacity for modesty certainly didn't help, either.

I'm headed back for 29 Palms, or something. That's a huge runaround right now. As of tonight, we're either headed for 29 Palms, CA or Alameda, CA (near Oakland), though I also heard something about some awful Camp Wilson or some such. Lord knows. Not that it matters much to me; I just want out of North Carolina as soon as I can hop on any plane. I used to hate California because it is full of hippies, but when I realized how easy it is to ignore ignorance (especially in favor of eternally gorgeous weather), I learned to love it. Or at least Southern California, far removed from the evils of Berkeley and San Fran.

Point is, I'm heading back to my unit briefly to continue training with them until I get orders for communications school to learn to be a field radio operator, which will greatly assist me in my job as a prison guard in Iraq. I hope to spend just a little time there to catch up with my brother desolation angels before I pick up at comm school. Then by the time I finish with comm school, my unit should be in or near Iraq and there shouldn't be a problem catching back up with them, supposedly, so everything should be in order. Man, there's a lot of jumping through hoops just to head over to the Sandbox and do some hookin and jabbin, in the form of treating detainees with dignity and respect (blech). Some days I wish I'd gone straight infantry.

By the way, a lot of folks hear Marines and think of boot camp at Parris Island. Well, I'm here to tell you that PI must train a bunch of nasty pigs, because the San Diego-trained Marines seemed to be about the only locked-on devil dogs around. The heinous boots straight out of PI couldn't make a formation if their lives depended on it and certainly couldn't all shut up for more than five seconds. I'm a lot prouder to be a Hollywood Marine.

One thing I should mention, after bashing MCT so much, is that my instructors, while stern and impersonal, were outstanding and I really enjoyed them. Something about Marines being unapproachable and unyielding makes me appreciate it that much more when I see beneath the exterior to their real intentions, which are noble and selfless, and when we Iraq-bound Reservists were leaving today, they all treated us with great respect and well-wishing. I love Marines.

I really need sleep. I haven't gotten much in the last three weeks, and certainly not in anything resembling a bed. I should be updating with slightly more frequency in the days to come.

Romeo Kilo Whisky out.