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