Why do I love my job?

This Marine epitomizes the reason I serve as a career planner. I could not be more proud of the Marines with whom I serve and who represent themselves and their country with honor, courage, and commitment every single day... come hell, high water, or the occasional freak sand storm.

Weather Bug

Last night I thought we were filming a remake of "The Wizard of Oz". The winds were blowing at about 40 miles an hour and there was lightning everywhere to boot. Then the rain started. Not just a nice light sprinkle like we had a couple days ago. This was rain that made EVERYTHING get wet. Water dripped through the roof in my bunk area, the generator shorted out, and we even had a corporal nearly drown in a large puddle. OK, that last part was a joke, but our electrical tech did get shocked when he tried to get the power back on. Oh well. This morning broke nice and clean and it was almost like the weather never happened, except for the puddles everywhere. You know... I know that I've posted about the rain before, but trust me... I'd rather post about the rain than about the 100+ degree weather I'm bound to be tired of by the time October gets here.

This, That, and T'other

Well, I was going to copy this list from my wife's blog and just change the answers for myself. You know, like those annoying chain mail letters I keep getting that ask me for my favorite drink and what-not (anything that's not warm water, by the way)? But as soon as I started going through it, I realized it's completely designed for the softer side of the human race. After all, I don't wear a bra and I don't wear perfume (although I'm sure there are people who think I should do both, but that's another entry) so I can't answer those "questions" with any integrity.

Therefore, I'll just pitch a fit about the weather again. Two days ago the mercury rose to 100 degrees on the Fahrenheit scale, then yesterday started out nice and toasty (about 95F) before a big dust storm rolled through and covered my sweat soaked clothes in a fine layer of mud. Then today it rained. Yes, you read that right. It does actually rain out here, amazingly enough. I'm not really looking forward to tomorrow. I'm thinking it's going to be hot again, which will only serve to make it sticky as the water on the ground evaporates and drives the humidity up. But, I'm not a meteorologist, so I may be well off base about that (knock on wood).

I did learn that my daughter is getting closer and closer to taking her first real steps. My only regret is that I can't be there to see it and cheer her on, like I did with my boy. I'll be there for her most important steps, though... first day of school... across the stage to get her diploma... off to college... down the aisle to get married... (By the way, little one, I'm only doing that one once.) Fortunately I was still home when she cut her first teeth, so that's something, and my wife is keeping me pretty up-to-date with pictures and other communications. Thank God for this technology. This would not have been even remotely possible the last time I was out here.

What's wrong with this picture?

So I'm checking the Marine Corps' home page and I see this story about a motivated father skating with his kids. Looks like fun, but then the Marine in me kicked in and I asked myself, "What's wrong with this picture?"

Anyone wanna take a guess? Think safety and look again.

WHERE IS HIS HELMET? WHERE ARE HIS KIDS' HELMETS?

As the Master Control Program from "TRON" used to say...

End of Line

get some!

Got my first taste of no-kidding combat a few days ago. Wasn't as nerve wracking as I thought it would be. Guess all those years of playing video games are finally starting to pay off. Of course, IED's are a lot scarier when you're close to them and not in a vehicle. Still, everything came out okay and I can now say that I've been out there and I understand what these guys go through every day. I think I'm going out again in a couple of days to help with some road repairs. Go figure. Not only do we have to show these people that they're allowed to make their own decisions without fear of recrimination, now we have to fix their roads too. Oh well, it'll make a definite impact on this neighborhood for the positive, that's for sure.
On a sour note, we have our first memorial service scheduled for tomorrow. While I don't think it's realistic to hope it's our only one, it would be nice if it were one of a very few while we're here. The commandant stopped by today to motivate us while we choke on this fine dust that gets into EVERYTHING! I guess it went okay, he didn't come to my workspace so I never saw him. That's alright. It's more the men standing the actual posts and doing the everyday patrolling that need to see him anyway.
Got a box from my wife yesterday that had my magazine and calendar in it. Now I can count down the days until I get to go back to beautiful, sunny SoCal! I think we're somewhere in the 175 day range. SHEESH!

Rain?!

Okay, I thought I was in a desert region... WHY IS IT RAINING? Don't get me wrong, with the rain comes a greatly reduced likelihood of dust storms, so that's a good thing, but at the same time now we have to pay extra attention to make sure our gear doesn't rust out on us. Ach!

Anyway, just found out my grandma isn't doing too well. I was hoping she would make it to Christmas so she could meet Leah. I'm still hoping, but I'm not sure anymore.

From what I understand, things back home are going about as well as can be expected. Looks like Trey's found himself a school and should be starting next month. Leah's starting to crawl, which means she'll be walking in no time once she realizes that it's faster to walk rather than crawl. All the stuff I didn't want to miss...

Oh well, like my blog title says... "It's a Living" and sometimes you have to make personal sacrifices for the greater good. After all, if I wasn't over here they would have grabbed someone else and that would just be selfish of me.

Two cents

On Friday(I think) I sent this link to my sister and she wrote me back saying...

I think that all these people who are so against this war with what seems to be a righteous indignation really have no clue and should talk to the folks who are actually fighting the war before making their judgements. All I hear about around work is how awful this all is and how evil and we shouldn't be involved and yadda yadda yadda. And don't get me wrong, it IS awful...but we're there now and it would be irresponsible of us to just stop working at the job set before us. Coworkers don't understand how I'm NOT against this effort since my brother is a marine... I tell them it's BECAUSE he's a Marine that I'm supportive. By shouting about the injustice of our actions, we're in effect telling our soldiers that their jobs do not matter and that they themselves are evil for participating in this "evil"event. And I just can't stomach that. If we REALLY want to support our military, then we need to get behind their efforts 100% instead of fighting the funding and preaching against their actions. Just my two cents....

Thanks, Sis.

By the way, after watching that piece about blogging getting people fired, I would just like to point out that my sister did not authorize me to copy this to my blog and should not be held accountable if any of her co-workers are too wussy to be proud of what they said.

Also, did anyone stop to consider that when their comments against America and her actions are generalized in surveys and published by the anti-Bush/anti-America media that it only encourages those who seek to do us harm? Think about it. If you told me that I shouldn't eat red meat while wearing you're wearing a leather jacket, what kind of message does that send? Same idea with "Support our Troops, not the War." Anybody who encourages war and actively seeks it (like Saddam did for 30 years) should be removed from power. There's a creed in the Corps...

"While nobody likes to fight, we are firmly committed to the belief that somebody has to know how."

Anyway, my wife sent me a link to this site and I thought I'd pass it along.

That's my two cents and "That's the bottom line!" as Steve Austin would say.