See you in the fleet, Sergeant Jean.

  Last tuesday, Sergeant Jean had to go back to his station in Camp Lejune. It was a bitter sweet day because his workouts for PT are SO difficult, but he was a real good Marine. He was funny, but when it came down to business it was all work no play. I hope that I see him in the fleet one day

Stress Stress STRESS!!

  Well, It's been a while since I've been here and I blame prom and graduation. Prom has me up the wall! I never knew it could be so stressful! I'm trying to finish all that up so I can have my full concentration and dedication to my project and the rest of my classes! Last week was pretty much the same deal except we did not  have PT on wednesday. I PT so much that I feel lost whenever we don't have PT! Recently, I've tried getting all the tips and pointers that all the Marines that just get out of bootcamp tell me and have everybody do them at PT! We are there to get ready for bootcamp, and my job as guide is to better not only myself or the workouts, but my fellow pooles. I have been focusing a lot more on the little things of bootcamp. For example, "sounding off" refers to acknowledging and basically screaming as loud as you can after every command. We will have to say "aye sir" "yes sir" or "no sir" A LOT to our Drill Instructors, so I am having them do it now. Also, everything in bootcamp is done with speed and intensity, meaning everything done is fast and loud. When we run we have to "form it up" and then I count down "10 seconds." Its more like 5 because that's what they do in bootcamp.

On tuesday we had Gunny chancay PT us. I didn't think it was too bad but the rest of the pooles with the exception of a few looked like they were going to die. Anyway, his PT was basically to show us how bootcamp is going to be. Doing a lot of things we will do in bootcamp. He shared with us that he is leaving to california within the next month or two. He also shared that the mission of the recruiters is to prepare us for bootcamp and that it takes, on average, about two weeks for our RSS FTL recruits to get acustomed to the stress at bootcamp. His goal is to cut that time down in hopes of graduating honor grads.

uhh..

Monday, marks my 90 day until bootcamp. Its getting closer and closer. I'm growing more and more anxious. I feel like I'm ready, I've been preparing physically and my recruiters have been preparing me mentally for almost 6 months. Not only is bootcamp getting closer but so is prom and graduation. Everybody talks about it, but actually realizing that after this year my life completely changes is still hard to fathom. Its a rollercoaster of emotions, but I'm enjoying the ride, a lot.

Beach day with Marines

  Everybody thinks BBQ at the beach would be relaxing and fun. Nobody pictures a crazy workout! This saturday was another monthly poole function at the beach. We arrived at the station at 730 took roll, and headed to the beach around 9. We set up the benches and everything and had a quick stretch. They destroyed us with circuit training. The fact that we were at the beach made it worse because the sand made it harder to do everything we tried to do. Even running was harder than it usually is. It was awesome though because we ran by the water and everybody was clapping and stuff. Felt kind of proud. We even had people approach the tent and thank us including NY's finest. After the work out we had a BBQ and had some fun in the sun!

"I haven't been this sore in a while"

  Tuesday was by far one of the most challenging PTs ever. I don't mean to come off concieted, but before then I hadn't been sore in a while. After 5 months of going to PT three days a week gets you into shape. Sergeant Jean knows some insane "grunt" workouts. Even I was sore. We were all hurting after that one. He makes it as realistic as possible by throwing in curve balls. For example, we thought we were all done with PT, we even started a cooldown stretch. Then, he threw in another part of PT out of no where!

Marine Corps vs. Army

  Of course, I respect all men and women in uniform, but up to a certain degree. If we're talking about selfless people who do extraordinary things, I can't possibly deny that any man or woman wearing a uniform is that kind of person; however, if we're talking about the best, I can't possbily deny that any Marine is just that. My brother and I are always fueding over Marines vs. Army. Marines have tougher training and held up to a higher standards. Of course my brother disagreed and said the Army is just as good if not better. I can see first hand that is not the case because we NEVER see army pooles working out. So I told my brother if you don't think Marines are hard then come to PT with me. This past monday, he came with me to PT. Lucky for him, it was raining real hard and started to thunder so I had to end it early; however, he did get to do some type of workout with us. We did circuit training for about 20 minutes. When he got to my station he came up to me and said man this is some pretty hardcore stuff. It was pretty funny because he looked like he was going to die.