I would love for Cory to have seen it before he shipped off. Actually his original ship date was Nov. 7th, but it got bumped up.
He is ready....I have to borrow his courage cuz all I can do is remember the day he was born and I got to hold him alone in the room for the first time. Talk about intense. Im sure I will be going to see the movie when it comes out. Heck, I already subscribe to "Leatherneck" magazine!
I rememberd when I was in boot camp I said I was not going to cry when I called home for the first time(at the end of week 1). We were all acting tuff saying crying was for babbies and stuff like that. I cried like the biggest baby of all times when I called home, everyone did, but no one got made fun of
The single most important piece of advice I got about boot camp actually came from one of my Drill Instructors. SSgt Chandler said this... "When you get older and are out of the Marine Corps, the last thing you will want is to look back at boot camp and know you didn't give 100% of yourself, so make sure that everyday you give everything you have and you will have no regrets"... So, that is the advice I will pass on to him... Make sure you give everything you have. When you are in the pit and you feel like saying screw all this, just dig deeper and push harder. Don't ever quit... ever and you will be able to look back and know you did your very best. That is the best piece of advice one former Marine can pass on to a future Marine. Now, here are a few other tid bits to help you out....
2. Learn how to say "Aye Aye, Sir" really fast... I recommend saying "icer" it is what we were all saying by the end of boot camp
3. Volunteer... except for graduation day. I know they say never volunteer, but if you do, you will get lucky some of the time. Don't do it on graduation day because you will get stuck guarding the sea bags when everyone else is seeing their families... this almost happened to me.
4. Ask for people to write you before you go. Letters will be your savior in a couple of weeks. Make sure nobody sends you candy or anything... this is not a good thing.
5. JJDIDTIEBUCKLE - this will be your friend
6. Salute with your right hand, not your left, not both...
7. Never let another Drill Instructor tell you what to do when your Drill Instructor is standing right there. ONLY LISTEN TO YOUR DI WHEN HE IS PRESENT... you may get yelled at at first, but you will get his respect at the same time... our DI tested us on this once and had another DI try to drill our platoon... I was the only one that didn't move... he ended up giving me his shooting jacket before I graduated.
8. The Drill Instructors are playing games with you all the time. They don't hate you and they don't want you to fail. They do want you to think that, but they really do want you to succeed.
9. If they throw the guidon on the ground... dive to try and save it if you have to. They will do this to see who gets what it stands for... it stands for your platoon and it stands for everyone of the recruits in that platoon, so treat it like the American flag... don't ever let anyone outside of your platoon touch it... be mean if you have to while protecting it.
10. Keep a journal of your experiences. I didn't and I regret it everyday.
11. Be proud that you made a tough decision in your life. You picked the best and the hardest and that is something to be proud of. You will never regret your decision.
12. Forget the word "can't"... it won't be in your vocabulary in a couple of months.
13. Semper Fidelis - Always Faithful
Good luck brother. Have your address posted out here when you get it so we can all write you.
P.S. - Don't wear Marine Corps shirts around Marine Corps bases... everyone knows you are a Marine. However, DO wear the shirts at home... chicks dig Marines.
snip...
5. JJDIDTIEBUCKLE - this will be your friend
...end snip
Ah the 14 traits kept secret from the corporate workplace... :(
I learned it as Lt. Buck Jedi (x2 for each letter in lastname)
Let's see... Loyalty, Tact, Bering, Unselfeshness, Courage, Knowledge, Justice, Judgement, Enthusiasm, Endurance, Decisiveness, Dedication, integrity and (the last one I always forget) I think Intelligence...
Thanks for all those good tips! I made sure Cory saw those. Sure don't want to make things harder on yourself than it has to be huh? Im sure he will flub up, but thats how you learn.
Cory was offered and accepted the photo journalist job (very coveted position) but his colorblindness prevented him from being able to secure it. He failed that miserably, but passed every other test with flying colors. He will still doing computer work/networking/website/photo/etc.
He is happy with his job. What can you do? if your color blind your colorblind. He got that from my side of the family. :(
I was a Hollywood Marine. It was just a job for me. Got out right before Grenada. Never saw action except the time I disobeyed standing general orders not to go to Tiuquana, Mexico and got into a bar fight.
That ended my "career".
Today, I look back and know that it was the right decision to join the Corps. But, also looking at todays activites in other countries, all I have to say is 'God Bless'.
Parris Island is a tough place for recruits. Good luck.
For what it's worth, I always admire anyone who is prepared to put their head above the parapet to protect the freedoms of others. I should have done something like that, rather than sitting at home doing nothing in particular. Be proud, be very proud.
Kel, as a mom I know how very agonizing and equally very proud this moment must be for you. I'll keep you and your family in my thoughts...it would be very tough to see one of my boys leave the nest, but what he's doing is such a great and selfless thing.
Cory...best of luck to you and may you stay safe, sane, and ever aware of how much we appreciate what you are doing. Keep mom posted so she can keep us posted on how things are going for you.
I'm thrilled he qualified for the Marines. They have tough criteria for acceptence and my boy is clean, drug/alcohol free, pure and devoted to his faith. Sending the countries finest I tell ya!
I'll try and give reports as I get them. I have to learn how to write letters again! OH boy.
Sorry about the colorblindedness (is that even a word?). At least he's still going to be in some form related to photography. I'd never have guessed he was colorblind by the photo's he's got in his portfolio. Good luck to him.
And...please keep us informed. You never know though. He could WOW them with his photography and still end up in the job.
We knew he had some form of color defict but not to the extent that he does. I don't see how he functions as well as he does either, but sometimes he even has to correct my color adjustments....isn't that weird?
Hopefully he won't be sent to Iraq in the summer (or any other time) When my son was there it was 115 for days at a time and the wind blew the sand constantly. This is a picture of him in a sand storm. He said this was the true color because of the red sand.
my thoughts and prayers are with you... its hard for a mom to let their children go....harder in this case....He should be able to find a bit of time to call you, or send a quick note back to you. Don't forget his care packages...a quick picture, a note to say hi, a hug even written will help him get through bootcamp...
hopefully he read what the men said about bootcamp, and does it all :)
You sent a child to bootcamp.. he'll come back a man ..
::hug::
remember that we want to know how he's doing... and how you're handling things..
Try to make plans to go to Parris Island in JAnuary ;)
Adding my best wishes, may he sail through boot only to discover hostilities have been halted. A big second to the don't fall asleep in class-thing. They used to let us go stand in the back of the room if we got sleepy, that saved my butt.
