Over 16,529,142 people are on fubar.
What are you waiting for?
I distinctly remember the day my journey in the Marine Corps began. It was the end of July 2005 and I was fresh out of high school full of ambition and curiosity. I had spent the past year in the DEP program preparing for the day I would step off for Parris Island. I was confident that my training and rigorous exercise had prepared me well for what would ensue but still had the fear of god instilled deep within me by the assumption of what kind of demonic creature my Drill Instructor’s would be.
31Jul2005, the time had finally come the culmination of sweat and hard work invested while in the DEP was about to be tested. That night I couldn’t sleep, my mind was an endless maze of nervousness, fear and the realization that I was about to embark on the most difficult test of my life. Would I pass the test of becoming a marine? I would find myself hours later still in the darkness of early morning sitting in front of my RS with my recruiter and a hand full of others steadying themselves for the leap into manhood.
As we drove to MEPS the nervous chatter slowly turned into a silence of mental preparations. The mood was still light but there was an unspoken understanding of just how unaware each of us where of what was to come. I remember stopping and wishing my friend Jon had been able to enlist in the buddy program with me, a familiar and friendly face would have been a great morale boost through all this.
We flew out of Newark Intl, it was my first time ever flying and my grip on the end of the arm rests tightened with every bump of turbulence. We landed briefly in Atlanta with a small lay over allotting us time to eat one last snack of junk food. From there it was on to Savannah, where were met by our liaisons and instructed to sit down and eat a box chow. A short time later we were on a bus aimed straight for the birth place of Marines.
I tried to get a last minute nap in, none of us knew when the next time we would get sleep was but I doubt anyone was able to truly get any worthwhile rest, our nerves were getting the best of all of us by this point. There was no movie playing on the televisions hanging from the ceiling, no music from a radio, just quiet chatter amongst some of the other passengers.
Than we came up on the main gate, all chatter immediately turned to silence and I could feel the adrenaline starting to pour through my veins. We drove for a short time and eventually turned a corner and directly outside of the window were the infamous yellow foot prints. By now you can feel the tension in the air, it could have been cut with a knife. Everyone was crowding to the right side of the bus waiting to see when that smoky bear would appear.
Looking back maybe five minutes had passed from when the bus had stopped moving but it felt like a lifetime, when out of nowhere like a rabid beast just released from years of captivity a drill instructor flew out of the receiving bay and was inside our bus in a matter of seconds. In a commanding stern voice he explained we were on Parris Island and that life as we knew was about to change forever.
With ferociousness unknown to me before this time he bellowed the order to get off his bus and onto his yellow foot prints. With an extreme sense of urgency we complied amidst the chaos and confusion all around us. We were hurried into the receiving bay stripped of our hair and personal belongings given a phone call home with strict instruction on exactly what to say and then hang up. We were than stuffed into a class room to wait. Our journey had now officially begun and we were taking our first steps toward becoming United States Marines.
The following three months were a blur of self destruction, desensitization, and the almost cult like transformation and reconstruction into members of the world’s elite fighting force. Competing in a platoon of almost 90, I worked my way up to squad leader appointed by my drill instructor as such. I held this billet through third phase, BWT(basic warrior training), and the Crucible earning a meritorious promotion to Private First Class.
After graduation while home on boot leave my recruiter had asked if I planned on going on RA(recruiters assistance) as a means to extend my time at home. I turned the offer down so I could begin Combat Training. The logic being, it’s already the end of October and it’s only going to get colder the longer I wait. So after my 10 days of leave I checked into MCT.
From MCT I moved on to my A School in Pensacola Florida to start my training as an Aviation Ordnance Systems Tech. I graduated from there with the 2nd Highest GPA. I than traveled back to North Carolina for C School where I was trained to a more specific level on fixed wing AAE (aircraft armament equipment). I graduated from this school with the 3rd Highest GPA even though I had failed my first test, I also received my first LOA(letter of appreciation) for volunteer work at the local elementary school.
I went home on 30 days of leave after graduation before I was to be sent to Iwakuni Japan. It was May of 2006 now. I checked into Marine Aviation Logistic Squadron 12 (MALS-12) on the 1st of June. After checking in I was immediately fapped to 990 as a replacement for a Marine who had been there for his allotted year. While working at 990 I earned two meritorious masts and an LOA for work both on and off duty.
My first meritorious mast was given in November of 2006 for my actions and participation during the Ordnance Rapid Improvement event in which I assisted in the divisions initiative to relocate the Common Rack and Launcher Test Set(CRALTS) to a climate controlled facility to maximize the units capacity and increase the divisions output. My contributions as a skilled ordnance technician were critical in ensuring the CRALTS was properly powered in conformance with service and original equipment manufacturer installation instructions. As a result the Ordnance department was able to employ the test set continuously without regard to outdoor temperatures and improve the squadrons ability to service the BRU-32A bomb ejector rack at anytime of the day or night.
My second meritorious mast was given in March of 2007 for my actions during the TAV-B evolution. During which I played an instrumental part in the staging and loading of 107 mobile facilities in 10 hours with zero man-hours lost to injury and zero cost to damaged equipment. The coordination and synergy with Marine Wing Support Squadron 171 and Marine Aircraft Group 12 resulted in the blueprint for a Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 12 mobile facility deployment process.
During my time at 990, in December of 2006 while working on the TAV-B evolution I incurred my first back injury, a herniated disc at L5-S1. I had surgery for this injury in June of 2007. After a brief recovery time I was sent back to my MOS as a 6541 I-level Ordnance Systems tech. Due to the extent of my injury I was placed in production control determining the work load and ops tempo for work centers 71D and 71B, as well as coordinating drop off and pick up of all AAE from all squadrons under MALS-12. I remained in this position until April of 2008 when I PCS’d back to CONUS.
Once back in CONUS I was released from production control and placed in work center 71D working with the CRALTS repairing bomb racks and missile launchers. While working at Ordnance I was also awarded my Good Conduct Medal in August of 2008 adding to my Global War on Terror, National Defense, and Overseas Service 2nd award.
I started experiencing increased back pain again due to the heavy lifting involved. Not long after which I started having shooting pains down my left leg, an all too familiar symptom of nerve damage. After being placed on light duty for this I was fapped out of my MOS again to work in Quality Assurance as the CTPL, ANCOIC.
During my time at CTPL I worked the discrepancy list on our data base NATEC down from over a hundred to single digits, as well as prepared the work center for the upcoming LOGMAT inspection. My back pain had persisted even with heavy lifting taken out of my daily routine, so I went to talk to a medical officer for further insight as to what could be causing this. After a few visits with him I was referred to a neurosurgeon out in town for a consultation.
My neurosurgeon advised me to get an MRI so he could better determine what was causing my symptoms. Upon completion of this, and after examination by my Dr. it was determined that my disc at L5-S1 had completely failed and was crushing down on my nerves causing recurring pain it was also noted that my disc at L4-L5 was beginning to deteriorate from over excursion. I was than scheduled for a second back surgery to correct this problem.
I went under the knife on April 20, 2009 and had a fusion performed at L5-S1 as well as six screws and four rods stemming up from the original injury sight to mitigate any further deterioration. I spent the next three months on convalescent leave recovering. The initial pain after surgery was immense but understandably routine. However as months passed this pain subsided but did not fully diminish.
I am currently still seeing my doctor out in town for further instruction on how to heal my injuries and eliminate this ongoing endeavor of pain. I have been placed on a limited duty status and have been actively involved in trying to get back to a 100% status. This has been a fulfilling and exciting tour of duty despite minor and major set backs’ along the way. I have overcome personal and professional hardships to arrive at my current position in my career, obtaining the rank of LCpl and eventually becoming a Non-Commissioned Officer of Marines. Even with personal injury and time away from family and friends my time in the Marine Corps will be remembered fondly and reminisced with my friends that I have made along the way.
