Accord
04-07-07, 01:47 PM
Private First Class Gordon, reporting as ordered.
I did it guys, I finally did it. I just graduted from platoon 2024 2nd Bn E Co. at Parris Island yesterday. My drill instructors were Senior Drill Instructor Staff Sergeant Perez, Senior Drill Instructor Staff Sergeant Damren, Drill Instructor Staff Sergeant Robinson, and Drill Instructor Sergeant Pearson. I did it, I AM A UNITED STATES MARINE I can't even f***ing believe it. This whole thing has been so surreal, on Thursday when my senior drill instructor stepped in front of me and placed that Eagle, Globe, and Anchor in my hand and said "Congratuations Marine" I was crying, my life long dream and it came down to that very moment. Between Thursday receiving my Eagle, Globe, and Anchor and becoming a United States Marine and yesteday marching across the parade deck in an epic Parris Island graduation ceremony, I could not be any happier right now.
We had 90 recruits on TD 1 and we graduated with only 58 original platoon members, 64 total including the pickups from MRP. The last 3 months of my life have been hell and Marine Corps boot camp was so much worse than I expected it to be.
I am home now on 10 days of leave and you guys have no idea how weird this is for me, coming home last night in the airport in my charlies and actually being able to just walk around freely. The first thing I did was buy a snickers candy bar. I am reporting to SOI ITB at Camp Geiger on 17 April. I have been detached from reality and society for the past 13 weeks, I feel so weird right now, it's really hard adapting back to the real world after going through what I just went through for the past 3 months, I can't even imagine how hard it's going to be to adapt back to the real world after I come back from Iraq.
Thank you all for the support and letters while I was there.
People have been asking me what boot camp was like, but I just don't know what to say or how to describe it, Parris Island is an insane place with chaos 24/7. It's bizarre, it's like not even real, it's like some 5th dimension quasi-alter universe. It is hell on earth and the things I went through I would not wish upon even my worst enemy. I have so much more to say about the hell i've just gone through that I don't even know where to begin, this was the best thing I have ever done and if I had to do it all over again I would do it in a heart beat, being a Marine is awesome and the hell I went through was so worth it.
Every platoon in bootcamp has 1 or 2 recruits who get ****ed up so much more than everyone else, well in platoon 2024 I was that recruit thanks to some care packages with an Air Force shirt, goatse pictures, among other things.
Before anyone asks for pictures, we hired a professional photographer for graduation and we'll be getting all the pictures back on Tuesday so i'll be posting a ton of them then.
I will say this, Marines are not made on the rapel tower, the pool, the crucible, o-course, confidence course, or any other **** or events like that, they're made inside the squadbays behind closed doors and all the Marines on here know what i'm talking about. When it got really bad for me I just kept saying to myself, that same drill instructor will be the first one to shake my hand on graduation day. And I was right.
A few quick notes, boot camp is now 12 weeks long instead of 13 weeks because they eliminated Team Week from the training schedule. Also, Dress Blues are now being issued to every single recruit, Hotel company who began training a couple weeks ago will be the first ones to have them issued, I had to buy my own. A lot of Marines in my platoon couldn't afford to buy Dress Blues, but after the hell I just went through i'll be damned if I left that island without my blues, so I bought mine.
I am just at a loss for words right now, I have no idea what to even say. I am overwhelmed with emotion.
Semper Fi
PFC Gordon
I did it guys, I finally did it. I just graduted from platoon 2024 2nd Bn E Co. at Parris Island yesterday. My drill instructors were Senior Drill Instructor Staff Sergeant Perez, Senior Drill Instructor Staff Sergeant Damren, Drill Instructor Staff Sergeant Robinson, and Drill Instructor Sergeant Pearson. I did it, I AM A UNITED STATES MARINE I can't even f***ing believe it. This whole thing has been so surreal, on Thursday when my senior drill instructor stepped in front of me and placed that Eagle, Globe, and Anchor in my hand and said "Congratuations Marine" I was crying, my life long dream and it came down to that very moment. Between Thursday receiving my Eagle, Globe, and Anchor and becoming a United States Marine and yesteday marching across the parade deck in an epic Parris Island graduation ceremony, I could not be any happier right now.
We had 90 recruits on TD 1 and we graduated with only 58 original platoon members, 64 total including the pickups from MRP. The last 3 months of my life have been hell and Marine Corps boot camp was so much worse than I expected it to be.
I am home now on 10 days of leave and you guys have no idea how weird this is for me, coming home last night in the airport in my charlies and actually being able to just walk around freely. The first thing I did was buy a snickers candy bar. I am reporting to SOI ITB at Camp Geiger on 17 April. I have been detached from reality and society for the past 13 weeks, I feel so weird right now, it's really hard adapting back to the real world after going through what I just went through for the past 3 months, I can't even imagine how hard it's going to be to adapt back to the real world after I come back from Iraq.
Thank you all for the support and letters while I was there.
People have been asking me what boot camp was like, but I just don't know what to say or how to describe it, Parris Island is an insane place with chaos 24/7. It's bizarre, it's like not even real, it's like some 5th dimension quasi-alter universe. It is hell on earth and the things I went through I would not wish upon even my worst enemy. I have so much more to say about the hell i've just gone through that I don't even know where to begin, this was the best thing I have ever done and if I had to do it all over again I would do it in a heart beat, being a Marine is awesome and the hell I went through was so worth it.
Every platoon in bootcamp has 1 or 2 recruits who get ****ed up so much more than everyone else, well in platoon 2024 I was that recruit thanks to some care packages with an Air Force shirt, goatse pictures, among other things.
Before anyone asks for pictures, we hired a professional photographer for graduation and we'll be getting all the pictures back on Tuesday so i'll be posting a ton of them then.
I will say this, Marines are not made on the rapel tower, the pool, the crucible, o-course, confidence course, or any other **** or events like that, they're made inside the squadbays behind closed doors and all the Marines on here know what i'm talking about. When it got really bad for me I just kept saying to myself, that same drill instructor will be the first one to shake my hand on graduation day. And I was right.
A few quick notes, boot camp is now 12 weeks long instead of 13 weeks because they eliminated Team Week from the training schedule. Also, Dress Blues are now being issued to every single recruit, Hotel company who began training a couple weeks ago will be the first ones to have them issued, I had to buy my own. A lot of Marines in my platoon couldn't afford to buy Dress Blues, but after the hell I just went through i'll be damned if I left that island without my blues, so I bought mine.
I am just at a loss for words right now, I have no idea what to even say. I am overwhelmed with emotion.
Semper Fi
PFC Gordon