I'm sorry you died, Warren.

Hehe, His BODY might have died Adam, but His spirit came back all dressed in white! Just like the light fluffy clouds he wants so badly to play among! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

See, I didn't say a word about all the nasty rashes the baby powder will prevent! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

And like you said, a good lesson was learned, THE EASY WAY. White powder is much better than something red and sticky. Congratulations on your success, you beat the odds and learned a valuable lesson.

train how you fight? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Me too. Oddly enough, it death doesn't feel much different than life.

This has been an interesting thread, thanks for sharing

I agree with Bill on this, this has been a really good thread, Thanks JJ.

two thumbs up!

Well, we got released early for the weekend and I plan to relax and let my bones heal. I can see beer and pro bowl in my future.

Today we spent a few hours on computer simulators for call for fire. We used three different methods; grid, polar and shift. Grid method is when you locate the target on a map and send in grid coordinates. Polar is when you locate yourself using a GPS and send in your coordinates and the azimuth toward the target and the guesstimated distance. Shift is used for the previous two methods to "walk" the rounds onto the target. That is the dumbed down version of it. We get to call in actual artillery rounds on the ranges in a week. I am going to blow some &%$# up!!!

There are quite a few black belt instructor trainers attending the course, and against our better judgement we have decided to spend an hour after class each day training in MCMAP (Marine Corps Mixed Martial Arts). MCMAP was developed by UFC champs like Randy Couture and modified with experienced combat vets with artial arts training to integrate weapons like rifles, knives and weapons of opportunity. This is the end of the first week of MCMAP training and my body can feel the extra strain from being thrown around added to class PT. I will stick it out though and get my green belt before returning to my command.

We learned that we are the first class in the entire Corps to go through the newest curriculum. This came up when a student asked our director why we haven't done any drill besides forming for PT. The powers above decided to do away with a majority of the ceremonial stuff and make this course more physically demanding and focus on combat a lot more. The director said this is the highest attrition rate he has seen this early in a course. He was happy about it because the Corps is downsizing and this is a great way to prevent the weak from having this course on his official record, which helps for promotion. If you are not promoted past SGT by year ten, you will get orders to report from whatever division you are in to 1st Civ. Div(1st Civilian Division).

I'll sign off with the Marine Corps NCO (Noncommissioned Officer) Creed

"I am an NCO dedicated to training new Marines and influencing the old. I am forever conscious of each Marine under my charge and by example will inspire them to the highest standards possible. I will strive to be patient, understanding, just and firm. I will commend the deserving and encourage the wayward.

I will never forget that I am responsible to my commanding officer for the morale, discipline and efficiency of my Marines, and their performance will reflect an image of me."

I went to the base exchange for a bottle or two of Merlot. Couldn't resist picking this up, and it is surprisingly good for an $8 bottle.

Never really was one for wine. Guess I got bit to much by Mad Dog, Boons Farm and the other REALLY high quality wines of the 70's! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/barf.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

That's good initiative to get that green belt on your own time, it's showing some will power. Looking at that bottle of wine is making my mouth water. Think I'll swing by the package store (okay liquor store) and snag a bottle. I agree with the others, this has been a stellar thread. Thanks for taking time to keep it updated.

I aced my call for fire virtual simulation today and plan to do the same with the real deal in a week or so.

It is getting serious here. Today's PT session was a 7 mile run in boots and utes (utes is short for utilities, what we call the camo uniform slacks) with light 20 lb packs that felt like 100 lbs after 5 miles. This run was from the bottom of base (it is on the side of a small mountain ridge) to the top and then across the ridge ridge line then back down. You can see the trail we ran in this image I took a few weeks ago.



It was a Popsicle-stick run. The Marine at finish line handed out popsiclesticks with numbers on them. First place got a stick with 1 on it and so on ... They add all the numbers up then divide them by the number of Marines in the platoon. The lowest result wins the PT competition. It is one of many physical competition among the platoons. It goes toward "honor platoon" awards at the end. I came in 12 out of 60 something sergeants. We get the results for the platoons tomorrow.