Monday. Day 1 of the rest of my life

I woke up before I was set to be woken up because I had to go to the bathroom. Immediately my cell phone went off. I went and took a shower quick. The water pressure was quite low and made me want to get out ASAP. My uniform was set out already and soon I was downstairs. I met up with a group of Marines who were going to the chow hall. We signed out and left.














These are the barracks that I am staying at. They are quite nice and every 2 rooms share a bathroom.














They knew where they were going. They had been here a few days already. We had to go down a steep hill and then follow the road to the chow hall.














I met a Marine named Martell who recognized me immediately. Apparently, we had gone to Marine Combat Training together. He said he remembered me but I didn't really remember him. It's been like 6 months.














The chow hall reminded me of a Denny's. It had a nice set up to it all. There were actual Marine cooks there that made my scambled eggs and then I grabbed a bowl of frosted flakes and a glass of milk and it was all delicious.
We were back in time for the 0700 formation. We were given time to grab our things and come back out to go to the buses to be transported where they do some of the administrative work. We ended up getting our travel claims taken care of (I guess I'll have about $400 coming back wahoo!) and we also got our meal cards. Plus, they also saw if the paperwork was all good.

We spent most of the time sitting around. Some listened to ipods, some tried to not look like they were sleeping and others read books or stared into space. I started reading my book Turn Around & Run Like Hell: Amazing Stories of Unconventional Military Strategies That Worked by Joseph Cummings. It's full of awesome stories of these crazy plans that end up working. For example, today I learned if I set a bunch of camels on fire toward charging elephants that the elephants will get scared and run back toward their own troops and trample them. It's so crazy it worked.

I also took my little blue notepad and started transfering my notes over to a larger notebook so I can figure out what I need to find and download and what Internet links to bookmark etc. It's taking awhile. Good busy work.

When I went to lunch with Lance Corporal Means we passed this small steam that had turtles and large fish swimming in it.














Later after all that admin work was finished we were released to go eat dinner, but we had to clean the barracks that night. I went out to dinner with a few Marines who showed me "The Spot" an area on base that has resturants, a barber shop and an Internet cafe.














I ended up eating lunch with a female Marine named Foster. She was reading a book on Ronald Reagan. I told her it probably wouldn't be a good idea if I talked about politics with her. Instead we talked about where we'd like to travel and what we'd like to do when we're out of the Marine Corps. She wants to become a police officer.

After our quick accountability formation we started cleaning.