Updates Galore

Sorry faithful blog checkers (aka mom, grandma and Holly). My Internet has been down but now I'll fill you in what has happened in the last few days.

On Wednesday I had a surprise. Here's Pfc. Birk and I the morning I left for Kadena Air Base. Birk and I went to school together in Maryland so I was excited to know she'll be about 15 minutes away. I'm seeing all sorts of people from MOS school like:










Young and Rodriguez who will be deployed on a ship for the next few months. I know they'll be stopping in China and the Phillipines. I can't remember where else. They are both combat photographers. Rodriguez was one of the Marines who really helped me when I came to Fort Meade. He pushed me as a squad leader and has a lot of qualities I don't see in a lot of the young Marines I've met.

Here's Bianco. When I was at Fort Meade he was the A-Gunner (assistant gunner... 2nd in command of the squad). While Rodruigeuz was the attack dog Bianco was the more relaxed, let's just get this stuff done so we can go relax-type. When Rodrigeuz left, Bianco took over. I like Bianco because he is definately wild and crazy. He is a combat correspondent and writes for the Okinawa paper. He just had a front page story on motorcycle safety. Now he is headed for Nepal because he had a passport and the other people didn't. I'm glad I took the trip through England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland. Maybe I'll be able to use my passport... I just don't know anything about my job... I guess I'll have to learn quickly.

Also in the chow hall I met Pfc. Corral. He and I went to boot camp together. He also gave me a list of the Marines from boot camp he knows are on Okinawa. I'll have to try and get ahold of them. He was pretty quiet back in boot camp and now he's better at pull ups. It was a quick hello. I had to leave with Lance Corporal Means to get back to headquarters to wait for Gunnery Sergeant Stare to pick us up.