One down, 12 to go

Josh has now completed his first week of boot camp.

While I don’t know exactly how he’s doing, I’m confident he’s doing well. The reason: We’ve been told more than once that no news is good news. And so far, there has been absolutely no news – no first night phone call, letter or word from his recruiter or anyone else with the Marine Corps. So, like I said, that’s great news when I wonder how Josh is doing.

By this point, Josh and the other members of his platoon likely have listened to lectures about the history of the Marine Corps – something Josh studied on his own well before he joined the Delayed Entry Program. He also has marched in formation and learned the basics of how to use weapons safely.
On Friday, he met for the first time his drill instructors, the men charged with forming the recruits into Marines. On several occasions in the days leading up to his departure for boot camp, Josh said that he couldn’t wait for that first Friday – the day he would meet the DIs.

Hopefully, that was still the case when D-Day, make that DI-Day, arrived.

With the start of the second week now here, his training has likely shifted to “combat water survival” – basically how to stay afloat in full combat gear. Unlike his brother, Andy, Josh has never shown a desire to just go swimming. Sure, he’s gone many times into the pools at the homes of relatives, and has always had a great time. But often after a short while he ends up out of the pool and into the Jacuzzi. It will be interesting to find out how big of a challenge this week was for him.

Finally, a couple of notes: Bob, thank you for posting the link to the story about the School of Music. It was interesting reading for me, and I’m sure it will be for Josh, too. And, Kevin, thanks for including the link to your blog. It looks like you’ve put a lot of work into it; it’s very informative.