What they've missed...

The new Marines of Platoon 2106 have been in boot camp since July 19, without the opportunity to read the morning newspaper or watch the nightly news. Away from MCRD and Camp Pendleton, a lot has been happening:

The day boot camp started, the oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico was the lead story nationwide. BP’s blown-out well 40 miles off the Louisiana coast was sealed from the top on July 15, four days before the recruits shipped off. It took another two months for the well to be permanently plugged with cement in an operation known as the “bottom kill.”

Also on July 15, the Los Angeles Times first reported that Robert Rizzo, the city manager in Bell, one of Los Angeles County’s poorest cities, was making nearly $800,000 a year, and several City Council members were pulling in nearly $100,000 a year for part time work. The revelation sparked outrage from Bell residents, and a review of salaries in cities nationwide. On Sept. 21, eight Bell officials were arrested, along with Rizzo, who faces up to 58 years in prison if convicted.

It’s unlikely any of the recruits heard of Jackie Evancho or Christine O’Donnell, but both quickly became national sensations during the past 13 weeks. Evancho, a 10-year-old singer inspired by “The Phantom of the Opera,” on Aug. 10 first dazzled viewers of “America’s Got Talent” with her powerful, adult-sounding voice. She surprisingly lost in the season finale to a shy blues singer from Mississippi, Michael Grimm. For her part, O’Donnell pulled off an upset win in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate on Sept. 14, becoming a darling of the right and a lampoon target of the left for views she expressed on a variety of topics years earlier.

What’s bacon and hash browns without scrambled eggs? Americans found out in August after more than 1,500 became sick after eating eggs produced at farms in Iowa. The salmonella illnesses led to a recall of 550 million eggs.

U.S. combat troops finished pulling out of Iraq on Aug. 19, leaving about 50,000 servicemen in the country, working mainly as a training force.

“Mad Men” and “Modern Family” were named the top drama and comedy series, respectively, at the 62nd Emmy Awards on Aug. 22. “The Pacific” won for best miniseries.

The new fall TV season officially started Sept. 20. Eight days later, the critically acclaimed series about a Texas con man leading a double life, “Lone Star,” was pulled from Fox’s primetime schedule after just two airings, making it the first casualty of the young season.

After a cooler-than-normal summer, on Sept. 28 the temperature in Los Angeles reached 113 degrees – the highest ever in records that date back to 1877. Then the thermometer stopped working.

From the “What will Google do next?” department. The Internet giant announced that it has been testing unmanned vehicles on city streets and highways. Seven test cars have logged 1,000 miles without human intervention and more than 140,000 miles with only occasional human control. One even went down San Francisco’s Lombard Street, one of the steepest and curviest streets in the nation. The only accident was when one Google car was stopped at a traffic light, and it was rear-ended.

George Lucas announced that the six star wars movies will be converted into 3-D and released in theaters, starting with “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace” in 2012.

Among the recruits, a fair number of them are likely baseball fans – although Josh is not among them. Those who are may be surprised to know they missed history in the first round of the Major League Baseball playoffs. Roy Halladay of the Philadelphia Phillies tossed a 4-0 no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds on Oct. 6. It was the second playoff no-hitter in history, and the first since Don Larsen threw a perfect game for the New York Yankees against Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1956 World Series.

An Aug. 6 cave-in trapped 33 miners a mile below ground in Chile. Following an international rescue effort compared to the one staged for the Apollo 13 crew, the miners were pulled from the depths – one by one – starting Oct. 12.

Since July 19, we’ve lost George Blanda (NFL Hall of Fame quarterback and kicker), writer and TV series creator Stephen J. Cannell (“The A-Team,” “The Rockford Files”), Oscar nominated actor Tony Curtis (“The Defiant Ones”), director Arthur Penn (“Bonnie and Clyde,” “Little Big Man”), Billie Richards (the voice of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in the 1964 TV special), Leonard Skinner (the tongue-in-cheek inspiration for the 1970s rock ’n’ roll band Lynyrd Skynyrd), and Oscar nominated actress Gloria Stewart (“Titanic”).

See, you really do miss a lot when you’re away for 13 weeks.