First Week of Boot...aka Recruit Training!
Brian arrived at MCRD SD (Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego) late on August 11, 2008. We had been told not to expect to hear from him, but were pleasantly surprised when at 11:11 pm PDT, Brian called on the home phone to inform us that he had arrived. It was a scripted call, "Recruit Conom calling to inform you that he has arrived safely at MCRD. This Recruit is doing well. I love you. Bye." John was fortunate to have answered the phone. After the 10 second call, John ran upstairs, with the biggest, brightest smile and told me that Brian had just called. I am so happy that John answered the call. Just seeing his happy face was so awesome! On Friday, August 15, 2008, approximately 7 pm PDT, we received another call from Brian. Danny and I were camping at Deception Pass at the time. John called us on my cell phone (thank goodness for cellular technology!) and told us.... "Bri called! He is doing great! He sounded really really good@" Brian had told John that the entire platoon (about 95 - 100 Recruits) had a total of 15 minutes to make calls home. He said that they had started training a couple of days earlier and all was good. I called my mom right after talking to John to tell her about the call, but she already knew all about it
because my most wonderful husband had called his mother in law immediately to tell her all about it. I was so touched by this. John is such a good man.
September and October 2008!
I wrote Brian every single day that he was gone at Boot. Believe it or not, I kept my letters fairly short, never more than one page in length (okay both sides of the paper, I suppose, counts as two pages - details details!!). I often sent him Marine jokes or Recruit questionnaires that were pretty funny. Of course, John, molly and Danny also wrote to him. Countless others wrote to Brian during his time at Boot as well... Both of his Yiayias, Aunts, Uncles, Godmother, even a Great uncle from Detroit, family friends, former teachers and
principals, cousins, my child care cherubs ... and the list goes on. This Recruit definitely knew he was missed and loved. He was so very fortunate to have so much support and encouragement from so many people.
Brian sent home a total of nine letters over the course of the 13 weeks of Boot Camp. As I hadn't expected him to write at all, I felt quite blessed. I didn't exactly stalk the Main Man, but I did find that whenever there was a letter from Bri, it was always placed very carefully on top of the stack of mail, so it was the first thing I saw when I opened our box! A couple of times, our Mail Man even delivered the mail personally to my door! Most of Brian's letters were short - perhaps 3-4 lines. It would take everyone in the family many days to decipher his handwriting. Molly proved to be the most skilled decoder! His letters would say "Hi Family, How are you. I'm having fun..... ." A couple of letters were actually two pages long!!!! These took a little longer to decipher. It also took several more family and friends to assist in the decoding task! I would photocopy the letter and everyone would 'write in' their interpretation of the letter. It became quite a fun challenge actually.
In October, Brian was selected for Special Forces - Presidential Support Duty testing. He spent several hours with psychological assessments and such. In the end five out of fifty Recruits were selected. Brian declined the 'offer' saying he thought that one to two years of active duty in Washington DC, guarding the President of the United States, would be boring. Of course, Yiayia Vivie said she liked the idea of Brian being bored in Washington DC!
All in all, Brian's letters always sounded upbeat and positive. He said that the first few days in August, he got yelled at a lot by his DIs (Drill instructors), but that he figured it out quickly, so they moved onto others. He continually talked about shooting his weapons and had great respect for his DIs.
When Brian enlisted, he thought of going into RECON (Reconnaissance) for his MOS (Military Occupational Specialty). Along the way, he changed his mind and decided that he soooo very much enjoyed the whole shooting of weapons and such that perhaps, down the road, he may want to become a Marksman Instructor, so he selected Infantry 0311 Rifleman as his MOS. The training for this will begin after he is through Boot.
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