Josh officially completed Marine Corps boot camp on 12 January 2007 with the rank of Private First Class (PFC)! I have uploaded quite a few pictures on our gallery that show his final training (a 4 mile motivational run) and ceremonies. Josh is currently on leave for 10 days, but gets an extra 7 days at home while he works at the Marine Corps recruiting office where he was recruited as his temporary duty station.

Once Josh finishes his time home, he will head back to San Diego for 3 more weeks of intense training. Then we believe he will be shipped directly to Pensacola, FL for 18 weeks of MOS training for Aviation Mechanics.

We are all very proud of Josh and are enjoying visiting with him while he is at home!

One of the things Josh’s drill instructors recommended is to shoot an AK-47 while they are on leave. They said this because they need to know their enemy’s weapons in order to know what they are capable of and in case they need to pick up their enemy’s weapon and use it in battle. I just happened to have a good friend that owns an AK-47 and an AR-15. So we went to the nearby shooting range this past Saturday and let Josh get used to an AK-47 for the first time! We had a lot of fun shooting targets 50 yards away!

We wish Josh all the best during his next training stages in the US Marine Corps.

In my parent’s preparations for our trip to San Diego to watch my brother graduate into a US Marine, they came across a very informative website that outlines what is going to take place. This site offered a lot of tips and tricks in order for families to get the very most out of their trip! We are all very excited and anxious to see what the last 12 weeks have been like for Josh. My Mom, just yesterday, started bouncing up and down saying how excited she was to go to San Diego and see Josh… I thought it was pretty funny!

The trip for us starts on Wednesday (10 Jan) with a 9:10am direct flight to San Diego, CA. Thursday we get to spend most of the day on-base with Josh as our tour guide. Friday is the big graduation! Saturday we have reserved for sight-seeing in San Diego. Then Sunday is the flight back home. Due to our late reservations, the seven of us returning home are spread across 3 different flights with me having a stop in LA.

I guess since I’m writing a blog about this, my Mom’s not the only one really excited about the trip!