First Squad Leader

Hello everyone!!

So there has been a little bit of confusion over the address to send to my brother....We have discovered that 36001 or 38001 both work so just use the address I put in my first post. We've all been getting letters here and there from him...He's been so busy but is pretty good at writing back. He keeps saying that letters are like gold there and loves getting mail. But here's a quick update on him now!

Jason has already been there for a month AND he has already bought graduation pictures and his uniform for graduation...Can you believe it?! He says he's going to get 30 wallet size pictures and doesn't know what to do with them so if you want one, holler at me.

My mom sent him some food and other families have sent his squad mates food and they all share it together,

On Monday, the 3rd, they had the confidence course which is a series of obstacles that, "are more about having balls and not being scared of heights," more than anything else- his words, not mine. He didn't get to do all the courses though because they had so many people in their company. For physical stuff they maiunly had martial arts and this circuit martial arts course which he says sucked.

What is super exciting is that he is first squad leader! They rearranged the house by squads and his new rackmate, Velasco, is really awesome he said. He said that they did really poorly at the marching and practice for Initial Drill and their Senior Drill Instructor was so mad that he didn't pass out the mail, which really sucked.

He also got his debit cards and military ID (apparently his picture sucks because he took it the second day he was there). At their Initial Drill, Jason's squad went first out of the six platoons and this put them at a big disadvantage but they placed third, which made his instructor happy.

Now they also had a Combat Fitness Test (CFT) which sounds like it was pretty brutal. It consists of a 800 m sprint, 30 lb ammo can lifts, and a movement under fire course. He told us to youtube it and here's a demonstration of something similar to what Jason had to do if any of you are interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3lmdEVXO-M

Jason's squad won first place overall for the CFT and his Senior Instructor was really happy and they got to watch the movie 300.

Right now he is doing swim week and he failed the tread water test---which we were shocked to hear since Jason is such a strong swimmer!!! He was surprised too and is going to retake it. He said he knows it was a fluke but swimming in combat utilities and boots is really tough.

He also told me in my letter that he signed up for a GI bill where he had to pay some money and after he's done with his 4 years, they will give him money for school including flight school and this has always been a dream of my brother's so hes pretty pumped about it. And if he doesn't use it, it gets transferred to his wife and kids but only if he stays in the marines for 10 years.

But anyways he is starting Phase two at Camp Pendleton next week so he might not be as quick to write back but keep writing to him because it really is whats keeping him going! If you have any funny pictures or news to send him too, he would love that.

If anyone is interested in learning more about the camp my brother is at, here is the Facebook link you can like! It's pretty interesting actually. https://www.facebook.com/mcrdsd

Thanks for reading and thinking of my brother! We're so proud of him and he seems to be doing well! I'll try to post again soon :)