Reflections on the Corps: What it's all about

This week has been a busy one.  I accepted my PEB findings this past Monday.  What does that mean?  It means I’m getting out a lot sooner than I originally thought.  This recent turn of events really has me reflecting
on the past four years I’ve spent in the Marine Corps.  When you are first enlisting, you are all about it.  You live, breathe, and eat Marine Corps 24/7.  Same thing once you finish boot camp.  You go home, start pivoting 90 degrees around the mall, getting in step with your family and friends while walking, it’s a mess.  Then reality starts to hit once you get to ITB and MOS school.  You start to really miss home, start to get really annoyed by the strict rules.  You definitely aren’t free anymore; Uncle Sam owns you and he’ll do what he pleases with you.

For most people, it eventually turns into a waiting game, counting down the years, months, weeks and days until EAS.  You feel betrayed by your recruiters because they didn’t say anything about the monotony of garrison (stateside) life.  Instead of clearing houses and sniping enemies from 1000 ft away, your sweeping and mopping just like your last job at Burger King (POG life, grunts need not apply).  90% of Marines can relate to this, because it’s true.  But in all reality, the Marine Corps is what you make of it.

Here are some Marines
 practicing their honeymoon
for all of Lejeune to see.

Being stationed at Camp Lejeune, I quickly got tired of the “country” life and yearned to go back to the comfort that the suburbs of Philadelphia bring.  I rarely even took the time to look around and do an honest assessment of where I was.  I had many an opportunity to just go out and fish, or rock climb, or do any of the other wonderful things that Jacksonville and the surrounding areas offer.  It’s a damn shame really, that we’ll stay in our room, complaining to anyone within earshot about how “shitty” Camp Lejeune is and that there’s nothing to do.  That’s on us, not as Marines, but as people.  I wish I could go to every single new join I see on base and tell them this, try and make them understand, but they won’t.  They can’t.  It isn’t something someone tells you and you get it.  You have to live it and have the experience I am talking about before you realize what you’ve been missing out on.  /rant.

Anyways, all I have to do now is wait on Headquarters Marine Corps to post my retirement date and I’m out!  I’ll get the 20 days retirement PTAD plus whatever leave I have saved up (should be around 40 days).  I’m almost done checking out, I CIF and then administrative stuff to do before I’m done.  I’ll be attending the Seps and Taps class the week of the 15.  For those of you that don’t know, Seps and Taps stands for Separations and Transition Assistance Program.  In a nutshell, it’s a week long class that pretty much teaches you how to be a civilian again.  They provide you with useful information like resume building, VA and educational benefits, and work programs.  It’s definitely a needed course since getting out of the military is complete culture shock.  I’m pretty excited about going because it means that I’m one step closer to getting out.

Well thanks for reading and I’d love to hear some feedback so comment and tell me what you think.   Be sure to check out my fitness challenge and my segment of Barracks Living.  Also, don't forget to add me on facebook and twitter!