Morristown

Monday, July 19, 2004

There will now be a blogging break while the author attends boot camp.

Fill the comment box below with love, prayers, luck, best wishes and money. (Wait, strike that last one)

Posted by: Joe Wagner / 12:35 PM

Friday, July 16, 2004

Dang! This new guy they have me working out with, I tell you, he really pushes me. His name is Pfc. Maglaughlin, he got out of boot camp in April and he's in really good shape. There's a machine at the gym on which you can do assisted pull-ups at varying levels of assistance. He had me doing them until I could barely do another one. When we were getting ready to run, my arms were so tired from the workout that when I tried to reach back and grab my foot so as to stretch the leg, I could barely reach it or hold onto it. Pfc. Maglaughlin informed me that that was what he was talking about.

We did our mile-and-a-half run in 9:50. My first time was 12:05, then 13:30, 12:42, and 11:20. After I started working out with Maglaughlin, I went to 10:20, then 9:30, and today we did a 9:50. In spite of the fact that I put 20 seconds onto my last time, the recruiters were still rather impressed. One of them laid it down as a general rule that anything under 10 minutes is pretty good.

I got to meet two of the four people I am shipping out with. They are not certain, but they are trying to arrange for us all to be in the same platoon. The new NCOIC told us that when we get off the bus and step on the famed yellow footprints, we should line up one behind another. We are going in on the "buddy program" (a program that gives friends the opportunity to ship out together and be in the same platoon) in spite of the fact that I did know any of them personally (although I met at least two of them at the statewide function back in April). All five of us being in this program together will mean that while at boot camp we will all be punished for anything one of us does.

We were also told that instead of shipping out at noon on Sunday like I was originally told, we were going to go up to Richmond at about 3:30 Tuesday morning. That's about the time it was when I first went to MEPS back in November.

Oh, by the way, here's the latest Ann Coulter column, dealing with Joseph Wilson and the intelligence regarding the African yellowcake.

Posted by: Joe Wagner / 7:28 PM

Monday, July 12, 2004

7 more days.

By the way, great collumn by Jeff Jacoby.

Another collumn by John Leo on the growing presence and importance of blogging.

Posted by: Joe Wagner / 11:16 AM

Saturday, July 10, 2004

I found out a few days ago that I would not be shipping out only a few days after passing the test. They told me there is only a limited number of people who can ship in a given shipping week. The next one starts the 19th of this month. I came into the office yesterday and as soon as my recruiter sees me, he says "Hey! July ninteenth."

So in nine days time it begins. Anyway, yesterday I went to the restaraunt I used to work at to say hello and give the news to some people I know who still work there. While I was there, some guy came in who used to work with me at that place (much to my chagrin). He had joined the Air Force and went south to Florida. He told me that not long ago, his Air Force career went south as well. Apparently he was discharged for inappropriate relationship with superior officer. I like to refer to that sort of thing as Persistent Improprieties with Manegerial Personnel, if you get my meaning.

Posted by: Joe Wagner / 12:22 PM

Monday, July 05, 2004

Well, today was a weird day. I woke up very early before the cock crowed and was back in bed by nine. I had a one o'clock appointment at the recruiting office to see if I could do the pull-ups, so I got up at twelve and got ready.
When I got there, I waited around for quite some time for my recruiter to arrive. They gave him a call, and eventually another of the recruiters there (who has just been promoted to Gunnery Sergeant) decided to administer the test himself.
I got up on the bar and did one. Then a second, and I nearly got the third one. Two are required in order to go to boot camp, but they prefer three (in case the D.I. decides not to count one).
I can theoretically leave in the next day or two. Only thing is, I have hit yet another possible snag. While riding my bike, I passed a used car lot. The jackasses who run it had a sandwich board sign outside on the public sidewalk, conveniently obstructing traffic. The right side of my handlebar banged up against it, turning my front wheel abruptly to the right and sending me flying headfirst onto my hands. I was lucky to fall on the sidewalk rather than the busy street. As you can imagine, I was pretty mad at them, and I picked up the sign, threw it into the middle of their lot and grunted a few profanities to the effect that a public sidewalk was not the place to put large obstacles. The upshot of this is that it might delay me going to boot camp. You can't start training if you have open cuts, so tomorrow I am going to go to the office and find out if my scrapes are small enough not to stand in the way of my going.
Apart from that, I'm waiting to hear back from my recruiter regarding days on which I an ship. I know there are two people shipping out tomorrow, so if the scratch is judged small enough, I could be off tomorrow.

Posted by: Joe Wagner / 10:55 PM

Sunday, July 04, 2004

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

Oh by the way, I hope you'll all pray for me tomorrow. I'm to once again take my physical test, and I only need to get up a little farther on the bar to pass. I am, in a sense, an inch and a half from Parris Island.

Posted by: Joe Wagner / 8:18 PM