Sunday night was a time for reflection. My buddy Vinny and I sat down with a bunch of the new guys to watch a Marine Corps boot camp documentary. The documentary was filmed in San Diego roughly at the same time I was there. It follows the training of Platoons 1137 and 1141 from Charlie Company. I was in Platoon 1146 of Bravo Company, meaning I was just behind the recruits in the film. One of my other buddies from my deployment, Rivera (who I call Duncan because he’s about as big as NBA star Tim Duncan), was in 1141.

It was amusing to watch, both because of the intense memories from that period of my life and because I can remember how hard everything seemed at the time. Of course the filmmakers couldn’t show all the insane stuff that happened (it would give away the surprise to future recruits and I’m sure many watchdog organizations would have collective heart attacks), but the film was enough to send me on a stroll down memory lane.

A few days before I went to boot camp my buddy Arliss and I were watching Full Metal Jacket. I hadn’t seen the film before and Arliss felt it was necessary for anyone about to do what I had planned. I remember not being able to stop laughing at the antics of R. Lee Ermey as he whipped (literally) his rag-tag bunch of draftees into men about to go off to war in Southeast Asia. I’m sure it wasn’t meant to be funny, and what I went through certainly wasn’t funny to me at the time, but looking back on it all now I’m able to laugh because it’s a process necessary for every Marine to go through. My grandpa likely feels much the same way about his time in Navy boot camp 52 years ago. In fact, we swap stories occasionally, talking about how crazy our instructors were and the even crazier stuff they made us do. During boot camp I was even interviewed by a reporter for a newspaper from New Ulm, MN who happened to be visiting the depot. The text of the interview is still on-line and provides a look into my life at the recruit depot.
A lot of the guys from my platoon are probably in their last week of work or on leave and waiting to go home like I am. It’s strange to think that the thirty or so of us that graduated (out of an initial platoon of 88, I believe) are at the same crossroads together. And yet, just like in boot camp, we’re a team, forever bound by those thirteen weeks of insanity, sweat, and heartache.

I was sorting and packing old address books this weekend when I came across one I had during boot camp. In it are names of guys from that platoon I’ll never forget - Shawn James from Indianapolis, my closest friend and fellow scribe. Spencer Quiner, the quiet guy from Homer,Alaska who looked almost exactly like me. Billy Vorhies, the kind-hearted, tough-minded kid from Itasca, IL who reminded me so much of my cousin Teddy. I wonder what they’re up to, how their enlistments have treated them. Billy and I went to Infantry training together, but I haven’t seen him since. The last time I saw Shawn or Spencer was in March of 2003 as they left for their occupational training. Guys, if you find your names popping up in a Google search with a link to this site, drop me an e-mail. I’d love to hear how you and your families are doing.

I think about my drill instructors, SSgt McLaughlin, Sgt Maciel, and Sgt Brown. I haven’t seen SSgt M or Sgt Brown since 2003, but I recently ran into now-SSgt Maciel when I was down at the lake on base. We chatted briefly before returning to our respective runs.

It’s strange to be leaving it all behind. Sometimes I feel like “Red” in The Shawshank Redemption, wondering how I’ll adjust to life on the outside. I worry about being institutionalized, the lack of a steady paycheck, the uncertainty of no health insurance. I wonder what my place in the world will be like, if I’ll ever fit back into the society I left four years ago.

I’m ready for the past to be a bunch of memories, scattered on the beach of my consciousness like sea shells, but the future looms above me like an enormous wave I have to surf. In my experience you fall often when you surf, and you have to maintain a sharp look-out for sharks. However, standing here on the edge of the sand, I’ve got to say the water looks inviting.

This won’t be a thematic post but will instead function as more of an assessment of the progress I’ve been making, not only with this site (which is minimal in the visible sense), but with other facets of my life.  I don’t generally talk much about what is going on with me personally, but with how busy I have been recently I find it somewhat necessary to condense some of those thoughts into written form.

First off, I have finally completed the college application process.  I mailed my last application (to the University of Minnesota) yesterday.  I’m quite relieved to have moved beyond the application stage, especially as my initial application timeline coincided with preparations for the field operation in 29 Palms at the end of September.

The University of Minnesota asked a question I didn’t encounter elsewhere - they asked me to briefly state my academic interests and career goals.  I stated simply “It is my intent to pursue a dual major in English Literature and Russian as a precursor to a graduate degree in Slavic Languages and Literature. Ultimately, I wish to teach at a post-secondary level.”  I can’t think of a more simple way of putting it, though the Russian part is fluid at the moment.  I applied to the University of Wisconsin-Madison as an English Literature and Polish dual major, though I would like to speak both by the time I’m finished with my undergraduate degree.  I should also add that in no way does teaching at the post-secondary level mean I’m giving up on the idea of being a writer.  I’m just realistic about the need to put food on the table.

My friend (and host) Chris will go on Terminal Leave from the Marines today at noon.  Chris was my first roommate out here on Pendleton and has become a fast friend.  Though I am sad to see him leave I am happy that he’s progressing beyond the Corps into the private sector.  Chris recently gained his PHP certification, which merits congratulations as well.  Take care of yourself, man, and I’ll see you when Jo and I pass through Denver in twenty days.

At the left you will notice I’m currently reading Zamyatin’s We, a Russian dystopian novel dating from 1921.  We is generally considered the original dystopian novel, predating and influencing such works as 1984 and Brave New World.

The novel is significant for other reasons as well.  Zamyatin, an engineer, makes extensive use of mathematics for metaphor, and often his sentences look like they could be equations.  He also employs a unique writing style, one he termed the “language of thought,” a more evolved sort of stream of consciousness technique.  Zamyatin explains it best in this excerpt from his essay “On Language” (1919-20):

“[I]f you try to follow the language of thought in your own mind, you will not find even he simplest sentences — only shreds, fragments of simple sentences.  Only the most essential elements of a sentence are used: sometimes only a verb or only an epithet, an object … At first glance this assertion may seem paradoxical: why should fragments of sentences, scattered as after an explosion, have greater effect on the reader than the same thoughts and images arranged in regular, steady, marching ranks? … [because] you meet the reader’s natural instinctive need. You do not compel him to skim…”

One might suspect such a syntactical style would be difficult to adjust to, but I’ve found Zamyatin’s writing fresh and interesting.  I’ve enjoyed the book so far (I’m about 7 chapters in) and would heartily recommend it to anyone with an inclination for reading something atypical and thought-compelling.

On the website front, I’m looking into making some changes to the site, some subtle, some more sweeping.  Nothing is set in stone at all, and of course the readership is quite small (due to my erratic posting), but I’m trying to give it more visual appeal while upping the frequency and quality of the posting back to my previously mentioned levels.  Now that the albatross of application season is no longer around my neck I hope to be able to divert more brainpower to getting things back to the way they should be around here.

This brings me to my next to last point - the post I’ve been meaning to make for over a week now.  I’ve found that a good deal of research is required, and in the interest of accuracy I’d like to have all my facts straight before I make it.  I will throw out one hint - it will concern the Midwest, applied technology, current infrastructure, and transportation theory.

Lastly, with the Detroit Tigers playing in the American League Championship Series for the right to advance to the World Series, I’m more than a little disappointed they aren’t doing so in a revitalized Tiger Stadium instead of their shiny corporate-shill digs (Comerica Park).  Sadly, Tiger Stadium’s luck has run out.  This past June the Mayor of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick, announced the venerable old building, built in 1911, would be demolished starting this autumn.  Oh, what could have been.

Farewell.

Not unlike McArthur, I have returned. After a searing two-week campaign in the Mojave it is good to be back to the (relative) comfort of northern San Diego County.

I have a big post brewing for this holiday weekend - federal government employees still observe Columbus Day - but I’ve not yet had time to fully conceptualize it. Instead, I offer you the latest from the lens of my camera, photographs from my last field operation in the desert.

Check this space for action this weekend. Have fun, be safe, and enjoy the radience of autumn.

This space has been little-used of late, a shortcoming I take quite personally. I’ve dispatched with one college application and find myself on the eve of a 15-day field operation out in Twentynine Palms, CA. I’ll be in the Mojave (pictured above during my last visit in August 2005) until October 3rd, but I plan on posting my first comprehensive update on the following Friday, October 6th.

I promise things will return to normal around here. Eighteen more days and I’ll officially be on vacation and able to concentrate on more important things.

Take care of yourselves.