Joe's Early History

  • Mastering Marksmanship at Edson Range

    Mastering Marksmanship at Edson Range

    March 2, 2026

    After we had completed the first 6 weeks of boot camp, we still had a long way to go but our platoon was at least a semblance of a Marine platoon. We…

  • Working Every Day to Master the Basics

    Working Every Day to Master the Basics

    February 16, 2026

    The first clue is in the very name: Basic Training. A major difference between the Marine Corps and other services is that the Marine Corps takes…

  • Day #5: Swim Qualification

    Day #5: Swim Qualification

    February 2, 2026

    Day 5. About a quarter of the recruits in my Quonset Hut are awake and a few are even out of their racks and on their feet before the Drill Insructor…

  • Day #4: Fitness Baseline and Our First O-Course

    Day #4: Fitness Baseline and Our First O-Course

    January 20, 2026

    For me, running any of the 3 O-course was one of the things I most enjoyed in my 13 weeks of bootcamp.

  • Day 3: Already Awake — Trash Can

    Day 3: Already Awake — Trash Can

    January 5, 2026

    I realized I was awake. I had woken up naturally without the traumatic violence of a metal trash can colliding with a concrete floor. As I was…

  • Marine getting a vaccine

    Day #2 of Bootcamp Starts With A Metallic Crash

    December 10, 2025

    Once we completed the tests – after a couple hours I am guessing, we were marched to another large, long, one-story wooden building. We lined up single file. One by one we were issued our rifle – an M-14.