I'm a former United States Marine. I was in from July 9, 1986 to August 8, 1990.

I went to boot camp at MCRD San Diego. A lovely place, right next to the airport.

After that, I attended the Basic Electronics Course at, hold on to your hats, the Marine Corps Communications and Electronics School, Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, 29 Palms, CA. Is that a mouthful or what?

Next stop was Fort Gordon, GA. That's an Army base in Augusta. It's ok, I managed alright for the ten months I was there. It was rough at times though, what with watching those poor soldiers attempt to march to and from school. We called them the Delta Slinky. They were Delta 360, the Army company going to the same school that we were. On occasion, one of the former DIs that was going to school there would march us to class. We'd do a fancy halting maneuver like Parade Rest Halt or Left Step Right Step Double to the Rear Halt. Sadly, the Army Drill Sergeants tried something similar with their platoons, usually with disastrous results.

Fort Gordon wasn't all fun and games though. I lost a friend in an alcohol related car accident. He was thrown from the car and killed. Another guy, the last I heard, broke his neck and was a quadriplegic. The third guy fared much better, he broke his neck, but didn't sever his spinal cord. He wore a halo for a few months. That's a circular brace that is bolted into your head in four places. I ran into him at Camp Pendelton, which was cool.

When I finished school there, I was transferred to Camp Pendelton, CA. It's north of San Diego, near Oceanside. I was with Electronic Maintenance Company (Elmaco) for about a year, then I transferred to MSSG-15 so I could do a WestPac.

Shortly after I arrived at Pendelton, I struck paydirt and was sent back to 29 Palms for more school. I spent nine more weeks in the desert learning how to repair yet another piece of communications equipment. I was cool though, I ran into my roommate from Fort Gordon. He was there for a class too.

After returning to Pendelton for a short time, I hit the jackpot again. I was assigned to CSSD-13 and headed back to, anyone want to guess?, 29 Palms. This was a field op though, so no barracks for us. We lived in GP tents at Camp Wilson.

I returned to Pendelton after that, and was able to stay for an extended period of a few months. Then, I know, it's getting old, was transferred to BSSG-7 for field ops at 29 Palms. We got to stay in the A-Frames (32k) this time, though. It was during the winter, so the nights were a little chilly.

I came back to Pendelton and learned that I had been promoted to Corporal. That was nice. A couple months later I transferred permanently to MSSG-15.

A few months after transferring to MSSG-15 we relocated to (do I have to say it?) 29 Palms for six weeks of field ops. I don't remember exactly what months we were there, but it was hot. We lived in the A-Frames (32k) and had about as much fun as is possible in the desert.

In September of that year part of my unit went out on ship for a naval operation. We went up to the Aleutian Islands (One 14k, Two 25k, Three 23k, Four 24k, Five 26k) to Adak and Amchitka. I never got off the ship, which I suppose was a good thing. For those of you not familiar with the Aleutian Islands, they are up around Alaska, and it tends to get a little cold up there. On the way back, October 17, 1989 in San Francisco happened. This was the Loma Prieta earthquake that caused a section of the Oakland Bay bridge (Small 14k, Medium 20k, Large 33k, Zoom 53k) and large portions of the Cypress viaduct to collapse. We were in port in San Francisco for several days to render aid (search for Peleliu) if needed.

In January of the following year, we left for WestPac. This was a six month journey around Southeast Asia. Our stops included Iwo Jima, Okinawa, the Philippines, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

My favorite place was Iwo Jima. It was really neat to visit an island with significant history relating to World War II and the Marine Corps. We landed on the the same beach that the Marines did 45 years prior to that. It's not sand, it black volcanic rock. We also climbed Mount Suribachi, though we had a much easier time at it then the Marines in 1945. Words really can't describe how I felt. Check out the above site and maybe you'll get an idea.

We arrived back in the states in July, and after a couple weeks back at Camp Pendelton I came home early on terminal leave. My discharge date was August 8, 1990, which if I'm not mistaken is the same day that President Bush cancelled all military discharges. Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2. For the next six months I was sure that I would be recalled, but I wasn't. I had several friends that were involved in Desert Sheild and Desert Storm, though. Fortunately, they all made it back safely. I recall hearing of one friend who spent a weekend (maybe it was a week, I can't remember) drunk after he got back.

That's pretty much my story. I have a lot of pictures that I'll try and get scanned and put up here sometime.