It's Official....

Today was the first drill (training) period of the new year, it felt good to be around my fellow Marines once again, basking in the enviroment of comraderie, and humorous pranks. our day was simple but yet just as tedious as it always is with standing around in formation for hours on end. we were scheduled to sit through a 6 hour block of classes concerning various military subjects such as terrorism awareness, code of conduct, ORM (Operational Risk Management), STD's etc. etc. i struggled to stay awake, i felt like i was in boot camp all over again. i had to frequently stand up to keep my self from falling asleep, but that still didnt work. one of my fellow marines attempted to keep me awake by continously hitting me anytime i appeared i was falling asleep again. after while his noble efforts became much of a nuisance, and caused me to wanna beat him like he stole somethin'. as you can see, iam the type that doesnt like to be disturbed while iam falling asleep or already asleep, and thats what that Marine was doing... disturbing my sleep !!! *ha ha ha*... after we were done with the block of classes, we marched back to the unit and this is when the famous "hurry up and wait" process took place.... we formed up into our respective platoons, and waited around for word to get passed down to us by our company First Sergeant and company Gunnery Sergeant. during this time i saw the Master sergeant who is the utilities chief for my platoon (Engineers). he is a tall, hulking black man who stands at about 6'6'', he looks like he weighs over 300 lbs. easy and he also shares a slight facial resemblance to Samuel L. Jackson, but he has a welcoming and friendly personality that resonates through his rough, menacingly tall apperance. he was standing among a few junior Marines who were inquiring about the upcomming deployment to Iraq. i casually strolled over there to do the same. i extended my hand to shake his hand and said " good afternoon Master Sergeant, Happy new year". his gigantic juggernaut like hand shook my hand as he returned the same greeting to me. as i was gettin ready to ask the Master Sergeant what was the status on the Iraq deployment, he briskly said "Williams you know your goin' to Iraq, right ?" and i responded "oh yes Master Sergeant i know, Thats what i wanted to ask ask you. i wanted to make sure i was still goin" and he said "yeah, your still goin"..... So Ladies and gentlemen..... thats right.... iam going to Iraq...... i know iam going sometime soon within a few months.... i will keep you posted as to when i will be leaving exactly.... and thats Real Talk.....

"We Dont Know Whats To Come In The Future, But We Do Know Of Our Past, And Our Present, By That Alone We Can Make The Right Decisions Now, That Will Yield Positive Effects For You In The Future" (Origimal Quote)