Joel Noland’s Blog

  I forgot to give you guys an update on my friend Norem. I don’t know if you remember his story, but I mentioned it in an earlier blog. He’s going to deploy in about 2 weeks and his pregnant fiannce, who has had heart trouble all of her life is going to have to have open heart surgury as soon as the baby is born in October. She needs the operation or eventually she will die, but they can’t do it now because of their baby. As you know the birth will put an enormous strain on her body that could kill her to begin with. The operation will keep her in the hospital for about two months, and the sad thing is Norem will not be able to be there when his daughter is born, or to take care of her while her mom is in the hospital because he will be in Iraq. What’s even worse is Norem brought this up to his chain of command to see if he could insure that if his fiannce dies that he would be able to be discharged to take care of his daughter (usually they will do that, I’ve seen it for a guy who was orphaned and had a little brother to take care of so they discharged him) the enlisted higher ups accused him of trying to get out of the deployment and shot the request down.

   This is a really bad situation, but Norem does have options beyond the two nuckle heads who shot down his request. Please pray for Norem and his fiannce, that God preserves her life and their daughter’s life, that the command would be resonable and care about Norem as a human being and that Norem would see that God is real and pursuing him. I’ve seen evidence that Norem is starting to see a need for grace in his life, so just please keep praying for this Marine. 

Well now I think it’s time for another post for ya’ll, yeah I talk like a hick sometimes so sue me =) This past week was cool, Allie came out to visit for a whole week! We had fun, we stayed at her Uncle Jeff’s house (he’s posted on the blog before) with his family where we went hiking in the mountains, and boating plus skiing. Then we stayed at the home of some family friends for a couple of days. It was a good vacation and I’m definitely missing my wife, she brightens my day =)

Okay so I’m now the assistant guard chief for Camp Margarita which really isn’t a bad job at all. Basically it goes two days on two days off, but the guard chiefs really are just there in case something goes really wrong. The guard guys manage themselves fairly well and don’t need a lot of management so I mostly try and help them out with various things. Camp guard in actuality is more like a punishment to those who are at the rank of Corporal and bellow, these guys are about 5 months or less from getting out of the Marine Corps so they’re pretty bitter and don’t really care that much about anything. It’s sad to me that they think everything is going to get easier when they get out and their mentality and attitude of indifference will change, but in truth it won’t because they’re basing their joy on their circumstances. There are definitely ministry opportunities with these guys, but this may be a bit more challenging because these guys are more surely then the IRR Marines I was with before.

My status with going to the grunts is that I’m just waiting to work with the doc, but he can’t see me until August 5th so I have some waiting to do. I can’t go to 3/5 until my lungs are fixed or made drastically better. I talked to the crusty Doc this week on the phone and he was way different this time. He was much less agitated and he listened to what I had to say, but he still thinks its asthma. I did a pulmonary function test which is supposed to test for lung diseases but I guess the technician who did the test did such a poor job that the results were inconclusive. However they did have me inhale a chemical that was supposed to trigger an asthma attack if you have asthma, but I didn’t feel any different even after being hit with the max dose. My theory is it’s a rouge bacteria or fungus that lies dormant in my lungs and avoids detection because I’m not having a coughing attack when they do the tests. I’m pushing for him to do a bronchoscopy which is where he’ll go into my lungs with a camera and get a sample of this nasty gunk that lives in my lungs, he’s resisting this though because he’s convinced that because I have no conventional signs of infection that there’s nothing there to find. Oh yeah if any of you guys have any doctor friends or know any pulmonologists feel free to ask them and give me any ideas they might have as to what it could be.

That’s where life stands right now, so now for prayer requests.

-The wisdom to reach the guard guys for Christ and also a softening of their hearts to receive him an repent

-Healing of my lungs and wisdom for the doctor to figure this thing out

-Ryan Weemer, he’s my partner for the guard chief and he’s on trial for murder in Iraq during the Fallujah battle of November 2004. It’s a tricky situation, and I don’t have a personal problem with what he did, it’s a battle of legal actions and terms so please pray that the truth is revealed and real justice prevails. Ryan was out for 3 years and was recalled to stand trial. He is an A plus Marine and an extremely squared away guy, who was shot 3 times in that same battle in a famous gun fight called “hell house.” (read the story in “No True Glory” by Bing West) He’s married and was working as a counselor for combat vets to help them cope with PTSD and various addictions.

Thanks guys I love you all and am grateful for your prayers.

 Just to give you guys an update I’m staying here in Cali until the doctors figure out what the problem is with my lungs. Thanks for all of your prayers, this just reminds me that God is good and is not out to get us, but has the best planned for us.

   So how this all came about…….well it went down like this. On Monday I called the grumpy Pulmonologist and left a message with his secratary, letting him know what was going to happen on Thursday. At the very end of the day she called me back saying he had written a letter to the command telling them I needed to stay and get the issue resolved and that it could take quite some time! I just finished checking out of the MEF and have been ordered to report back to HQ Battalion on Monday, where I will be until I get a prognosis.

   Thanks again for all of your prayers, I love all of you guys and I’ll let you know more details as they come.

  Well quite a bit has happened since I last wrote. This blog is going to be long with a lot of detail, but unfortunately I need to be or the urgency of the situation will not make sense. Sorry and I appreciate you guys reading it.

     Last week we finished all of our division school training and on Thursday everyone went to their various units. I’ll be honest, I’m sad. Most of my friends were all in different units and so they’re gone to different locations on Camp Pendleton. Although it doesn’t sound like that’s very far, it’s like if a memeber of your family moves out of the house. You’ve shared everything together and lived life as a family and now they’re gone and moved on to a different life, and you only see them every once in a while or sometimes never again. 

   As many of you may know, I have had a very bad cough for the past few years, and that I was just beginning to get some answers with doctors in the civilian world when they began to put effort into the problem and figure it out. I had to postpone the various procedures though because they were starting to get expensive. One of the nice things about the military is that the same procedures are free. Basically I have constant phlegm in my lungs, it’s like a constant lung infection. Where we left off with treatment is that I have post nasal drip, a severe alergy to mold and some type of foreign material in my lungs. Early in June I went to the medical officer of the unit I was in and got an appointment to see a pulmonologist at the Balboa Navy hospital in San Deigo. The pulmonologist there was awesome, he was very aggressive and thorough and wanted to figure out what the problem was. When he looked at my CT scan he saw that my lungs are not exhaling all of the air I breathe in, which means my lungs are not working quite right. He ordered a repeat CT scan a week later and a lung capacity test to see if I have an inflamatory lung disease. Here’s where things got a little stupid, I did the second CT scan and then when I scheduled an appointment with the doctor they told me had moved onto a different base. They then rescheduled me with a new doctor whom I saw the next day…….he was the polar opposite of the first doctor. He was irritable, snappy, didn’t listen, was not interested in my case and in a technical way told me it was all in my head. I argued with him for a long time telling him there’s no way this is mental (I have glue in my lungs) I got him to schedule the lung capacity test for this coming Thursday July 2nd. He says it does look like I might have a disease like Asthsma but it doesn’t explain the phlegmy cough. Now I’m just waiting for the tests. I’m going to take a turn in the story here, stay with me this will all make sense in a second.

   On Friday the guys I’m with from The MEF HQ (Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Unit) checked into our various units within the MEF. The MEF HQ is made up of Marines who are all non grunts and I still have no idea how their unit systems break down. It’s all totally different from grunt units and makes no sense to me so I’m sorry I can’t explain it because I don’t really understand it. The MEF seems to be the worst unit someone in our group could have been assigned too. The other guys in our group had troop handlers come out and give them accurate information as to when they were leaving and what they would be doing and for how long. The MEF group had no one and no information. We get there on Friday and find out that we’re deploying to Iraq on July 3rd, yes I’m scheduled to leave in 5 days! Then I found out my new job in the MEF, bascially I’m not even going to Iraq, I’m going to sit in Kuwait for 7 months and count troops going onto, and leaving planes to and from the states. As you can imagine I felt like I’d been kicked between the legs. Not only that my wife has a plane ticket to come out here on July 3rd because we thought we would all be getting the 4th of July weekend off. If this happens my medical stuff is completely screwed and I will have no chance of getting into 3/5 (see previous blogs). A Master Sergeant from 3/5 whom my friend knows and who can get me into 3/5 by the snap of his fingers has been on leave and he is set to return on July 7th so I only need 4 more days past July 3rd!  I told the command about my situation and the Master Sergeant in charge said he has to see on paper from a medical officer that I’m not okay to deploy. I saw the medical officer yesterday and it was very frustrating. All I asked him to do was delay the deployment for a couple of weeks so that the doctors have time to figure out what’s wrong with my lungs and I also told him about 3/5. He was about to do that when he backslid on me and wrote on the paper instead that I’m delayed until July 2nd after my test, and that my fate is in the hands of the pulmonologist. This puts me in a worse position then I have yet been in, because the test is litterally 12 hours before I deploy, and the pulmonologist is not even going to do the test! The pulmonologist told me to E-mail him and he would E-mail me the results at the end of the week or beginning of the following week. I don’t think the medical officer has ever deployed or understands how stressful it is, I have to pack everything, ship my car home, and have everything ready to go for a deployment that has a 50/50 shot of happening. Where this stands is on Wednesday I need to talk to the grumpy Pulmonologist and try to convince him to let me stay and get my lungs figured out or fixed. This will be no easy task, and I’m scared because I’m not very good at convincing people. I’m in a bad spot so realizing that this is way beyond my control, as is everything except my choices, I cried out to God and spent some time in his word to calm down. I read in Psalms to “Be still, and wait patiently for the Lord,” and “Be still and know that I am God.” That hit me and I remembered that God is not worried or breaking a sweat over this and his promises will stand regardless of what the Marine Corps or men do. I’m also grateful for this hardship and challange because I know, he will use it to grow my faith and bring glory to himself for that I’m thankful. I’m even excited to see how he’s going to do it, because it’s going to be a narrow win.

   So now for some much needed prayer requests.

 - That God would give me the calm and intergrity to just speak truth to the pulmonologist and that he would sign a paper allowing me to stay at Pendleton until they figure this one out.

- That my lungs would be healed 

-That I would be able to get into 3/5

  Thanks guys I really really really need your prayers, I love you guys and thank you for reading and praying for me and Allie.

  So it’s been a little bit since I’ve posted anything, and quite a bit has happened over the past couple of weeks. Thanks for all of your happy birthdays! I appreciate them all and feel loved by you guys. I celebrated by doing a motivated HEAT trainer and swim qualification. The HEAT trainer (don’t ask what it stands for cause I don’t know) is designed to train you on what to do when a HUMVEE rolls over. This is done by placing you inside of a box designed like a HUMVEE cab that is attached to a robotic arm, and they flip you end over end and land the box on it’s “side” you then have to get out and get all of your guys out. It was fun like a roller coster, but it was designed for POGs (non grunts) so what we supposed to do in the trainer is pretty far from what we’d do in real life, but we just play along it’s not that big of a deal.

  We also went through a series of check-in-the-box classes like: don’t sexually haress women, don’t squeal to the enemy if you’re captured, equal opportunity employment, and don’t haze your boot Marines which of course I will because it works when correcting those who need attitude adjustments. On Wednesday we started Division schools which is the good stuff. Division schools are the intermediate and advanced sectors of training that are more at our level. We’re getting the condensed versions of the schools due to time constraints, but even though it’s not the whole deal it’s still good stuff.

   We spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning out in the field doing CMP shooting. CMP stands for combat marksmanship program which is a far more intense level of shooting then the rifle range. CMP is done at 25 yards and less, it teaches you to quickly (2 seconds or less) deliver a killing shot to your enemy by either a series of chest or head shots at close quarters. It offers a set of challanges in that you have to go from the alert, aquire your target, sight in, aim and shoot all within 2 seconds and hit a six inch circle in the chest. There’s a segment where you do this on the move to and also conduct speed reloads. Needless to say it’s very tiring (you do this for hours on end in full combat gear) but fun at the same time. This week we’re doing the non-infantry machine gunners’ course for infantrymen which yes is a contradiction, it’s because we have POGS intermixed in our group.

   So now for the good stuff. Last week I shared the Gospel with my buddy Norem, pronounced Norm, during dinner one night. I don’t remember how the conversation started but basically I layed it out there and after some questions and discussions he seemed to be more open to it. I would say Norem is the one I’m closest to over here, he cracks me up, he’s a strange guy but he’s got that I’ll do anything for you loyalty that’s rare in a friend. His full name is Chaz Norem, he’s from southwestern Missouri, works at a factory and owns his own farm. He’s a BIG cornbred southern boy with a knowlege of dangerous animals and guns (2 things I definately enjoy). In addition to praying for his salvation, he’s in a scary situation back at home. His fiancee back home is pregnent and has had a very serious heart condition all of her life. This delivery in October has a 25% chance of killing her and a 50% chance of killing their daughter. He’s scared and he won’t be able to be there for her because he will be in Iraq by then so please pray for hers and their daughter’s life. One other note on that the doctor recommended an abortion because of the danger to her, but they made the right choice and are choosing to have their daughter and risk her life.

     Now for a valuable lesson I’m learning out here. Several months before coming out here God really humbled me in a way that I have never been humbled before in my life. I realized that I was living my life for me and I would avoid things I didn’t want to do, and ignore certain passages of scripture that were convicting or inconvient to me. In other words Jesus was savior but not Lord of my life and I was my own idol. Ironically all of my selfish pursuits left me feeling empty and wanting something more, well when God humbled me I realized the truth that the only way to real joy was through complete surrender to God by dening myself and serving him and others. I had to choose to die to self and deny my wants for him daily. This meant I no longer live for me and what I want, but for God and what he commands me to do no matter how painful, hard or inconvientent it may be. It also means that I dedicate myself to serving others and not to taking care of myself. Others come first which is the bases of selflessness and the model Christ set for us. This is a tough one but at the end of the day when I’ve exhausted myself by dening myself, which Christ commanded us to do, I’ve found a fulfilment that I have never felt before in my life. Now when I read God’s word it has far more power in my life because I’m not reading it to feel better, I’m reading it with a heart of submission to learn and grow in God. None of this is easy and it’s a daily battle against the flesh and my self, but God is merciful and he continues to put me in situations whether big or small where I can choose to serve or be served by others, and more often then not he’s allowed me to make the right decision. The result of all of this is that I feel a joy and contentment here I don’t think I ever thought I would feel here. I don’t hate the Marine Corps the way I used to and the old stuff that used to make me so livid just doesn’t anymore. God really grew me up these two years that I’ve been out. I’m fine with being here and I submit to his authority and will for me to be here without complaining. That was one lesson the other side of this lesson is that I noticed that the people who are the most angry and hateful about being here are also the most selfish in our platoon. My wife sent me a TM from a book she was reading that said that, “Selfishness is the absense of joy.” I have really seen that here and have noticed that the guys who have accepted their situation and serve each other are the most relaxed guys here. Alright I’ll get off of my soap box =)

     Prayer requests:

   -Still waiting on a unit so continued prayer for that

   -Norem and everything I previously mentioned

   -That I would be able to go to the same unit as my friends are going too, so far none of them are slated  

     to go with me.

  -Self control not to be double minded, I do have bad days and doubts every once in a while

  -That God would continue to bring about conversations and give me wisdom in how to share him with these guys.

    Alright everyone thanks again for praying and your comments, I’m grateful for all of you. I love you all and I’ll talk to you later.

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Joel, Happy Birthday to you! Just wanted to let everyone know that today Joel turns 24! Feel free to leave him a singing voice mail as he does have his cell phone or message. God really blessed our Memorial Day Weekend allowing Joel to come home and do a little celebrating early. Thanks so much for your love and support everyone!

I’m home for Memorial Day for the next 4 days for some much needed time off. I flew home on Friday night, and my flight was really delayed so I didn’t get in until 3:15AM, but I got some desperately needed sleep and have been taking it easy. I plan on just resting and getting over the lung infection I’ve had for 2 weeks, and seeing my family. It does feel good to be home, I missed my wife =(

So this past week has been quite different from the last two. The main difference has been that, the week was very consistent and we always knew what was coming up. This past week we were at the rifle range, shooting the annual qualification that is required for all Marines. Its probably not what you’re thinking, its not combat shooting actually it’s more like competition style shooting where you fire from 4 different positions and at 200, 300 and 500 yards. Its not that bad other then having to wake up at 3:30AM every morning this past week to get to the range, and then working until 5:30PM left all of us very exhausted. I shot very well on qualification day, 233 out of 250, shooting has never been a problem for me. The range we shot at is renowned for its shadiness and dilapidated state, but it actually ended up being kind of fun. My “platoon” has gotten over their anger at being here, they’ve accepted it, but they’re some of the funniest most belligerent and sarcastic guys I’ve ever met, they make me laugh and keep things light. Basically we’ve all played the game for so long that we know how the game works, plus very few of the guys care about what they accomplish here so they have nothing invested in the work that we’re doing, that explains the sarcasm and all the comedians in the platoon.

I did end up having a couple of spiritual conversations with two people in the platoon. One of them who’s name is M19 (he has 19 letters in his last name and no one can pronounce it) piped in on a conversation I was having with someone about swearing (someone asked me why I don’t) I mentioned that I try to follow what God’s word says in the Bible and M19 loudly said, “all religious books are the same.” I challanged that by asking him questions, but he just got belligerent and gave a lot of arguments that told me he had never really thought about it, but drew that conclusion so that he wouldn’t ever have to think about God ever again. What was funny though was a couple of people jumped in on the conversation and actually defended what I said! That has NEVER happened to me before, I think one of them is a Christian I haven’t really talked to him very much though. Anyways so the conversation with M19 ended quickly and he looked about as open to Christianity as Kim Jong Ill so I left it alone.

The other conversation that happened was with a buddy of mine named Brad Maples. I told Maples I was saved and he told me that, “yeah I need to do that too” like it was the equivalent of getting a colonoscopy. I asked him what he thought saved meant and he actually had a pretty decent understanding of it so I told him the truth that its his choice to take the gift, but then the real truth of his heart came out when he told me, he likes being bad (drinking and sex). He then said he’ll do it one day. I think the fruit is ripening with him so if you guys could pray that God screws up his world and gets Brad to a point where he’s ready to repent and submit, and also that God would give me words of wisdom to say to Brad.

The last piece of this story is about what unit I’m going to. From my previous blog I said that my job description said I wouldn’t be an infantryman. After some anger, frustration and prayer I have felt God tell me to trust him and that I am going to be a grunt again. This past weekend at Harvest the message was really good. James talked about God’s promises and how he wants us to wisely test them. This directly related to my situation because I did test his promise last week and had his promise confirmed. A few days after I found out I was going to be a “plotter/journal clerk,” I looked up everyone I knew when I was in last time who was still in the Marines and in a grunt unit. I found one guy from my old unit (3rd Light Armored Recon=LAR) who was now a Staff Sergeant (one rank higher then me) in 1st LAR. I sent him an E-mail telling him about my situation and asking if he could get me into his unit. A week later on the rifle range, I got a voice mail from him saying that if I called him in the next 4 to 5 hours that his first sergeant (highest enlisted man in the company)  would get the ball rolling and get me into his unit. I was ecstatic, but wanted to pray about it first. Well when you’re on a range it’s loud and there’s always something going on and it would be like that for the next 6 hours so I wouldn’t be able to pray or hear a bloody thing in my head. Instead I texted my wife to pray about it and let me know what she heard. She said that I wasn’t supposed to call the Staff Sergeant back and that I needed to trust God that I would be a grunt again, well as hard as it was to do, I let it go and didn’t call him back. Well a few days later I was driving in the Northern part of Camp Pendleton (I’m in the Southern part) and I stopped at the PX (711 type store every camp has one) just to grab something for a sun burn. While I was in there I heard someone call me by my first name, so I turned around and it was a guy I knew from the school of infantry and my old unit named Jose Paez. He had picked up Sergeant and reenlisted back in 2006 and he was now in 3rd battalion 5th Marines as a platoon commander, that’s normally an officer billet. He also said that his unit was really hurting for Corporals and Sergeants right now and that most of the guys in the platoons are boots (newbies) in addition to that he said that they’re slated to go to Afghanistan in December. I told him my story and he asked me if I wanted to come to 3/5 which of course I said heck yeah, he got my phone number and I told him where I’m living and what unit we’re under right now. He said he’d pass it up his chain of command, and try to get me in. Well guys I got really excited because when I was a boot myself, I really really REALLY wanted to be a machine gunner in 3/5, but was a rifleman in 3rd LAR instead. I thought it was really ironic that of all the stores I could have gone into at that time that I choose that one, and that Paez would be in there, even though he doesn’t live at that camp either. A little background on 3/5, they are one of the most famous and highly decorated battalions in the Marine Corps, they have a long history from World War I all the way to OIF in which they were a spearhead unit in Fallujah in 2004. They are renowned for being hard, tough and very good at what they do. 5th Marine regiment, of which 3/5 is a part of, is considered the hardest and toughest regiment in the Marine Corps, its also full of the most insane, angry and brutal Marines I’ve ever met. I know that if I go to this unit a LOT will be demanded of me physically, mentally and emotionally, but I want that challenge, I always did. I have felt God say that he doesn’t want me to seek a unit out but that he will put me into the unit I’m supposed to go to. I also find it ironic that of 27 battalions Paez is in the only one that I really wanted to go too. I would appreciate if you guys would pray that I would get into this unit, and that God would give me strength for that challenge that would await me.

A few admin notes. I still don’t have a mailing address, but supposedly we have one so I’ll try and get that to you guys.

I am not at Camp Talega anymore, I’m at Camp Margarita where I have full cell phone reception on the entire base so feel free to call me. Also I may not call you back for a few days, it all depends on how much free time I get and how exhausted I am at the end of the day. (I was working 15-16 hour days every day no weekends).

There is a computer center on base I check it usually every couple of days or so.

Alright now prayer requests.

-Brad, that God continues to allow trouble in his life so that he turns to him, and for his salvation.

-The rest of the guys that God would work on their hearts and break them of their sin, and show them that there’s something bigger then the lives they’re living.

-Purity, it is REALLY tough mentally because these guys tell graphic stories all the time and there’s nowhere to go when you all have to be in the same place.

-The future and that I would be able to go to 3/5.

Alright guys thanks again, I love all of you and appreciate your encouragements and support. Until next time, semper fi.

  So I’ve only been here for almost two weeks……things are not fun. Basically there were many things that the Mobilization command in Kansas City failed to mention and a LOT of things they said that were not true.

   After all of that processing, we began our refresher training on Saturday morning. It was 5 days worth and only about 1 day and one class were really good. Most of it was Barny style classes at the very basic level that became mind numbing after awhile. Meanwhile no one will tell us what units we are going to for sure, and that is extremely frustrating. No one seems to know anything here, and they don’t give you a straight answer when you ask.

  Just a little background on the group of guys. We origianlly started out with 129 guys, most of them infantrymen, a few MP’s and artiliary guys but the overwhelming majority are grunts like myself with serious combat time. Out of 129 guys 48 of us were told we were going to 1st Marine Division which generelly meant infantry, and the rest of the guys were sent to the Marine Air Wing…..that’s as non-infantry as you can get so that’s really weird. What’s really crappy is we don’t know what units we’re going too, but we saw our job billets on a roster. 90 percent of them are non infantry jobs which has most of us really angry. Mine says “Plotter/Journal Clerk” I don’t even know what that is. I’m trying very hard to surrender this to God, but I will be honest, I’m an infantryman at heart, and I really don’t want to sit on a base for my 7 months and waste time being a POG (person other then grunt) I want to be in the fight where I was before.

   After graduating from retard acadamy (my nickname for refresher training) we were told we were going to our units, yeah not so. Yesterday we were moved to a different camp where upon arrival we were told that we would have to do a physical fitness test within the next 10 minutes! It was 97 degrees yesterday, and it felt like running in an oven, only 16 out of 48 people passed the test, I was one of them =). Then they told us we have to be here for the next month doing anual Marine Corps training, to get all of our check in the box stuff done. That sucks I won’t go into details, but its really not fun or relavent to combat in Iraq, which is why grunts hate doing it. All of this weekend and week we will be at the rifle range. After then 1 month, we kick off into Division schools for another month which has very intense training on Iraq. Now onto better things.

   Spiritual progress has been slow. No one asks questions, even though they see me doing a BIble Study. I made several friends here (they’re all huge) having a posse of meat heads is always a plus =) None of them ask me why I pray before I eat or anything like, its weird. That didn’t happen last time. God is teaching me to serve them though and be patient with them, and just love them. I didn’t do that very well last time and God has definately changed my heart. I figured out how to talk to them by being sarcastic without being desentive. Its just going to get harder from here so onto prayer requests.

   Prayer requests:

    I’m exhausted we haven’t had a day off since we got here and won’t until next weekend and that’s still iffy. I need strength especially in the heat (our squad bay has no AC)

  Health, I’m really sick with a lung infection, several guys have it and its spreading.

  Trust in God and also an assignment with an infantry unit.

  Patience to bear with the training and have a good attitude

  Strength to continue serving.

   Alright guys I’m off to do laundry. Thanks for your prayers I need them.

  So Allie and I made it safely to Cali on Saturday May 3rd, after a lot of driving and a blizzard in Nebraska. We got to spend a vacation day on Sunday in San Diego which was fun. Allie flew back to Chicago on Monday afternoon and I drove myself up to Camp Pendleton. I arrived here at Camp Pendleton yesterday at about 3PM. Its not to bad, we’re living in Quansa Huts, these goofy little barn shaped houses that hold about 2 dozen bunk beds. We’re basically being processed to death administratively and medically, which isn’t a huge suprise. Unfortunately Navy Corpsmen SUCK at giving shots and one of them shot a Hepetitis B vacination into a vein in my arm…..I thought my head was going to explode, I almost passed out and was soaked in my own sweat, stupid Corpsman.

  The guys here are really really angry and cynical. They’re constantly negative and complaining and they spend most of their time drinking and talking about what a bag of crap they’re going to try to be once they get into a unit. If you know anything about Marines, they talk alot of crap, and almost never follow through on it. It’s their way of venting and the only way they know how to keep sane from the hell that this organization can put you through. It’s hard in that I don’t know what to talk to these guys about. I don’t think the same way they do and my life mission is totally different, it makes it hard to communicate with them.

   Anyways the schedule of events as far as I know will go something like this. The rest of the week is more processing, then on Saturday we all have to go to the school of infantry for our “refresher” training with the infantry students, that’ll be funny since the students we’ll be training with are fresh out of boot camp and know nothing about anything. We’ll do that throughout most of week 2 and then next Friday, we’ll get sent to our units. I’m hearing that we’ll leave for Iraq a lot earlier then I thought, they’re saying June or July as of right now I don’t know which.

   Prayer requests:

   Communication with the guys

   Courage to take opportunities to let them know I’m a Christian

   That God would break their barriers down and make them so depressed that the drinking and cynisim won’t do it for them anymore.

  Thanks guys for all of your prayers and words, they help a lot. Please keep it up and I’ll update you all again soon.

So guys this is my new blog. Instead of mass E-mailing people about what’s going on, I think this works better. Feel free to pass the blog on and let other people who might be interested know about it.

It’s Wednesday night April 30th and tomorrow morning my wife and I start driving to California. I’ll let you guys know what happens. Peace.