PFT

Most of you know I have been kicking around the idea of joining the Marine Corps Reserve as an officer. I have always been attracted to military service and considered joining the Air Force Reserve in college(my dad was in the Air Force). Since Aaron has joined the Marine Corps, I feel this is the way I should go if I do go into the service. Gotta keep it all in the family. With the crazy things happening in the world, I have a strong desire to serve my country as a member of the armed forces. I have been given so much and know I have much to give.

Last Wednesday, Aaron and I ran a PFT (Physical Fitness Test) together along with 3 other guys hoping to become Marine Officers. This was Aaron's final PFT before his packet is sent before the officer selection board later this week. If he makes it, I am very much considering applying for the next board. If he doesn't, we know this wasn't meant to be.

The Marine Corps Physical Fitness Test consists of 3 events. Pull-ups (flexed-arm hang for females), crunches, and a 3 mile run. A maximum score of 300 is possible, with 100 points available in each event.

I maxed out my flexed-arm hang at 70 seconds and Aaron did a personal best with 13 pull-ups. My crunches weren't so hot since I did sit-ups instead (oops) and only completed 92 in the two minute time frame. Aaron maxed out with 100 crunches and 25 seconds to spare. My run is the area I am looking to improve on. I ran a 25:32 giving me just 72 points. Aaron finished 3 minutes ahead of me and he was 2nd to finish in the group-I was last. My total score was a 264. A first class PFT (A minimum requirement to be selected for the officer program) is 225, so if I do choose to go before the board, my PFT shouldn't hold me back too much.

Our Amazing Troops

Thank You!

Xerox is supporting our troops this Thanksgiving. Go to this web site, pick out a thank you card, and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq . You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services.

How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!! This is a great site. Please send a card. It is FREE and it only takes a second. Thanks, Cara, for the heads up about this site!

To those who have served and are currently serving our country in military service, thank you! Your bravery and heroism have not gone unnoticed. You are in my thoughts and prayers daily. May God bless you!

Birthday Ball #1

November 10, 1775, the USMC was born. Each year, a Birthday Ball is held in celebration of the corps and to remember those who have gone before us. This year, we are attending two of these celebrations. The first one, which was celebrated last night, Aaron attended as a possible officer candidate. He is hoping to go in as a reserve officer. We talked with other candidates and I certainly enjoy having multiple opportunities to see my hottie in uniform!!!
























Aaron's packet goes before the officer selection board just before Thanksgiving. If he is selected, he will be off to Officer Candidate School in January.
















Each year, at the Birthday Ball, a prayer is said and a moment of silence given in remembrance of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. These men and women are truly our heroes! Thank you to all who serve!

Does He Realize Who He Insulted?

Shame on Him
John Kerry picked the wrong people to insult.

BY RONALD R. GRIFFIN
Friday, November 3, 2006 12:01 a.m. EST

I missed the joke. You must forgive me, for there just is not a lot of room in my life for even good jokes--and there is absolutely no room for "botched jokes"--when the subject of the joke is my son who was killed in Iraq. I know exactly what came out of Sen. John Kerry's mouth, and in those words there is no interpretation required. His attempt to convince us--and, I believe, to convince himself that that there was really a botched joke buried deep within his insult is in fact a reaffirmation of his ever-present condescending nature. He actually believes that we are stupid enough to agree with him and start laughing simply because he said it was a joke. Mr. Kerry said exactly what he meant and meant exactly what he said. In those words Mr. Kerry did in fact wash completely away the facade of his support of our magnificent troops and revealed for all to see his true colors.

Promise, I'll Let it Go... Okay, maybe not... :)

Love it.

"You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq."

Talking about President Bush? So this was actually a warning that if kids didn't get smart and educated, they would end up in the dead-end burger-flipping job of the President of the United States of America, and then, owing to the fact that they're stupid and uneducated (but apparently smart and educated enough to be elected President, something only 40 or so men in our country's history have managed) then get "stuck in Iraq" by unilaterally attacking a sovereign nation without the help of our "historic allies."

So that's what he's claiming he meant -- Kids, stay in school, or else you'll just wind up being elected President, and you'll then get us involved in a diificult war with insurgents.

Yeah.

The old "study hard or you'll end up President" motivational speech. If I heard it once in high school, I heard it a thousand times.

Good stuff...

Trick or Treat

Nov. 1, 2006, 9:03PM
Trick's on N.Y. jail officials as ex-inmate trick-or-treating in jumpsuit prompts lockdown

Associated Press

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — A jail went into lockdown and recounted its prisoners on Halloween night after a former inmate was spotted trick-or-treating in his old orange prisoner's jumpsuit.

"Bad choice of costume," said Susan Tolchin, chief adviser to Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano.

The former inmate, Oscar Aponte, was taking his daughter trick-or-treating in Peekskill on Tuesday night when a county correction officer — also out trick-or-treating with her child — spotted the familiar jumpsuit, Tolchin said.

"She confronted him, and he ran and drove off," Tolchin said. The officer took down the man's license plate and called authorities.

The jail went into lockdown until a prisoner count established that no one was missing. Meanwhile, police found Aponte, confiscated the genuine jumpsuit and let him go.



Brilliant...

Parents Take Note: Cut the Umbilical Cord When the Kid Goes to College!

Specialness in the Registrar's Office today...

Phone Rings
Me: Registration Office, how may I help you?
Mom: Yeah, you have that my daughter hasn't taken the graduation exam. Her name is ...
Me: The exam will be taking place this week if she would like to sign up now.
Mom: She took it in July. I have it written down write here in her planner.
Me: We did offer the exam in July for our summer graduates. Oh, I don't see from our records from the testing center that she took the exam. I don't have any documentation. Did she receive the results in the mail?
Mom: Are you calling my daughter a liar?
Me: Ma'am, I am trying to get some information to figure out this situation. We want your daughter to graduate as much as she does.
Mom: My daughter doesn't lie. In fact, she told me that the test was about math and English. How would she know that without taking the test? You know, you people up there are ALWAYS messing stuff up. My daughter said that other students said you never write the names down of the students taking the test and then this happens.
Me: This is really something your daughter will need to work out with the college. I cannot give out a lot of information.
Mom: That's what her new college says too. But you know, nothing gets fixed until the parents get involved! That's when stuff gets done!
Me: We encourage students to work out any problems as they are now adults.
Mom: She is still my dependent. Now, do you have the date my daughter took the test.
Me: Ma'am, let me call you back and see what I can find out. If your daughter has any other concerns, she may call me.

This same student's father called me about a month ago. He asked why his daughter hadn't graduated. I told him (after stating this should be something between the student and institution) that his daughter applied to graduate the end of the fall term. He said she meant to graduate in the summer and we needed to retroactively graduate her. Hmm... if they had called in the summer, that could have given me some time to contact the daughter and work something out. He then proceeded to tell me that my little college didn't know what it was doing and big colleges don't make students apply for graduation. I responded that all colleges require an application for graduation and indeed it will be required at his daughters senior college. He hung up on me. This could have been resolved by the student without the confrontation.

Response from our "Uneducated" Troops

When my husband first considered looking into a military career he naturally leaned toward the Air Force as its roots run deep in his family. They told him it would be at least a year before they would consider him for the program as most candidates had a 3.5 + GPA and he only has a 3.0. The Marine Corps is the same way, as I am sure all the branches do. To be considered for hte USMC officer program, Aaron must to put together a packet that includes awesome references (preferably community and academic leaders), a strong physical fitness score, high ASVAB scores (he is in the 95th percentile), and must prove his ability to think critically, ethically, and as a leader. If all goes well, he will have a chance to become an office in the USMC. The military takes only the best and brightest.

It's sad that our leaders see the military as a last resort for those who will never succeed. When my husband first considered joining, many asked him why. He has a degree. One man I didn't even know asked, "Why did he do that, does he want to get killed in Iraq?" The pride runs deep...

But, I am not going to go on with the negative. Check out these letters sent to Michelle Malkin:

Michelle,

I'm a reserve Army officer, currently employed as a professor overseas.
The DoD contracts with several universities to offer undergraduate and
graduate degrees to servicemembers, either online or face-to-face, in
darn near every corner of the planet. Many enlisted soldiers have
graduate degrees; many more have bachelor's degrees, and the rest are
working on them.

Teaching soldiers is immensely rewarding, because they work their butts
off. They have full-time duties, and usually families and children too;
some even attend classes while deployed. To survive my chemistry
courses, students spend three hours in lecture, two nights a week, and
their Friday nights or Saturdays in the lab, week after week. Getting a
bachelor's or master's degree this way is not easy, but they do it
anyway. To better themselves, to get promoted, to prepare for civilian
careers -- to, y'know, "be smart."

The fact of the matter is, the US military is the most educated in the
history of mankind. Once again, Kerry's remarks display his revolting
elitism, and shocking ignorance. Military students are /educated/, not
indoctrinated, and do not have daddy footing the bill -- and this is
precisely what makes their degrees worth more than Kerry's.

Sara Townsley
Assistant Professor
UMUC-Europe

***

Michelle,

I can't tell you how much this kind of thing ticks me off. So I just relate my daughter's story, because I know she wouldn't.

My daughter was in college a couple years ago. She was on the dean's list and doing very well when the call came for duty in Iraq. She went and did her year as any good soldier would. She returned to school where she is majoring in work with autism. And that's not just a goal, she already works in homes with the kids and families who suffer from this disease. She could be anything she wants to be, but chooses to be a soldier as well. And as soon as she was able, she also reinlisted for another six years. She's not in the Army because she can't do anything else, she's in the Army to defend the great freedoms we enjoy. She is the cream of this generation, as I believe all our military members are! To the Kerrys and others losers of this world, start giving credit where it's due.

Rich Dahlen
Proud Vietnam Vet
New Era, MI

***

Dear Michelle, I am a longtime reader, and I have to admit that the Kerry "education speech" is the first story that bothered me enough to write in. I am a 24 year old mechanical engineering student at the University of Central Florida. I have a number of friends who are either currently in the armed forces or who used the GI bill to pay their way through school. I find Kerry's comments very troubling, because I have seen first hand that the GI Bill is one of if not the best way for any american to finance college. I have two friends in particular who graduated as aerospace engineers (earth to kerry, ROCKET SCIENTISTS) in large part to the aid earned by serving their country. They hung their Diplomas up over the summer, without a drop of debt, and both work on the space coast (one is currently getting security clearence to start as a life-support engineer for the space shuttle). It's not just the GI bill that has helped my friends though. The military experience certainly pays dividends durring a job hunt, and the specialty training offered has helped a longtime friend become a computer programmer for the air force, another a master electrician and thanks to the ROTC program I have a friend who has started his career as a fire control officer for advanced GPS guided rockets in Afghanistan. I am proud of my friends, their service and the voluntary army that serves this country. I think that the army is an incredible opportunity; offering a fast track to paying for college, gaining citizenship and training that applies to more than just active duty. Kerry should be ashamed. -Matthew Teague

***

“You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”