Check it out! Stone Cold Killers!!
That's Chief James in the middle and our other instructor, formerly known as HM2, recently upgraded to HM1 Shores.

So for the past couple of weeks, I've been in labs. This is the part of training where we get some hands on practice of what we have been taught in class. The best part is wearing our PT gear everyday....no uniforms!!

Academics are all done and we are in labs now. It's kind of slow but we get to do fun stuff. I drew blood for the first time today and we get to learn IV insertion and give shots on Monday. Our class is small; 37 compared to the average 65. That gives us a lot of free time so we nap the last hour at the bowling alley. Just a couple of weeks left until graduation and my orders have been posted online so it's for sure that I'm going to Pendleton and then Hawaii. I will have just under 2 months of working in the hospital at Pendleton which will give me some practice doing whatever I'll be doing.

Hawaii!!

Well, I got my orders yesterday. I will be training with the Marines at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, CA at Field Medical Training Battalion and then off to serve with the 3rd Marine Division in Hawaii. I asked for Pendleton but it wasn't available. It really was because someone in line behind me got it but that's a whole other Navy tale. But I can't be upset with having to live in Hawaii for a couple of years, at least when I'm not deployed. I report to Camp Pendleton on June 19 2009 and will probably be done sometime in October. I'm really excited to have 14 days of leave after I graduate Corps school on June 5th and then get to start a whole new adventure which is just training for several more down the line.

Well it's allllll done! We just secured test 12 of 12 today (11May09) and the final total is a 92.75 % average which makes me number two in the class, right behind the little Filipino in the picture of the four EPOs (tutors). Either way, I get first pick of orders tommorrow since he is going to dental school after graduation. The only thing that may suck is that the2 guys who came to Corps school after being in the fleet get to pick first for that reason only, but I should still get my first choice. So hopefully, I will be training with the Marines in Pendleton for field Medical Training Batallion (FMTB) and then stationed there as well. Tommorrow is the big day so we'll see what happens.

Well I just secured test 9 with a 93! It's getting kind of boring now. We just study medical forms and now were learning how to collect urine and shit samples. Awesome! We had a briefing on travel to our new duty stations after graduation which makes it seem a bit more real that I will be traveling once again. Test 10 is on Thursday and traditionally we choose our orders after 10 so I am expecting to choose next week sometime. This is a picture of my class this morning going into test 9. I'm not supposed to have electronic devices in the classroom so don't tell anyone!

Test 7

Well I completed test 7 of 12 today with a 98%....HOO YAH!! Supposedly after test 10, which will be in about 2 weeks, I will get to sit down with a detailer and choose my orders. My average is 95 and the only guy with a higher average is going dental so it won't matter since he already has dental orders. So unless I suddenly bomb out on the next 3 tests, I will get first pick. I'm hoping for Field Medical Training Battalion (FMTB) at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, CA. That is an 8 week course in field medicine with the Marines which prepares you for Marine tactics and structure. After that I am hoping for either a station with the Marines in either Okinawa Japan or close to home in Oceanside at Pendleton. That will be what is called my duty station, which will be included in the choice I make after test 10. So, it's coming up quickly so we'll see...

This is my cousin, Cory Anderson and I at his boot camp graduation. He just graduated two weeks ago and is now in Great Lakes with me on the other side of base.

These are some of the deer I see running around campus. They aren't approachable but let you get reallllly damn close!

My room

These are a couple pics of my dorm room. My bed is the one by the window. I have one closet to my self and everything has to be away and locked up every weekday when I leave the room. The pic on the bottom is the common area that I essentially never use. I eat in the galley 3 times a day since it's taken out of our paychecks anyways so I don't keep any food in my room. There are two bedrooms like mine in this dorm room and right now I am sharing my side (in the pic on the left) with just one room mate. I got lucky and got the quiet one. It's not too bad, the showers are even hot some times. The wifi in our room is up now so I get at least some onlin time now.

Definately not SoCal!

This is a good example of what I had to work through in boot camp. At times it was 20-30 below zero with the wind factor. Not fun...

I heard that it's actually unusual for snow this late in the season and this will probably be the last. These were taken on the morning of 3/28/09. This morning, April 4th. I heard some movement to my left by a small recreation area by my barracks and when I looked over, there was a lone deer looking through our garbage. I'll keep my camera with me in the mornings so hopefully I can snap some pics of them. It's not rare to see them, I've seen whole families. The clock tower is at the center of the base, which I actually call a campus. This place is really just a campus for the Navy's new sailors. The complex has been training sailors since 1911 and this is the original building.

A School!

Well I'm all done with boot camp and in "A" School. That's the Navy's term for everyone's first school which trains you to do the job you signed up for. It can be more complicated than that but as long as you get the basic jist of things.

So far Corpsman training is going very well. I've been assigned to be the ADJ, which is the adjunct to the instructors, Chief James and HM2 (2nd Class Petty Officer Corpsman). That just means that I am in charge of the class when they aren't around and I am at the top of the chain of command for the students. Whenever there is an issue, the students are to come to me or one of my staff members before going to our instructors. I've also been appointed to the position of EPO (Educational Petty Officer). The other EPOs and I run the night and mandatory study for students in need of extra assistance. So far, on my first of 12 tests in the curriculum, my average is 94.5%. The students with the highest average get first pick of orders so over achievers actually get something other than just pride in performance.

Of all of the choices I am looking into, I am hoping for a Marine division in either Okinawa, Japan, Hawaii, or San Diego. All have their advantages. I have my digicam now so I'll take some pictures and go further into depth on what's going on here at Corp School.