On Monday, Oct. 11, 2010, Columbus Day, Zach reported to MEPS in Denver to begin his journey in the USMC. Again!
First it was his shoulders. Could the doctor send a note saying he was fit to be a Marine? Done.
Then it was, well, the USMC needs to see the entire medical file. Could you send that over? Done.
Then it was, where is your Social Security Card? Even after applying in person with his recruiter, the Social Security office had no record of it. So, the second application was sent and one ship date passed by.
After spending almost an hour on the phone (mostly on hold), we come to find that the first application for a replacement card was never pulled, meaning that the Social Security agent wasn't exactly honest in telling Zach and the Marine Sgt. that it was destroyed by the Post Office. But the second one was on its way. And another ship date passed by.
By now, it was the running joke - when would Zach ship? I don't think Zach thought it was funny though! He has been ready to go for a long time, so when Monday came and he was told he could go, there was more relief than excitement in the air.
Tuesday morning was the swearing in ceremony and a final goodbye to family who could meet them downtown. Tim went and commented that it was the same place he shipped out of when he joined the Marines "years ago". It was a proud moment for them both to say goodbye, good luck, do your best and be proud of all that you do.
Then our wait began. We knew that he would be calling us from MCRD in San Diego sometime early in the morning on Wednesday. He would have a sheet he had to read from informing us that he had arrived safely and he would contact us by letter with his platoon assignment and address.
Imagine our surprise when he called from the Denver Airport about 9pm on Tuesday night! When I asked him what he had been doing all day, he said jacks**t. Yeah, well welcome to the Marines, Tim answered.
Turns out he almost didn't ship. He was on the wait list. After leaving the Sergeant's office when he was told he might not go, he said he sat down and fumed about 30 minutes. Then he marched back into the Sergeant's office and said something to the effect of, that's my reputation you're fooling with here! I've told people I'm leaving. I'm ready to go and I was told I would be going. So what do I need to do to make it happen?
And then the hand of God reaches down - a guy who was supposed to ship could only do 2 pull ups in his physical and when this sergeant was called about a replacement, he said, take Zach. He's ready to roll!
So we say goodbye to Zach while he's waiting to get on a plane, expecting to hear from him around 2 or 4 am.
And we wait ---- and wait --- and wait ----
When the alarm goes off at 6am, it's obvious that he hasn't called and Tim is now pretty worried. In all his dealings with the USMC, he's never heard of a recruit not calling home. Tim calls the recruiter around 8am and he agrees, that's very strange. Oh, that's reassuring!
After 10am comes and goes, Tim calls again. Still no word.....
After noon comes and goes, Tim calls again saying, we need to know. Sure enough, an answer comes back - Zach is where he is supposed to be and all is well.
Whew!
So, why didn't he call?
The only explanation the sergeant can find is that his drill instructor kept the whole platoon from calling. Who knows why that is, but I'm sure we'll hear about it in Zach's first letter! I can imagine that many of the guys were worried about their families not knowing they were okay, and Zach is sitting there thinking, oh, Dad will know. And if he doesn't, he'll find out!
Sure enough, he did!
The only other thing the recruiter said was that Zach probably wasn't going to get any sleep for the first 36 hours or so. No biggie! He did that all through high school!
More news and pics of the swearing in when we get them.
Thank you for your prayers!
Margaret and Tim
Adam/ZIG/Bud/ZAG/Stud :)
ReplyDeleteKurt & Molly Stiles are proud to you! Way-to-go!!
Chef Mooosehopper -:)