Welcome!

I've never really seen the point in getting a blog before, but with the impending deployment, I knew I wanted one place where I could keep all of my family and friends informed on how it was going instead of having a giant e-mail list. I also had a chance to follow Lt G's blog, Kaboom, before it got yanked, (maybe that's another post to explain...) and was hoping to provide the same sort of experience for people who read this blog. Lt G led an Army platoon in Iraq a couple of years ago and had a way of making the most mundane stories about patrolling and working in his AO seem interesting. I happen to fancy myself a writer, so maybe if I work hard I can make the mundane things about the Marine Corps and Afganistan seem interesting.

I'm hoping that I'll have the ability to post after I deploy, but I don't actually know if that will be the case. At a minimum, it will require semi-regular internet access and approval from my chain of command.

I haven't really done much yet to get ready for the deployment except that I finally got to meet my Marines this past weekend. (Yay!!!) I have an awesome platoon, awesome NCOs, and an awesome platoon sergeant. I'm really looking forward to the chance to lead them in Afghanistan next year. I have a tentative schedule, and it goes something like this: graduate from Engineer School in late February, go to Mojave Viper to train with the platoon, and continue training with them for a couple of months before we deploy.

I think that's enough for a first post. I'll try to keep this blog up to date as I finish school and train for deployment.