Sorry blogging has been a bit light here. Besides writing a very long expert report during the past month, I’ve also driven (with Sandra) a few thousand miles over the past several days, with over a thousand more to go. Last week, we made a quick trip to Utah to see some close friends from DC before they head down to Peru for a few years (he’s now with the State Department). We got back from Utah on Saturday, then left this past Tuesday to drive down to San Diego to see our son Jon graduate from MCRD.
Here’s Jon this morning, still a recruit, during the Motivation Run just a few hours before the Emblem Ceremony:

That’s Jon in the middle, just to the left of the DI’s head. I honestly didn’t recognize him until his sister pointed him out.
And here he is this afternoon, having received his Eagle, Globe & Anchor emblem and now one of the 611 newest US Marines walking on this planet:

To his left is Greg Barsic, our son-in-law and another Marine (currently serving in the US Coast Guard but looking at getting back into the Corps).
The final Graduation Ceremony is tomorrow morning. Jon wants to hit the beach this weekend, and then he’s coming back to Colorado with us until he has to report to Camp Pendleton in 10 days or so. He’s still waiting to see what his next training will be.
He’s hoping for Infantry and an overseas posting.
I could not be more proud. ..bruce..
Congratulations all around! The “can’t recognize them until someone points them out” is a common problem with freshly minted Jarheads. That same problem belogned to me 22 years ago (damn I feel so old).
Semper Fi to Jon, congratulations on making it onto the elite team.
Congrats and welcome to the gunclub, Marine. Your family and country are proud of you. Semper Fi
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