More news from Michael

Finally! After 2 weeks another letter from Michael arrived today. In this letter, he answers a lot of questions that we sent to him, so I'll try to summarize. He says that he was definitely "DQed" (disqualified) for not being 100% upfront from the get go, though he did tell all later. I guess it was too late for the Marine's way of thinking. His new assignment is "the highly esteemed position of 'open contract.'" (Basically, he still doesn't know.) He thinks he'll find out during Marine Week (the last week of boot camp) and he adds "Don't worry--it won't necessarily be infantry."

When he gets home, he wants to "sleep, eat, watch TV, run and work out," and he has an "hour-long, candle-lit bath planned!"

He goes on to report that all of the Drill Instructors for his platoon have been temporarily relieved because of "a lack of...I guess experience, in disciplining young recruits." I'll quote him...

So until tomorrow we still don't know who will be replacing them permanently...My only disappointment is that we might get the old DIs back...Hectic times, it's bringing the platoon down. And that makes things worse because we already suck and are the worst platoon in the company. We had the lowest initial test average (88%). Everyone else was in the 90s."

Other than that, he writes,"I'm still cool." He says his marksmanship instructor is "awesome, very funny." He says his knee hurts. He is "stoked." And he "can't wait to graduate!" By his count, he is 5 and 1/2 weeks away.

Requests: 1) Something for serious coughs. 2) More Emergen-C! 3) Protein bars are cool but not a must.

Thank you all again for cheering Michael on. I know it is a big boost to him!