Well guys, It has been a while so I figured i'd give you a little post to let you know what's going on in my life. In May I got promoted to Cpl, so I am officially a Non Commissioned Officer. It was a HUGE step in my advancement, and I was unbelievably excited at the time of pinning. I had Gabrielle come and pin me up. She is the mom of the local family who has taken me in. Since then I have been given a significant amount of responsibility and an increase in pay and respect. Definately excited about the second part.. makes Jason a much happier person.

Since my promotion I spent a week at RAS (Rear Areas Security) and was basically taken through a revamped course of Marine Combat Training. How to detain prisoners, shooting techniques, First Aid, and Political Prowess.) and then Two weeks on the Rifle range. One week we go through and relearn how to use the rifle, and then the second week, we fire the rifle for score. I got sharp shooter for the 4th time in a row, lol. I can't seem to move up to Expert... but luckily i don't ever move down to Marksman.

I have also moved chains of Command. I was with Combat Logistics Regiment - 17, and am now with Combalt Logistics Battalion - 5 (CLR-17 & CLB-5). My deployment date is set for late August, and I have exact days, but want to keep these to myself for now. My leave days are the 30th until the 17th of August. So you should see me somewhere between these dates.

Right now I'm trying to take care of my finances so they will be easily dealt with while I am away. I feel bad leaving this task to my father, I know he is incredibly busy already. I am basically going to have all my money goto one place and then have it pulled out directly by those billing me. I was going to try and take college courses, but they have moved up the money required per course, and my TA only helps me for 750 a class. Books and the remainder of what TA will not cover comes to about 350$ I have no wish to pay 350 out of pocket, per semester. I wish they would work with me on this, but no news yet.

CLB-5 has little for me to do, so I have alot of free time during the day. I sit here and play online games and browse www.youtube.com. It is very addicting, and I feel like I should have something creative to post.. unfortunately I don't :-( If anyone knows of a good video editing program I can pira.. i mean obtain.. I am open to suggestions. I am going to start taking alot more advantage of my digital camera. Um.. http://www.foreverabove.com is fully operational, so.. you can join us... or die... my master

Until next time