And so it begins!

I realize that I haven't posted much about Tommy's experience here in his school, so I thought I'd give everyone an update since some of you have been asking. He will be participating the next 6-7 months in a training designed for new Officers. During this training he will be tested mentally and physically, and toward the end of the training they will tally up how well he has done and use this information to determine what his "job" in the Marine Corps will be (he puts in a list of preferences) and where we will be stationed for the next 3-4 years.

Here's the deal. What they didn't tell us before we came is that they actually assigned over 400 people to his Company, which has only 300 slots. Now I'm no mathemetician, but that means about 25% of the Marines will be dropped at some point in the first 2 weeks. Which is tomorrow.

So, we actually don't know if he is going to be in this Company or not. If not, he won't get another chance to pick up in the next class until late DECEMBER!! Yeesh.

So far, he is enjoying what they have done, and he really wants to continue. They have said they will be evaluating them on their Swim Qualifications and PFT's (Physical Fitness Tests) to determine who gets to stay and who goes. So far, Tommy got the highest Swim Qual class he could get, and his PFT is today. He typically does fine in these areas, but you never know, and as he said, he is now competing with 22-year olds, and he is no "spring chicken"! I have every confidence he will be fine - after all, he is pretty amazing, but keep your fingers crossed!