Semper Fi Brian

Our Marine left for the war this week. The Palos Verdes Peninsula Center Starbucks group and Bush supporters have been closely following the fledgling military career of Brain Weiss, our brave new Marine. Now Brian has departed for his first tour of war duty. Brian agreed to send me updates from his post which I will publish on the PalosVerdesBlog. Here are Brian’s farewell messages to us.

2/18/06 ... Hey,

I’m finishing my last week of active duty before we go. We are slated to leave in early March. We have gotten lots of updates on Djibouti in the last few weeks, and the mission still seems good. We have been taking our combat life savers class; it’s pretty much a week long version of EMT training with an emphasis on military related trauma. We had to set IVs on a partner to pass the class, fun to watch the big tough Marines almost passing out at the sight of a needle. Our schedule during the day is pretty long starting with PT (physical training) at 0530, then to classes, and then practical application of what we learned in the last half of the day into the evening. I have been working 6 days a week, but we had this entire weekend off including Monday. Next week is our last week of our pre-deployment work ups. The Marine Corps has hired an acting company to come in and set the scenarios for us. We will be doing entry control points, expeditionary security force work, personnel/ vehicle searches, convoys, riot control, QRF (quick reaction force) and many other things. It should be fun although it will be long and we will be very short on sleep due to the schedule. It hasn’t hit me yet that I will be gone in a couple of weeks, but I’m trying to get in as many Mexican meals as I can before I go. I pretty much have all of my personal affairs in order, and I’m almost ready to get packed and go. I feel the training we received was very good, my command brought in instructors from all over the country to teach us all of the newest techniques that have come from lessons learned during the war. When we finally get slated to leave I will send my last e mail update, and then once I’m there I will send one out to confirm I made it. There is a chance that I will say goodbye on a Monday and we won’t actually leave until a Friday. We try not to spread around the word that there are 270 Marines flying in “Indian country”.

My parents will be taking care of most of my civilian stuff while I am gone (including taking care of my loving Rottweilers) good luck Mom and Pops. Feel free to contact them if need be, their email addresses are at the top of the address list . I hope all is well with all of you, and I hope to hear from you soon!

B


2/27/06 ... HEY ALL,

Breaking news… We were pushed up a week and will be leaving tomorrow, March 1. Our final week of training was really good, we sure didn’t get much sleep but we got a lesson or two from the USMC school of lessons learned. I have been placed in charge of all of the serialized gear, and battle rosters for our section. My job is to be in the Combat Operations Center (COC) while my platoon is on duty. I keep track of what Marines / gear are at what posts. I also make all of the vehicle battle rosters which keep track of the Marines and gear in each vehicle before it goes out on patrol. Sometimes the job is great and other times I’m buried in work as posts change and Marines are sent for other duties or patrols. I had plans for this email to be full of info but I have flat run out of time between packing and preparing my civilian life for the deployment.

I will be in Djibouti by the 4th, and I hope to get a crack at email ASAP. Please feel free to contact me via email anytime. Also keep in mind that all email incoming and out going will most likely be monitored. It’s not like a boot camp situation so don’t be pushed off by that, just don’t send anything that might be overt or communist or “Victicrat” related (MOM). LOL.

Thanks for all of the support in the past year plus, and I will see ya when I see ya!

B

ps Here is the latest address, it might change as it already has 5 times, but go with it until you hear different from me.

LCPL WEISS, BRIAN C.
4TH PSC 5TH SECTION
UNIT 40655
FPO AE 96609-0655


This from Colonel Dave: Saepe Expertus, Semper Fidelis, Fratres Aeterni [Often Tested, Always Faithful, Brothers Forever]

Go with God, Brian.