Two of my sons made the decision to join the United States Marine Corps and their boot camp journey is done, but they've only just begun their military commitment. Words cannot aptly describe how proud I am of them.

Dear Steemit friends, how I've missed you!

My goal is to get back to posting at least once a day and I'll be sharing some of the events that's kept me away these last few weeks.

_{Showing off "My son is a Marine" pin}

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These are my babies!
Nearly ten years later and look at them now.

Graduated August 18, 2017	Graduated July 28, 2017

On Family Day visiting with my Marine on the right, I was shocked at how thin he was. I mean... He was always thin and in shape but I may as well have been hugging a telephone pole.

Knowing my youngest was painfully thin to begin with, I feared for his life. For weeks I worried how his skinny body was going to carry around 80-pound rucksacks and he'd be nothing but bones. My fears were allayed after hugging the Marine on the left. He actually filled in a little bit.

To see their official Marine Corps portrait, you would think they were twins!

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So... a funny thing happened. Apparently I "destroyed" my youngest son during boot camp. You see, he wrote me a letter that said "it isn't as hard as I thought it would be."

Let me explain something
"It isn't as hard as I thought it would be" does not mean "this is easy."

A little back story. The majority of men in our family, across many generations, has served in the armed forces; all with horrific, spellbinding, hysterical stories about their boot camp experiences. It's hard stuff and only appreciated and laughed about in hind sight because they survived it. My sons heard a lot of stories about how tough it was; how hard the drill instructors pushed; how you lose the "me" in order to become one corps, one unit, one team. They also both worked out and participated in events like the Spartan Race.

In my heart I knew they were both physically and mentally prepared for boot camp. When I got my Echo recruit's letter I posted a message on FB relieved that he was doing well. Being a good and proud Marine mom, I did some research on the different companies. My youngest was in 2nd Recruit Training Battalion Echo Company.

They were designated "Easy Echo" since WWII

It's like calling a chihuahua Killer, a really tall person Shorty, or a bald person Harry. It's a paradox. I'll get into the history and designation of Mighty Mike and Easy Echo in my next post but please believe that my intentions stem from being proud of both of my Marines.

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Did you know the Drill Instructors scan through those Facebook support groups?

It was about 3:30 AM when my son basically woke up to a smokey bear hat and eyes staring at him:

^{not his DI}

"Leeeeee-oooo. So, you think this is easy?"

Of course flying under the radar until that moment he had no idea what they were talking about. He was like, "No, sir?"

Hence forth and so on my son was called Easy Echo -- and because it was "so easy" he lived in the sand pit and was volunteered for a lot of I.T. (Intensive Training)

If you spoke to my husband and my ex they would say I did a bad, bad thing. I should feel bad about this but honestly I'm proud as punch that my kid made it through despite the extra attention. Okay... Maybe I should feel a tiny bit bad about it... but I don't. He's tough as nails and no worse for wear. In fact, I think he's got a better appreciation for Parris Island accommodations. I'll tell you this - he'll never forget it.

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That's it for now! I've got a lot of storytelling and stuff to share but I need to catch up with my people!

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