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[CooJoe]

Boot Camp Story #1: The Night before

So it's Monday September 8th, time to go to boot camp. I'm ready, I've been working out. I got any partying out of my system. I have my eleven general orders along with the rank structure memorized. The previous night I spent an an ex's, so my pipes are clean as a whistle. I'm ready as I can. MCRD here we come.

My recruiter drops me off at the hotel and gives me two bits of advice.

1) If given the chance, do the forbidden at the hotel.

2) If I wash out, I'd best kill myself before he got to me.

After I find my room and eat the free meal, I go outside to the smoker's circle to meet the guys I'll be going to boot camp with.

See, at the MEPS hotel there's two spots where people hang out, the rec room they have set up with an Xbox and a pool table, and the smoking area outside. The rule of thumb: anybody worth talking to is outside smoking.

When I'm outside I meet this group of three buddies who all enlisted together, one of which would become one of my best friends in boot, the other two would be placed in a platoon that narrowly beat us for honor platoon. (bastards)

We stood out there for hours smoking and joking when the subject of women came up.

One guy told how his girlfriend threatened to end things between them if he enlisted, so he saved her the trouble and dumped her.

Another told us about the girl that he'd been dating for about two weeks, and how he was sure she was going to stay faithful to him.

The guy who ended up in my platoon who ended up being one of the recruits who I leaned on from time to time told us about his fiance who he grew up with, and had dated since freshman year of high school. We'll call him the preacher, to be explained later.

Then my turn came. I talked about my latest ex, probably the only girl who I've ever loved. We dated for about eight months before we ended it. It was a mutual break up, on good terms. For about the last month of our relationship we realized that we really enjoyed each other's company, that we had amazing sexual chemistry, but we hated being in a relationship with each other. I hate her friends, she doesn't particularly like mine. She really doesn't have any ambition, being too much of a free spirited type for me. I'm too highly strung for her.

The fact that I decided to join the Marine Corps was the deal breaker. I wanted to be single while traveling the world, she didn't want to worry about having a boyfriend in Iraq or Afghanistan getting shot at. So we decided to remain good friends and continue to sleep with each other.

A couple of nights before I left, I spent the night in her bed. We fell asleep in eachother's arms. The next morning she told me that she wanted to find out what it was like to be bleeped by a Marine in a few months.

The guy who dumped his girl before leaving decided I was a "fag." Guy with two week old girlfriend thought I was an idiot for ending it. The Preacher thought I did the smart thing.

After a few hours of bullshitting I went to my room, shaved showered and went to bed.