Day 2 is almost over...

Well, it's the end of the second day of my journey. I have covered 1,527 miles. It was another full day of driving between Nashville, TN and Oklahoma City, OK.

While in Nashville I decided to take a little time this morning to see some things. I stopped by the Grand Ole Opry House and took a few pics. It wasn't open so I could only see the outside. I drove into downtown Nashville and walked a few blocks on Broadway. You'll see some of the places I saw in the pics. I was surprised when I walked by a bunch of stores that only sold cowboy boots and hats! It made me want to buy a pair as a souvenir. Walking by the restaurants that were getting ready to open I could smell the whiskey...

At 0900 when the doors opened, I visited the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. I got to see lots of cool stuff and took lots of pictures.

I left Nashville around 0945 straight through to Oklahoma City. The rest of Tennessee was just as beautiful as the eastern part. 300 miles through Arkansas wasn't quite like the hills and mountains. The terrain started to flatten out and there were lots of farms. After 9 hours of driving I finally reached Oklahoma City, a little more than halfway.

Tomorrow I start my adventures on Rt 66 through Texas to Albuquerque.

1,527 miles down, 1,399 miles to go

I added lots more pics so here's the link again


http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.935860760424.2439106.5321460&l=be9b9c3c1f

Happy Travels,

LCpl Rohrbach

It's been a while but everyday is a new adventure

So, It's been a while since I last wrote...

I completed Marine Combat Training and my MOS school where I was trained in my job. I also got promoted June 1st to Lance Corporal. More on that later. It's not nearly as exciting as where I'm at now...

I'm sitting in a hotel room in Nashville, TN right now on my way across the country to my first duty station Camp Pendleton, CA. It's the end of Day 1 of my 5 day journey through 12 states. I covered 843 miles through 6 states only 2,037 miles and 6 more states to go. I started at 0730 this morning from my house in New Jersey and made a stop along the way to visit my grandparents in western NJ before I left. Getting on Rt 81 in Pennsylvania I started making my way south. A short 85 miles later and I was entering Maryland and shortly after West Virginia and Virginia. 530 miles down Rt 81 and I was in Tennessee.

I lived in Northern Virginia near DC for over 2 years and saw some of the Virginia country but it did not prepare me for what I saw today. Western Virginia is filled with rolling hills, farms and Appalacian mountains. They are some of the most gorgeous views I have ever seen in this country. Once I got to Tennessee there were forest covered mountains but not so many hills but all just as beautiful. The photos I took do not do them justice. I fell so deeply in love with the country today and definitely would not mind living there someday.

My goal was to drive to somewhere between Bristol and Nashville. I decided to try and make Nashville tonight. I'm glad I did. Just as I was entering the area around the city (~30 miles) the sun was setting more beautiful than words can describe. It was like looking at heaven. Something that probably gets more breathtaking each time you see it.

I set an ambitious goal for today so there wasn't much time to stop and see anything. Tomorrow it's off to Oklahoma City. Not much to see along that leg of the trip either but once I hit Rt 66 it's going to get fun!! Be prepared for some great pics and experiences!

Here's a link to the photos I took today...

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.935860760424.2439106.5321460&l=be9b9c3c1f



Enjoy!

LCpl Chelsea Rohrbach

The Crucible and Marine Week

Hey everyone,

I have successfully completed Marine Corps Recruit Training. On December 3rd I marched proudly across the Peatross Parade Deck with just over 100 other females and close to 400 male Marines probably thinking the same thoughts I was..."Oh God, I hope I'm in step!", "Please don't let me screw up and look stupid in front of all these people.", "Whose obnoxious family is that in the stands yelling so loud I can barely hear the commands?", "Is the bend in my knees enough to keep my legs from giving out...focus, focus, don't move, ugh my feet are killing me in these corfams, is the ceremony almost over yet", and finally "I can't believe this day is actually here; it seemed so far away 3 months ago."

First, I want to thank all of you for your letters and continued support throughout my time waiting to ship out to boot camp, during boot camp and my future career as a Marine. They helped me so much get through each day. Mail call was what we all waited for. Standing on line after our shower we would all look and listen hoping to hear our name called for a letter from home envious of those who got letters on days we didn't. I also want to thank the amazing friends I made...I couldn't have done it without you! We kept each other going and pushed each other when we thought we had nothing left to give. All of you really are like sisters...sometimes we got on each other's nerves and snapped but moved on quickly because that's what sisters do.



0200 (2am) 22 Nov 2010: "LIGHTS!!!!!!!!!!!!"

That was the first word we heard the long awaited morning of the beginning of the end. We were about to embark on the most physically and mentally draining days of recruit training. "Hurry, hurry, let's go, we've got to go! NOW!" was repeated over and over again as the drill instructors tried to move us along to form up with our gear for the first hike of the Crucible. Side by side in a column of 2 both female platoons formed up just outside our squad bay wondering what the next 54 hours held. We knew we would only be getting 4 hours of sleep each night and eating only the 4 MREs issued to us the day before. "Left, left, left, right, left, round step, march!" There was no going back now. Our 6 mile hike had begun. Once we arrived at Page Field where all our exercises and activities would take place we grounded our gear and had a little time to eat. Then the fun began! Another short hike to the rifle range to complete the combat marksmanship part of our final test. an hour or so later we hiked back for more obstacles. It was the longest day we had experienced during our time on the island. Up at 0200, bed at 0000. We did get plenty of time to sit down, rest and eat. In addition to our morning hike, we did a 5 mile night hike through the woods without flashlights or anything to help us see. It was important to stay close to the recruit in in front of you because it was almost pitch black. The only light was a little glow stick on the pack of the drill instructor that looked like it was floating and bobbing though the sheet of black night. Not even her shadow was visible. We were all so exhausted by the end of the day all we wanted to do was go to bed.

Day 2 started early at 0400. We dressed, ate a little then began the activities for the day. One of our activities was evacuating a casualty 1 mile to safety. In our squad of 15 people we had to patrol our way to the casualty though a clearing in the woods. Not even 200 yards into it our drill instructor decided that during the incoming fire from the front one person didn't drop fast enough. She just happened to be the biggest one out of both platoons so we had to carry her the rest of the way. Luckily the drill instructor let us start over. Whew! It would not have been fun trying to carry her through the whole course! Once we finished all the small obstacles for the day and the sun went down we started the night assault course. Pushing a 35 lb ammo can through the sand while low crawling with your rifle and going under razor wire is not easy! After another long day bed was again at 0000. Now we all knew the obstacles part was over. We only had our 9 mile hike back to civilization. We did it in 3, 3 mile legs stopping for 10 minutes between each for our head and water calls. Maybe it was because we were all motivated to finish, but the hike seemed like nothing. The hardest part was the blisters and sharp pains that shot through your feet. Every time we stopped then started I would wobble for a little because of the pain. It was hard but focusing on putting one foot in front of the other helped keep me going until my feet went numb for that leg. Our last 3 miles we yelled cadence the whole way to let everyone know we were almost Marines. When we finally finished we grounded our packs behind the second battalion squad bays and waited for all the male platoons before going to our emblem ceremony. We had done it...the crucible was over and for the most part so was our training.

Normally the emblem ceremony is done in front of the Iwo Jima statue by the parade deck where graduation is but the schedule got moved around for the holiday. Because of a graduation we had our elsewhere. We were the first ones ever to receive our Eagle, Globe and Anchor on the yellow footprints. We had come full circle. Our transformation from civilian to Marine began on the yellow footprints when we first got off the bus and that's where it ended. It was a surreal feeling like nothing I can explain in words. There was an amazing sense of accomplishment in everyone's eyes knowing that throughout the past 3 months we had tested our minds and our bodies more than what we ever thought possible. Among all the new Marines there was not one dry eye...I think the males were actually crying more than us! Some even looked like they were going to hyperventilate from all the blubbering! After the speeches the drill instructors went one by one and handed each of us our EGA. Trying to maintain bearing and control the tears as much as possible we all clasped the treasured symbol of the Marine Corps tight in our left hands knowing we had the honor, courage, commitment and strength to begin and complete the most difficult boot camp in the military. We had all done it...stood tall and proud, earning the title of United States Marine; something only a hand full of people can say they did.

The last 10 days of boot camp were exciting and sad at the same time. The final test standing between us and finally getting to leave Parris Island was our Battalion Commander Inspection. We spent almost a whole week cleaning, ironing our uniforms and cleaning our weapons...there was no way we were going to fail and have to stay there longer. Oh no! We were so close to graduation nothing was going to stand in our way. Not the green dust bunnies under the beds, loose straps on our packs, a wrinkle in our uniform, a minute speck of carbon on our rifle or shoes even a quarter of an inch off of perfect alignment. Needless to say we all passed. Now we knew for sure we were going home...it was only a matter of time.

More about Marine week to come...stay tuned

Semper Fi!

PFC Rohrbach

Heading Down!

Hey everybody,

Well, only 3 days left! (Technically, 2 until we get to see her :o) We're heading out in just a short while to make the drive down to South Carolina. We will be driving all night and arrive around 12 noon tomorrow!

Thursday is family day so we will get to see Chelsea for the first time in 3 months! We can't wait. We will get to spend part of the day with her and she will have the chance to show us around the camp, including the squad bay, her "bedroom" and her special places she has to keep a clear mind, along with some of the exercise courses and obstacle sites. At 7 am we will get to watch her participate in the motivational run (about 3 miles) and see her hard work in person. It should be very interesting.

Friday at 9:00 am we will finally get to see her graduate and officially become a Marine! We will post lots of pictures after! Then she will spend the weekend catching up with her family (awww!).

Once she is relaxed, I will make sure she posts a message to let everyone know some of her experiences! Thank you all for keeping up with my posts and for supporting Chelsea in her journey of becoming a United States Marine!

Sincerely,

Logan Rohrbach

P.S. Keep checking back, you never know what'll pop up!

Getting Close!

“11/4/10

OMG! Yesterday was the best day ever ever ever! I just had to say that before hi….so hi!

Ok, back to yesterday. We went to early chow b/c some of us had to go to dental which I was dreading! We still can’t get cereal and stuff but they actually give me the double rats on the hot food so it wasn’t too bad. Then 10 of us walked to dental to get our wisdom teeth out. They called everyone but me and one of the other girls from the other platoon. So we sat there for ½ hour then they told us we weren’t getting our teeth pulled! I was so relieved. Now I can have it done my way. So we walked back to the squad bay. We are still preparing for our inspection.

11/7/10

Sorry for the gap between writing…we were so busy preparing for the inspection. We cleaned everything top to bottom, had to get our uniforms all ready and make sure everything was squared away before we could do anything else. This inspection was in our service uniform; aka pickle suit. We got our red & yellow service ribbon which was cool and they already had our rank insignia on the sleeves. We didn’t find out if we passed individually but as a platoon we did.

Now that the inspection is over we get to relax until Tuesday I think. BWT is supposed to start on Monday but it’s a holiday so we have the holiday schedule – 4 extra hours of free time. There was also talk of them cancelling our final PFT and using our initial score because we don’t have time before the crucible. Time seems to be flying now.

So, its getting cold here I have no idea how. It was 80 last Friday then it dropped to like 40 on Wednesday. We still had to role our sleeves so we were all freezing! They switch over today so our sleeves went down and we can wear our sweatshirts underneath. I’m hoping it warms up again especially for next week and the crucible. Really, how does it drop 40 degrees in a matter of days!? This place is weird. I swear, I think the whole island is temperature controlled. They started serving some new food at the chow hall. For Halloween there was cornbread and now they have applesauce. I can’t wait til liberty Sunday when we can go around and get as much food as we want. Everytime I’m talking with my friends here the conversation at some point always turns to food. OK enough about food I’m getting hungry.

On Friday we got our pictures taken. We were allowed to buy makeup at the PX for the pictures. The other platoon didn’t get to wear any. We weren’t in full dress blues either. It was a white shirt that velcroed, a cropped blue jacket and cover. You’ll get to see them on family day. We also ordered our yearbooks, graduation DVD and USMC ring.

Oh! All the people that didn’t pass the rifle range had to go back last week everyday until they passed. 2 people didn’t qual so they got dropped back immediately. All their stuff was moved Fri night. The other platoon had 8 dropped for not qualing. We’re down to 58 from 61 now. Another girl hurt her ankle and is being sent home depression. I personally thing there should be at least 10 other people here that need to go home.

Also, I’m well on my way to earning a cosmetology certificate. I trimmed the ends of my hair last night and now everyone comes to me to have their hair done. I did 3 this morning plus my own and those were all new people whose hair I had never done before. I’m like the resident hair dresser. Its kind of funny but not. I have to do it all on free time.

There was something else but I can’t remember. Oh well, maybe I’ll think of it later.

How is everything going there? Is your back any better? Classes? Etc? Write back and send more pics if you can J

Love, Chelsea”

“11/8/10

Hi Logan,

I wrote you a letter yesterday but I got yours today. We can definitely go to the range sometime. Military ppl can get a membership to the ranges on base so we can go shoot the rifle or we can do skeet shooting w/ a shotgun…whatever you prefer. Its so much fun!! You’d love it too. I have one more chance to get expert during BWT. If you shoot expert you don’t get anything special except the badge. Marksman looks like a pizza box with a bullseye, sharpshooter is like a cross and the expert is cross rifles with a wreath. It does suck that they get dropped but if they get deployed and need to shoot back they’re no good to anyone. Every Marine is a rifleman so they need to learn to shoot and hit the target.

I already mentioned the inspection so I won’t repeat myself. I was hoping that girl got dropped but they decided to keep her. She just gets IT’d all the time for the rest of boot camp.

So since my other letter our Senior DI called me into her office and told me to eat more so now I have no restrictions. I can have French toast, yogurt, cereal as much bread, peanut butter, jelly and fruit as I want! I’m so happy! Tomorrow and Wednesday for lunch we get MREs. They took away all the sweet stuff and candy though but hopefully I’ll gain some weight from that. If I don’t gain my last 3 pounds I get put on grad hold until I reach that weight L

Less than one week of practice for you now… by the time you get this you’ll probably be done. It will give your back a rest too. At Thanksgiving tell everyone I said hi. I’m sure I’ll write to you before that though.

Everyone started writing their food lists for when they go home.

Oh! Today we practiced putting on our cami paint. It looked really funny. I’ll bring some home so you can use it.

T minus 24 days… probably 20 or 21 when you get this… See you soon!

Love, Chelsea”

New Letter!

New Letter!

Letter #9 To Me:

“10/31/10

Hey Logan,

It seems like forever since I’ve last written you. Last week at the rifle range was crazy. We were busy all day everyday. Early chow at 4:30, right to the rifle range to set up, shooting all morning and afternoon, time with our coaches, late evening chow then shower, and free time to clean our rifles. All the practice paid off for me. I shot a 215- 5 points away from expert! I still have table 2 (moving targets) next week where I can make up those 5 points. The 8K (about 7-8 mile) hike back wasn’t as bad as the one there. Everyone stayed together more so the people in the back didn’t have to run as much. When we got back we went right to climbing the ropes. I was one of less than 10 that were able to get to the top.

So, back to the rifle range… 29 of our 61 recruits didn’t qualify (190+ pts to qual) or onked as they call it here. So now they all need to go back this week to try and qual and if they don’t they get dropped to another platoon. The shooting was so much fun! I wish we did it more. We shot from sitting, kneeling, standing and laying down from 200, 300 and 500 yards at different targets. It’s a lot to write so I’ll tell you when I see you on family day.

Today didn’t start out as a good day at all. We went to the pit twice before breakfast and had our food rationed. No pancake, syrup, yogurt, cereal, jelly and only one piece of fruit. Why? Because one stupid girl decided to keep 2 live (unused) bullets from the rifle range and mail them home. One came back and we all got in trouble. All week we had shake downs where we emptied all our pockets and stripped down to bras & underwear so they could check that no one had any all while yelling “no brass, no trash, no saved rounds” yet she still didn’t say anything. I hope she gets dropped for it. She could have gone to jail if they called the MP’s. I don’t know how some people can be so stupid! I’m so sick of being here. I’m glad there’s only a month left.

October went by so fast. Hopefully November is the same way.

This week we are just getting ready for our company commander inspection on Saturday and do jobs around the base like mow the grass and things like that. We probably cleaned for 4-6 hours today because our squad bay has to be clean for the inspection!

I really hope they take us off this food restriction soon. I’m so hungry! It was the same at dinner and lunch. One peanut butter, no jelly, once piece of bread and one fruit. We did have baked ziti so that was good and cream of potato soup. They had corn bread but that counts as a piece of bread so I didn’t get any. I want food but I have to wait another 3 ½ weeks until the warriors breakfast and we’ll be Marines! There’s finally a light at the end of the tunnel.

Our drill instructors have noticeable changed also. They still yell when we do something wrong but we don’t get counted down for every little thing, shower without them standing in the doorway telling us to get out but who knows what will happen now. We had to dump all our stuff yesterday during free time so they could check that none of us had anymore rounds. They did it again this morning too. I keep telling myself Dec 3 and that I’ll make it there. I’m still living meal to meal.

That one girl who went home because her little sister died I saw in church today. She’s 2 weeks behind us & just started the rifle range. We’re now the senior Oscars. A platoon of “babies” picked up yesterday so its kind of cool being looked up to and helping them out.

Gotta go now…let me know how everything is going. Has anyone written anything on facebook or the blog? See you soon!

Love, Chelsea”

New Letter!

Letter #8 to Me:

"10/24/10

Hi Logan,

Got your letter yesterday. I hope you’re not losing my letters! I’ve sent you a whole bunch. I tried to write at least every 3-4 days. I’m kind of wondering about the mail recruit too. We were having a knowledge session and she wouldn’t fill in the spot next to me and said, “I’m not sitting next to you. I’ll probably hit you. I don’t like you… just being honest.” Most of the people here have no people skills. Right now they’re doing this stupid family discussion about everyone’s issues with everyone else… it basically turned into a big criticism session.

Everyone always thinks they know more than you or are better than you and once people started leaving to go back to their free time it turned into a gossip session. I have no respect for over half the people here.

Now that we’re eating a lot more at the male chow hall I’ve gained the weight back. I’m up to 114 now but I’ll probably lose it as soon as we get back. We get so much more food here.

I’m glad they didn’t drop me too. I don’t want to spend any more time here than needed. My knee still hurts a little but not as bad. It’s the worst during the runs but I can get through it. Now I have the same thing in my left knee. It was killing me during the run yesterday. I really need to stretch and ice it so it can get better before our hike back but there never seems to be time. All team week I think we pretty much just get ready for our company commander inspection and get our teeth pulled. Should be fun!

Sorry to hear about your back. Hopefully the steroids start working better and practice won’t hurt as much. At least you can go lay down afterwards and study from bed. I wish I could say November will go by quickly here too, but there’s no telling. Could go either way.

We found out that because of Thanksgiving our Crucible will start on Monday Nov. 22 and end on the 24^th so make sure you change that on your calendar. That Sunday we can make phone calls so expect one sometime in the morning. I’m definitely getting real food that day too!

Starting this week we have 40 days left until graduation. Its really starting to wind down. I’m hoping to get 30 days of recruiters assistance right after so I’ll actually get to spend the holidays at home but there are no guarantees. It would be nice. I got my first bank statement the other day. My first 2 wk paycheck was almost $700.

Ok, I should probably study now. I’ll write again.

Love, Chelsea

P.S. Thanks for Alex’s address. I got a letter from him a few days ago. He said they have males and females in their platoon and he’s having a great time right now.”