Important Update!

Hey everybody,

I'm posting 4 letters this time! Sorry I haven't posted in a while I've been quite busy with homework.

Letter #2 To Alex:

"Hey Alex,

Our letters must have crossed paths in the mail. I sent you one early in the week. Last week I was on light duty and at medical most of the time so there wasn't much training for me. We finally did get to shower with shampoo and now it's 1-2 times a week we wash our hair. Our senior DI even let us shave!! So far our only uniforms are our PT gear and camis. They're not as comfortable as they look. In a few weeks we go to get measured for our service uniforms, (brown shirt and green pants). No dress blues :( until we buy them on our own. We did our first hike yesterday with a small pack and it was only 3 miles so it wasn't bad. Apart from the tight knee muscle, cough, runny nose, and pink eye in both eyes, not much has changed since my first letter. People are still bitchy as ever and most haven't learned teamwork yet. It sucks that you got pushed back again but it does give you more time to get ready. Please tell everyone to write me! Getting letters at mail call is my favorite part of the day! I was expecting lots of letters but have only gotten a few from my family and you. As far as capital... I don't know what Jon is talking about but I didn't call him from here. I've only made 2 phone calls and they were both to my mom. I knew Dace on his business trip... He's down here near me working w/ the SWAT guys. How is Andrew doing? (Big, tall blonde guy who used to be a marine) - tell him to write me too. I feel so disconnected without my phone or Facebook. You don't get used to the suck. It gets really annoying after a while especially when you have to dress and undress 10 times because one person moves slow. I'm almost 1/4 of the way done. The days have been going by pretty quick. Keep writing.

Chelsea"

Letter #3 To Me:

"Hi Logan,

I don't remember what I wrote in my last letter so sorry if I repeat anything. Fannie said you've been doing a good job keeping everyone up to date. I've gotten a few letters since I last wrote you but only 3 other than you, mommy and grammy.

First, I got assigned my MOS on Saturday. (I also got a phone call home to get some info and 2 choc chip cookies for lunch- at the security clearance building). My school is 5 months in Pensacola. We get liberty after our classes & on weekends but I think there are mileage limitations for the length of the weekend but he said there will probably be a long weekend w/a holiday where I'll be able to visit you.

My knee still hurts but I'm trying to work through it to graduate on time. I also got pink eye in both eyes already. A lot of our schedule got postponed b/c of heat and rain. Tomorrow we get to do the confidence course..yay! Finally something fun! We had our first hike on Sat...It was only 3 miles with a small pack so it wasn't that bad. The worst part was my knee. After this week we go to the pool for 4 days to do our swim qualifications. Then we start Phase 2 where they give us a little more freedom. BTW, I'm still waiting on my double rations. I can't believe we're in our 4th week here, the days are starting to blend together but go by quickly. I go to church on Sundays because we get 2 hours away from the drill instructors. One is pretty nice but the other is a complete b***h. Our senior DI is nice too. She let us shave twice already & her last platoon had to wait 8 weeks before they shaved.

I wrote this part yesterday & got your letter today. Our classroom stuff is mostly history, customs, traditions, rules & regulations. Stuff like that. I think we start doing more activities in phase 2 but we're on our feet all day & holding our rifle a lot so we're all really tired. We only sit down for meals, classes and free time. The food isn't too bad. Breakfast is my favorite meal. We get scrambled eggs (kind of rubbery), either French Toast, a waffle or a pancake (my favorite is the french toast- only every 3 days though), a hash brown, 1/2 a PB&J sandwich, cereal and fruit.

I got your second letter today... PT today was rough. Its been raining like crazy so our PT field is basically underwater we had to crawl through it today and a bunch of other stuff. Its been getting cooler too so we were freezing after getting wet. We got to do pugil sticks today too. I'm not sure if I won my match but I got in some good hits after I got up off the ground. Grass week & firing week are the rifle range so those shouldn't be too bad. Today was when it started to get really tough. The DI's do yell but not as much as some from the other platoons.

My pink eye cleared up but my knee still hurts. If it still hurts after the end of next week I'll go back & have it checked.

So If you can't run will you be allowed to play when the season starts? How is everything else going? You should be allowed to send it. If it fits in an envelope w/a letter just put it in there.

Everytime it gets hard I remind myself the fastest way out of here is to go straight through training. Keep telling everyone to write!

Love, Chelsea"

Letter #4 to Mom:

"Hi,

I was glad they let me make the phone call. Sorry I didn't say more or elaborate. I wasn't very private and they said to keep it short and business like. Hopefully we'll get another one. We got cookies for lunch that day too! They were sooooo good!!

I finally got a letter from someone other than you or Logan. Logan said she has a big Marine Corps flag hanging on her wall, a countdown to my graduation and space cleared so she can hang all my letters.

Talk to you soon,

Chelsea"

Letter #5 To Mom:

"Hi Mommy!

I got your 2 letters and package this week. I hung the pictures up in my foot locker already.

I know the package seemed menial to you but here being able to have those things are a luxury.

I just wish we could get food.

I'm back at medical today for my knee because the the pain hasn't gone away even though

I did everything they said to.

When we first got here was when we got divided into our platoons. 5 of the 6 of us that were

on the bus got put in the same platoon and the other one is in a different platoon. Most people

seemed to adjust pretty well with the exception of missing home. Some others didn't adjust too well

and are still struggling. It seems like there are 3 or 4 that can't seem to do anything right so the drill

instructors are on them all the time. We are not supposed to talk on line or in formation but our

platoon can't grasp that concept.

Today medical sent me to the trainer they have here. She showed me some other stretches

because apparently I was given the wrong ones to do. She said that's why I wasn't any better.

We got french toast this morning for breakfast! That made my day. Yesterday we go to do pugil

sticks. It was fun but hard. We had so much gear on it was hard to swing the stick but I did get a

few good hits in For our PT session yesterday we put our green camis on and did the different carrys

and low crawl. It wasn't that fun since it had rained the few days before and the weather is getting

cooler. It's nice during the day when the sun is out but in the morning and in our squad bay it's cold.

Once we get to the rifle range we get to wear our green camis with the sleeves down and when we

come back it will be time to wear the greens for the fall and winter months.

When we were getting our gear together for our march tomorrow (which I won't be going on

because of light duty again) our senior DI mentioned about dropping to another platoon. I don't know

if she was serious or just messing with me since she said it in front of everyone. I would think if I was

getting propped she would have said something to me directly alone. I really hope she decides to let me

stay. I've made some great friends already. It seems that people tend to bond more with the recruits

that bunk around them. I sleep right next to the girl that I had met through the forum and facebook

which is nice. There are a few girls that are closer to my age and 3 or 4 that are older but for the

most part they are 17 - 19.

How is everything going with the business? Have you done anything else with PADF or connected

with any other organizations?

I do miss Charlie but I'm sure that you're taking good care of her. I haven't gotten a letter from

Aunt Paula yet and only a card from Grammy. Fannie did say, Logan was doing well keeping everyone

up to date on everything. Apart from yours and Logan's first letter, Alex was the first one of my friends

to write to me. He updated me about everything at Capital and is going to tell them to write. Logan said

she keeps telling everyone to write. I did get a letter from Gary and Eileen too. I also got a letter from

Rosemary too. So, what has everyone been saying on facebook? Logan is relaying all my info but not

keeping me updated on everyone else. Alex had mentioned that he got pushed back again. I'm glad

they didn't keep doing that to me. He has a lot more training than I do.

The Cape should be fun. Hopefully you'll have good weather. Are there any hurricanes or tropical

storms headed this way?

I'm looking forward to morning chow!! My favorite time of the day!!

Love,

Chelsea

PS: Send more pics and have others send them too."

Best Letter Yet!

Letter #3 to Mom

This is the letter I received from Chelsea today, Sept. 27, 2010

I do not know when she wrote it as it had no date. From what I can tell, I think she wrote it on Sept. 20^th. I’ll have to remind her to date them.

"Hi Mommy,

I finally got your letter last night along with a card from Grammy and Pop-Pop. It was nice to finally get mail other than my bank statement of $0.00!

Our training schedule got moved around a little because of the heat. I don’t think it’s been that hot but a few days they said we couldn’t do any strenuous activity outside.

We had to go back to medical to get our blood drawn on Monday L and yet again they had to stick me twice! That makes for 7 sticks in the last 2 weeks. Lucky for me I already had some of the shots before. I went yesterday morning to have my knee looked at again. The Corpsman said one of my thigh muscles had tightened up and was pulling on the knee joint causing the pain. She said to ice it and stretch and put me on light duty for yesterday and today, so hopefully I can get back to training tomorrow.

As of right now my graduation day is still Dec. 3. The 2 trips to medical and 2 light duty days didn’t affect anything, as far as I know. I don’t know why it happened and neither did the Corpsman because I had been pretty active before.

The physical stuff hasn’t gotten really difficult yet, other than my body just being tired. It got a few days off though. We’re supposed to do our first hike this Saturday. It’s only 3 miles so hopefully it won’t be so bad and my knee will be better.

We have 2 people on bed rest and another on light duty so I get to sit here and make sure nothing happens to the bed rest recruits while everyone else is out at a training activity. I’d rather be watching but it’s what they told me to do L. We’re supposed to make out first trip to the PX tonight to buy things we need like extra PT gear, hair gel and stuff like that, so I hope they don’t give me bed rest watch again. I do like the extra “free time” I get though so I can tell you a little more about it. Sorry if I repeat anything from another letter…I can’t remember what I already wrote.

When we first got here, for me at least, there was no moment that I thought, “What did I get myself into?” The 6 girls I went down with on the bus were divided into platoons. Five girls in one group and 1 in another group. (I was in the group of 5).

Next we went to get all our gear. First we got our sports bras, underwear, soap, tissues etc. Then we went to get our clothing and boots. Everything was very fast paced…they wanted to get us in and out as soon as possible. Next we filled out some paperwork, got briefs on choosing a bank for our direct deposit and papers for out service record. We didn’t sleep Wednesday or Thursday night. That Thursday we packed all our civilian things in a brown paper bag, taped it up and put it in storage.

I decided to put all the underwear and bras I brought in there. I’m glad I did because all our whites are now ivory and stained from the laundry markers.

Anyway, Friday we went to medical to get all our shots and stuff, which I think I already told you about. Friday night we got a little sleep because we took our IST was on Saturday. So Saturday we took our IST and lost 2 people from our platoon because they didn’t pass. Also that girl whose father swore her in got emergency leave 2 day after we got here because her little sister died. After lunch on Saturday we met our drill instructors and chain-of-command.

Sunday and Monday were our forming days where they basically teach us how to be recruits. Sunday was pretty laid back because of church and 4 hours of free time in the morning. I’ve been trying to lay low and fly under the radar but now since I’m on light duty they sort of know me, though only one know my name. For the most part they don’t bother me too much because I do try and do what I’m told. Some people here aren’t that lucky. There are 2 or 3 that get IT (Incentive training – extra PT) a lot because they don’t really try and the DI’s can see the lack of motivation.

I’ve made some good friends already – ones that I will definitely keep in touch with.

Right now there are 61 of us all sleeping in a big room on bunk beds…I’m glad no one snores. Sometimes at night I do hear people talking in their sleep saying, “Ay Ma’am or “No Ma’am. There are a lot of people that have attitudes and get nasty towards each other some of the time. I try and stay away from them. For the most part everyone is pretty nice except for those few.

I had read about the bathrooms but I thought our stalls would at least have doors and divisions between the showers…boy was I wrong!

All the senior recruits say that we get more freedom during phase 2 & 3 so hopefully our hygiene gets better. 61 of us have about 2 minutes to take a shower and all but 2 days we’ve been here all we do is rinse off our body and wash it with soap. We’ve only washed our hair twice since we’ve been here. I’m going to see if they have shampoo and conditioner at the PX.

Oh, also during receiving they took all our hair stuff and girly products and made us put them in a bag for everyone to use. How unfair is that?, because not everyone brought it.

The food is ok. I haven’t had to start eating meat yet. I probably eat 600 to 800 calories per meal but I’m still always hungry. Breakfast is my favorite. We get scrambled eggs, a hash brown and either a pancake, waffle or French toast (YUM!) (with syrup), different choices of fruit, cereal (I started putting milk in it for the extra protein), yogurt and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Right now we only get to take one piece of bread. I’m hoping they put me on double rations soon. One night for dinner we got lasagna…that was my favorite dinner. Someone also said during phase 2 they let us go to the chow hall by ourselves to eat so maybe then I can get a little more food.

One exciting thing though, our first paychecks were deposited on the 15^th and we got our military emails, not that I have access to it. Not much else has gone on here. Most of us just try to make it meal to meal. Breakfast to lunch is the longest. We wake up around 4, go eat around 4:30 or 5 after we get dressed and undressed 10 times and don’t eat lunch until sometime between 12:30 and 2. Dinner is early though. I don’t know what time (they don’t let us see any clocks) but most days I think it’s between 4:30 and 6, since our free time starts at 7 and lights out at 8. That’s pretty much it.

I like getting mail. It was sad watching everyone get lots of letters last week and all I got was my $0.00 bank statement. Tell people to send me letters…I like getting them. You can also send newspaper clippings and pictures. We are also allowed small packages. Thanks.

Love,

Chelsea"

Send her some letters everybody!!!

Letter To Alex

Hey guys,

This was a letter from Chelsea sent to her friend Alex Wurzel who will be shipping out for his own bootcamp experience soon. Take a look at some advice she has for those who will be going through the same or a similar experience!

"Hey Alex,

I just wanted to send you a quick letter before you left. Hopefully you get this before you leave.

It's not as bad as I thought it was going to be... at least not yet. The days go by sooooo slow especially from breakfast to lunch, but the week goes fast. It doesn't seem like 2 weeks are done! I've been trying to lay low, do what I'm told, and keep my mouth shut. So far it's been working. I haven't been to the pit or quarterdeck where we get "incentive training" and extra PT. The drill instructors don't remember my name yet. For the net few weeks we mostly have classroom learning and a few field activities. Don't let all the yelling get to you. Hopefully you will get good drill sergeants like mine. We actually got a few compliments last week and got a change to see our senior DI laugh and joke with us. Living meal to meal or activity to activity really helps to get through the day. That's my only advice and just do what you're told. I'm sure you'll be fine and good luck!! See you in December.

Chelsea"

First Phone Call Home!

Hey Everybody!

My Mom got her first phone call from Chelsea on Friday morning! She sounded a little down because she hurt her knee and got pink eye at the same time! What a week huh? Both of us also got a letter from her so I'll post those so you guys can stay updated.

Letter #2 to my mom:

"Hi Mommy,

Just wanted to send you a quick letter to let you know I might be here longer. I had to go to medical for my knee. During our run on Saturday, it hurt so bad I couldn't finish. I got sent to have it checked. They said it was probably just a strain and gave me pain pills and put me on light duty for Sunday but it was still really bad today. Nothing showed up on the x-ray so it's not broken. I'm going back tomorrow to have it looked at again. If I miss 3 training activities I get dropped back and I think I may have already missed one when I went on Saturday.

I guess I'll find out tomorrow. It's really upsetting because I was in good shape before I came and I don't know what happened. I didn't trip or roll anything and our workouts are very similar to the crossfit I was doing. Other than that all we've done is a little martial arts, classroom stuff and marching. I'll let you know what happens.

Love Chelsea"

Letter #2 to me:

"Logan,

Please, please, please tell everyone to write to me! It's been 5 days of mail call and I haven't gotten one letter :'(. We haven't done as many training activities as I thought we were going to. We have 2-3 academic classes a day for our first phase and usually one field activity. We learned some bayonet techniques on Friday and did some martial arts earlier in the week. The days get lumped together but they've been going by pretty quickly. The longest part of the day to get through is from breakfast to lunch. After lunch the day goes fast. I think next week we get to do the pugil sticks. Oh... we got to wash out hair and shave yesterday!! Our senior Drill Instructor said her last platoon didn't get to shave until the rifle range. 2 nights last week she sat down with us- more relaxed to get to know why we're all here and answer questions. It's the only time we get to see her laugh & treat us like real people. We've picked up some recruits from other platoons that were dropped in their training and they've said our platoon and Drill Instructors are so much better. I did have to go to medical yesterday for a muscle strain in my knee and got some pain pills so I should be fine & get to train again on Monday. I don't want to spend any extra time here. Also, half our platoon is already sick.

Can you print out and send me the daily schedule thats on the website that lays out all out activities? Make sure you're updating everyone and tell them to write and send pictures. Tell mommy to send my instep things and stamps. Thanks!

Love, Chelsea

Sundays are the best...4 hours of free time w/o drill instructors!!"

So you guys can officially say I am keeping you updated! Please send her lots of letters... especially happy uplifting ones so she knows we are all supporting her (especially since she hurt her knee and has pink eye!)

Chelsea's 2nd Letter Home

My Mom received her first letter from Chelsea a couple days ago so here it is...

It's a little repetitive to the last one, but there's some new stuff in it :)

"9/14/2010

Hi Mommy,

I made it through a week and it’s not bad so far. As long as you do what they tell you, they pretty much leave you alone. I find plenty to eat in the short amount of time we get. The bugs aren’t as bad as I thought either and it’s been pretty nice out – not too hot and humid.

Today was our first official training day and already I can tell I’m much better off than a lot of people here. The worst part is our hygiene. We get 30 second showers to basically rinse off. We wet our hair once since we’ve been here but no soap. I feel so gross right now and my head is itchy beyond belief!

For the next few weeks most of our training is in the classroom excepr for a few things. We had to go through medical again during receiving when we got issued our gear. We had to get 5 shots, 4 in the arms and 1 in the butt. That one SUCKED!!

Don’t have a lot of free time left right now so I’ll try and write again. I’m doing just fine. Don’t worry – only 12 more weeks.

Chelsea"

Arrival!

Hey Everybody,

As most of you probably know Chelsea left last week for bootcamp. Before she left she put me in charge of “communications”, meaning getting information out to all of you and posting letters and other things from her to keep everyone updated. So, here it goes…

After a long tiring Tuesday at the MEPS center at Fort Meade, MD she finally boarded the bus on her way down to South Carolina. At about 2:30 am my mom got a short prompted phone call from her saying that she had arrived safely and we would be getting her address in about a week. Well, as you can imagine that first week is hardest for the families. Wondering and hoping that everything is okay and that she likes it and isn’t begging to come home yet. So we finally received a typed form letter including her address. As promised to my sister I will include the letter in this post (keep in mind it is form letter so everyone was sent the same letter, only the name of who is receiving it and coming from is filled in)

“Dear Renee Rohrbach

I have arrived safely at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island and
have been assigned to Platoon 4038, O Company, 4^th Recruit Training Battalion, which is comprised of 60 recruits from various parts of the United States. We will live and train together for the next three months until our tentative graduation date of Dec 3^rd.

If there is an emergency while I am gone, the quickest way to contact me is through the American Red Cross, www.redcross.org or (202) 303-4498. I will only be allowed to take emergency leave for certain emergencies; for example, an immediate family member has died or is expected to die soon. You should still contact the American Red Cross if you want to inform me of a situation; however, keep in mind this does not mean that I will be able to leave recruit training. Do not try to call me directly as this will slow down the process of me being placed to leave. Please, save this letter, the American Red Cross may need some of the information listed within this letter.

I receive mail everyday except Sundays and holidays. Please, send mail First Class (regular) or Priority Mail. Do not send any Express, Insured, or Certified Mail; due to scheduled training, I won’t be allowed to go to the Post Office to sign for much mail. If you must send it Express Mail, please waive the requirement for my signature upon receipt. In addition, I am NOT allowed to receive the following items:

1. Candy or other edible items

2. Tobacco products

3. Alcohol/illegal or prescription/over the counter drugs

4. Pornographic material

5. Personal weapons or ammunition

6. Gambling devices (playing cards, dice, etc.)

7. Radios or cameras

8. Flammable materials (lighters, matches, fireworks, etc.)

9. Field/ outdoor training materials

Only Letters and Small Packages are authorized due to the limited space in our living area. To ensure that I receive mail quickly, be sure to write my address exactly as it is below.

RCT Rohrbach, Chelsea

OSCAR Co. 4^th RTBN Plt 4038

PO Box 16445

Parris Island, SC 29905-4038

Sincerely,

Chelsea Rohrbach”

As stated in the letter, please only send her things she is allowed to receive and to that exact address. All mail is screened, which means a Sergeant reads every word of every letter coming in. So nothing is private, keep it positive, they don’t like to see any negative things coming in and distracting their recruits. If you have any questions about what is okay to send, and what is not, please e-mail me and I will find out for you: pitch4life16@msn.com. Please put “Chelsea Goes To Bootcamp” in the subject line so I do not delete your message out of my Junk Mail.

I received a letter from Chelsea today, so again, as promised I will let you guys read it. I was surprised I got one so quickly; I wasn’t expecting one for a couple weeks J

“Hi Logan,

It’s not as bad as I thought it was going to be but we haven’t really started much yet. Lots of people have been crying to go home… but it’s not that bad. We spent 3 days in receiving where we got issued all our gear, clothes, and rifle. The receiving drill instructors were much nicer than our training ones but they don’t yell all the time. The worst part so far has been going through medical. We had to get 5 shots… 3 in the upper arm, one in the lower arm & one in the right butt – that was the worst :O. All our butts were sore. Other than that my only complaints are 30 seconds to use the bathroom, a minute to shower (without washing our hair – gross!! – we haven’t washed our hair since we’ve been here) and we only get 5 minutes to eat. Our official training days start tomorrow but we’ve started to learn some of our knowledge and started marching. We haven’t been issued our service uniforms yet or get to wear for a few more weeks.

Living with 60 other girls isn’t a walk in the park. I know a lot of people said a lot of them were going to be bitchy but OMG!! It’s constant there are a few people who keep arguing. Only 10 minutes of free time so… write back & give my address to everyone!

Chelsea”

If anyone receives a letter and would like me to post it feel free to type it up and e-mail it to me! I have also included the link to two documents. One is her training matrix, which includes what she will be doing every day of bootcamp; the other is a Family Guide to the process (good for everyone though and very informative). Take a look (I printed the matrix and have been crossing out each day before I got to bed, but do with it what you will). Also, here is the website for the recruiting depot.

Main site: http://www.mcrdpi.usmc.mil/

Matrix: http://www.mcrdpi.usmc.mil/matrix/matrix.pdf

Guide: http://www.mcrdpi.usmc.mil/ParentsGuide.pdf

It has a lot of information on it that might interest some of you. Again, any questions or concerns, please contact me.

Thanks,

Logan

Getting Close

Less than 2 weeks left before I leave for Parris Island. I think at this point I'm as prepared as I'll ever be...in three short months (though it will probably seem much longer) I will be a Marine. I've set two goals for myself while I'm there.
1) to graduate - probably a given for anyone going into training and...
2) be honor grad - the top graduate of my training platoon. Only the honor grad is issued a set of dress blues at boot camp and promoted to Lance Corporal (E-3)...



Semper Fi,
Chelsea