Places the Marine Corps has taken me
a story
by Jay An
Share- Sunday, July 16, 2006
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- Monday, July 17, 2006
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Recruit Training - Spent 13 grueling weeks in this hot, humid, sand flea infested hell-hole. Learned the basics of being a Marine. Graduated October 13th, 2006 as Private Jay An. -
- Thursday, July 27, 2006
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Marine Combat Training - Over three weeks of field training designed to educate all new Marine the basics of being Marine Riflemen. Here, I was promoted to Private First Class. Upon graduation of MOS school, I received orders to Okinawa, Japan.. -
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- Sunday, February 18, 2007
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My first duty station, I was assigned to Headquarters Battalion, Third Marine Division. -
- Tuesday, June 5, 2007
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Phil MTWS 07-1 Participated in a joint-military exercise alongside the Philippine Marine Corps in a Military Tactical War Simulation. During the exercise, I was meritoriously promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal. -
- Tuesday, July 3, 2007
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Returned to Okinawa from the Philippines and carried on with prior duties. Here I was meritoriously promoted to the rank of Corporal. At the end of my tour I was issued orders to Camp Lejeune, NC. -
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- Thursday, February 5, 2009
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I am now assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, the most highly decorated unit in the Marine Corps. During World War I, the ferocity of the men in the 6th Marine Regiment prompted German soldiers to nickname them Teufelhunden or Devil Dogs, and was awarded the French Fourragere to wear. -
Three week field training exercise aptly named Exercise A.P. Hill.
The first of three battalion field exercises, where we learned, and practiced our ability to change locations and quickly establish a command center for any operation thrown at us. It was cold, and it rained, alot. At this time my unit was slated to go to Iraq in August. -
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Conducted a six week field exercise called Enhanced Mojave Viper. This brought us out to the Mojave Desert to put our skills to the test in conditions we were expected to live in, in our upcoming deployment to Iraq. Quickly building a command center in bad terrain and climate, as well as weapon familiarization were key learning objectives in this exercise. Temperatures reached high in excess of 125 degrees fahrenheit, with lows in the mid 40's at night. In the final week of this exercise we were informed that our Iraq deployment had be cancelled and we were awaiting new orders. -
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Scheduled to be another three week exercise, A.P. Hill #2 was focused on helo-borne operations, practicing quick off-loading of CH-53 helicopters. To our knowledge, no wide-scale helo-insert had been performed by U.S. forces in some time, so this seemed strange. The exercise was cut short a week early due to rumors that President Obama was going to be making a decision on his troop increase, which at the time was being hotly debated in Congress. We still had no idea where or when we'd deploy. -
2 Dec 2009 - President Obama announces his decision to send 30k additional troops to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Within 8 hours, the first group of Marines from my unit are on flights out of the country. 1st Bn, 6th Mar Reg is the first unit called to action in response to the President's announcement. On 8 Dec 2009, I am on my way to Afghanistan, nobody in the unit knows what kind of mission is in store for us. -
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- Tuesday, December 8, 2009
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- Wednesday, December 9, 2009
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- Thursday, December 10, 2009
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The Gateway to Afghanistan as it is called, is the last stop before entering the Afghan theater. Here I met some Marines on their way out of Afghanistan, who were spreading rumors of the mission we were probably going to receive, something about the city of Marjeh. -
- Friday, December 18, 2009
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About two weeks following President Obama's announcement of a 30k troop increase to Afghanistan, my boots touch the ground in Afghanistan. We receive our mission objective: to storm and take control of the city of Marjeh. Marjeh was THE drug trafficking and Improvised Explosive Device (IED) manufacturing center in the volatile Helmand province. Operation Moshtarak, as it would be later named would begin early-February of 2010.
On January 1st, 2010, I was promoted to the rank of Sergeant. -
Early-February, my unit begins it's assault on the city. Many Marines were to insert under the cover of darkness by helicopters and take control of their respective areas. I entered the city by armored-vehicle and spent most of the operation rolling around the narrow roads supporting our the infantry-types with ammunition, weapons, food, water, and supplies. Sadly, ten of our brothers did not leave Afghanistan with us and will be forever missed. -
- Saturday, July 3, 2010
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Once again we stop here, this time to decompress from the last several months in Marjeh. Most of us make our first contact with families since the early days of the deployment. It's good to know that we're finally on our way home. - Monday, July 5, 2010
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- Tuesday, July 6, 2010
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- total distance: 62,754 miles (100.993 km)
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