Sunday, March 30, 2008

Bracing for impact

On Friday, I stopped by the physical therapist in the morning to see about getting a brace to replace the one I bought when I first injured myself (since the metal parts were now poking out of it). I received one, but was told it was the last one of that size for the year. The giant thing was heavy and wasn't really meant to be an ACL brace, but it worked for the time being. I went to the doctor's and set up a tentative surgery date after graduation and he gave me a new brace. The thing is awesome. It's (relatively) comfortable, light, and does it's job well...plus it looks cool:



Yes, my knee is still quite swollen.

Anyway, I think I'll make it through training with the assistance of this brace and lots of help from the Physical Therapist.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

MRI results are in...

...I tore my ACL. I completely severed the thing. This will require surgery. I believe I will make it through the end with my company, but it will require me slogging through MOUT training. With my particular injury, it'll be painful, but I'm determined to make it through.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Congrats, love...

...you made it. Sarah graduated TBS. She'll now be reporting into her new unit this week.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Oh, well...

I guess it's time to admit it: I'm a closet geek.

75% Geek



Funny part is that you'd be surprised how many closet geeks there are in the Marine Corps...

Friday, March 14, 2008

Upon twisted knee

For the past few days, I've been on light duty. During FEX II, I fell and twisted my knee. I heard a pop and was suddenly in a world of pain. I slogged through and the pain lessened. The pain platued and continued no matter what I did...though, I suppose the 15-mile hike didn't help me any. After a few incidences where I was slowed down by a painful knee, I decided that I needed to investigate the source. I went to medical and was informed that I had all the signs of a "aggrivated" meniscus.

I have an MRI schedualed soon, and so I've been on light duty until we find out the results. Hopefully it's a minor tear, but we'll see.

Bahahahahahahahahaha...

This has been making the rounds through the barracks:

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Making time

One of those things that I always am short of here at TBS is time. Every student here would agree that there just isn't enough. Not enough to study. Not enough to PT. Not enough for anything. The end result is a constant search for time. At the same time, Sarah and I have been trying to always make time for God. This usually shows in church attendance, as it's a relaxing/restful place to be.

Last weekend, I had two full orders to write...and so much to do. I started work on them. I considered not going to church, as it's a solid 3-hour chunk of my day and I had only finished one order. However, I decided to make time for the service. The end result? By 2000 (8:00 pm) I finished my second order and was ready for bed.

The next morning I went to work and found that many in my platoon had not completed thier orders. Some had only finished one.

The moral of the story (for me, at least) is that if I make time for God, he'll make time for me. Things will work out. There is no reason to worry...just give it to God.

Friday, March 07, 2008

FEX III

After a rather dramatic begining, FEX 3 has ended. Marking a fairly major milestone in the TBS curriculum, I'm quite happy it's over with. Despite the good training, the weather always makes field exercises interesting. For my wife, the freezing cold and snow was the problem. For us, it was the "monsoon" caused by a cold front. The end result of that night was a lot of us getting flooded out of our fighting holes and freezing ourselves to death. Anyway, it was good stuff. Here I am with my trusty e-tool and radio that follows me everywhere.