first post

Well this is my first post on here. Never really tried the whole blog thing before. I started one a few years ago and kind of forgot about it, but since ill be leaving for my mission in a bit I thought it would be a good idea to start one and have a way to tell about my experiences. So here goes and we'll see if anyone likes it haha.

So I finished my freshman year at USU and really enjoyed it. Took me a little bit to get use to the whole college deal but I finally got it down. I took some pretty interesting classes like Politics and War, and Terrorism and Counter terrorism, as well as Intelligent life in the Universe, and Philosophy in East Asia. As well as the usual classes like English and everything. After college I quit my personal business of three years. Gamma Productions. We did concerts and theater productions and designed and set up the sound and lighting system. We had a blast doing it and met quite a few famous people and performing groups. My highest claim to fame doing that is I met Steve Miller and a few bands from Poland and Germany. But now I work for (my competitor ironically) Magic Productions and off and on with a company in Jackson Hole called Capscium Productions. That keeps me fairly busy, especially with the summer season up. Three Dog Night concert and the stadium fireworks are later on this week with a 7am load in and were expected to be done around 1 am.

I do plan on serving a mission. Even though some people believe I wont go simply because I haven't put my papers in yet. Im planning on going except im going to go when I feel ready unlike a lot of guys my age who simply go and hope everything will work out. Thats not how I work, especially with something thats going to take two years of my life and solid dedication. I want my whole heart and soul in it. Most of my friends arnt going or are not even mormon so its been fairly difficult to find the courage to go. Plus I didnt want to go for a long time but ive "seen the light" I guess haha. And yes I do plan on going and I will put my papers in sometime soon. Within the next few months if anyone wants a rough date haha.


Also, no one seems to really like it ( and i can understand haha) but I do plan on serving my country in the United State's Marine Corps as an officer. Ill explain what I want to accomplish here for a bit. In the military you are either an enlisted man or an Officer. Enlisted go to boot camp, gets screamed at by drill instructors, and finally finish as either a private or PFC, private first class. Basically the bottom of the ladder as far as rank goes. Most of them are fresh out of high school and usually dont have much schooling after that. Officers, however, HAVE to be college graduates and go through a much more intense boot camp then enlisted men. Officers go to Quantico, Virgina to whats called Officer Candidate School, OCS. It a ten week or 2 6 week sessions of intensive training. In enlisted boot camp your stuck in the Marines, in officer training you dont sign a contact so your free to leave at any point. The Marines dont want someone who wont put their full heart into it because if you dont care, you'll get men killed. So the officer training is very competitive and very selective. Only the best succeeded and only the best get the jobs they want. Once you finish your 10 or 12 week session you are asked if you wish to accept your commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Marine Corps or if you wish to walk away and live a normal life haha. Once you accept it you have a big ceremony and have your 2nd LT bars pinned on and are offically a Marine. Marines earn their title whereas the rest of the branches are given a uniform and are told "your in the army now". Once thats done you head to The Basic School for 6 months and are trained in every aspect of the Marines and at the end you get your MOS (military occupational speciality) and depending on what that is you go to 3 months to -1 year of more training. Then finally shipped out on deployment. What im hoping for is to be ground and either be Infantry or Light Armored Recon which basically drives Humvees and LAR's which is a mix between a tank and a humvee. Looks like this:

Light Armored Recon

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So yeah. More to come from that. Im excited to do it when I get back from my mission and see some different parts of the world. My friend just recently got commissioned a second Lt. and is heading off to TBS in October.




2nt Lt. Paul Vandenbos.







So ya thats about it for right now. Im going to bed and ill add more later haha.