the corps

so my baby brother joined the marine corps.  he left for bootcamp two days after thanksgiving.  gideon was born two days after that.  WE HAVE REALLY MISSED HIM.  he would write to my mom and she would read me his letters, but i still felt incredibly anxious.  he called me the week before he was finished and my heart just leaped with joy.  he sounded so strong and confident.  i drove down with his girlfriend, and my parents and grandpa met us there.  thursday was family day and the first time we got to see him.  he was allowed to escort us around parris island(most of it anyway) and it felt good to finally understand.

grandpa lee holding gideon over breakfast.  he's a pro.

family day.  the first time we got to see him.

he was the far right column, third or fourth guy back.  this moment was so full of adrenaline i can't describe it.  he looked so different, so tall, so certain.  i NEVER saw either of my brothers joining the military.

mom, shelby, chris, me and gideon, and dad

mom, sheby, chris, me and gideon, and grandpa lee

absence makes the heart grow fonder

on a side note, parris island is BEAUTIFUL.  there are huge ancient trees everywhere covered with spanish moss.  it felt tropical.  palms everywhere, 70 and humid.  my hair was extra curly...

there was training going on all over the island, even during his graduation we could hear other companies yelling in the woods.

dad and grandpa

chris's barrack

chris was the bottom bunk.  that lock in his hand was to lock your gun to your bed at night.

this picture is also a wonderful example of the alien-vs-predator-head occipital bone that runs in our family.  chris has it. isaac and ezra have it.  not sure about gideon yet.

did i mention it's surrounded by swamp?  this is chris's view out his window.

mom inspecting his things... 

full metal jacket much?

i'm so glad he was still chris.

 

his company practiced for graduation thursday afternoon after we said goodbye.

graduation day

and the band begins to play

platoons lining up

on the parade deck

he's in the middle next to a guy with glasses, but in the rain it was hard to see anyone.  it poured the last 15 minutes.

and then he was home for 10 days of leave.

shelby giving him a trim for the next part of training. 

 

shelby, chris, ezra, gideon, isaac

we're all going to miss him.