I'm out baby, I'M OUT!

12/6/08 5:12 pm

Friends and family (I've been waiting a long time to write this),

Let me take you back... on September 5th, 2001 I landed on Parris Island, SC. I had just embarked on my journey into the Marine Corps. After three months of getting dirt kicked in my face, being choked, hit and hazed, I became a Marine. Glorious. The following time on active duty, after combat training and all of that jazz, was spent in Norfolk, VA at the Marine Corps Security Force Battalion. The bureaucratic leadership there proved to be poor and authority from these bureaucrats was thrown around like dice on a craps table: with a lot of chance and little skill. I tried hard to keep my mouth shut and to make it through the maze of arbitrary orders. Even with the weight of poor leadership on my shoulders, I managed to excel (though I admit that there were a few great leaders that will always stand out in my mind); I was promoted meritoriously to all ranks before all of my peers, I took college courses after work, volunteered when I wasn't in school or working, stayed away from troublesome Marines and tried to be the best Marine I could be. On September 4th, 2005, after four long years, I was Honorably Discharged from active duty.

Not many people know that an enlisted contract is eight years, (yes, 8 years!), four active years and four inactive years. By some great loopholes I was able to get one year of inactive service out of the way before ever entering the military. After being discharged I still was bound to three years of inactive service, where at any time I could have been called back to active duty if the Department of Defense saw fit. They never called (though a fellow Marine that I know was called from inactive service while he was in Law School and now is in Iraq "serving his country"). The official end of my contract, active and inactive duty is December 5, 2008. Today.

I am proud to announce that I am officially off contract from the United States Marine Corps! I reaped many benefits; the Montgomery GI Bill helped may for college at Virginia Tech, I have earned respect from many peers because of my military service, and I learned from the military exactly what I do and do not want to be.

Now in May, I will graduate from Virginia Tech and begin my professional life. I can't say that I would do anything differently, but I can say that I'm glad to be where I am right now.

Thanks to everyone that supported me along the way. In the immortal words of George Costanza, "I'm out baby, I'M OUT!"

Glenn