devildoc8406: Happy Birthday America!

So here it is, the birthday of this great nation. The first thing I would like to do is take a moment and remember those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom and liberty. Second, a moment to those of us still over here in Iraq fighting for freedom and democracy, so that the people of Iraq may know and feel the joys of freedom that most of us take for granted every day of our lives.

On to other things. As Proud Mom had mentioned in previous blog comments, I have made E-5 on the last cycle. There were a couple of us from the Casevac crew that picked up rank this go round. 3 E-5's, and 4 E-4's. It was actually a very good advancement cycle as far as corpsman are concerned, especially with the merger of the DT and HM rates over the past year. Now all I have to do is finish up my associates so I can put in my package to become a P.A.. On top of making E-5 I also completed the PQS, written exam, and Oral Exam Board for The Fleet Marine Force (FMF) pin. Wearing this pin tells everyone that you have served alongside marines and you know basically more about the Marines than a Marine knows. LOL. I found that last part out by asking a couple of the Marines around here about some of the stuff in the book and they couldn't tell me. I have a couple of photos from my Pinning and frocking ceremony. I hope you enjoy.

This is a pic of SSGT Kilgore pinning my FMF pin on for me. SSGT was with the squadron I deployed to Iraq with last year.