Erin Gets a Phone Call from Her Marine Son [Audio]

I got quite a nice surprise this morning: a call from my oldest son JW, who is in Jacksonville, NC training for his Marine job.

JW's now a PFC (just like Gomer Pyle!) in the USMC. He has two more weeks to go in his school, and then he will get a break to come home for some liberty time. He's requested an overseas assignment, but he doesn't know yet where that will be.

JW has asked to be sent to Okinawa, which is where my Dad fought in WWII. I think he wants to follow in his grandpa Mac's footsteps in some small way. The assignment will be great for him, but I'm sad because it will be so darned far away; it's going to be tough to visit him!

He also put down Australia as one place he would like to go. When I told a friend about that, she told me the Australian girls throw tennis balls onto the ships when the troops pull in. They write their phone numbers on those balls. I'm voting against that one!

In case you missed his call to Mom today, here's our brief conversation: