Erin McCarty Finds Pictures of Her Son JW Cox at Marine Basic Training

I really don't know how to explain to you how these photos have affected me. My oldest son, JW has been in South Carolina for the past 10 weeks going through Marine basic training. I have had no contact with him during these weeks (except for lots of letters). To see that he is one of the guys and is facing his fears just brings a smile to my face and a tear to my eye. He and I sat down and had a long talk before he left. I wanted to make sure this was truly what he wanted to do and was the best thing for him at this time. I asked him: "what scares you most about basic training?" He told me the Crucible would be hard, but "I'm really freaking out about the gas chamber." So I am doing some surfing on the Marines parent pages and find photos of his platoon and lo and behold I find him in the photos. In the close-up, I can only imagine that he is praying as he prepares to face his worse fear. I am so excited to see him in less than 2 weeks and can't wait for that big hug from a special young man!!

US Marines