Isn't it ironic

That someone (me) who spent one year in Baghdad and another year in
Saudi Arabia would come to South America and find that it's really hot
here, in January!
Saudi had this awful dry heat, hot and humid but you could handle it.
Here the sun just seems to burn right through you!

The consensus is that because Uruguay is below the equator the sun is
more potent, the conspiracy theorists say that there is a hole in the
ozone, or you can believe both.

Get to know "Doc" - Part 2

"Doc" The Marine Corps Drill Instructor, just like "Full Metal Jacket"?  Well not exactly.  But yes, mild mannered "Doc" was a Marine Corps Drill Instructor.
Both the most rewarding job in my life and yet the most difficult. 

The time was 1994-1996, the place, Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina (Yes, 2 p's in Parris).  If you visit the Drill Instructor school there you will see me in the class picture for DI class 4-94.

The most difficult part of becoming a DI is the school, mentally and physically grueling.  Sometimes I can hardly believe what shape I was in back then!  It wasn't common to go running in "boots and utes" (Camouflage pants + t-shirt or sweatshirt and boots), M-16 rifle and cartridge belt with 2 full canteens and run 3-5 miles.
If that wasn't enough you would get called out to sing chants, you know "C-130 rolling down the strip yada yada" and all of the other favorites.

With the advent of the internet I have been able to find and contact fellow students of my DI class, a DI class instructor and one of the first DI's I worked with, but none of my Marines.

Attached picture is not me, but pretty typical of what it was like :  )