it was earlier than expected. but the call came. 2:13 am this morning. i had actually awoken at 1:30am and fell back asleep. when the call came it was just like it was described…melinda answered…hello… hello this is u.s. marine recruit roepke. i have arrived safely at parris island... 10 seconds and the call was over. he sounded good. sounded strong. considering it had been an early rise 0400 hrs and then a full morning of paperwork and processing, to be truthful at one point i thought there was some kind of snag. overheard a processing employee say something about several being disqualifed. actually we saw one young woman who was told she needed to wait. there must have been 80 or so young men and women being processed. all branches were gathering new energy and blood. impressive. it took a little longer, but then about 11:45am we were asked to step outside around the flag pole. then these soon to be warriors were escorted out and asked to assemble in formation. they stood with confidence and with pride as they were asked once again and then asked to raise their right hands, to repeat after their leader and pledge their honor. a beautiful day…a beautiful sight. now we wait 91…90 days almost to see what will become of this young man of ours. good things we pray.