Werner Schmidt
Enterprise Networking and Security Expert

5,000 Square Feet of Heaven

For those that have been reading my blog, you know that our youngest son joined the U.S. Marine Corps a while ago now and went into boot camp this past summer. Since then he graduated that and went to Camp Pendleton for combat training. Every single Marine is trained as a rifleman. For those that feel the same way as an individual, you might want to checkout the Appleseed project for your older kids or yourself. We got to see our son and a couple of other Marines during Thanksgiving and a couple of liberties (on base, off base and restricted to one portion of base). Camp Pendleton is huge! One of the most relaxing liberties was the one restricted to one area on the base, specifically, we spent it all around one cement picnic table. Of course the boys enjoyed the KFC Chicken, donuts and drinks we brought. It was an outstanding day. As for our son, food, phone, newspaper and liberty, it doesn’t get much better than that, even while on base and especially away from the squad bay.

We were very blessed to be able to spend the time with him and his two other liberty buddies. In the midst of all that and his stay at Camp Pendleton, our son got rather sick and with much coercion (Marines and guy thing), we got him to see a doctor during his off base liberty. He was diagnosed with pneumonia, which put a damper on his activities during liberty. He was absolutely zonked and fatigued. He did have to travel to Pensacola Florida out of San Diego in the wee hours while still being quite sick. In that process, he checked out the local
USO at the San Diego Airport with some prodding. All I can say is that it was 5,000 square feet of heaven. We arrived later in the morning to see our son during his long airport wait. From the moment we pulled up to the curb to meet a spry, energetic, thankful senior volunteer with more life and zeal than most teenagers, it was an uplifting experience. The USO has been around for almost 70 years, perhaps you know of them from Bob Hope. Their goal, via thousands of volunteers, is to lift the spirits of America’s troops and their families. They did that and then some. Comfortable chairs, kitchen area, TV, children’s play area for the kids, Internet access and loving caring people. It was quiet and relaxing. I can’t begin to describe the blessing of setting off our son in the right spirits even while being dismally sick. On the other end in Florida, it also meant a shuttle ride to the base. We’re members of the USO, it’s a non-profit and non-political organization. Please check them out. I know of at least one of our customers personally involved with this superb organization.

Boot Camp

Our youngest son graduated from boot camp at MCRD in San Diego! I have to congratulate the US Marine Corps on a job well done. We really enjoyed being there two days. The first day was a family day and was by far my favorite. The second day was the actual graduation. It was a brilliant decision to do it that way. During family day we got to meet him, converse and basically get reacquainted with our son. It took all the pressure off graduation day as we had already seen him the day before.

During family day we got just a small taste from the DI (Drill Instructor) of what their life was like and learned several new vocabulary words:
- Deck (floor)
- Bulkhead (wall)
- Portal (window)
- Cover (hat)
- Latrines (toilet)
- MRE (Meals Ready to Eat)

We learned about the sacred ground of the Parade Deck. We kept an ever watchful eye just waiting for someone to make the mistake and to see what happens to them. We were assured that there is good medical assistance on base to take care of the resultant injuries.

We also were trained on how to respond to various commands:
- Eyes: Stop in your tracks, look at the DI, say “Freeze Sir”
- Ears: Listen and say “Open Sir”
The rest has been removed from my memory.

We got a taste of an accelerated countdown (funny how fast a countdown goes from 100 when the 60s, 50s and 40s are skipped!) and how repeatedly folks in our group didn’t listen properly to the commands and us family folks had to do them over and over again.

My favorite part of all though was during their liberty from 1-5 p.m. We watched our son eat almost continuously. During his first three weeks we found out he had lost 16 pounds. Now, keep in mind he was fit and trim to begin with. He didn’t have 16 pounds to lose. He eventually got double rations, the biggest benefit of which was getting first in line and therefore more seconds to eat. We learned they had to eat with spoons to alleviate stabs to the mouth. We watched him eat a large lunch with second helpings of chicken and bread at a local restaurant on base, then pizza slices, ice cream, muffins, cookies, candy and protein bars. He had to sit whenever his mouth was chewing, as walking and eating are not allowed. We watched in fascination as the covers were constantly removed and put back on by him and all the men as they entered and left buildings. That evening, after all the binge eating from the men we did hear that there were issues with the latrines getting backed up that night at the base.

It was great to see a slice of America, most uplifting actually. I had a blast just people watching. There are two bases for the Marine Corps for boot camp training - MCRD in San Diego serves the West coast, mostly west of the Mississippi and then another base for the East coast. MCRD is only for men and the other base is for men and women. There were plenty of people from California and out of state, especially Texas. The uplifting part was seeing professionals and regular families from across the nation all with sons who are voluntarily serving for this nation. They all had a certain gait and air about them. Their smiles and the families were just priceless. It just felt different there.

In terms of graduation day, they graduate by company and over 500 graduate every week from MCRD San Diego. In case you didn’t know, the recruits pay for almost everything (toiletries, clothes, uniforms, boots, sea bags, etc.) They even had to buy the medal they received on graduation. They are fed and housed, of course, and do get their monthly pay, but there are no hand-outs. Everything is either earned and purchased.

We also got to learn something new about our youngest son, something we never observed before. We learned how
clever and creative he can be to adjusting and adapting to his environment. I’ll give a few short samples. At one point everyone takes off their shoes, throws them in a pile and then later you have to grab them quickly for a run or whatever they did. Our son said guys would be running around with two different sized shoes on. He said he learned to tie his shoe laces together very quickly before tossing them in the pile, guaranteeing him a matched set! Another time before a big multiple day hike, they had to pack rations with MREs but had to remove any candy (e.g. Skittles) from the MREs. Many of them removed more than the candy and got rid of muffins and other related snacks. He saw the pile they had built, grabbed the allowed snack items and stashed them in his bag. Later he shared with his teammates and then was able to hold his MREs until the latter days. On a major uphill hike where he excelled, he was going so fast that he caught up with the other group in front of his. He was hoping to get an apple from that group and then wait for his and get another. That plan didn’t work, but still creative. Lesson being there’s a difference between doing what’s said or needed and knowing how to adjust to what’s still allowed and yields better results. Perhaps a lesson there in being compliant versus being secure.

Now he’s off again, this time for infantry training in Camp Pendleton. We were able to visit him on base last weekend. We don’t know yet exactly what will happen during Thanksgiving or even if we’ll get to see him for Christmas. We’re on military time now and always subject to orders and change. We were actually looking forward to having Thanksgiving on the base with the men. We won’t know until we know, to that we’ve adapted.

Washington DC Trip

In the previous newsletter I briefly mentioned the trip to Washington DC, so I wanted to expand a bit more on it. We had never been there before as a family or individuals. It just seemed appropriate and timely with the kids growing up, enlistment of our youngest in the Marines and other reasons. I also share a love of history with our youngest son.

It was a stellar trip. For those who have never been, I highly recommend it. It felt like a pilgrimage, almost Biblical like going back for a census. It’s something one needs to do at least once. It was not restful and we definitely didn’t have enough time, but we did okay. It was overwhelming, we had 8 days (6 effective), it wasn’t enough.

We stayed near Dulles airport, about 45 minutes away from DC. The hotel was great, being further away allowed us to save money and get separate rooms from the two boys, that at least meant relief and rest at night for Debbie and I.

We went with a rental car and drove into DC most of the time. Lots of horror stories online about parking, but if you arrive early it’s generally quite fine. However, we got lost SO many times, signage is a mess and was quite stressful. Eventually it became a source of humor as the oldest son kept sending text messages out every time we got lost. I would instead make sure to have a GPS in the rental, that's a must, handheld only if you have a good navigator and battery life. Did I mention how slow people drive out there? I mean 45 MPH posted and enforced on some freeways! I can go faster on some city streets. The HOV (car pool) lanes are interesting being in the middle and separated from the other lanes and using gates to alter the flow in only one direction at a time. Slowing WAY down for the E-ZPass toll sensor is mandatory and I learned the hard way that it really has to be that slow, I rang that bell and got a bill. I would have preferred to learn the metro (subway) earlier, we walked WAY too much early on. I would also do a tram tour thing with on/off rights, NPS (National Park Service) offers one. Metro has all day passes, I have to imagine multi-day passes. I can see why DC folks think nothing about proposing a national 55 MPH speed limit, that’s faster than they drive. Almost every single road was under construction, stimulus money is flowing all over the place around there.

Things are really close together and yet, a whole lot of walking. I should have planned even more for proximity and I did plan, but not enough. The closeness around the National Mall lulls you into not worrying about it and then you walk too much as you criss-cross and visit every single item you see.

We had contacted our congressman in advance (use web site) and asked for all the items of interest. Many things you ask tickets for don't even apply in reality, seems like an exercise to make you think you’re getting something from them just be asking. Almost everything is free too. However, we did capital tour via them, met in his office and met a staffer, that was cool and boring, but a right of passage kind of thing. The advance notice is required if you want to see the White House, we could not on only 2 months notice. However, I can’t express the feeling of actually being in the House of Representatives galley as legislation is being discussed and then voted on. It’s small and yet you feel history being present as the last minute flurry occurs and people arrive for the vote.

We did walk near the White House, I’d like to park on the lawn, right by the "holiday" tree! We also saw the herb garden from a distance and were real close to where Marine One always lands on the lawn.

Things that were really special for us:
- Segway tour (Debbie loved it too, 2.5 hours, great way to get a quick feel for where things are, we did this first, I really would have liked to have used them the entire time!). We used Capital Segway for the tour. By the way, my favorite picture of the whole trip involves the Segway tour. Our guide took a family picture of the four of us on the Segways, three of us are pointed towards our tour guide and one was not due to trying to stay in one spot. It’s a treasured picture of the event. Yes, I’m aware the owner of Segway died (9/27/10), I still love the product and hope for continued success for them.
- Holocaust Museum (go early and get an assigned time and return, 2-3 hours), puts a real downer on the rest of the day, but something that really affected us and is important to experience. I especially like the exhibit “State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda”. Walking through a train box car was eerie. After the tour you realize how silent and cold the whole time in the museum was. Of course artifacts like shoes also bring it home. You come out of there numb, but it has to be experienced.
- National Museum of the Marine Corps by Quantico, Virginia (3-4 hours) - In our opinion better than many of the Smithsonian museums. Just go, don’t even think about it, it is that special.
- Library of Congress (take a docent tour). Just architecturally beautiful and impressive. Constructed under budget and on time.
- National Archives to see the documents that founded this great country.
- U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima). It’s located near the Arlington National Cemetery. It’s larger than it appears in pictures and stunningly beautiful, it just takes your breath away. Make sure to see it when the light hits it just right.

Other things we did:
- Arlington National Cemetery (would take even more time and walk it after a tour, then it would be more special). It feels strange taking the trolley around and doing the official parts of the tour, except the great experience of seeing the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns. Can you imagine doing this watch during a hurricane or other severe storms? Yet they do and it’s one of the highest honors. I have been to two other National Cemeteries in California. There are eight in California. See the whole list.
- Capitol tour (do via Congressman’s office and avoid some lines and see the HR galley which you can't otherwise, 2+ hours)
- Bureau of Engraving and Printing (near Holocaust Museum, arrive one hour before BEP opens and get assigned a time to return later). Not quite as exciting as it sounds. My favorite statistic, about 7% of the printed product is rejected for quality concerns. That’s a fascinating yield statistic compared to almost all other industries. Most of the printing is to replace worn out money.
- Various Smithsonian museums, only a handful. They are nice, but I'm not a big fan, we have so much special stuff here too. There are 19 of them. Read the story about Smithson and the founding of the museums. Yes, we did see numerous Norman Rockwell paintings on loan from George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, those were utterly amazing. We also saw Fonzie’s jacket (from Happy Days), Kermit the Frog, Archie Bunker’s chair and Dorothy’s Ruby Red slippers.
- Smithsonian Air & Space Udvar-Hazy Center (not the one at the National Mall), this adjunct one has a space shuttle, an SR71, the Concorde, the Enola Gay and the "larger" stuff. The one at the National Mall has the Wright Brothers one, I like the big stuff. All the Smithsonian Museums are free, but at this one you have to pay parking.
- White House gift shop
- Mount Vernon (was too hot to enjoy, otherwise I would have spent hours. There are special tours at various times of year, I think it too would be really special then. We didn't wait the one hour plus in the heat for the mansion tour). I bought a $7 book, was a good read and had color pictures to look at. Thank goodness for the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association in 1853 for getting this wonderful property and the phenomenal restoration.
- Washington Monument
- Lincoln Memorial We sat there on the ledge to watch the 4th of July fireworks, that was special! Yep, we were right there in an ideal spot from the daytime until the evening, wow, what an experience. Getting out was a totally different experience, but I’m so glad we endured and did it.
- Thomas Jefferson Memorial, lots of stimulus money being spent there to shore of the sinking foundations.
- Spymuseum - Somewhat gimmicky, could have been better.
- National World War II Memorial (new) Lots of water, it represents the Atlantic and Pacific engagements.
- Korean War Memorial It’s eerie to see the statues captured in their walk, certainly a forgotten war. Except for a TV show, would most people ever even remember it?
- Vietnam War Memorial The Three Serviceman statue was in the process of restoration, the stare of them towards the wall is eerie. We did get an etching for a friend.

As a note, the World War I memorial was not in good shape. There is one 109 year old survivor Frank Buckles. This is now being restored with stimulus money.

Things we missed:
- FDR Memorial (too bad, is really worth seeing apparently)
- Inside the Supreme Court
- Near Mount Vernon, Washington distillery
- The various memorials at night
- Newseum
- Pentagon tour
- Pentagon 9/11 memorial
- FBI tour (not sure if available)
- Firearms museum
- Various Smithsonians
- Kennedy Center
- Ford Theatre (Lincoln and also across the street where he died)
- Alexandria boat tour
- Williamsburg tour
- New memorials are coming: Martin Luther King Jr., underground Veteran's museum

Things that were challenging:
- Finding our way
- Making sure the toll pass device we rented with the car is read at the gates, SLOW WAY DOWN at the crossings...
- Finding a place to eat that was reasonably priced
- I would advise using a phone with GPS and "About" or similar app for walking, finding food, etc. My older generation didn't have GPS and compass

So, what’s the bottom line for this trip? The kids thought it was the best vacation ever, now that’s worth doing.

We're in the military now

On a personal note, Debbie and I have moved into another phase in our lives. We have two boys, age 22 and 18. Our youngest has joined the Marines and is in boot camp right now. He’s very patriotic, very appreciative of the sacrifices of those before us that have kept this great nation safe.

Boot camp is a 13 week process. The first week is all about processing, which is a fancy word for forms, shots and quite simply even clothes. We weren’t quite ready for our youngest to leave, let alone for 13 weeks. We’re very proud of him and we know he’ll do fine. He was already physically preparing well in advance and was out running around with a backpack full of rocks. Needless to say he’s taking this seriously. I guess seriousness, intensity and passion run in the family.

As for us, we’re dealing with the big wait. We’ve gotten letters in the postal mail, the only form of communication at this phase in the process. Who would have thought we’d ever see a handwritten letter from one of our kids! Seems so old school and yet so priceless. The written word still has a different feel to it.

We also got to meet various friends of his going into the military. All I can say is that it’s a fine bunch of young men (we didn’t get to meet any women that had enlisted) that we got to meet and we ought to all be proud and thankful.

He signed on almost a year ago via a mechanism called
DEP (Delayed Enlistment Program). As a result of that, a couple of great things happened:
  • He got his pick of what area to specialize in (also supported by his test scores)
  • He gets service credit for the time leading up to actual entry
  • He got his parents mentally prepared

DEP did require parental approval as he was a minor at the time. The military is really quite selective these days. Contrary to what you might be hearing, there is not a shortage of applicants and the military branches are selective. In the Marines, infrantry is really hard to get into these days.

Knowing his interests in our country and that we have never been there, we went to Washington DC this summer. It was a truly unique and overwhelming experience. We started with a DC based
Segway tour to get a feel for the surroundings and did a whole lot of sightseeing. One of the special unexpected surprises that we’d highly recommend is the National Museum of the Marine Corps. It’s an amazing tribute to the U.S. Marines and it surpassed any expectations we had prior to seeing it. It’s near Quantico, VA and it’s a must see 120,000 square foot structure. More on that trip in a future article.