Jaxon's first Blog

Hey all,
  I finally have enough time to write for the blog because I'm at the dentist....the dentist at Boot Camp, who would have thunk huh?  It's crazy that I said goodbye 3 weeks ago now!  Turns out Boot Camp kinda sucks...haha.  The first week; receiving week, is the worst thing on the planet.  You basically stand at attention for literally like 4 hours at a time.  At least now we are getting some training done.  And to make Receive worse, I was honestly pretty homesick.  I miss everything and everyone! I don't care if we didn't know each other very well or you thought I didn't like you or something, I miss you!
   I miss wearing whatever I want, waking up whenever I want, eating slowly and having privacy.  Here at Boot Camp, we get absolutely no privacy at any time.  On the bright side, only 10 weeks until graduation!  Already can't wait for that day.  Chow is super good and I'm eating healthy Mom! I have tons of salad, fruit, grains etc.  It does kinda hurt to eat it all in 2 minutes.  The Drill Instructors make chow extra stressful for some reason...IDK.  Man, in Utah County we take Sundays and church for granted.  Sundays are the best.  It's so nice to be able to get away from the stress and yelling.  I am a Platoon Prayer Leader so I'm like a platoon chaplain.  On Sundays I go to church from 0700-1100, I love it! 
  We have the craziest Drill Instructors in the whole company.  They looooove to play games with us like throwing our stuff around, making us run all over the place, and there's a thing called "I.T." that they love.  It stand for Incentive Training and it sucks.  If your feet aren't a perfect 45 degree angle, they make us to all sorts of fast, crazy exercises for a long time.  Luckily, I've only been IT'd a couple of times in the first few days...I'm on a good streak with the Drill Instructor so pray that it continues...haha!
  At the beginning of Boot Camp we had 89 in our platoon and now we are down to 72 already.  There is a big written exam in 2 weeks so there's a few who will fail and get dropped...meaning they'll stay here longer.  Not me though!!  I'm graduating April 6th and that's final!  The older recruits say that the first 3 weeks of training are the hardest and that it get's "easier" and time flies by.  So I'm finishing week 3 and golden! 
  My testimony of the Gospel is growing in ways I could never have imagined.  I pray basically 24/7 for strength and comfort, and I have really been blessed.  I enjoy the physical training, I love getting stronger.  As one of our commanders said "be comfortable being uncomfortable!'  That's when we grow and progress.  Here, you're always uncomfortable and I'm learning to just get over it.  Always turn to the Lord, He knows and feels your struggle!  Don't worry about things that are temporary.  Trials will pass and every day the sun will rise and set.  Time doesn't stop with having a trial so push through, keep your head up, pray and have unshaken faith.  When it's over, you will be so much better, stronger and happier.  The scriptures are great!  I read them with other Mormons in my platoon.  I never got the power of the scriptures as much as I do now. 
I love getting letters so PLEASE if you're reading this...write to me! (Mom, include my address please).  I'll try to write back as soon as I can.  Hope Utah is great.  Weather here in San Diego is great; cool in the mornings, kind of hot afternoons, and cool evenings.  Really can't complain about the weather, it's always breezy and usually a little cloudy. 
Love all of you, pray for this poor Recruit please!!  hahaha. 
Best Wishes,
Recruit Jaxon R. Tubbs

Yay! We heard from him!

We got his address this evening.  If you'd like to write to him, here it is:

RCT Tubbs, Jaxon
1st RTBN Charlie Co, PLT 1053
40002 Midway Ave
San Diego CA   92140-5680

I imagine that he could use words of encouragement. Please only send letters. Please do not send anything with the letters. It could get him in trouble.

His first week there was spent doing things like getting his uniforms, his first Marine haircut, and meeting his drill instructors and platoon.  This week is the first official week of boot camp.

We did get to talk to him before he got to the base, he called us from the USO at the airport.  It was such a blessing to talk to him then, because the next time we heard from him that night, he was hoarse and yelling "I've arrived safely...." from a script.  It had begun, he is on his way.  We look forward to his letters home and will share what we can from there here on the blog.

The Next Adventure

He's waited a long time for this. He swore in in July and now it's time for him to ship off to boot camp.  He leaves Monday, Jan 8th.  

He is ready for this next adventure in his life. We will miss him a ton but are happy to see him pursing his goals.  Over the next 13 weeks, we will use this blog to update friends and family.  He will be in our prayers for safety and success.  oorah!