I thought this might be an easy way to share some pictures and video with everyone at Hillside about our mission to surprise and encourage Jake Reynolds last week as he graduated from the Marine Corps boot camp. It was amazing to see him go from "recruit" to an official "United States Marine." Thank you to each of you who helped us get there!
The entrance to MCRD...We made it through security on Thursday for Family & Friends Day. We had to step out of our car, open all the doors, trunk and hood. Those marines were so serious but we got them to smile. :-)
The first part of Friends & Family day consists of their "Mot Run" (aka motivation run). The marines run for a few miles and while they are out running, their family and friends line the streets of the depot ready to cheer them on as they see their sons, nephews, brothers, etc. for the first time in 10 1/2 weeks.
I have video of the Mot Run which I will post soon. This is a picture of Jake's squad upon arrival after their many mile trek. There were 8 squads, a total of 527 graduating marines. Their age range is from 18-28, average age is 19.
Of course they are lined up, looking straight forward but I found Jake (he didn't see us) to snap a first close up shot.
And they were off again to run some more, until we would meet up in a bit...
We moved in front of a huge theater to await for the recruits to run back, line up again, be addressed by their commanders and head out, once again, to run some more. (I was tired just watching them!)
Such straight lines!
We spent a couple of hours within the theater as their commanders addressed friends and family, showed us a video of their training over the past 10 1/2 weeks (very impressive!) and answer questions. We headed out to the parade deck and found all of the marines lined up, showered, in uniform, awaiting for our arrival.
Once seated, all of the marines came out, paraded on the parade deck in uniform. Jake was one of the squad leaders, pretty cool! He was one of the top in his squad of 60-ish men. He is in the front row, far left, next to the marine with the red flag.
A new man...
He still has not seen us yet, or his family. And it's been hours since the Mot Run by this time!
After the commander gives them leave for 5 hours that day, they break up and Jake's family (who we had found in the crowd and introduced ourselves too) came down from the bleachers to hug Jake. As Jake hugged one of his family, he looked towards us. He looked right at me and the look on his face was like, I know them...then he looked at Zach and the look on his face was priceless! Tears filled his eyes and he just said over and over and over, "Oh my!" "Oh my!" We hugged and all he kept saying was that he couldn't believe we were there. His family also couldn't believe that his pastor would fly so far. God was glorified through Hillside that day! Amazing!
Jake telling us a story...next to his older brother Nick.
After lunch with everyone. The restaurant on base fed all 527 marines and their families and friends. Now that's a lot of food!
The next morning was Graduation. The marines had all of their bags out on the parade deck, perfectly uniform, exactly the same. Wow.
Zach and I saw some of these guys practicing for Graduation before the ceremony.
The stands were filled with all of the marine's loved ones. They came out in their, even more official uniforms.
And paraded across the parade deck. Amazing! We heard the US Marine band too. With the flag flying high we were filled with thanksgiving and awe of our country and the freedom that we do have here. It's incredible what these men and women do for us.
Jake is in the front row, on the left, next to the man with the flag.
Walking right in front of the stands.
Jake :-)
After graduation! He is given 10 days of leave before he heads back down to Cali for a 28 day infantry training. He is a different person today then just a few short weeks ago. He is very respectful, articulate, talks so fast and can endure any kind of yelling in his face. :-)
This was such a fantastic trip in so many ways!
I did have to share an extra picture. As we landed on Thursday morning, it was one of the roughest landings I've ever experienced. The plane sped up in the sky and within seconds hit the runway...like we vertically went straight down, or that's how it felt. And came to an abrupt stop. An older gentleman sitting next to me proceeded to share with us that San Diego is the 10th most dangerous airport in the world. Thanks for sharing after the fact, sir! The descent is literally right over the city so in order not to hit any buildings, you have to go straight down and land, and the bay is right there so then you have to stop abruptly. Pretty crazy!
Thank you again Hillside for you love and support. I will try to post some videos soon. :-)
