Family Day on Parris Island

We arrived on the base at sunrise. It was spectacular. We got there about 1/2 hour before the recruits arrived on the parade deck. The day started with a Motivational Run. The recruits would run approximately 5 miles with the families watching them from the sidelines of the starting point and then catching a glimpse of them on the road and then back to a finish across the parade deck. They wear a reflective belt when running in the dark.

Erin is in the 3rd column in and 3rd from the front. The leaders of the pack. She was supposed to be looking straight ahead, but she caught a glimpse of us and we got this huge grin. Just a little bit sweaty. We couldn't understand much of the cadence they were chanting, but they sure liked it. Erin even bought a CD of it to keep her motivated while running at home. If she were to run at home :)After the run through the parade deck, they continued to run to their squad bays and took the 120 second shower they are allowed. The girls were allowed to wash their hair less than once a week for the 13 weeks of boot camp. Erin did get to get her head wet -- no shampoo -- that day. While they were doing that, the families moved to the indoor training facility. Then all the recruits marched in wearing their desert camies. The base commander (or at least someone important) gave us a short lecture and then the recruits were released to greet their families for the first time in 13 weeks. Pretty exciting. They told us she couldn't drive that day, we misunderstood that to mean she couldn't be in a vehicle, so we walked everywhere we went for the rest of the day. We walked back to her squad bay and checked out her spacious accommodations.These are the trophies her platoon won. All five events. Ooh Rah!! A statue on the perimeter of the parade deck. She had written in a letter that it would be nice if we wore maroon since that was her platoon's color. We didn't own anything that color, but -- fortunately for us -- there was a store next door to our motel called The Corps Store. They had an abundance of shirts in the appropriate color with fun, pride filled sayings on them. So of course we proudly wore our maroon shirts in support of the 4th Battalion Platoon 4025. I'm glad we went to the store the day before family day.

This photo was taken in the Marine Museum on the base. The next one is in front of the statue that is on the grounds surrounding the parade deck.

It was a great day. Her last day as a Marine Recruit.