Erick's Letter Home

Erick Wrote a Letter Home

I don't have the actual letter, mom and dad do in Delaware. The basic gist was that boot camp is very tough, you wake up at 3AM and drill until 8AM. His drill instructor is hispanic, so Erick has a very hard time understanding him, but the senior drill instructor is very nice and checks on them at night to make sure they are all ok. He has a machine gun strapped to his bunk which of course he thinks is cool. He didn't say anything about the heat, or bugs or food, but he did ask that we "PLEASE WRITE", capitalized and underlined in his letter. So WRITE WRITE WRITE!!!

Alpha Company Pics

It is amazing how many Marine websites there are out there. I found one started by 2 women whose husbands are DI's (Drill Instructors) on Parris Island and one of them sent me pictures of Alpha Company on their way back from "chow".

You can click on the pictures to make them larger.

I don't think I see Erick in these. There is one that might be Erick OR a light skinned black boy. He gets so tan and they all look so similar w/ their shaved heads and hats pulled down. One of the websites I read said they march in rows by height order, so that might help us find him in pictures. Let me know if you think you see him.

Erick's Address

Erick's Address Has Arrived!

When writing to Erick please follow these two pieces of advice from the very wise Dr. Fred.

1. No stickers or drawings or anything on the envelope other than the address, stamp and return address. Supposedly marines make fun of marines who receive letters w/ girly or frilly things on them.

2. Number your envelopes. They do not receive mail every day so if the letters aren't numbered and he happens to get 2 from you in the same day he might read the second one before the first one and have no idea what you are talking about.

Recruit Frederick Lohse - 8114
PLT 1083 1st BN A Co.
Box 11083
Parris Island, SC 29905-1083

Let me know if you have any questions or if you hear from him. I will post anything he writes home about what he is doing and how he is doing. There is supposedly a website where they post pictures of his Platoon doing their day to day activities. If I find it I'll post the link and any pics. w/ Erick in them.

Still No Word

Still no word from Erick. Keep checking for updates, we will post them as soon as they come in.

A Little Humor To Pass The Time

A college professor, an avowed Atheist, was teaching his class. He
shocked several of his students when he flatly stated he was going to
prove there was no God. Addressing the ceiling he shouted: "God, if you
are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform. I'll give you
15 minutes!"

The lecture room fell silent. You could have heard a pin fall. Ten
minutes went by. Again he taunted God, saying, "Here I am, God. I'm
still waiting."
His countdown got down to the last couple of minutes when a Marine -
just released from active duty and newly registered in the class -
walked up to the professor, hit him full force in the face, and sent
him tumbling from his lofty platform. The professor was out cold!
At first, the students were shocked and babbled in confusion The young
Marine took a seat in the front row and sat silent. The class fell
silent...waiting.

Eventually, the professor came to, shaken. He looked at the young
Marine in the front row. When the professor regained his senses and
could speak he asked: "What's the matter with you? Why did you do
that?"

The Marine answered, "God was busy. He sent me."

ERICK LEFT FOR BOOTCAMP ON SUNDAY...
AND OF COURSE THERE WAS A PARTY ON SATURDAY

Erick's friends came over, we BBQed a few burgers and dogs and Kara made a beautiful cake as seen in the attached pictures

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The next day it was time to go. Of course mom made him hold a "First day of Marines" sign.

Barb and Fred got a call at 2:38AM today July 12th from Erick saying he had arrived at Parris Island. He'll send a postcard home in a week with his mailing address. I'll post it as soon as we have it. If you have any pics from the party email them to me and I'll post them. Kellyhoulihan@hotmail.com