MarkInTx -- UPDATE

[Haroshij]

Hi Mark,

Remember you from old days on Patrick's site. Good to see everything is good with you and Victoria.

Remember me?

Haroshij

[MarkLeftTX]

My congratulations to you both and especially to Stas.  He's made the best choice he could have made in deciding to wear the uniform to the United States Army.  My stepson is preparing to join the Navy.

Yep, it was an interesting few weeks. He goes to his first drill this weekend.

I'll be happy when he gets his Driver's license! I have an early morning drive on Saturday... But I have high hopes he will get it soon, since he now has a girl friend who lives about 30 minutes from us... That should do it!

Remember you from old days on Patrick's site. Good to see everything is good with you and Victoria.
Remember me?

Hey Haroshij,

Yep, I do... how are things going with you?

PS: Is there a reason why none of the pictures are showing up any more?

[Son of Clyde]

Mark, your situation seems similar to mine. I am assuming your wife is a citizen now (my wife became a citizen in July). And you have a stepson the same age as my stepson (except he seems a bit more motivated than my stepson).

If you were living in DC you were about 45 minutes from us and now you are in PA. Maybe you can change your name to
MarkMovesAround ALot. Just kidding.

Some said it couldn't be done, but I have been married 4 years and 4 months now. I don't post much these days. I guess because I remember the past whan many people here thought I would never succeed. I remember in the beginning being the resident joke.

Believe me, it has been rough going at times but it has been worth every minute. Russian Women are special.

[MarkLeftTX]

Well... more updates...

Stas ships out for Basic training in a couple of days. My wife -- who is usually a rock -- is pretty torn up over it. The thing that sucks is they are combining his job training with his Basic... so he will be gone for about 5 months all told.

American women have a hard time with this stuff.. but a Ukrainian woman... oh man! She doesn't know what to do with herself...

Sigh! We'll get through it somehow...

Anyway... a couple of new pics:

Graduation:


And the 4th of July (Check out the Shirt):

[TwoBitBandit]

Hey Mark, I remember your stories about meeting your wife back from the Planet-Love days.  I'm glad to see that everything is going well for you.

[ECOCKS]

Congratulations to him on graduation and best of luck in his enlistment experience.

Hang in there and stay proud!

[BillyB]

Stas ships out for Basic training in a couple of days.

Here's a few tips for Stas. Expect pain, lack of sleep and shock. The first day of Basic training I had bruises all over from doing what the drill seargants told me to do.

Tell him not to volunteer for anything. Drill seargants don't like azz kissers and they've seen a lot of them. He should not rebel or screw up often. If a guy is disrespecting the drill seargant, the whole platoon gets punished. If he does it enough times, he will get his butt kicked by the platoon. Drill seargants don't punch anybody anymore...at least when nobody is looking.

If Stas does a good job, the drill seargent may appoint him platoon or squad leader which happened to me. He needs to expect more punishment since he's responsible for those under his charge that screw up or underperforming.

Stas seems patriotic and not a trouble maker so he will not have as many problems as others. It was former gang members who did the most crying. They never had to listen to anybody in authority in their lives so they will get the most shock out of basic training. Those guys and the weak, mentally or physically, are the ones that want to drop out of the Army before basic training is finished.

[Ronnie]

What a wonderful story!  What a great family!

[BC]

First pic is really great.. looks like you have one very long left arm.

Best wishes for all of you.

[MarkLeftTX]

Hey guys, thanks for the comments!

BC: hehehe... yeah, that is an optical illusion.

Ronnie & TwoBits: Thanks.

Ecocks: We're very proud of him. It's going to be hard to adjust to him not being around... Harder for Viktoriya, of course. But, at least its just Basic, and then he's home... he's not off to Afghanastan. (Yet).

BillyB: Well, thanks for the advice. He's heard most of it, but I think he's going to do all right. My friend calls him every Drill Sergeant's worst nightmare. For one thing, the kid is fit. For the past three years he's worked out constantly, getting ready for this day. 

He's already an E3. He did some on-line study course, and recruited a guy from high school, so he's off to a good start. Here's the funny thing... in order for him to qualify for his promotion, he had to go to the recruiter's office, and they had to give him a PT test -- the same test that he has to pass at the END of Basic training. There is a standard set for it that if you complete the test under that standard, you get a PT medal (or badge or something...) Anyway, he completed his PT test with that score. So, if this were the END of basic, he'd be getting his special PT pin. So... we're not too worried about him in Basic.

And as for the rest of it, he says that unless his drill sergeant can swear at him in three languages, it won't be as bad as being around his mom. She cracks the whip with him, no doubt. He might be getting more rest at Basic training!

Anyway... we'll see... But so far, he's off to a real good start in his Military Career!
 

[BillyB]

My friend calls him every Drill Sergeant's worst nightmare. For one thing, the kid is fit. For the past three years he's worked out constantly, getting ready for this day. 

lol, do drill seargents even have scary dreams? If you haven't lost phone contact with him yet, tell him to get the idea that he's a drill seargents worst nightmare out of his head. As soon as recruits get off the cattle truck on their first day, the Drill seargents look for the toughest guys to make an example out of.

Physical training is going to be tougher than he thinks. He'll go on a series of ruck marches. Each ruck march I went on, I got a blister on my heel. I'd pop it afterwards to relieve the pain and next ruck march, another blister would develop and eventually I had 7 blisters on top of each other. His feet will be in so much pain he'll become immune to pain. I lost a toe nail on a ruck march and didn't know it till I took my sock off. All my toe nails could've been ripped off and it wouldn't have hurt me.

Your son may have trained for the physical part of basic training but it's the mental part that is the toughest. There will be guys who have mental breakdowns and fail more often than having a lack of physical abilities.

On the bright side, Basic training isn't nowhere near as tough as the training Rangers and Delta Force have to go through.

Mark, Come back and let us know what kind of man your son becomes.

[MarkLeftTX]

Some quick updates...

First about Stas: This has been hard on Vika because we barely hear from him. Usually just a few minutes on Sunday. Basic is over in a week and then he starts his job training -- so we hope to have more contact then. He's doing well though... scored Sharpshooter in his Gun Firing test. (Apparently he comes from a long line of sharp shooters, both his grandfather and grandmother scored sharpshooter in the USSR training...)

He was platoon guide for awhile, but gave it up (platoon guides eat last, he discovered. And they barely got time to eat.) He is a squad leader now, and enjoying basic now that they are doing more "army things." (ie, clearing buildings, setting up ambushes, etc). It hasn't been easy, but he appears to be doing great. He is on track to get his PT Pin, too...

We get no pictures from him or anything. They are not supposed to use the camera phones. But one of his buddys did take this beauty of him:


Ma'am, congratulations... your Son has become a fine bug...

OK, some other life updates... Vika turned 39 yesterday. We celebrated at a local Italian Restaurant...

My Birthday Girl:

Us:

And my Daughter and Me:

[Faux Pas]

Congrats Mark! Looks as if all is well in the Mark and Vika world 

[KenC]

Mark,
Glad everything is going well for you.  Please tell Vika that she has not changed one bit from when we met, so many years ago.  As beautiful as ever!
Ken

[ECOCKS]

Grats to you and your lovely wife Mark along with my sympathies for your son.

I remember gas training and drills with the same stomach-churning feelings of the days it happened.

Kudos to him and my thanks.

[Lily]

Thanks for posting your photos Mark! You have really cute dimples on your cheeks

[TwoBitBandit]

Hey Mark, glad to see everything is going well with you.

I vaguely remember a story you wrote on Planet Love about when Stas came to the states and about some of his, um, unorthodox table manners... and now he's a grown man in the armed forces.  How quickly time flies!

Best of luck to you.

[MarkLeftTX]

Hey all.. thanks for the kind words. (Lily, how incredibly nice of you to mention my dimples without remarking on how fat those cheeks have become!)

I have some more pics to post... we had another BD dinner tonight with more of my family... I'll try to get them up tomorrow...

[groovlstk]

Congrats Mark, you guys look great. I'm glad to hear your both doing so well. 

[MarkLeftTX]

A couple more... we got these two from Basic Training (Shhhh... they aren't supposed to take cell phone pics!)




And some more of my Vika:

(Wow! A Ukranian smiling in a photo! This is a rare sighting...)


That's all for now... Stas graduates in a few weeks!!! We are going to go get him in about a month...whew, has this been a long five months!

[Cold Warrior]

Hey Mark, good to see you and Vika and Stas are doing OK. Hope Stas doesn't forget Russian, we need good Russian speakers esp. now with cooperation on missle defence etc.

[MarkLeftTX]

Update... OK, well Stas is graduated... wears his beret... MP patch... everything. Also walks around ramrod straight, and has that thirty mile stare perfected...

We just got back from Fort Leonard Wood where we watched the graduation ceremonies, and brought the kid home (finally!) Some pictures...

Reunion:


Posing in his dress blues:


Forget the MREs private... here's a PRE: Pizza Ready to Eat


Certificate of Achievement for his PT test (he won the PT Pin)


During Training


Reunion At the Park:


More later if I get time...

[ECOCKS]

Grats! I know you are proud. My thanks to your son for his stepping forward and being part of a great organization. I'm sure he has a great future ahead of him.

[Vaughn]

I remember how you said Vika was so upset at the thought of "losing" him for 5 months...  this reunion is sweet.

Congratulations to all of you. So when does he get orders?

[Jumper]

Congratulations Mark, Vika , and Stas!