As I waited patiently for the phone to ring, my foot tapped nervously on the floor. I was not sure what to expect; I waited for what seemed like an eternity. Suddenly the expected ring jolted me into reality. “Hey, sorry for the wait,” said a familiar voice. “A girl called in asking to talk to me. She has some questions about enlisting. I’m waiting for a call back and then we can hang out.” It had been about two weeks since my sister, Gesenia Lopez, became a Marine. She graduated from the Marine Corps Recruit depot in Parris Island, South Carolina on January 6, 2011.
She enlisted in the Recruiting program and was able to spend seven more days in Port Lavaca. This meant traveling with her recruiting officer to multiple schools, sharing her experience about becoming a Marine. I was not sure what to expect as I walked the familiar pathway to my grandparents’ front door; the evening was cold and uninviting… but finally, there she stood after three months of separation. We quickly embraced and began to catch up. Gessy was now a more confident individual; I could tell she had changed for the better and was eager to hear stories of her journey. “The best part was meeting people from all over the states; I made a lot of good friends. I realize even though we are from different places, we’re not that different from each other,” Gessy said with a serious face. “It was not as difficult as I had anticipated.”
Hours later, there we were, sitting at the Deity Design studio talking the night away, when she suddenly turned serious again. “So do you have any questions about boot camp?” she asked, still in her dress blues. I felt like the interview began at that moment.
Grandpa Zavala, Gessy and Grandma catch up.
Q: What was a day in boot camp like?
Gessy: I would often wake up at about 3:00 a.m. in case there was anything I needed to get done before anyone else awoke. Riffle watch wakes up at 3:30 a.m. and then lights are called at 4:00 a.m. We dress and report to the bulkhead and scud the squad bay, pick up trash and make sure everything is neat and tidy. I like to scud my area twice; Hixton and I had good teamwork. She was not my rack mate, but we worked well together. Then we’d head to the chow hall for breakfast and the remainder of each day was different. We were in class a lot learning about history, the Martial Arts Program, (MAP), sparring, physical training, and rifle range.
Q: What kind of rifles did you use?
Gessy: M16A4 rifles; they weighed about 10 pounds. You don’t think about it, but it’s pretty heavy carrying it all day long. My arm would get numb; sometimes I couldn’t feel my hand.
Q: What was your greatest fear?
Gessy: That I would be dropped. Girls were being dropped left and right. There was another platoon that joined us and they were delayed from graduating for three weeks. They should have been able to spend Christmas with their families, but instead didn’t graduate until 2011.
Q: Tell me about some unique experiences.
Gessy: One of our drill sergeants, we were her first platoon to train, she almost marched us into a bus. We just kept marching, but some of the girls were questioning each other, wondering if we should stop, until our senior came out and ordered us to stop. There was a lot of yelling going on after we stopped. We almost got run over and I can’t believe she didn’t see the bus.
During the following days, I learned more about boot camp. “It took a long time for teamwork to set in; finally at the crucible we got into teamwork. We finally got it down. The crucible is a 54-hour test a recruit has to go through with as little as four hours of sleep a night, and there are different obstacles such as a seven mile hike during the day and two night obstacles in the woods with minimal food and water, wearing our full muscle warrior gear. During the obstacle course, I got stuck in the barbed wire several times with my Kevlar, camis, gloves and my sock bun. No one would help me, and it sucked. I kept thinking, ‘I’m going to get tetanus.’”
Q: Where do you go from here?
Gessy: I will fly out of Houston and meet girls from my platoon in Atlanta, Georgia, then arrive at Camp Geiger, which is a military base located in Camp Lejune, North Carolina. There I will be in the School of Infantry and learn Marine combat training with different weapons such as a gun called “The Saw”. Following that 29-day training I will go to Military Occupational Specialties (MOS) School. There I will train in Logistics and then report to my fleet. I can request a specific location, but I will be sent where the military needs me. I’m excited because I’ve earned eight credits from boot camp alone. I’d really like to be stationed somewhere like Okinawa, Japan, as there are no Marine bases in Texas.
As everything in life, her time with us quickly came to an end. I have nothing but pride for the path my sister has chosen in life. Gessy is heroic and although every time I heard her mention the word “deploy” I winced, I support her every move. Gessy – You are a brave soul. God speed sister!
“Hello.” I spoke sadly into the phone.
“We’re back.” My grandmother answered. I could not help but feel sad, as the tears rolled down my face. I knew my sister would soon be on her way to North Carolina and I was unsure how long it would be before we would set eyes on her again. Thank you to everyone who called, emailed, wrote and continually asked about her well-being. It means the world to not only me, but to my family as well.
Till next time.
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Send name & address to: P.O. Box 777, Port O’Connor, TX 77982
