So when will all of this be on TV??

It is back to the daily grind.



I've debriefed my news directors on the Parris Island trip. I've briefed them on the stories that will air as part of the series. I followed up with Sgt. John Jackson at a recruiting sub-station and I did a classroom follow-up with one of the teachers.


Now its time to share all of this with Cincinnati on Fox19 and fox19.com ... I have four feature stories from the adventure and those features will air as follows:

March 23 2200 hrs (10 p.m. newscast)
Parris Island the experience

March 24 2200 hrs (10 p.m. newscast)
Journey of a Recruit you'll see two Recruits from Cincinnati area during their training

March 25 2200 hrs (10 p.m. newscast)
Yes Ma'am female Marines

March 26 2200 hrs (10 p.m. newscast)
Teaching Teachers the adventure of the educator's workshop, teachers from KY and OH

If you do not live in Fox 19's coverage area, the stories should be to the web site by 2300 hours on the day the story is set to air. Also, there will be a feature on the Marines that will air in Louisville on Fox19's Raycom Media sister-station, WAVE. That will air in April TBA.

Now that business is taken care of, I have to say THANK YOU to all the Marines who answered all my questions, taught me so much, helped carry my gear, drove me around, shot my stand-ups for me, made extra trips to the PX for diet coke, gatorade, tissues and allergy medicine!! Thanks so much, Major Quinn, M/Sgt. Deskins, Sgt. Jackson, Cpl. Holmes, Sgt. Cotton and Lt. Reynolds.

Now that I'm home, lets go over the most asked questions by my co-workers, friends and family.

Q. Did you see any cute Marines?
A. Does a leopard have spots? Isn't that a given?

Q. When will this air?
A. See above.

Q. Will you make me a copy?
A. If you would like a DVD of anything that airs on Fox 19 call these people...the Media Library 513-751-1411

Q. So did they talk you into joining?
A. Standby.

Q. What did you learn?
A. I learned a lot about the Marine Corps and even more about myself.

Despite my initial refusal, I like being called Ma'am now. Actually, take note, I expect it. Ma'am is one of those words I use, but rarely ever hear. On the second night of the trip, I asked several of the Marines to just call me Miss, because Ma'am makes me feel old. They thought it was funny. I told them that to me, a Ma'am was older than me or married. A Miss is unmarried and a younger woman. We even asked a waitress which she liked and she agreed with me. My efforts didn't work, they called me Ma'am and Miss McCann (not Ms. McCann so that was good.) I should note all but two Marines in my escort were younger than me, so even based on on my theory, I am a Ma'am! After seeing the fierce women of Parris Island, they are all Ma'ams, so getting the same greeting and respect as those ladies is an honor.

Something else I learned, before this trip if someone would have told me I'm not as patriotic as I could be, or I didn't think about the military enough, I wouldn't have believed them. After all, I'm in the American Legion Auxiliary, I volunteer with the Girls State program, volunteer at the VA Medical Center and pray for Veterans and active-military in every prayer. But now I know there is more I can do. I can offer more smiles and thank yous when I see the uniform. I can bring the military into my everyday life and not let it get lost in the day-to-day shuffle.

In my first blog I told you one of my motivators to take the trip was selfish. I wanted to learn more about the Marine Corps because one of my dearest friends, Capt. Brad Whited, is a Marine. We've been friends for more than a decade, since my freshman year of college. I never thought about this until writing this blog, our country has been at war nearly the entire time we've known each other. Brad has been at war. He's been a world away. First in Iraq and now in Afghanistan.

While reading about the War and doing stories on the home front, one Marine stays on my mind, where he is, is he safe, did he know the Marine or soldier who has been hurt or worse? How is he dealing with war, with death, with the distance? What will life be like when he comes home?

My trip to Parris Island and spending a week with the Marines did give me insight to his life, but it also made me realize I will never really know how he feels. I'm not meant to know what it is like. We civilians aren't the ones making that sacrifice. Only an elite few will ever understand. Whether its Brad, your loved-one, or any of the Marines I met, only those Patriots, those Warriors, know what it is like.

I can go through the actions, video all they do, learn their protocol and vocabulary. But no one can recreate the feeling or the connection that I observed. Their honor, pride, confidence and compassion... I only tried to capture it. Being a Marine is a bond that we are not a part of, a bond that doesn't exist if you aren't part of their fraternity. Reporters are really good at taking information or situation and making you feel like you are a part of it. You will feel that when you watch these stories, but something will be missing. That connection that is only shared between Marines.

We'll never know what it is like, but what we can do is support and respect their sacrifices and their unity.... and admire their honor, courage and commitment.


Semper Fi.

Graduation Day, everyone goes home, eventually

I wanted to blog this Friday from the airport, but considering Sgt. John Jackson and I have the travel fortunes of the Griswolds and each flight was a scene from a National Lampoon Vacation movie, that didn't happen. I'm now safe at home writing.

Anyway, lets get to the most wonderful day of this trip. Witnessing Warriors graduate. The group graduating from basic training started in December. That doesn't seem so long ago. The weather saved the most beautiful and warm day for the graduation. Blue clear skies, sunshine, but still cool in the shade.

You see hundreds of Marines in different uniforms, from dress blues to the service uniform of Marines working at Parris Island.

Pride fills the air.

Pride of the families and friends visiting.

Pride of the Drill Instructors who watched the entire transformation from Recruit to Marine.

Pride from the newest to claim the title of United States Marine.

Watching the perfect formations of each platoon snap together to make the impressive battalion you get a little lump in your throat when you see their salutes, hear the band play the Marine Corps hymn (follow that link for the traditional version, click here for a video and version that gives you those same chills and lump in your throat.)

The entire scene fills me with pride too.

The Marines from the Louisville and Detroit recruiting stations also have an extra skip in their step, I think mostly because they are sending us home :). But also from their pride, it has to be awesome for them to see another class of Marines graduating. All week we've seen "our" Marines in camouflage or civvies (civilian clothes). At graduation they are in uniform too. You see their ribbons, awards and decorations. I see the honors that match the stories I've heard. Everything from a medal for protecting the President to a quiet purple heart.

As soon as graduation ends, it is to the airport. After the trip down, I did not have high expectations for the trip back.

At lunch, one of the Marines tells us that three of the educators let three new Marines waiting for their flights use their cell phones to call home. It was the first time they'd spoken to their families since they arrived at Parris Island. What a wonderful gesture. Would that have happened before the teachers experience this week? I don't know. Will those simple acts of service continue? Definitely.

No surprise, several hours later we're waiting to board our plane and Sgt. Jackson gets about 10 phone calls and voice mails at once... telling him the 15 of us will be waiting another two hours to fly to Charlotte. He goes to work.

I just laugh and decide it is time to change out of the skirt suit and heels and into comfy pants and gym shoes. Good call. Sgt. Jackson however, still in his uniform and not complaining. He's a Marine. He served overseas, he can handle 13 educators and a tv reporter.

We get to Charlotte sometime after 10 p.m. and to no surprise, that plane isn't ready to take off there either. So I rally our troops around my laptop and we start watching all the video from the week. Laughing and telling stories, while the Sgt. continues pacing, making calls and talking with the airlines.

We finally get on our last plane, we'll be in Louisville in an hour. Then it happens.

The Flight Attendant makes an announcement, "Attention everyone there is a Sgt. Jackson, USMC, on board this plane," panic. My heart sinks.... who did we leave? we sooo will not have our luggage... what happened now?

She goes onto say, "Sgt. Jackson your students would like to say thank you for a wonderful experience at Parris Island and thank you for all of your hard work and commitment and effort put into their trip, thank you for your service to our country."

Everyone starts clapping, you hear several "oo-rahs" and Sgt. Jackson smiles. I think the same thoughts were going through his head at first too! We finally made it back, at zero-dark-thirty.

Thank you Recruiting Station Louisville for a great trip and for letting me tag along. Thanks Sgt. Jackson, Master Sgt. Deskins and Major Quinn!

Check back to the blog tomorrow for details on when the stories will air on Fox 19 and fox19.com

The Crucible

Thursday we had the chance to see Recruits make their way through one section of The Crucible. The men were crawling on their stomachs across a bridge, a wall and through tunnels. All of this in the woods with loud speakers blaring the noise of guns, screams and bombs going off. After that, it was still crawling, but in sand under barbed-wire. With the camera I'd zoom in for closeups and the video looks like it could be a scene from Afghanistan or Iraq.

Sgt. John Jackson and I went out on the field and were standing right beside and sometimes I was laying on the ground with the fireteams (four man groups) as they went through the course. You don't get use to the guns and screams, but I was able to keep working. But every time a "bomb" blast would play I jumped. The first time it was a jump, camera jerk and scream. Every time I jerked the camera, it was an involuntary reaction. The Recruits don't flinch.

They stay focused on their mission and on their team. I just got to see 15 minutes of their 54 hour capstone experience.

To quote the USMC, "For 54 straight hours, recruits’ endurance, teamwork and skills will be pushed to the limit. Through perseverance and courage, they will finish as platoons and earn the title Marine." Once they finish this training, the Recruits march to the emblem ceremony and become Marines. Each receives their eagle, globe, anchor the Marine Corps emblem.

As the hours marched on in our experience, you could really see the teachers/educators become tired, but they'd never say that. After seeing a little glimpse into the life for a military member, in our case the Marine Corps, it is kinda silly to ever say you're tired.

Really puts life in perspective. I think for the teachers/educators too. Every day they are impacting the future by leading, teaching and mentoring kids. By the teachers experiencing this career path it really helps them mentor a teen who is thinking about the military. Or possibly suggest a military path for a student who they see as a leader with drive, intelligence and focus. A student that might no realize their qualities are Marine-material.

Afterwards the teachers run through their own crucible. Teamwork challenges and some physical obstacles. I even got in the ring with the pugil stick training, it is kinda like that one American Gladiator event where you hit somebody with a stick padded on both ends. The person holding the other stick was a Marine... so basically it was me hitting him as hard and as fast as I could and him making one move and it was over. Regardless it was a rush and Major Rory Quinn told me that I was aggressive, so I got a compliment out of it too.

Jamie Johnson, my roommate who teaches at Harrison, ruled the course. All the teachers were cheering each other on and there was even a little rivalry between the "Louisville" group and the "Detroit" group. Cincinnati falls under the Louisville recruiting station along with Kentucky so that was my group.

The Marines did a great job of making a team out of total strangers for a week, imagine what the bond is like when you are really in the Corps?

This one's for the girls

Up this morning to watch/video PT for the female Recruits at Parris Island.

It was freezing outside, but only to us. You couldn't see the Recruits reaction to the weather conditions at all. Just on their task at hand.

Amazing.

Ladies, just in case you are wondering, the women obviously physically fit... basic exercises getting it done... lunges, planks and running. Simple and effective.

After that we had the chance to tour the female squad bay. About 80 girls to a room and completely lacking of chaos. I think it has a lot to do with some of the first words I heard during the yellow footprints and words we've all heard if you play sports.

There is no "I" in team. When referring to themselves, Recruits say "This Recruit" not I or me. When referencing other Recruits its the same no pronouns. Drill Instructors (not Drill Sergeants, those are in the U.S. Army) say by making this simple change it helps Recruits get out of a "ME" attitude and focus on the team.


It is impressive to see all of the women here. I've learned a lot about hairstyles, grooming and how the Marines who happen to be girls are feminine, confident women. The military isn't just a man's world. And you can have the balance of serving your country without the sacrifice of motherhood, being a wife or painting your nails red!

Major Quinn who is the CO (commanding officer) of the Louisville, KY recruiting station has answered so many questions for me. He served in Iraq and is now helping with recruiting with Marines like Sgt. Jackson (the Public Affairs Marine who invited Fox19 on the trip). I've learned a lot about women in the military this week. Even a new term coined for female Marines who were serving during some of the bloodiest fighting in Iraq.


Lioness.


Marines are sometimes called Bulldogs, these ladies though a Lioness. They work with the tribes and civilians to bring a type of compassion, strength and fierce intensity that a man can't. How bout that?


I even found a film about these women. Check out the link above. It just came out in 2010.

It is true, there are some MOSs (jobs) that females are not permitted to do in the USMC.

However, I learned this week that even though boys have more choices in the MOS, sometimes the girl is just the better fit.

Vocabulary Lesson

So I thought newsrooms were bad.

We have our own slang and meanings to words and phrases that do not crossover into other professions or professional environments. I'm sure it is the same way at your office.

For example today at the Battle of Khe Sanh range, when a TV reporter (me) says, "I'll be ready in just a minute, let me go up on the range and shoot (video) these people, I need to get one more shot."

Thank goodness most people had earphones on to muffle the noise of the M-16s and my comment. I got two strange looks, from luckily the two PAOs (Public Affairs Officers) who were escorting (watching) me. Cpl. Holmes, a public affairs Marine and 1st Lt. Reynolds laughed and we made a joke because when I say shoot, I mean film something with my camera... their connotation of the word is a little different.

We've learned lots of fun words and sayings today... for example... I can't wait to use the word: voluntold. Don't you love that? If there aren't volunteers, then someone is voluntold and it gets done. Great word, we've all volunteered someone for a project... now we know the word to use when we do it.

Chow is not a dog here, it is food.

Zero-dark-thirty. I don't need to explain that one.

MOS is the assigned job for a Marine. At Fox 19 this is two things an M-O-S means grab a "man on the street" interview or MOS means some number that the director/editor use to label digital video.

The head is the bathroom...

Also, if someone calls you salty its not your attitude, it is your experience. That one got me.

At lunch today, I met some salty Marines and also got the chance to talk with recruits. One from Anderson Township the other West Chester. That was special.

They both miss Skyline chili and one had to explain himself to a Master Sergeant during my interview when he said he can't wait to get home and enjoy a three-way at Skyline Chili.

After a smile, and explaination... I guess Cincinnati got to teach a vocabulary lesson to Parris Island...

Yellow footprints

WOW! Where to start about Day 2.

3:30 a.m. wake up.... at the airport by 5 a.m. ... Started off flying from Louisville to Charlotte to Savannah... that took about 12 hours thanks to mother nature and her wonderful March snow!

Then... we took a short drive up the coast to Parris Island in Beaufort, South Carolina. Made it, finally, however, our luggage didn't.

Lucky me, I kept my work gear with me, so I'm able to blog and I was able to head out tonight and get video of Recruits stepping off the bus onto the yellow footprints. Meanwhile many of the teachers I'm with and even my escort, Sgt. John Jackson, do not have luggage. Nothing to wear tomorrow, can't brush their teeth! My bags arrived just before 11 p.m. so I'm content. Got my WVU sweatshirt and my Bengals pajamas and now its time to share the day with you!

I know it is only Day 2, but I can't wait to get this video on Fox 19 and fox19.com!

After arriving at the hotel we took a short drive to Parris Island Marine Depot to watch Recruits arrive to start their journey.

Hard to explain... but here it goes.... pitch dark, men and women jumping off a bus, in "civilian" normal clothing... they have 15 ft. to make it from the bus to the yellow footprints, I can only imagine it feels like 15 miles.

Drill Instructors tell them to run, not walk, but they can't get there fast enough.

In 4 months these same Recruits I saw will be Marines. They will be defending our country, they will probably be heading to combat. They will be defending my right to the fact my biggest concern today was not having my luggage. Not having my camera battery charger. My right to tell you what I really think about all of this, my right to send a text message to my sister, asking her to check the UC basketball score (Bearcats lost to Nova).

It is a pretty powerful emotion. Seeing those individuals make that step off the bus and step up to the yellow footprints. Powerful emotion. Really puts life in perspective.

But I stopped thinking about that.

Too busy trying to capture it all on film.

Too busy listening to the Drill Instructor. Her message is poetic in the content and cadence.

After the yellow footprints they walk through the silver hatch (grand set of doors). The Drill Instructor tells them they'll only pass through these doors once. She tells them that they officially start the transformation from civilian to Marine. No one else walks through these doors. Not officers, not me, not you, not families, not any Marine or military member.

Only Recruits.

I went to Parris Island with just my camera, 1st Lt. Hudson Reynolds and Master Sgt. Oliva was there as well. None of the teachers made the trip.

They get to experience it tomorrow. But won't get to see what I saw tonight. What I'm excited to share with you.

What an honor that the United States Marine Corps let me be there where they make Marines... from the first step off the bus, from the first step onto the yellow footprints.

Ready to go

So I'm on my way to spend a week with trainees at the United States Marine Corps Recruit Depot at Parris Island, South Carolina. I have a partner in crime, if you will, a teacher from Harrison High School on the westside, Mrs. Jaime Johnson. She is taking part in the educator summit that I'm traveling with this week. She's my roommate too, so expect to see and hear a lot about her!!!

The reason I'm going on this trip is two-fold. First, what better way to tell a Cincinnati-area military story than to go to where the training happens. I'm going to meet area trainees, see what it takes to be a Marine from their eyes. Also get to watch a graduation, hit the firing range and maybe even take a "jog" with them! Among other really awesome things I'll be sharing on this blog and of course video and stories when I return to Fox 19.

The second reason is the USMC sends teachers (like Jaime) from all over the east coast/midwest to Parris Island so they can see how Marines become Marines... they take that information and their experience back to the classroom. So if a teen is looking to the Corps that teacher has an experience to share.

Pretty awesome I think.

On this "full metal" blog, I have to give you "full disclosure" I had a couple of selfish reasons why this trip was something I wanted to do.

When my news director asked me in December if I wanted to take this trip to South Carolina I didn't hesitate, she even pointed that out. I just said yes. In my mind I'm thinking, oh a week away from "work", Parris Island is a hope skip and a jump from Georgia, its almost spring... by St. Pattys day its nice there... its marshy island... yes ... no question.

Who wouldn't want to spend a week in the south in March???

I didn't anticipate this wacky winter we've had... its 40 degrees and raining there now. Of course it is.

The other reason I immediately said yes, my college best friend. He is a USMC Capt. and served several tours of duty in Iraq from 2000-2009 ... in Oct. 2009 he was sent to Afghanistan. He will be there until this fall.

Even though he didn't train at Parris Island, I still think it will be cool to see a side of his life and a totally different world of his and all the other military men and women I know.

Now, time for bed... wake up is at 3:45 a.m. which is a side of life and the clock that I'm not use to either!!!!