That's right, I might be a Marine's wife!

Yes, you read that correctly. We may be signing our lives away to the military! Eric and I are very, very excited about this opportunity that God has blessed us with. 

First, I'll give you a little back story and then I'll do some explaining on what this could mean for us in the future.

Background: 

My husband has always wanted to serve in the Military. He comes from a military family so he is quite familiar with it. His grandpa is retired Navy and taught at the Naval Academy for a while, his dad was an Air Force Officer and is now an Air Force Chaplain, his brother was enlisted Navy, and his uncle Navy also. 

Aside from familiarity, Eric has been passionate about the military for as long as I've known him and, several different times in our relationship, we both prayed about the possibility of him joining. 

Eric has also felt called to be an attorney. He's in law school currently, as you know. From the get-go, Eric would tell me, "I'm gonna be a military JAG." For those who don't know what that means, it's a Judge Advocate General, basically an attorney for the military. Of course, I kind of poo-pooed the idea. The JAG corps is REALLY tough to get into and is very competitive. For a while, several of the branches weren't even hiring JAGs because of the economy. Needless to say, this boy ALWAYS finds a way and never ceases to amaze me.

So why the Marines? Good question. There's always a healthy rivalry among the different branches and Eric explored all of them. USMC was always one of his favorite branches because of the rich history, honor, and camaraderie.  I mean, there are hundreds of reasons to love Marines, and in my opinion, they have the snazziest uniforms ;) Should he make it through, Eric will be the first to ever be a Marine in his family.

Out of 8 excellent law students from different regions, Eric was among 2 that were selected to go to USMC Officer Candidate School this summer. I can only say that this was purely the grace of God. Aside from his other accomplishments, Eric had a high physical fitness score of 290 and a letter of recommendation from the Major that helped his application stand out. God is good... I was in tears when he got the call.

So what does all of this mean for us?

 Well, it means that Eric will be in Quantico, Virginia for 10 weeks this summer. He will be enduring what will probably be the most physically, and mentally challenging 10 weeks of his life in order to prove that he can be a leader in the Marines. 

"So like, is he going to Boot Camp?" No. This isn't USMC boot camp. From what many have told us, OCS is, in many ways, tougher than enlisted boot camp. There are very high standards and much more is expected out of you. Plus, the mission is different for an officer than for an enlisted Marine which is why they are trained differently. 

Basically, In enlisted boot camp they try to pass everyone unless you quit or get injured. 

In OCS they won't hesitate to kick you out if you are not USMC officer material.

OCS is much more of a test/screening-process and less of a guarantee.

Among all of the branches, USMC Officer Candidate School is the most difficult. The attrition rate is a staggering 60 - 70%. Most drops are due to quitting, injuries/illness, leadership or academic failures, or integrity issues. In the Marines, it doesn't matter if you're going to be commissioned as a lawyer, pilot, or tech... the motto is, you are a Marine first and foremost. This is why each of them must pass the grueling physical and mental tests in order to be commissioned as an officer. Thankfully, Eric is extremely motivated. This was HIS idea and is HIS lifelong dream so there will be no quitting on his part.

If you're interested in watching a YouTube video about what OCS will be like, click here. 

Anyways, Lord-willing, Eric will graduate mid-August and then it's just two more years of law school and taking the bar. After that, we'll be stationed in northern Virginia for 6 months, then it's 10 weeks of Naval Justice School in Rhode Island and then we could be stationed anywhere. At that point, Eric will be a Captain. The most likely stations for a JAG are in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Southern California, Hawaii, and Japan. Woo! I'm really excited about potentially getting to live in so many different places. 

There's a high chance of being stationed in Beaufort, South Carolina - where Forrest Gump was filmed.

And just to address some common questions I know I will get:

No, he won't be front-lines in war. He'll be an attorney so deployments won't be the same as they are for enlisted guys.

No, (assuming he makes it), we won't be in Oklahoma forever. Sad :( I will miss it.

Yes, this means we could potentially be back in San Diego, CA. However, I'd really love to live other places first.

No, I won't be able to go see him at all this summer for a whopping 10 weeks! Thankfully, I have so many awesome people here for me in Oklahoma and I will be on my knees praying most of that time. Eric and I will be able to communicate by writing letters and then he will be able to call me when he has time after the first 4 weeks. In August, his family and I will be there to watch him graduate, Lord-willing!

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Eric did attend an optional Pre-OCS this weekend in Texas with other candidates. It was three days of a 'taste' of what the real thing will be like, aka hell. He did excellent there despite how challenging it was. He is in really great shape right now and has been receiving a lot of help and advice from friends and colleagues who have graduated from USMC OCS so he's feeling confident.

Remember y'all, none of this is totally official yet. Anything can happen this summer in Virginia. But we want to rejoice now, because it's an awesome opportunity and, of course, we want to PRAY, PRAY, PRAY.

We will be keeping you posted throughout the weeks and Eric will eventually get to update you via social media when he has liberty. But for now, please pray for his continual preparations. He's got finals in a few weeks and then two weeks off until he ships out on May 28th.

No matter what happens, we know it is in God's hands. Should the Lords take it away, it will be for our good and he will lead Eric to a new career path, but should the Lord carry him through to graduation day, we will be overjoyed and my husband will be able to serve our country as a Marine Judge Advocate General. Isn't that awesome?!

LOL... Eric loves this show, I had to throw it in here.

Regardless, His will be done. We are so thankful for this opportunity. 

If you'd like to follow the Facebook page that will be posting updates and photos of his class at OCS, you can like this page. 

I will be keeping y'all updated on how to write him and, more importantly, how you can be praying for him. Thank you everyone for your continual support. We would not be able to pursue our dreams without such loving friends and family! 

xoxo, A Law Student's Wife