Career and Life Ascension
Copyright© 2026 by Wojtek
Chapter 3
It was the fifteenth of the month, pay day. Now I know why Cpl Rosario didn’t show up with my beer.
I also knew that most everybody was going to blow most of their pay this weekend on drunken debauchery. As a result, two thirds of the platoon would be broke by Monday.
The platoon formed up for PT. Lt Wallace appeared as Gunny Owens was having us stretch. It was kind of odd; he had a plastic grocery bag in his hand.
“Alright Marines, gather around.”
Everybody created a big circle around the Lieutenant.
“Alright, so I tabulated the scores and compared them to your last scores.”
He then held up the plastic bag.
‘I’ve got the winner’s prize right here. The winner had a combined point increase of almost a hundred points. Pfc Mutellip, could you please come up here?”
Mutellip was presented with a set of Third Battalion, India Company PT gear. So much for the cash prize everyone was thinking it would be.
We spent the day going over our SMAWs with a finetooth comb. It was a good thing that we did. After cleaning it, I was performing a function check on the spotting rifle. The firing pin had some sort of problem. I couldn’t tell if it was broken or had a spring issue. I guess Lt Wallace’s going off on the armorers was still having an effect. They said they’d have it repaired as soon as possible. I filled out the Equipment Deficiency and Repair form.
Gunny Owens saw me walking back with the launcher and the paperwork in my hand.
We had a short conversation about the issue that had come up. Then he had a talk with the Armory Corporal. He made it clear that we needed the weapon system operational ASAP. He said he’d keep on top of it.
The chuckleheads were taking this all seriously. It seemed that Mutellip was feeling on top of the world with his new PT gear. His talking about it reminded me that I needed to wash my Gi before Judo class tomorrow night. That’s how I spent the remainder of my night.
We had no PT this morning; it appeared we were back to three days a week section PT. We spent the whole morning going over the week’s schedule and safety brief.
When we came back from lunch, they threw in another twist. We were handed a packing list for our
two weeks Jungle training FEX (Field Training Exercise). Most of the stuff was in our normal gear.
There were a few things that we would need to purchase and some that we would be issued.
The one that piqued my interest was the survival kit.
That brought me back to the first go around. I had spent some time as a prepper to the extent my limited budget would allow. I went down a rabbit hole there for a while. There were countless reasons that people would become a prepper. Act of God, financial system collapse, Yellowstone Super Volcano, The Rapture.
There was one that became the prominent one that emerged. The Zombie Apocalypse. This one actually started sucking people in by the thousands.
In theory, I had no issue with it, what got me was the way that companies fleeced people with the whole zombie shit. A box of nine mil ammo is about eight bucks. Put the round in a black and neon green or bright red box with the word Zombie on it and now
it’s twelve bucks. A simple fixed blade knife is about fifty bucks, slap a neon green handle on it calling it a zombie killer. Now it’s seventy-five bucks. With a limited budget, I had to stay away from that overpriced marketing ploy.
What I did learn was how to get peak performance for less money. That was going to come in handy now. We got a brief overview of what the training was going to be.
Sensei Yasutoki was looking at me when I walked in.
I was a bit rusty at the beginning of class but was quickly back into the swing of things. He came and talked to me after class.
“You are back early.”
“I’ve got two weeks before I have to leave for two weeks. Then I’ll be back on the normal schedule.”
“Good.”
Norbert and I had a conversation about our launcher being sidelined. We would figure out our stop thing to get our training in. It was probably already thought of.
We were starting our five-mile run at 0530; afterwards, we finished with a round of calisthenics.
As we were breaking up, Norbert and Mutellip were told to head to the platoon office after chow.
They brought several of the SMAW trainers out, and we spent the day practicing. During lunch the chuckleheads were bursting with joy as their promotions were being unfrozen. Once we got off duty, they were going to the uniform store to get their uniforms squared away. Norbert gave me a death stare when I told him that it was great but even though we were now the same rank. I was still senior to him seeing as I had more TIG (Time in Grade).
I then gave them both congratulations, though I told them to keep up the good work. It would keep this situation from happening again.
I was just about to head out to my Japanese class when there was a knock at the door. Cpl Rosario was standing there in front of me with a case of beer in his hands. There was cash sitting on top. He handed them to me and then left.
Ms. Miwako was surprised that I showed up. She figured that I’d stop now that I’d met with Kiku’s parents. After we finished the lesson, she wanted to have a short discussion. She thought that Kiku and I had made a good couple. Kiku had talked to her and was going to help me continue with my Japanese.
When I pulled into the barracks, Cpl Rosario was walking to his car. Upon seeing me pull in, he changed direction towards me. He was waiting for me to get out of the car.
“Where the hell have you been?”
“Same place I’m at every Wednesday night.”
“And?”
“I have a class for an hour or so.”
“What kind of class?”
“I have a language class.”
“Oh. Gunny Owens wants to see you directly after chow in the morning.”
He turned to leave, stopped, and turned back around.
“How many languages do you speak?”
“Well, other than English I guess three.”
“What do you guess, three?”
“I’m completely fluent in Polish, been speaking it since I was about four or five. I’m going to classes to learn Japanese. I guess I’m at a decent conversational level. Then there is Portuguese, which I can muddle my way through a conversation if needed.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“No. Why?”
“You realize that the Marine Corps will pay you for that?”
“No.”
“There’s a Corporal in Lima Company who gets paid every year because he can speak Vietnamese.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Ask Gunny about it tomorrow.”
“Will do. Thanks.”
“No problem.”
Now there was something else that I needed to worry about. The chuckleheads let me know that Cpl Rosario was looking for me.
I was standing in the platoon office at 0730.
Technically, office hours didn’t start until 0800, but it’s always best to be early. It seemed Gunny Owens was of the same opinion; he was making coffee when I walked in.
“Good. Go sit in my office and wait for me.”
“Aye Aye Gunny.”
A few minutes later he came in and sat down. He took a look at the folder on his desk and then closed it.
“So, you’re coming up on a year in the Marine Corps.
Also, you’re going to be eligible for promotion not long after that.”
The second part was a surprise to me. I figured I wasn’t even close. A bump in pay was always a welcome change. I mean we’d get a little raise at the first of the year. I got a twenty dollar bump every two weeks before taxes. I didn’t know what the raise would be from Lance Corporal to Corporal. Though the Federal Government would see to it that it wouldn’t be much.
“Don’t start counting those NCO dollars just yet.
There’s a lot that goes into it.”
Again, it’s the government so that didn’t surprise me.
“So, you’ll have a cutting score which will be comprised of a bunch of things. Your fitness report, PFT scores, rifle qual score. Then you’ll get points based on schools and qualifications you earn. You got points for water survival Intermediate and advanced ratings.”
“So, is there a list of things I can do?”
“Yes. I’ll tell you what you can opt to take. You’re getting a slot to a school hosted by another branch was sheer luck. Don’t expect it again unless you ever make Recon.”
That made sense.
“So, here’s what is going to happen. Starting the last week of next month, you’ll be in the Lance Corporal Leadership Seminar. It’ll be a one day a week course that will last five weeks. The classes will be the second half of your duty day on Wednesdays”
Well, this is what I wanted; now I need to perform. I didn’t think it would be that hard; I just wasn’t looking forward to more school.
“Once you finish that, we will figure out where to go from there. Any questions?”