Starting His New Job

It was not easy when my husband, Mike started is new job as a Marine Corps Recruiter. The hours were very long. His office was in a mall. and the mall didn't even open until 10am. So he had to be in at at 8:30am to get started and have his morning meeting with the other recruiters and his SNCOIC (Staff NCO in Charge or his boss). From there he would leave out of the office and visit schools or walk around and try to make contact with young men and women. Many times he would not leave the office until after 7pm.

He had to learn to approach people and start a conversation. He said it was hard to walk up to someone and talk to them about the Marine Corps when his career was on the line. It's not that he was afraid to talk to people, it was more that he was afraid to fail... But that is not my story, that's his to tell....


He was working long hours and I was making our house a home. We had an infant and an 8 year old and multiple dogs and two cats. It was a lot of work taking care of all of them while unpacking the house. I did have the opportunity to dispose of some junk that we had held on to for years for no reason at all. I was able to get rid of it without an argument or comment since he wasn't there. I was also able to set up the house the way I wanted it. The girls rooms, the bedrooms, the closets, everything.


Sometimes he would come home and love it. Other times he would come home and hate it. I got to make a lot of the decision, since he wasn't home much, but I felt alone at times. Since we had just moved to the neighborhood, I didn't know anyone and either did my daughters. I felt bad for my oldest since she didn't have anyone to play with. But a few weeks later school started and she was much happier.


Mike continued to work long hours throughout the summer and he had to drive three hours to his HQs often for training and meetings. It was hard adjusting to him being gone all the time. We made appointments for lunch dates so we could spend time together. I also had to schedule events with him so he could fit it into his schedule. As summer crept into fall and fall fell away to winter, he was home more often. It seems that November and December are pretty easy months, so he was getting out of work earlier.


But too soon winter slipped away and the warm weather was upon us. Spring is a tough time as many seniors are focusing on prom and graduation. His hours got longer and longer. Some weeks he didn't even see the girls because they were in bed when he got home. Recruiting duty is not alway easy.

----Coming Up Next - His Promotion----