All or Nothing

I will be leaving for the Marines January 10th, 2010. My wife has known about this since even before we started dated, and supports me no matter what. We have decided its a good idea for her to enlist also, for several reasons that i wont get into.

Even though i tell her we will be fine, she still worries about our relationship. We would like a couple (wife/husband) who have served together, preferably Marines, to hit me up so we can get some questions and have a lil email chat with.

Other then that, any military married couples that can offer opinions? Its something that we have both wanted to do, but she is also considering going to school while im away. I know deep down she wants to join the Marines, just need some first hand experiences to talk her through it.

one question she is curious about is what are the chances of us being stationed on the same base? Rumors fly about us having to be stationed within 100 miles of each other, and most of the times, they dont have bases that close together, so it would be the same base usually. We are going to talk to our recruiter soon bout the details, but i know recruiters, and i know they dont tell the truth ALL the time.

I enlisted this week and im trying to decide on my MOS. my scores are

69 afqt

119 mm

119 gt

110 el

109 cl

The positions im trying to look at are either infantry (most likely 0311) or electronic aviation (like working on electronics on cobras,etc..) or maybe even aviation mechanic.

Iv already checked, and i preety much qualify for most of what i was looking at, im just having a tough time deciding. Im hoping some people with experience in 1 or both of those mos's could help with some insight. Im curious what kind of down time each mos has (to allow me to further my degree if i choose). I realize that infantry spends alot of time training, but iv heard they have alot of downtime also when not training or deployed.

The reason im curious about downtime is if no jobs in the Marines interest me to much, id like to study physical therapy as a career when i get out, and it would be great to get a jump start on it while in. (assuming i dont become a career Marine)

p.s: Please nobody tell me that i should go to some other branch, this is what i want to do. Also, please nobody tell me "dont join just for career experience" or anything like that. I would die in the Marines if called to, but if i can secure part of my schooling before i leave, that's just icing on the cake. I had originally planned to join before i even knew about the gi bill.

So any information that can be got for those mos's would help, ill talk to my recruiter on monday, but hes out of town this weekend.

I work out ALOT, however running is something im new to. I never really did alot of long distance running, most of my previous running had been short fast twitch runs (half mile runs-1 mile with sprints/walks. sprint for a lil bit, walk for a lil bit, repeat)

But with my marine IST coming up i need to get my body developed for distance running. My problem isnt my stamina, which isnt to bad (and building) but my ankles and the area between my calf and ankle is. (i think thats the achile's )

Today on my run i did about 1.5 miles, but couldnt run the entire thing becuase after bout a half a mile of solid running i had to walk cuzz my ankles and area hurt ( area is my calfs and muscles in between the calf and ankle) Is this normal for someone whos starting into longer distance running, and something thatll get better with time? And either way, any runner workouts i can do to help build up the muscles/joins to withstand the shock? I dont know how my form is, iv never ran professionally or for competition, so maybe i should get a professional to critique my run and help my form?

When i run at the recruiting station with other recruits my legs are fine, but we also run shorter distances. We do a lap, workout, do another lap, etc.. so theres no long distance runs.

Also: I do use proper running shoes / support socks, so its not that. The IST i have to run at MEPS is 1.5 miles, but i dont want to just barely pass that, i want to do the best i can since the normal run test for graduation is 3 miles, and iv never ran that long in one setting at once before lol

My body isnt exactly setup for distance running but im hoping that wont impact me to much (im the short, stocky, strong upper body strength kind of build. short meaty legs and all that) I should also note that while it would be great, im not looking to break any records in running, i just want to be able to keep up with the other guys.