I delivered the load to Antioch, CA late Friday afternoon. I then had to be in Twentynine palms, a mere 500 miles away, at the Marine Corps base there at 8:00am this morning (Saturday) to pick up a 7 ton truck going to Camp Lejeune, NC.  Needless to say I am now quite tired.

I made the pick up on time, made my way to Kingman, AZ, and promptly checked into a motel for the remainder of the day and night. In a word, I'm pooped. I was also in serious need of a shower as the trip from Antioch to Twentynine Palms didn't allow time for such things, and chaining down a truck in the blistering desert heat of Twentynine Palms is not exactly a "fresh and dry" job.

Three other drivers from my company were also there picking up. Myself and one of the other drivers, "T", are former military but the other two drivers have never served. Those two were quite nervous about all of the young Marines walking around with loaded automatic weapons and side arms. "T" and I just looked at them and chuckled. It was old hat to us.

There were an amazing amount of young Marines there too. Several outfits have been then for desert training in preparation for deployment to Afghanistan. We, and about a hundred pther trucks, were there to pick up their vehicles and equipment and take it all to Lejeune from where they will soon be deployed.

I have to admit that, upon inspecting their rifles, I was a bit envious. They are of course the newest models and are much better than what we had when I served.

While I was waiting to load I walked over to where several of them were sitting around in from of their tent having a meal. I started up a conversation with them, was invited to sit down, and was offered an MRE. As I hadn't yet eaten I accepted. I have to say that it was far, far better than the crappy C-Rations we got back in my day.

We ate and talked for a while. All very fine young men. When I commented on their rifles one of them removed the magazine from his, ensured the chamber was cleared, and handed it over to me. This surprised me a great deal as a Marine will normally never hand over his weapon. As I was examining the weapon I did notice out of the corner of my eye that his right hand lay along the holster of his side arm the entire time. This amused me a little, but I understood completely. Even an unloaded weapon can be dangerous.

The rifle was superb. It was an M4 carbine with a very fine laser assisted optical scope. It's a high tech, light weight, and highly accurate weapon far superior to anything we had when I served. I thanked the young Marine as I handed him back his weapon. He seemed a little surprised that I handed it back to him in the proper military fashion, with both hands and only releasing each hand as his took hold. Old training never really goes away you know. It's a technique that makes the weapon being dropped during the hand over nearly impossible.

I saw all manner of other high tech weapons being carried around by the numerous Marines walking around. Most I recognized but I have to admit that some I didn't. I also saw a couple of them carrying large plastic cases that looked a great deal like the old sniper rifle cases we had, only of a more modern design and material.

I found the visit with the young Marines quite enjoyable. We ate, joked, talked about where we were all from, and other such stuff. I found it somewhat amazing that some of them seemed more interested in what I do for a living than what they are soon to be doing. Perhaps , and I suspect this is probably true, it was a good way for them to think about things other than where they will soon be and the job they'll be required to perform. I understand that perfectly.

While I had to really roll hard and skip some sleep to get there and get the load picked up, spending 30 minutes sitting and talking with these fine young men made it all worthwhile. I shook each of their hands in turn, and thanked them for their service to our country. They, in return, thanked me for my own.

I am now housed in my motel room, enjoying a much earned (IMHO) cold beer, and chilling out for the night. Tomorrow morning I'll try to make my log book make some sort of sense from a legal viewpoint, and be on my way from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast.