Category: kate~n~kel

Kate needs you now more than ever!  Two weeks until graduation!  Please just keep her in your thoughts and prayers.  Send good vibes!   Especially while she is on her Crucible, February 26-28.

Its crunch time !!!   She is ending her 10th week of training! Can you believe that she has been gone almost 70 days already? She is in the best shape of her life and ready for the final two weeks. The last two weeks contain many “pass or fail” events.

Here is some great info on what Kate will be doing these last two weeks…. this partly from the Marine Corp website.

The Marine Corp Recruit Training Matrix represents the best training in the world. It is a methodical and time-tested process. Every hour of every day for 13 weeks culminating with the 54-hour Crucible is designed for just one purpose. To make the highest quality basically trained U.S. Marine.  Without doubt, Marine boot camp is more challenging — both physically and mentally — than the basic training programs of any of the other military services. Not only are these requirements much higher, but recruits are required to learn and adhere to the core values of Honor, Courage, and Commitment.

It has been said time and time again by former Marines that Marine Corps recruit training was the most difficult thing they ever had to do in their entire lives. In order to train the world’s most elite fighting force… It has to be that way.

Tomorrow is Practical Application testing.

Final Practical Application Test – The final practical application test is a series of test events where recruits are required to demonstrate their knowledge and mastery of the subject.  These areas include: First Aid skills; Customs and Courtesies like saluting or boarding a ship, Marine Corps Uniform and rank identification, and weapons assembly and disassembly.

Final Written Academic Test – The final written academic test is second of two written tests recruits will take during their training.  Recruits must pass both the practical application test and the written test in order to progress in training and to be able to graduate.  Recruits are tested across the spectrum of what they have been taught in training.  Test material includes: Core values and ethics; the general military subjects of First Aid, History, Customs and Courtesies, Marine Corps Uniforms, Leadership, and policy and organization; BWT subjects like land navigation and hand and arm signals; and Marksmanship.

Monday – 2/23

The Final PFT – Every Marine must be physically fit, regardless of age, grade, or duty assignment.  Fitness is essential to the day-to-day effectiveness and combat readiness of the Marine Corps.  Furthermore, physical fitness is an indispensable aspect of leadership.  The habits of self-discipline required to gain and maintain a high level of physical fitness are inherent to the Marine Corps way of life and must be a part of the character of every Marine. Marines who are not physically fit can be a detriment to the readiness and combat efficiency of their unit.

The “PFT” is a physical test that every Marine takes twice each year and consists of pull-ups, crunches, and a 3.0 mile timed run. 
  
Requirements for female recruits to score the maximum of 300 points:

70 second Flexed-arm hang
100 Crunches
3.0 mile run in 21:00 min (Timed) 

Wed 2/25

 Final Drill Evaluation – The Final Drill Evaluation tests each platoon’s ability to listen to the orders of its Drill Instructor, and is a final demonstration of unit discipline and esprit de corps.  Drill was used as one of the first methods of transforming these recruits from civilians into Marines, and played a large part on their development of teamwork and unit cohesion.

The object of close order drill is to teach Marines by exercise to obey orders and to do so immediately in the correct way. Close order drill is one foundation of discipline and esprit de corps. Additionally, it is still one of the finest methods for developing confidence and troop leading abilities in our subordinate leaders.

Thu/Fri/Sat – 2-26/27/28

The Crucible is the defining moment of recruit training.  The Crucible is designed to evaluate a recruit’s mental, moral, and physical development in order to validate the transformation into a United States Marine.  For most, the Crucible will be the first time they reach the limits of their mental, physical, and emotional endurance. They will know that they are capable of much more than they previously believed.  They will know that they can exceed their own personal limitations through teamwork, perseverance, and courage.  The Crucible, once experienced, will be a personal touchstone and will demonstrate for each and every recruit the limitless nature of what they can achieve individually and, more importantly, what they can accomplish when they work as a team.

The Crucible consists of 54 hours of intense, physically demanding training, under conditions of sleep and food deprivation.  During this time, recruits will be forged in the furnace of shared hardship and tough training that is the time-tried and battle-proven trademark of Marine recruit training.  There will be night forced marches, a tough night infiltration movement, a combat resupply event, a casualty evacuation drill, and combat field firing. Any recruit who quits will not bear the title Marine.

Recruits will encounter unique obstacles, each bearing the name of a heroic Marine from our illustrious history, which can only be negotiated with teamwork.  Once each obstacle is overcome, the drill instructor mentors the recruits, critiques their efforts, and retells the story of the Marine for whom the obstacle was named, bringing to light how that individual exemplified our core values. . . . . . . Honor, Courage, Commitment.

The Crucible is the culminating event in recruit training, and in order to become a Marine, all recruits must complete and pass the entire evaluation.  Capping the already tough challenges of the previous two days is a 9 mile march with full packs and all of their personal equipment.  It is the final event designed to see who has what it takes, and all recruits must complete the march to pass, and those that do not pass are sent home.  At the end of the march the recruits participate in the Emblem Ceremony.  This is the moment when the legacy is handed down, they earn the title “Marine,” and the newest Marines are presented with the Corps’ emblem, the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor, by their drill instructors.

Today marks day 30 for Kate as a Marine Corp recruit.  She is doing GREAT!  We have received a few letters and she reports that,  other than some minor aches, pains, bruises, cuts and scrapes,  all is well!  Her day starts every morning  at 4am and ends at 8pm.  In between its filled with daily exercise, training on Marine Corp Martial Arts,   drill (marching) , Combat conditioning,  fighting with pugil sticks,  as well as many hours of classroom time, learning the way of (and history of) the Corps. You’d be amazed at the amount of data that these recruits have to memorize.

In her latest letter she says: : ” I am getting a lot of cards from people. Please let everyone know that although I don’t have the time to write everyone back, I want to THANK EVERYONE for the love and support they are sending me…..its really motivational and it REALLY HELPS!”

So please, keep those cards and letters coming.

This week is swim week for Kate, spending her time in the pool learning combat water safety. Basically jumping off the high dive and treading water with all your gear on. She should do great!  After this week she will be 1/3 complete and done with phase one of training!   Her March 6th graduation is getting closer and closer!

We are proud!

YOU GO KATE!!

What a great great Sunday. Kate’s last day as a civilian before  departing  for South Carolina and Marine Corp recruit training.   Up early and off to church, as a family.  The four Flahertys in pew #3 for the 9:30 mass at Holy Spirit.  Nice.  After mass Kate got a special blessing from Father Aiden, our favorite Irish priest.  Nice!   Then we headed to Cabrillo Park Cafe for breakfast.  Many Sunday breakfasts with the girls over the years but none may have been more special than yesterday’s. Just to look across the table and see our two beautiful, smart, happy and well adjusted daughters, made me happy and proud.  Barb too.    After breakfast it was home to get ready for Kate’s going away and take our traditional family Christmas picture.  We always have fun taking the Christmas picture. Using a tripod and timer on the camera, we take a dozen or so pictures in various poses.  We usually get one or two good ones out of the bunch. The next several hours were a blur as friends and family filled the house to wish Kate well.  Those that couldn’t come, called in to wish their best.  Laughter and conversation filled the air.  Kelly bought  a little note book so everyone could put down their address (so Kate could write) and also write a short note. Nice touch.  As afternoon turned to evening, people started to trickle out,  and pretty soon it was just the four of us again.  As normal as things could be, we enjoyed a few more precious hours together. We are blessed.

Somewhere around 9pm, the recruiter showed up to take Kate and a few other soon to be recruits to a San Jose hotel, where they would spend the night.    Last night the recruiter said that we could even go to the San Jose in-processing center to watch Kate take her oath to become a United States Marine. When Barb called this morning to find out what time it was, they told her that Kate had already been sworn in and was waiting for the bus to airport, and the wild blue yonder.  So Kate is now officially a Marine recruit. For the next thirteen weeks she will have all sorts of supervised fun.  Hiking, camping, camaraderie,  plenty of exercise and all sorts of other fun activities. No cell phone or laptop allowed in recruit training so we won’t have any contact with recruit Flaherty until she mails us that first letter.  When we hear from her, you will here from us. 

Please keep young Kate in your thoughts and prayers.

Kate is safely in the bosom of the USMC.  After calling  yesterday while on lay over in Dallas enroute to Savannah Georgia,  she called last night in what must’ve been the first few moments of recruit training pandemonium. Around 9:30 our time ( 12:30am Parris Island time) the phone rings. I put the phone in between mine and Barb’s ears…Hello? 

“THIS IS RECRUIT FLAHERTY!!   I HAVE ARRIVED SAFELY AT PARRIS ISLAND!!!  PLEASE DO NOT SEND ANY FOOD OR BULKY ITEMS TO ME IN THE MAIL!!!!! I WILL CONTACT YOU IN 3 TO 5 DAYS BY POSTCARD WITH MY NEW ADDRESS!!  THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!!!  GOODBYE FOR NOW!!!!!”  

*click*

Kelly and the CSUEB water polo girls are having a great year.  Starting the season ranked number 3 behind two so-cal teams, The team is doing really well so far. They’ve already beaten a couple of Division one schools and haven’t lost a game they should’ve won. Kelly already has more goals than she scored all last year. She is getting more playing time and making the most it.   We went to an “all-important” game this last Friday. At the CSUEB pool, the pioneers hosted arch rival UC Santa Cruz in a match that would determine who is #2 in the nation for division III schools. By some fluke, the “SLUG GIRLS” from Santa Cruz beat last years champion and were able to move up 8 spots in the polls. So the Friday game was a MUST. Excitement filled the air.  Lots of fans in the stands. Plenty of slug parents made their way over the hill to see the slug girls play their most important game ever. I don’t think UCSC has ever been ranked higher than 6th.

Turned out to be a great game. We ended up winning a nail-biter 9-8. We started off strong and had a 5-2 lead in the second quarter.  Kelly had a monster block in the 2nd quarter that thwarted a slug attack. The slugs battled their way back however,  and even went ahead by one and led 8-7.  Our girls played great all game long and eventually went ahead 9-8 with 2 minutes to play. Slug girls were pressing hard. Knowing they needed a goal to send the match into overtime. Thats when Kelly made the DEFENSIVE PLAY OF THE DAY by stealing the ball and advancing it to the other side of the pool. SO SWEET!!   Then it was a matter of running out the clock.

  The poll comes out this week and will show CSUEB as #2 behind Pomona.  The girls play Pomona on Saturday. WOOHOO!!  With the monster block and the game ending steal,  Kelly Flaherty is named  jimsjoint’s defensive player of the game! Way to go Kel

Kelly and the  CSUEB girls started their 2008 season with a 11-5 loss to Santa Clara last Thursday. The Cal State East Bay Pioneers are ranked 5th in the nation for div III schools. Santa Clara is a Div I school and are ranked 19th overall in the nation.  A great start to a promising season. Kelly and the girls travel 4 times to Southern California this season. Division III nationals are in Connecticut this year. Good luck to Kelly and all the girls!

There is a new coffee maker at the Flaherty house. Or should I say new espresso maker. If you hold Starbucks stock you’d better sell it now cuz I may never go back!  Jens and Kelly, who love a good Starbucks as much as anyone, but who live soooo far from one that it makes a quick trip for coffee almost impossible, turned us on to the best  non Starbucks/made at home espresso drink. Last time we were up their place in Nevada City, they showed us thier super cool, state-of-the-art in home espresso maker. This is no ordinary espresso maker.  With the Saeco Italia, you fill the water tank, fill the grinder with beans and press a button. Makes a great espresso. Foam your milk and you are on your way to cappuccino or latte heaven!  I raved about it. Two weeks later DHL dropped off a box. A GIFT FROM JENS AND KELLY!  I have spent the last 10 days drinking way too many cappuccinos (zzzing!) trying to get that right combination of grind and dosage.  Also trying to learn the fine art of making foam. This morning I think I found what I was looking for, cappuccino heaven!!  I’ve also made some great vanilla soy lattes for the girls that are WAY better than Starbucks.

So the old Gevalia coffee maker moves out to a shelf in the garage. Had many a great Gevalia mornings but look forward to many many  mornings with our new Saeco Italia!  Penso che sia nell’amore!!

And to Jens and Kelly I say,  grazie molto i miei buoni amici!!  il cappucino seguente è sul mio.

Spent a great day on the coast yesterday. Barb’s Auntie Irene is visiting from Florida so we decided to take a Sunday drive out to Pescadero to get some artichoke bread and enjoy some beach time.  We were even lucky enough to have Kate and Kelly, and a couple of Kelly’s friends come along. Took a nice drive out highway 84 to the coast.  While the girls stopped at the beach to get us a spot, we went into Pescadero and bought the last 4 loaves of bread. This small store is somewhat famous for its home baked bread. The “garlic/artichoke” being our favorite.  The loaves were just out of the oven and still warm when we bought them!

A few hours on the beach was great.  Our little picnic lunch was perfect.  Got some sun,  walked the beach, and took some pictures and just enjoyed everyone’s company.   After that we drove up the coast to Moss Beach Distillery where we had an appitizer and enjoyed the views from the outside deck. A beautiful day on the coast.

Kelly and the girls played 5 games in 3 days in the Div III nationals at UC Santa Cruz this weekend, finishing 4th. If it weren’t for some crappy refereeing and a couple of bad breaks, these girls would be champions. They are champions in my book! It was a great weekend of water polo. I took Friday off to watch CSUEB beat both Macalaster and the Slugs from Santa Cruz.  The Santa Cruz win was a sweet one because the slugirls were talking trash. The only reason that UCSC had a representative at the Nationals was because they were the host.  Santa Cruz, finished the season ranked 9th to East Bay’s #4 . Anyway, a sweet win against the slugs put the girls into the final four! All the players and all the parents that came to town for the games went out to a nice Italian dinner in Santa Cruz that night. A time to bond with other parents, chat it up with the other players and just relax a bit after a very intense day of water polo.  Saturday was a rough day.  Two hard fought games, against higher seeded teams resulted in two losses. A morning loss to #1 seed Redlands was a hard one to swallow. We played better than the lady bulldogs but the refs gave the game away. READ  A RULE BOOK ONCE IN A WHILE REF!!!!   Then the afternoon loss to Cal Lutheran was a bitter pill to swallow. The girls needed a win to get into the championship match but lost a heart breaker by a score of 8-6.  Sunday the girls again played Redlands  for 3rd place. The game was tied 6-6 with less than a minute to play. Redlands got a lucky steal and scored the game winner with seconds to play.   We had a great time rooting for the girls and visiting and cheering with all the parents and families that came to watch the game. Someday the water polo gods will learn the secret to success.

With Kelly in – YOU WIN

Spring has sprung in our garden window!  When Kelly graduated high school in 2004, Staci gave her a beautiful purple orchid. After the bloom fell off, Barb continued to water it on a regular basis.  We were surpirsed  the next year when it bloomed more beautiful than before!  Over the years Staci  gave Kate an orchid for her graduation, then Barb got one for a mother’s day gift and maybe the other for a Birthday.  Every year they bloom!   The perfect conditions must exist in our garden window. Or maybe its Staci? Or maybe Barb’s watering technique.  Maybe all three!