Dear Friends and Family,

It has been a very busy time here at the NW annex. The end of last week we did what is called the finex which is the culmination of training for security forces. During that time we hiked about 9 miles through woods and swamps and attacked and secured an "embassy" in a fake town made to practice urban assault. Next we hiked about 2 more miles and secured and captured a compound with buildings and a ECP (Entry Control Point) set up. The next hours from 1430 till 0300 Friday morning we ran the ECP and set up security around the compound. During this time about every hour aggressors would come and try to break into the compound and smuggle weapons into the compound. They ended up being able to smuggle 2 M9 pistols into the compound and we had a battle with paint bullets. So it was a great time during which we made mistakes but generally we learned from them and moved on as thankfully we were only using paint bullets this time.

At the end of it all we ran 2+ miles back to base with packs and weapons and then it was found the the aggressors had lost a pistol. So back we went back out to the range and thankfully it was found at about 0930 and we were finally able to hit the rack after we had been awake and hiking for over 28 hours. So training has basically been completed at MCSFT Co. (Marine Corps Security Force Training Company). This last weekend I went to Virginia beach and played some sand volley ball till it stared raining and then went back to base. Sunday I attended Lake Drummond Baptist Church for the last time before I move. It was great having a Christian church I could plug into so near my base. Sadly the chaplain here on base would not let me start a Bible study with the Pastor of that Church here on base as SHE said it would make other churches in the area jealous. Any way that was the death of that vision.
Monday I ran a PFT and I praise the Lord for his strenth as I was able to do 20 pull ups, 112 Crunches, and ran the 3 miles in 17.34 minutes. So I got a 300 PFT again. Praise the Lord. Since then all I have been doing is de-issuing gear and doing grad practice. You can be in prayer as I have been chosen to do the opening prayer in the graduation ceremony in front of the Company commander and every one else. I consider it an Honor, but I pray that I can glorify God as I pray to him. Well I got to go finish packing as I leave to Norfolk tomorrow to 1st FAST 5th Plt. Thanks for your prayers.

Christ's Marine,
David Pillman