Hi, all. My name is Logan Burke. I am a lance corporal in the United States Marine Corps. If by some miracle you've stumbled upon my blog, you're probably a poolee in the Marine Corps DEP or someone who is interested in joining the Marine Corps and you want to know about boot camp. I've made this blog because when I was a poolee, I looked everywhere on the Internet for useful boot camp information and all I could find was crappy motarded blogs written by guys fresh out of boot camp. I'm here to provide you with real information with no BS.
I'll start by telling a little about myself. Like I said, I'm a lance corporal. I'm from Lincoln, NE and I graduated high school in 2010. I spent a year in college, where I majored in biochemistry. That bored the hell out of me, so I dropped out of school in 2011. It was during that time that I had some major stuff go on in my life and I needed a big change of pace, so I joined the Marine Corps.
I enlisted on August 2, 2011; shipped off to boot camp on February 6, 2012, and graduated boot camp on May 4, 2012. My platoon was Lima Company, Platoon 3254, and my drill instructors were SDI Sgt. Uruo, DI Sgt. Legaard, DI Sgt. Cordero, and DI Sgt. Moreno. After boot camp, I did my month of combat training (May 15, 2012 - June 12, 2012) at SOI West, as a member of Fox Company, 1st Platoon. My combat instructors were SSgt. Long, SSgt. Rogato, SSgt. Mata, Sgt. Clemons, and SSgt. Nightwine. After MCT, I shipped off to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina to do my job training at Courthouse Bay. I am a basic engineer equipment electrical systems technician (generator mechanic, in layman's terms). My class advisor was SSgt. Webley. I was in North Carolina from June 13, 2012 - October 25, 2012. After job school, I went home to check into my reserve unit, Engineer Maintenance Company Omaha, NE.
Anyway, that's all the background you need to know about me. The remainder of my posts will be what you really came here for!
Dude, my instructor at MCT was Staff Sergeant Rogato as well! When he was your instructor, did he still wear those insanely neon-green cammies?
ReplyDeleteI was in Fox company as well, though I went through MCT a few months earlier than you. Staff Sergeant Rogato was a straight up bad ass. After one of our hikes, he opened up his pack to show us that NOT ONLY did he carry the same load-out as the other Marines, but he also added a few 10 pound weights to make his pack heavier. I can't ever remember Staff Sergeant Rogato getting tired on any of the humps--he would have zero problem walking back and forth through the tactical column and even sing while he was doing it! He used to call me "Tech Support" on account of my South Asian heritage, though he never said it in a derogatory manner.
I have mad respect for that man (as did my entire MCT platoon) and I really wish I could get a hold of him. Awesome instructor and excellent leader.
Hey, Bubba! Yeah, SSgt. Rogato was a crazy dude. I have nothing but respect for that man. I went through MCT during desert season, so I didn't get to see any neon green cammies, unfortunately. I do believe he is out of the Marine Corps now. He told my platoon that he was getting out after his tour as a combat instructor was up, and that was a almost two years ago, so I'm sure he's out by now.
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