Sergeant Tony's Blog

Even though the Memphis City Schools have closed in ANTICIPATION of what will happen later today, I am bucking the system.
THE MORNING CLASSES OF USMC FITNESS BOOT CAMP ARE ON!
We are a GO!
LET’S GET SOME!

I loved school.
I hated Donny Osmond. (Just thought you’d like to know.)
I wasn’t one of those kids who looked for excuses not to go to school. I thought it was fun!
But in the 8th grade I ran into a bit of a snag. Algebra and English were conspiring against me. They were evil twins dishing [...]

“Na na naaaaahhhh nah … HEY, HEY, HEY … GOOOOOD BYE!”
We were in other team’s gym and the fans had started that chant (”Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” by Steam) with 1 minute 17 seconds to play.
We were 12 points behind and 77 seconds away from a humiliating defeat.
Coach called time out.
With their [...]

I heard the “pop” and I knew it was going to be bad. It sounded like someone had snapped their fingers in my ear.
Then things started to happen in slow motion after that. In the couple of seconds it took for me to go down, I had enough time to know that I was going [...]

BOOT CAMP is ON for this evening!! See ya at 5:30. Well, not ALL of you … just the Few, the Proud …

Memphis City Schools are closed today, Friday 8 January 2010. USMC Fitness BOOT CAMP is standing down as well. No morning classes. Try not to cry!

I started telling Virgil Ray my secrets during the summer between 6th and 7th grade.
He never said a word.
Ever.
I still confide in him to this day.
I met Virgil one summer morning when I was walking lazily home from the swimming pool in my hometown.
Creekmore Park was the coolest park in town. It had two [...]

“It was character that got us out of bed, commitment that moved us into action and discipline that enabled us to follow through.”
- Zig Ziglar: American author, salesperson, and motivational speaker
This is a good thing to think about this time of year.
But it’s an even better thing to put into action.
The three keys to [...]

I have always been cool.
It’s true.
Don’t be no hater.
In school I was voted “Wittiest Boy.” There wasn’t a “Coolest Boy” category or I’d have locked that one down!
Unfortunately, a few years ago I lost my cool. It was a sad and near tragic chapter in my life. I left the United States bound for [...]

Jim Steiner saved Boot Camp.
Most of you only know Jim from the exercise I named after him, “Starting Up Jim Steiner’s Woodchipper.” But Jim was a real person. A real Boot Camper. And one of the best people I’ve ever known.
Jim joined us because his wife had given him a month of Boot Camp as [...]