so i have a question.....my marine ships out soon....he has to first report to a combat training base in california (im not sure which one) for 5 months and then after the 5 months he gets to come home for 1 week but then ships out to iraq for 7 months..... during those 5 months in cali......can i go visit him during a weekend or is that a no no?

I don't know for sure about the Marines, but DH is AF and he didn't have much time off durning his training before he left. It was 45 days, but at the end he had about 5 days of empty time before they were set to leave, so I flew to El Paso and saw him for 4 days. It was really fun(over our 1 year annivesary), but he still had to do some stuff, like check in every morning. He should know(or find out when he gets there) if they will have some time off before he leaves. Then you can always plan while he's gone. Good luck!!!

Have you asked him?

More than likely if he's there for 5 months training he'd have time for visitors. I'd just be flexible and see if he knows when is a good time to come out. You'd hate to spend alot of money for a weekend he's busy.