deployment

yep, that's right. i am home on block leave visiting friends and family before i start my tour in afghanistan. i'll be heading back to hawaii in just a few days when i will try to fit all of my gear and clothes and just stuff into three bags. not fun to carry, i'll tell you that. anyway, i've not been told an exact date for when i'm leaving, but even if i knew, it would change anyway. that's the army for you, haha. i think it's safe to say that i'll be in afghanistan soon though, and that's when (they say) the fun begins. i really don't know what to think yet, but it will be an experience. obviously i'm not looking forward to it, but i'll try to make the best of it, and with the help of all my great friends (hint, hint, if you're reading this, that's you) writing to me through either actual mail or some type of online writing, i should be ok. so... as you think about me, or the military, or our nation or anything like that, keep me and my teammates (and everyone else serving overseas) in mind and please pray for us.

quick admin note: i've been told that people like to read my blogs, so i will try to write about what's going on, but i'm not sure how much free time i'll have and if i'll even have internet. on top of that, there are a lot of things that i can't talk about. with that in mind, i'll do my best to keep everyone informed and up to date. now it's you're job to keep me informed of your lives!

graduation!

well, i graduate on tuesday, around 1300 or so. then i finally get out of arizona a few days later! i'll be home for two weeks for hometown recruiting, and then i'm off to hawaii. over the next few days we'll be finishing up our paperwork and turning equipment back in. i'm sure there will be way too much waiting, and standing, and stupid crap, but it's ok. i'll be gone in a few days!!

AIT

I had originally planned on continuing my journal entries through AIT and on if I could, however, upon arriving at AIT, I soon found out that most of the classes here are classified. So basically that’s the end of my entries. Feel free to ask about AIT and whatever you want, I’ll try to find a way to answer your questions!

Feb 6 (Sat) - Day 77 – 2300

We got up around 0400, but didn’t actually leave until 1200. Then, we drove about 15 min away from base, and got right onto the runway where our private plane was waiting. When we got out, we loaded right onto the plane, which was kind of cool. I felt like a VIP. The planes were commercial planes, but with only military personnel on board. Once we got on the plane, we flew to Dallas, TX and stopped to get fuel and change the crew. After sitting there for about an hour, we flew to Tucson, AZ. Then we sat and waited on our buses for a second plane to get there.

After about an hour long drive, we finally got to Ft. Huachuca around 2000 hours local time (HLT) (it was 2200 EST though), and proceeded to fill out a lot of paperwork until about 2300 HLT. Then we got to our bays, which have about 35 guys in them, and we unpacked until about 0130 or so. Yeah, it was a long day.

Feb 5 (Fri) - Day 76 – 2130

Graduation!!! We got up and sat around for a while, then got bussed over to where we were having graduation. The ceremony was pretty cool, and it was really short. After that, we started marching back to the company. It started raining pretty good about halfway there, so we started running back in formation. Finally we were released, and my parents and brother and sister came and got me. We didn’t do very much, but I spent a lot of money and wasted time. We went to Applebees for dinner, which was really good, and a great way to end my time with my family. Now I have about 12 more hours until I leave Ft. Jackson. I can’t wait.

Feb 4 (Thurs) - Day 75 – 2200

The morning was really cold, and I would know since I stood out in the woodline with about 1200 other soldiers for almost three hours waiting for family day to start. After all that waiting, the DSs popped a whole bunch of smoke grenades and we all ran out onto the field yelling and screaming. Then we got formed up and our families came and got us. I spent the rest of the day with my family not really doing anything (since we weren’t allowed to leave post) but it was awesome to see them again. Tomorrow is finally graduation, and I can’t wait to get done with this! I have to stay one more day though, because I don’t ship out to AIT until Saturday.

Feb 3 (Wed) - Day 74 – 2000

Nothing but a lot of frustration today. We got our phones, then they got taken away. We almost got smoked as a company because one person was talking in line for dinner. But we did get some info about going to AIT. I’ll be taking a charter bus to the airport, and then there’s a very good chance I’ll be flying in a government plane (like with the air force) but only a small chance that I’ll fly commercial. Either way is fine with me I guess. I also packed most of my stuff, I’m just waiting to get a garment bag and a bigger backpack. Tomorrow is family day so that’s pretty cool. The morning should suck though, we’ll just practice something for a while…