The Good and the Bad (No Ugly...Yet!)

Well, it's officially day 4 here at beautiful Ft. McCoy. The weather is nice today - we had snow a couple of days ago, and today, it's in the 60's.

Yesterday we picked up our mobility gear (a bunch of digital camouflage pattern bags and pouches) so we'll be able to more properly play Army in the coming weeks.
We also got briefings out the wazoo about the base (for the x-teenth time).

Other than that, there's not much happening for me yet, and I'm taking that as a blessing. I know once the real training begins, I am going to long for these days of doing nothing all day. That's why I'm not complaining one bit, but taking full advantage of the time I have to pick up supplies, organize my bunk, get to know my fellow Airmen, and generally laze around.

I got a phone call from a hysterical Vanessa yesterday - but I wasn't around to take it, so I called her back. Check out her blog to see what it was all about. So for a while yesterday, I was down. I told my chain of command about what was going on, to prepare them, and I almost got to leave to return to Germany to be with her, but our higher-ups decided it would be better if I waited, and monitored the situation for a day before making any plans. That was good advice, because when I called today, she was doing much better.

So, here I am, hurrying up and waiting. Standing in line ad OH-DARK-THIRTY in the morning, only to have nothing else lined up for the rest of the day. It's the Army way, and I've done it before. I don't have to like it, but I have to live with it. I heard a neat phrase the other day, and I thought I'd share it with you in closing. A Colonel was talking with our group about having to do things the Army way, and she said, "If you can't get out of it, you might as well get into it." I like it, and I may adopt it as one of my catch phrases. A little something to get me through my deployment.

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There will not really be a graduation ceremony for our class. All there is is a bunch of training, that ends with some Army officers telling us we're more able to fight a war. Then we get our paperwork in order, pack our bags, and leave for wherever we each have to go. I'd love to see you all, family and friends, but it doesn't look like we'll get any kind of time like that. HOWEVER, I do know that my flight itinerary has me in Chicago on the 31st. Vanessa and my mom should have the flight plan, should anyone want to stop by and say hello.

I also learned that I can receive mail while I'm here. I'll post the mailing address in the next post.

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ULI