Here I go

The last month has been a blast. A lot of stuff has happened, I haven't had to do a lot of work. Which has been great. I had a great time in Arizona, seeing some great people. I have tremendous friends. I hope you guys all are doing great. I have a lot of mixed feelings of what is about to happen. I am sure it will be a good experience though. I am not sure what to expect right now. My plane leaves at about 8 or so on Saturday the 25th. I will try to keep this updated, and my facebook updated. Otherwise feel free to e-mail me whenever you can. Just a hi I am sure would be great. Also, the birth of my third little girl happened this month. Kimber was born on April 16th. A day before her grandpa' s birthday. Which I know he was hoping we would have waited a day. She is adorable and looks identical to her sister, Alyssa when she was a newborn. The girls have loved having daddy around a lot more. They have had a lot of fun. I also enjoyed seeing them. Hailey has become quite the funny little girl, who knows how to talk. (gets that from her mommy for sure) She loves telling knock-knock jokes and stories about monsters and telling me that she cracks me up. Anyway, off to Iraq I go. It will definitely be different.

2009

This year has gone by so fast this year. I have been in my unit for about 4 months now. It has been a crazy 4 months. The worse part ws when we were getting our unit and our stuff packed. That month we spent many late nights and was so worn out. It was not that much fun. We did all kinds of things like take blood for HIV test, give out shots, make sure people were medically ready to deploy. We also went out and helped pull medical coverage for our companies training. It was quite boring we did not do much. There was one swollen ankle to wrap, and handed out a few over the counter drugs. Nothing to exciting. I can't bielive that the time to deploy is less than a month away now. This past weekend I took Alyssa with me to Arizona to see family and freinds one last time before I leave. It was a lot of fun to see everyone, and the next week I am going to catch up on homework and relax. I am pretty sure the next few weeks will fly by, just like the rest of the year. Anyway thought I put a few pics of my kids and myself up here. To make my Blog look a whole lot better.

Deployment

I knew joing the Army that it was a possibility to deploy. I never excpected it to becomeing up so quickly. I have joined the HSC 615th Aviation division in the 1st Calvary at Ft. Hood, TX. The unit is awesome so far. Its so nice to be out of training. The onlproblem is we start deploying April 9th of this upcoming year. We are not sure where we are going yet. The rest of 1st cavary has been or is on close to going to Iraq but we could end up in Afganastan as well. I am not going to lie, I am a bit mixed on emotions. It is obvious the bad emotions, I think anyone would have going downrange. It will definitly not be an easy task that I have to accomplish. The upsides are there too though. I am excited for the oppurtinity to serve our country and defend our freedoms. The media has torn apart the Army in recent years and I don't think most people know the truth about what good the Army does and is still doing. Iraq is so much safer than it ever has been. The Iraqis love the soilders to them we bring them peace and protection. How bad would it be if we did actually have to worry about Terroist every single day of our lives. We don't because countrary to media beilf we are winning the war in Iraq. Then in Afganastan the Gernal of the Afgan Army was in my Command Saregent Majors office the other week. He was excstatic about all we have done. We have been trainig their army as well and they have made major improvements. In the Sargent Majors words, " The United States Army does not lose, we win wherever we go." It makes me mad to see people think we don't need to be over there and think we are losing the war. The opportuiunity to go over and heelp assist in continuing to win this was is partly what I am excited about. I am part of the greatest Armed Forces in the world. Though the road I am about to take will proably be the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I know that it will in the end make me a stronger and better person. I wish I didn't have to go of course, but my country needs me and has asked me to go. Your prayers and letters of encouragment will be greatly appreciatted. I love my God, my family, and my country.

One more month

Wow, AIT is going by fast. I love the training I am getting it is a blast. I got my EMT-B certification finished then we moved onto the Whiskey training which is the combat medic portion. We play with needles a lot. From giving shots, taking blood, and starting saline locks or IVs. It is great fun. Last Friday we Validated, which means we had to preform skills to the instructors. Then if we did them right and didn't kill our "patient" we passed. We did things like starting an IV, putting a tourniquet on, apply an emergency trauma bandage, preforming a surgical crich., inserting form of airway management equipment, and a needle chest decompression. To name a few. We have been out in the field doing trauma lanes which learning to safely get to a casualty and preform your medic duties while under fire. It is great fun. This coming week we have STX (situational training exercise). We are completely done with any school type work and it is all hands on. after 2 weeks of that we go to FTX (field training exercise) Which all that it means is we get to play solider for the next 3 weeks. I am getting anxious to find out where my duty station will be. And ready for the real Army. It should be an experience. Being a medic as with any medical job, your learning never really ends, there always something new to learn.

AIT at Fort Sam Houston, TX

Hey Everyone. I am at Fort Sam Houston just outside San Antonio, TX. Learning to be a 68W, a Combat Medic. The first 6 weeks is becoming a registered EMT. And I am loving the classes. Its gone by fast so far. To Top it off I have been named as Platoon Guide, PG. We have a company of about 400 solders and that is broken into platoons of about 40 in each. I am in charge of one and give out commands keep them informed of what Sargent wants etc. Basically in mission terms I am the zone leader. It has been a good experience for me.
Sadly we do live in the oldest barracks in the United States Army, and they still expect it too look like they are new. Otherwise its a lot of information really fast. But I have an 88% GPA and am keeping up for now. I don't want to stay any longer than the 16 weeks I have too. I hope everyone is doing well.

Almost Done

I got to talk to Jed today, he had a pass for part of the day because he got over 90% on his final PT test. He sounded pretty good, and actually pretty excited for this next week. This week is their final "camping" excurtion that is five days of putting to use everything they have learned so far. Apparently they have to hike in among "insurgents" and then they will have mock attacks and be gassed and all that "fun" stuff. Jed said he was actually kind of excited because even though they won't get much sleep they will get to put everything they have learned to good use. That is about all the news for now. I will have more, and pictures to share, after graduation.

Blue Phase

Jed has finally moved into the last phase of basic. He said it is exciting now when they go into the mess hall because they are the company with the fewest days left until graduation on the countdown board. This week they have urban combat training (I think is what Jed called it) where they have to go into 'live' buildings and clear them before they are 'killed' by their drill sergeants. He said it is kind of like laser tag. He had his last PT test yesterday, but he wasn't worried about it at all, so as long as he doesn't break any rules he should be graduating the 31st as planned. I got a hotel booked for the girls and I and we will be heading down the 29th so that we can be at the family briefing the 30th. Then, if all goes well (some extra prayers would be great) we will be driving Jed down to his AIT location in Texas. It would give us a couple extra days with him which would be really nice. I think that is really about it for now....stay tuned!!!