Fort Campbell Here We Come!

The awaited day arrives!  Son received orders to Fort Campbell, Kentucky with the 101st Airborne (Air Assault)!  Home of the Screaming Eagles! The 101'st has a TON of history behind it.  It also holds the record for the most deployments.  We're all a little excited and anxious...Son included.  He's hoping this means he can be an inflight medic.  No word on further training, but being assigned to the 101st is a good sign!  He was the only Private out of the company to be assigned there.  All the other guys were Specialists.  He has no idea what this means exactly, just thought it was kind of cool.  One of the other guys pointed it out to him. 

And the best part of all???  Ready???..........

HE'S HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!   HOOAH!!!!!

Congrats on the NREMT: FSH Update!

I'm not sure what's worse....car trouble or computer trouble....UGH!!!  But we are once again up and running thanks to our friends at Office Depot (gotta love those little boys!).  I don't know about you, but I feel like we're in need of an update and some good news from Son and the good ole boys at FSH!!!

First on the udpate...a BIG congrats to the guys that passed their NREMT certification last week.  HOOAH!  This means they are official EMT's and have completed the first step to becoming "official" combat medics.  It was a long, exhausting and stressful haul and quite the hurtle to jump.  Now it's onto "Whiskey Phase"!  Boys, if you were thinking the stress was long since passed, think again.  The first few days of Whiskey Phase proved to be just as stressful as the last four months, and from what we've seen on YouTube (which I'm quickly gaining a love/hate relationship for) I don't know that we can say you're in for a treat.  LOL....Definitely not MY kind of treat anyways!  First couple days consisted of learning injections (yes...on each other...GROSS!  And to the poor gal that messed up on him...he'll be fine...once he can move his arm again!!  :)   Lots more homework and learning to do blood draws on the second day.  This week has been extra draining as they've had some long days learning suicide prevention.  How sad it is that this has to be part of the training and has ended up being such a devastating affect for some of these soldiers and their families.

For family and friends.....Son is doing great and hanging in there.  Some days are better than others, but then isn't that how it goes for most of us?!  He would feel soooo much better if he had a Battle Buddy to go to church with on Sunday (Hint hint for any guys in his company that don't have much going on on Sunday morning and need to get a good deed in for the week  ;)  *wink wink
Seems they can't do much of anything without a Battle Buddy these days...and it seems way different than when he was in BCT at Benning.  Like Son said, at Benning all you had to do on Sunday was clean so guys were all sorts of willing to go to church with him.  Here at FSH they have a little more freedom.  Okay...a LOT more freedom.  Sort of tempting to choose a sports bar at the River Walk over going to church to sit in a hard chair while trying to stay awake... and takes a lot more convincing.  So kudos in advance for anyone who would be willing.  As soon as you're allowed goodies, Mom will gladly compensate by keeping you in carbs for the remainder of your Army careers!  Ha Ha

Son found a way to keep himself and a few of the guys busy on the weekends when they need a break from studying...it's called "Welcome to football season!" Not sure what they'd do without it at this point!  He bought a projector and shows the games in his room.  Aye yi yi....he looks at it as an investment and being frugal and cost effective as it saves him money from not going out on the town.  LOL...way to justify it son!  ;)  LOL...I guess as long as it keeps him out of trouble.  Then again, he did get yelled at by the Sgts for waking everybody up at the end of a not so good BYU game the other night.  Yes, he gets a little feisty when his team loses.  Apparently they thought a fight had broken out in his room.  LOL....maybe it's a good thing his roommate never seems to be around.  Literally...where does that boy go?  Nobody seems to have a clue.

That's about it for the update.  As always letters, cards, jokes, pictures, words of encouragement etc. are ALWAYS welcome!  He texted me with an "I LOVE YOU MOM"  around midnight the other night (getting a little homesick maybe?)  Ahhh...sweet!  Dad thought maybe he was drunk and it was meant a little slurred..ha ha..NOT!  When I asked him about it the next morning, he said they were watching "Saving Private Ryan" and in the middle of it he said, "I need to text my mom."  He said most the other guys in the room followed suit.  Have I said I LOVE THESE BOYS???!!!!!

Be Safe - Be Good - Be Strong

Shame On You!

As a new Army Mom I think one of the first things you realize/learn is to stay away from the news (oh, and YouTube videos...yuck!).  LOL...it usually just causes "UA"...unnecessary anxiety (which is not good for my OCD or as my kids call it...CDO!) Not to mention it has been known to cause a few bad dreams and nightmares every now and then.  (Oh come on now, you Army family members KNOW what I'm talking about! As strong as we are, there's some things we just have to take in small doses!)  I've been pretty good about this if I do say so myself.  I've learned the art of deciphering the real reality from the media sensationalized reality, and if all else fails I've learned to just tune it out or turn it off. That is until this weekend when I came across an article from FoxNews.com on how our nation's enemies are using social media networks like Facebook and blogs (yes, much like this one) to get information they can use against our soldiers.  Seriously?  That's pretty low to use someone's little ole family blog to try to get information that could be potentially damaging to our soldiers. So much for freedom of speech :S
I was taking this with a grain of salt until a post from a friend and fellow army mom told a story of how a gal from Pakistan contacted her on Facebook and told her she  knew a lot about her and had some information on her son and wanted to know more.  She said she didn't realize he had left to BCT and wanted his address.  My friend looked her up on Facebook (see kids....the best of moms know there are times that "Facebook Stalking" is warranted  ;) and saw that she was from Pakistan.   At first my friend didn't give it much thought as her son had done some traveling out of the country before he joined the Army.  My friend did not give her the information and contacted her son to let him know. (Again, so thankful our boys have their cell phones back!!)  He told her she was right in not giving this gal any information and that there is no way she would "know a lot about her).  Crazy!  After hearing this, I thought...hmmm....let's check the stats on our little soldier blog.  (There's an "audience" link you can click on to see where in the world people are viewing your blog from.)  This makes it quite exciting to think your little blog has been halfway around the world...and then some!  When I looked at the stats I saw "hits" from around the world in places such as Pakistan, Iraq, and Afghanistan.  I'd like to think maybe this was from fellow soldiers, or at the very least far away friends of our U.S.A.  Now I'm beginning to wonder.  Isn't that sad!  Something as simple as sharing one of the greatest achievements of your child with your family, friends, and others that are going through the exact same journey just became a source of anxiety!! And yes...I'll admit I did have horrible dreams last night.  And then, well, I just got mad.  I'm mad that something I'm not even really sure of could make me that worried.  I'm mad at the feeling of possibly being stalked and, in a way, violated.  I'm mad that something valued and precious to me could possibly be used for something deceitful, corrupt, and horrible.  I'm mad that you (whoever YOU are) made me feel frightened, timid, and small.  I guess I'm mad that I felt something was taken away from me.  That's it! Shame on you...whoever you are. Shame on YOU!

A Combat Medic's Prayer

Oh Lord, I ask for the divine strength

to meet the demands of my profession.

Help me to be the finest medic,

both technically and tactically.

If I am called to the battlefield, 

give me the courage to conserve our

fighting forces by providing medical 

care to all who are in need.

If I am called to a mission of peace,

give me the strength to lead by caring for

those who need my assistance.

Finally, Lord help me take care

of my own spiritual, physical,

and emotional needs.

Teach me to trust in your presence

and never failing love.

Amen.

(Author Unknown)