Training Complete

I know that I haven't posted here in quite awhile, so I will try to cover everything. First things first...


I heard from Josh on Saturday - the training is OVER! They were busy cleaning weapons, washing and waxing the humvees, and "taking care of business"! They were in some intense training since March 1, so it had been a long two weeks. They were at another forward operating base (FOB) for several days this week. It almost sounded like he was glad to be back to their tent and in his bed, even though it is just a cot with a sleeping bag.

The real deal with the cookie arrival... The boxes came a little damaged and wet, so when they arrived to the "mail room", they could see what was in them. They radioed Josh's platoon and told him that they needed to come and pick them up and suggested bringing a vehicle. Josh and another soldier drove the humvee down, picked them up and brought them back to the tent, but before they could do anything they had to return the Humvee. When they returned, everyone in the platoon was sitting on their bed staring at the cookies, with cookies in their eyes! Josh said, "go ahead!" and they went nuts. By the sounds of it, Josh's platoon really capitalized on the arrival of them, but there was still more than enough to share with the other platoons. He said that they started opening the cases of cookies and dumping the contents to use those boxes to "fill-up". It was a huge hit with everyone and they arrived during the first part of the intense training, so it was well received. As expected, Josh went for the Thin Mints!


The flag... simply put, I found it buried in the snow last weekend. Hopefully, the third time is a charm! Looks a bit odd right now that we have a spot light on the house, but I am sure the neighborhood is used to it by now.


Pass Weekend... I have not really mentioned much of this, since as the saying goes, "It's the Army!," we were not sure what to expect. Josh will get a pass this coming weekend (Easter Weekend) for 4 days. I am flying down to Ft. Bragg and his family is driving down from Virginia to see him. We are all excited for the mini-reunion before he leaves for Afghanistan.


Departure... They are not releasing much information about the departure. Most likely, I will be posting after the fact with details of how they got there and when. I will send out a mass e-mail to everyone when I find out that they are there, but will also post additional details, if I know any, here on the blog.


This time obviously comes with a lot of mixed emotion. Excitement knowing that the training is over, but the very opposite knowing what happens next. Please continue to keep Josh and his unit in your thoughts and prayers. Godspeed!