Graduation: Infantry Basic Officer Leadership Course.
Lou graduated last Thursday. It happened to be the one rainy day in a week of sunshine. Rainy is a funny word. It conveys none of the hassle and perturbed expressions on the faces of women dream up the perfect clothing/hairstyle for the occasion, only to have it tossed to the wind, literally! Rainy to me brings up images of being a kid, sneaking outside during schooltime to splash in a puddle with my brother, only to be caught by my sister. There she was, looking out the window. We were in for it. This rain on graduation blew sideways. It soaked us all, ending right before graduation began. Oh well. There are some benefits to never having your hair done. You appear the same both prior and after a storm. Same reaction with minimal makeup-ing. (maybe it WILL be a word someday) No one ever comes up and says,"Wow, I didn't even recognize you without your makeup." Thanks, now I feel all better. BTW, did I mention that when its damp or humid here, the air smells of rotting vegetation? Like 4 week old spinach in your vegetable keeper? Though I do not profess to be an expert in 4 week old spinach, my friends tell me.....
Graduation, minus the rain was good though. We listened to a speech given by a colonel of the 75th Ranger Regiment. He was clear, concise, and even better, when he mislaid one of his speech pages, he simply ended it early. Some folks would have tried to fill in that missing page with overused platitudes. Not him. I like it when soldiers speak. Its not their forte, but they usually know that. So, they shoot it out in small machine bursts of connected phrases and end with "Hooah".
Ranger Physical Test was Wednesday. The guys were briefed in the weeks prior-Make it through! It you don't, YOU'RE BEING SENT TO YOUR UNIT IMMEDIATELY, THAT DAY,PERHAPS HOURS LATER- AS A FAILURE IN LIFE. So, with these encouraging words in mind, they all trained and did an excellent job on Wednesday. I think there were 5 failures out of a group of over 100 guys. PT test consisted of running 5 miles in under 40 minutes, pushups, situps, and pullups. I can't remember the exact numbers for the 3 latter, but Lou managed to get somewhere around 70, 85, and 10 respectively. Plus, he made the 5 miler in 35 minutes. He's doing a great job with it. They were on the field around 5am- that time alone would have made my physical endurance ~0~. Prior to the test, Lou spent the week telling me,"Be sure and be packed, ready to head to Knox". Thanks! :) He slept like a baby the night before, while I lay awake worrying. What is it with women and worry?
Next on the list is Ranger school, starting May 17th. 62 days without seeing or talking to him. There is a brief "vacation" of 8 hours that the guys get during the course. They come home, crash into coma stage, we wash piles of dirty laundry, and then they're back to the field again.
Sounds like fun? I am mentally filling my 62 days with projects and plans for visiting (leeching onto) old friends and family, day trips with new friends, and late nights and mornings. We'll see how it all comes out. I've been told to serve Lou "none of that healthy low fat nonsense food" (by a retired colonel, no less) in order to pack him full of "pre-Ranger fat" for the course. So, this is what I'll be serving him breakfast/lunch/dinner for the next month.
In the meantime, we've had a terrific weeklong vacation, here on post. We're not allowed to take vacation time to the Bahamas, or Greece, or even Paradise (Jersey), but Lou's schedule is relaxed.
He goes in mornings for PT from 0530-0730 and then reports again at 1300. They have minimal assignments and send him home usually by 3. Its a lovely schedule. Won't last, but when do vacations ever? So, in honor of this he's taking me to Six Flags, Atlanta tomorrow. Can't wait!!! We tried to get tickets to a Shakespeare Tavern (Old English style pub) in Atlanta for The Taming of the Shrew. Lou and Shakespeare? I know it sounds a little unorthodox, but he is a man of "culture", as he likes to tell me. Besides, anything for love. Sadly, the show was sold out for the weekend. So, we're doing the amusement park circuit instead. What do these have in common? Yeah, that's what the ladies at Benning Thrift asked me yesterday when I volunteered. Nothing really, except that they're all things I enjoy doing! So, FIRST amusement park EVER! And I'm doing it before I turn 30! That's even more noteworthy, in my book. :) I'll let you know if my motion sickness takes over on the first roller-coaster.
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