Day 8

And so there was Week #2. I said goodbye and shed tears a week ago this morning. Today, we're all toughened up and doing much better. Today being Sunday, I woke up to no alarm and just in time for breakfast at the galley. Times to eat here are pretty restrictive...only an hour-long window. It's good food, though. I've been staying away from the saturated fats (mostly!) and eating a lot of "color." Instead of making salads with dressing, I'm piling up broccoli, green/red/yellow peppers, beets, cucumber, and tuna fish. I have found that a cucumber slice, some tuna fish, and a beet slice taste pretty good together! For you who just said "yuck!", don't knock it until you try it!

Afterwards, I decided to treat this morning like any other...head to church. The Navy chaplain held a 9am service at the base chapel. Only about 10 people were there, though. I'm guessing that about 180 people are here with me so not a big showing at all. Still, though, it was very good and important for me to be there, especially on Palm Sunday. I plan to commit to church attendance throughout my deployment just like I was home. Granted, "church" may be in a tent somewhere in Oz but "church" is also not defined as any certain building. The "church" is the people so anywhere God's people gather...call it church! The building where this chapel is, is quite old. Ten stained glass windows line the side walls and in each one, the "hand of God" is coming down. See it in this photo in the background? I'm on a National Guard base so there are soldiers in each window, too. This photo really doesn't do it justice...they were super bright and beautiful. Next week is Easter and the word is, they are going to provide a bus for those interested like me to go to a larger church for a grand Easter service. Of course, I signed up for that!

After lunch, we had our first group briefings by much of the staff here.  Ground rules and some very basics of what to expect in our time. Tomorrow is gear issue.  When I say gear, I mean GEAR! Battle armor (a small 58lbs of armor), Camelbaks, and lots of other combat gear will be issued. Weapons will be tomorrow or Tuesday. I hear that in the past, they jammed previous classes with hours of PowerPoint briefs. With us, they are going to scatter them throughout my time here and show them when appropriate instead of "death by PowerPoint" upfront.  More to come on all of this. The fun is about to start!

I also got to FaceTime with family back in Kansas more tonight than ever. With the widespread WiFi signal here, I can easily walk outside my barracks to get some privacy. Everyone is doing well.

One other little tidbit to look forward to: when we eventually leave here, we will do so in a very patriotic way. Since this is the last stop before we leave the country, the Patriot Guard (envision lots and lots of motorcycles carrying American flags) will escort our buses to the airport where the VFW will be waiting to see us off.  I'm really looking forward to that day! Don't worry...I'll do my very best to capture photos to share.

Goodnight, everyone, and please have a great week!  I'm committed to doing the same here on the Yellow Brick Road.