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September 17, 2008 Mi Gruta es tu gruta, I have made the transition from living in different rectories to my duplex man cave. I slept on the floor under a sheet for a couple of days, then moved into a army issued sleeping bag and on Saturday my twin bed arrived and I was off the floor. It is simple and spacious and I am blessed to have this space, I just wish it was smaller. I feel like I am staying in someone elses home, but I will adjust. I think... Anyway, I would rather live in the barracks, but that is not possible because of my rank. It has been a transition moving out and living by myself. My days start with working out and then going to do PT training with the soldiers from 06:30-7:45. I am trying to be Army like. When a soldier salutes you I respond with Airborne and a salute. That took 3 days to figure out. My first week and I think the weeks to follow will be getting up early to work out which is great, because now I loads of people to work out with. The office work begins about 0900 and visiting, meeting and counseling is pretty much the day until 1700. We have daily mass in the main post chapel, which looks like something out of a movie, it is a great way to break up the day. I am grateful to celebrate and pray with a congregation. I have to get lost on a regular basis, that is part of moving to a post with 55,000 soldiers. It is large post with an attached Pope Air Force Base. I have Garmin Nuvi, but the buildings have numbers and not addresses, the Army way. I will figure it out soon enough. My Battalion is the Division Special Troops Battalion. The 82nd Airborne Division has about 18,000 troopers. I am attached to the Special Troops who are responsible for the Division Command and aslo the Headquarters Command, the band, the chorus, the 3 week pre-ranger coarse, the new soldiers group, and the jump master group. That is about 1200 soldiers and will grow to 1500 when we deploy. I still need to get my Airborne wings which everyone has in the 82nd. That means I need to go to jump school. I feel like I am walking around without my pledge pin. Jump school is 3 weeks at Ft. Benning GA. I am getting another physical and then trying to get a position to attend school. It is a bit of a hassle, but many of the field exercises include jumping out of planes, thus this Airborne thing is pretty important for credibility. I will hopefully get there in October or November. As deployment comes closer I will let you know more about those details. Right know the 82nd has many troopers that need your prayers as they return and get ready to leave again in the next year. My prayers, Matt |
Mexican Scholarship Program and Dental Mission |