Will Is Taking Over!

Welcome to Part II of yesterday's story!

I was going to write it myself, but since Will did so well on his own, I was happy to let him take over!

 

Well hello everyone,

This will be my very first blog post ever, and you can be sure that I'm a bit nervous. I read Janna's blog daily, but never thought I would find myself actually writing for it. You all make it look so easy that I was surprised when I sat down at the computer staring at a blank page for an hour, haha. Please bare with me as I attempt to convey the highlights of my latest Adventure....

A common military tradition is to hold boards. That's when

soldiers appear before a panel of senior leadership to compete, and are judge on confidence, poise, and general military knowledge. I was lucky enough to win our battalion's board and get the chance to compete at the brigade level, where each battalion chooses what they feel is their best soldier, selected from the approx. 1,200 they have. You are given a list of approximately 25 topics to give you an idea of what to study, but other than that the only thing you know you will be doing is a PT (Fitness)test and qualifying with your weapon. You are essentially handed a vague list and 3 weeks to learn "general soldier tasks". Could be anything right? So when I arrived I met the other 12 competitors and our daunting task:16 separate events! Talk about ridiculous, but the military prides itself in the accuracy with which you are given vague instruction. So away we went.....

Day one started with a PT test. Nothing too fancy, push-ups, sit-ups, and a 2 mile run. Next up was a weapons qualification. Ok, fair enough, I expected all that. Then it got interesting. A stress shoot. which means you put on your full body armor, run around till you're exhausted, and then try to calm your self to shoot accurately. Once we were sufficiently tired from those we moved on to Land Nav and got two pieces of paper. One was an aerial photograph with a grid, and the other was a list of  numbers. Now mind you we are still wearing 60 lbs of gear, 4 miles and an hour later, that was a wrap. I'll give you a hint, I ran most of the way, haha. I crossed the finish line soaked in sweat, not knowing if Im first or last, and even if I am first, my coordinates must match or I still lose. Thinking I was going to get a rest was a mistake because there was more.

After more guns, gear maintenance, and wounded soldier simulations, came a battery of written tests to supplement our hands on practice done during the day. {weapons knowledge, first aid, map reading and plotting, cultural awareness, counseling, leadership, NCOER's (a military leader rating system), and AR 670-1 (everything uniforms)} Now personally, I feel all these events would be sufficient to show who is the best all around soldier, but nope, the next day was the main event. We had to appear before a board of 5 Sergeant Majors, the heads of the some of the battalions we were representing. Well over 100 years of military experience and I had to convince them that I know a LOT about the military, haha. Impossible me thinks, but I made it through and was immensely relieved that my month of studying was over. Win lose or draw it was just nice to have it over. All that was left to do, was wait for the results.

  As luck would have it, when the time came, it was MY NAME they called. 

Now, I was just excited to win for the bragging rights. But then we got showered in gifts which included a kindle, a nice bag, ipod speakers, head lamps, pouches to go on our armor, and an award. The USO really stepped up and spoiled us, and boy did they do a good job, haha. But that's not all, I was gone awhile waiting for the competition, and the only thing that's better than winning, is mail. Boy did I come home to some. With all of the bloggers that have sent us packages and our family, we've really been taken care of. I'd like to send a special shout out to all of you and to Cub Scouts Wolf Den 1. Your awesome boxes of goodies last all of 30 seconds when placed in front of my platoon, haha. It's amazing to get mail from our families over here, but boxes from strangers feel great. The knowledge that someone who has never met you (and probably never will) spent their time and money to try to brighten your day just a little, means the world. Then soldiers know they aren't forgotten and are appreciated.

Well, this book is long enough, thanks for reading. I promise not to do it again anytime soon so that you can enjoy my wife's writing like I do.

Bye guys.



To say I am proud of him is an understatement.
He has far surpassed my expectations,  and I'm pretty sure that he's even surpassed his own. He has only been in the Army two and a half years, and he has already accomplished so much...

I just can't wait until I can reward him properly for his accomplishments. In person.
If you know what I'm sayin'. Haha.

Thank your for visiting today, Mr. Soldier Of The Brigade!