20 March

I just got home after a long weekend (Thurs - Tues) in San Antonio to visit the Army Goddess. Things got off to a rough start last Tuesday when she learned that her unit had a Field Training Exercise (camping) for Friday and Saturday of this week. This was after we had planned this trip and she had had two straight weekends of boredom because they had nothing to do. However, we decided to try it anyway and take whatever the Army was willing to give.

It was worth it. Although things started off rough on Friday when I went to meet her for lunch and learned (1) that she had only about 30 minutes (compared to the 90 minutes she usually had) and (2) I could not eat with her in the dining facility. However, she just got take out and we sat together at the outside tables. That afternoon she was told by the sargeant that she could do desk duty (answer phones at the base) and leave earlier Saturday if she wanted to spend more time with me. She told him that she needed to be with her squad (remember she is a squad leader) even if it meant coming in at 8:00 instead of 4:00. BUT, she did get an overnight pass Saturday so she got to stay with me from about 8:00pm Saturday to about the same time Sunday (with a 30 minute check in with formation Sunday at 5:00pm). Plus, I got to see her for lunch and dinner (with dessert) Monday.

Overall, she continues to do well. She and another squad leader are competing on every test for the highest grade. Not only for grades but she challenged him to "combatives" last Thursday. He won but he found himself in a tougher fight than he imagined. At one point she had the "dominant" position by lying under him with her legs wrapped around his waist. For some reason, he tried to get out of that position rather than enjoying it.

She will soon begin going into "the field" for "clinicals" where they will wear civilian clothes and actually (under supervision) do clinical interviews and write reports. Everyone I met was highly complementary of her (which wasn't really surprising) including a special forces sargeant who is in the class because he is reclassified due to a parachute failure injury (I guess people really do sometimes survive those). He talks to her a lot and gives advice.

Her gemini nature was displayed in a recent group email when she talked about crying over the field exercise that changed our plans and, at the same time, about learning how to tear out a guy's trachea in hand to hand combat. She clearly is exactly where she was meant to be and I am so proud of her.

Phone call today

I was graced this afternoon with a phone call from Our Blessed Lady of Camouflage. It was unfortunately brief, thanks to a prior commitment on my part, but I talked to her as long as possible, right up until I had to walk in the door.

I told her about selling our house, and she says she just wants to know in what state her next house will be! LOL

She sounds great, and is extremely happy with her decision to enlist. She loves her classes, and says they are throwing so much material at them it's like "trying to drink from a fire hose." She did not score the highest in her class on one test this past week, but says that she'll "fix that" with a test she has coming up on Tuesday. We spoke for a while about the need for better mental health services for the armed forces, about the current push in Congress to no longer treat PTSD at our V.A. hospitals, and about how someone like her could go from counseling G.I.s and their families to making policy on a system-wide level.

Her commanding officer has told her that he'll be taking orders from her some day, and he is probably right. It sounds like our Sammie has found the place where she belongs.