i'm in the real army now!

posted by: emilie

i made it to my first stop on my deployment route. getting here wan't easy, as you can see from cris' post below. we all cried yesterday when we said goodbye, and i choked back tears about 10 times between hawaii and georgia....but i made it. i will say that being in this situation has made me realize how unbelievably blessed i am. blessed to have 2 wonderful daughters, blessed to have a husband that without question will be able to take care of these little girls, blessed to have a family and friends who poured out love with emails, texts, phone calls, and messages as i was saying goodbye to my little family. blessed to have the opportunity to serve this truly great country in the same way the generations ahead of me from both my family, and cris' family have served. I have to say i do find great comfort in thinking about the generations before me that have sacrificed so much. i am thankful for their service, and also proud to be able to serve.

i got off the plane this afternoon, and made my way on post. as i approached my checkin point, i realized that things are going to be a whole lot different for me. I have spent the last 5.5 years of my army service in a cushy hospital, with all the latest technology, and every available resource. When i checked in this afternoon, i was given the location of my barracks, and directed to a stack of linen containing 2 hole-y sheets, a pillow, and a scratchy green wool blanket. I was pointed in the direction of my barracks, wich i found to be 4 bunk beds in a cinder-block building, with a set of foot lockers. yes, my friends, i'm in the real army now. no more pressed scrubs and white coats...only a green wool blanket.

thankfully my amazing friends from residency, tracy and jeremy, are stationed here, and graciously offered/insisted that i spend the week at their lovely home...so i am actually currently in their guest room, snuggled up in a down comforter :) i guess i will enjoy a few more days of the good life before i ship off!

the next few days will be filled with gathering my gear, and being sure all my paperwork is in order before i leave the country.

finally, i must say, i love you cris stickley. thank you for taking care of our girls as the best stay at home daddy ever last year, and thank you for being the kind of dad that will give them 110% of everything you have over the next 6 months. thank you for being the one to do the hardest of all the jobs - staying at home and trying to maintain some semblance of a normal life for our girls. thank you for crying with me before i left, and for making sure i knew that everything at home was going to be just fine. thank you for at least making the attempt to post to our blog everyday, because i will be starving for the pictures and the stories. i love you!!!!