355.00973 -- Congratulations Matt!

Saturday, we celebrated the official end to Matt's Army career. It was an emotional day in many ways. Sad because we both closed a huge chapter in our lives, full of friends and experiences we'll never forget. But mostly it was a happy occasion. Especially because we will soon be a family, we are looking forward to less time away from home and more stability.

Matt gave a great speech. He teared up a little talking about his experiences over the past 6 years, and I don't think I was the only one in the audience who did the same just listening.

The actual Change of Command was really quick. Matt's replacement is standing opposite him, with the Troop's First Sergeant on the left and the Lieutenant Colonel on the right.

Matt receiving his Army Commendation Medal.
This is the first and only time I have been able to pin Matt. His promotions have all taken place overseas, either in Korea or Afghanistan, and the awards he got following his deployment to Afghanistan were awarded in a group by senior officers.
Please ignore the fact that I look so huge as to be (as Karen put it about her own pregnant self) "houselike."

Of course Matt got some great "parting gifts" in appreciation of his time spent as Troop Commander. The first frame contains the Squadron colors. The second picture is the Troop's Guidon, accompanied by Matt's name tape and rank on the lower left and a troop photo taken that day on the lower right.

The Troop photo. About two-thirds of the troop are deployed right now. Matt is in the Cavalry branch of the Army, and the horses and stetson hats (and spurs, though you can't see those) are part of the Cavalry tradition. Cool right?

Seven of Matt's closest friends came for the day, as well as his parents and myself. (His fan club was easily the largest!) During the open house that followed the ceremony, friends and family got to climb into and around the humvees and check out the mounted guns and long range site equipment.

618.2 -- Counting Down

I am no stranger to countdowns. In the past few years, I've been doing a lot of that. Sometimes I do this in my head, like when Matt was getting ready to leave, and I didn't want to stress either of us out more than necessary by posting a daily reminder of how many days we had left. Usually, the countdowns are happier, like counting down to our wedding day, counting down to Matt coming home, counting down to my graduation from grad school, or counting down to Matt's last day in the service (4 days to go!). When countdowns are happier, I don't mind sharing them... I even have a "count-up" tallying days since our wedding. (We're working up to 1,500!)

So when December 8th -- my due date! -- starting seeming like forever away, it seemed only natural to create a physical countdown to the happy occasion. The clipped-together sheaf of papers now hangs on the refrigerator, and though we don't always remember to change it every day, it's fun to see just how far we've come and how few days we have left. In fact, today we celebrate 91 days left -- exactly three months!

771 -- Photos!

More pictures from our trip to Camp Atterbury!

Click each picture to make it a little bigger. Matt's parents got to go on this family day, too, so there are some great shots of them below. It was such a fun day! I think active duty companies should do this too... it's a great family building exercise. And the range was nothing like I envisioned it would be. My only regret was that it came so near the end of our military life!

Getting ready for the range meant suiting up in kevlar vest and helmet and wearing foam earplugs. Protective eyewear was also provided, but Matt conveniently forgot about that so we didn't have to wear it!

I got to shoot first. The targets seemed really far away, but using the laser sight was SO easy!

Terrie went next... she made it through her clip in about half the time it took me! (I would never make it in close combat. Maybe I was a sniper in another life :)

Dan was last to shoot. Everyone did really well hitting the targets, which I attribute to Matt's excellent zeroing prowess. (And our killer instincts ;)

Matt arranged for several humvees to be available. We got to see the tracking system they use (like a glorified GPS) and the supercool Long Range Scout Surveillance System. This is me waiting in line to check out the LRAS. (This is also the first picture of the bump!)

Terrie was amazed at the view through the LRAS!

We ended the day with a mini-tour of the .50 cal range. A group of soldiers was qualifying on a machine gun, and we got to watch. The coolest part was watching the red tracers disappear into the distance. Man you would not believe the range on those guns!

We also got to check out the simulation trainer, which is just like an arcade game where you shoot at bad guys. But instead of simulating people enemies, they used turkeys. (I think this was because we had a lot of kids there, and they didn't want the kids to shoot at people, even if they were simulated.) I didn't get many good pics of the simulation part, because it was inside and dark. Very cool to see what the guys do when they are away. I have learned more about the workings of the Army during Matt's two years in the Guard than I did during his 4+ years on active duty!

355.370973 -- Camp Atterbury Family Day

Matt's National Guard Troop meets once a month to train for upcoming deployments or just to keep their skills sharp. This past weekend they spent at Camp Atterbury, a training facility for National Guard soldiers from across the country. The only difference was that this time, their families got to go with them!

I don't have all the pictures back yet, so I will have to post more later, but the day was a blast! We got to fire M4s, crawl around on some Hum-vees decked out with lots of cool toys, visit a simulation trainer, and watch as a couple of soldiers fired rounds from a 50-cal mounted machine gun! The coolest part was definitely getting to fire the M4, but I enjoyed the whole day.

This is one pic of me firing the M4 on the actual range that the guys use when they have to qualify on their weapons. I hit all the targets! Instead of the targets popping up and down randomly, the control tower just kept them all up. So it was a lot easier than the guys usually have it, but for my first time ever firing a weapon, I think I did pretty well! There will be more pictures and another post later! So exciting!

155.925 -- Friends

While Matt and I were at Ft. Drum, I made some of the best friends I could imagine having. Earlier this month, they converged on Fairfield for our first reunion in almost 2 years. Of course we have been keeping up to date on each other, but no amount of blog postings or emails could replace actually being together.

Jackie, Erin, Briana, Karen, and me
Jackie and Karen posted more pics on their blogs. Check them out!

394.2663 -- Family time

Through the magic of webcams, I was able to talk to my family all together for one hour on Christmas day. It was 0100 hours for my brother in Korea, 1600 for my mom and her husband in England, and 1100 in good old Ohio. Not the greatest picture of me, but I'm trying not to dwell :) Next year we'll get those microphones working!

394.264 -- Happy Veterans Day

I'm so proud of my husband Matt for so many reasons, not the least of which is his service in the Army. Today I get to thank him as the rest of America thanks him and all veterans for their service. I wish I had time to post something more thought-provoking or pensive, but my lunch break is waning. Happy Veterans' Day!

Posing outisde a school house in Kamdesh, Afghanistan. Matt is on the left. He's standing nex to our friend Ben Keating, who died 20 days after this picture was taken. On the far right is the Afghan National Army Executive Officer (XO) who was working with our Battalion.

355.10973 -- Congratulations!

Last July, Matt and I cut short our trip to Germany to be back in time for my little brother's graduation from Army basic training. That included a hot, sticky few days in South Carolina. (The AC in my car was on the fritz!) But it was SO worth it! After basic, he only got a couple of days off before heading out to Ft. Huachuca, Arizona for military intelligence Advanced Individual Training.

So this year, my mom and grandparents were able to fly out to Arizona to see James' AIT graduation and briefly tour the Arizona environs. Luckily for everyone who couldn't make it out west, James was able to come back to Ohio for a few weeks of leave before his next duty station... a bit farther away than Arizona!

Congratulations James! And good luck in Korea!

016.394 -- Birthdays and Anniversaries

Today is a special day around here! I was born exactly 27 years ago up in Lima, and my husband was born exactly 27 years ago in Cincinnati. How cool right? Although we haven't always been able to celebrate together, we've had some pretty unique birthdays.

Because 27 is no magical milestone birthday, I won't be waxing nostalgic or getting sloshed this evening. But in thinking back on the past year, it's been jam-packed full of craziness!

One year ago in April, I was completing my grad school internship, and was preparing to graduate in May. Of course, the most exciting part came in June with Matt's safe return from his 16-month deployment to "Crapghanistan." We were fortunate enough to score tickets to the Army Birthday Ball, so we drove down to D.C. for that (and lots of site-seeing) after he got home. July brought even more traveling! We had a huge party in Ohio where Matt got to see all the family and friends he'd missed over the last 16 months. A few days later we followed that up with a 2-week trip to Germany! We got back to the States just in time to see my brother graduate from Basic Training in South Carolina. August passed pretty uneventfully, except for saying goodbye to good friends, lots of packing, and tons of "leaving the Army" classes for Matt. September was the big move. The two of us managed to pack up our entire house and haul it into a ginormous Penske trailer. We moved into temporary quarters with family and started the job hunt. October brought some interviews, but little else. November I got a job in retail, just in time for the holiday season discounts! We had lots of fun spending holidays with family last fall. We moved into another temporary living arrangement in December, which required a lot of work, but was completely worth it. Luckily, we were moved in by Christmas, so we could host family and friends for a couple of parties in January! In February, I got my current position! I couldn't be happier with the job, and the people I work with are great. We started house hunting shortly after the job news came, and by March we had decided on a house and gotten the ball rolling on all the requisite paperwork. We closed on the house in early April, and just moved in this week!

Phew! What craziness! Hopefully this year will be just as exciting, but lots less hectic!

551.555 -- Snowstorms

Snow started falling early this morning, crippling the tri-state. While many were able to get to work, getting home may be a different story entirely. What's that you say? You want to know how many inches we have? So far, there are less than three inches outside my door. I can still see grass peeking through.

Yet schools, companies, even medical offices are canceling plans and closing their doors. The news was overrun last night with stories about quantities of rock salt, terrified citizens stocking up at their local grocery, and schools already closing in anticipation of today's blizzard-like conditions.

If we hadn't lived in the "remote tundra" of Northern New York for nearly three years, I probably would be in the same boat as the late-night, stocked-up, grocery shoppers. But I just can't get flustered over a few inches of snow.

Last February, our tiny town of Sackets Harbor experienced an honest-to-God blizzard. (That's my car, about three yards from the door to my house.)


The street in front of our house, three days after the storm. I've been told by people who haven't lived there that the road treatment system in New York is better than in Ohio. You can barely make out the road.


Matt's truck three days after the blizzard. Another great shot of the road -- still covered in snow after three days.