Officially Official

If you've been keeping up with this blog, you will remember a while back when I said there was a possibility that we would redeploy back to Ft. Campbell earlier than expected. You might also remember that I said it didn't look as if such a dream would come to fruition.
Well, just to let you in on how messed up things can be in the Army, we've now been given an official word that WE ARE COMING HOME EARLY!!! Yes, you're reading this right, we are coming back next month (November). In short, the powers that be here in Iraq said they didn't need our brigade anymore and their higher ups signed off on sending us back home early. We got the official word yesterday and I must say that things are definitely taking shape. Although we are just now getting the final word, preparations have been taking place since the end of last month in order to prepare for this possibility. I've had about 3/4 of my stuff packed away in a container for over a week now and we still have a significant amount of work to be done before saying our goodbye's to the Middle East.
I will be getting home before Thanksgiving (which I will have plenty to be thankful for), and the brigade will go on block leave starting in early December. Block leave is a 30 day window for soldiers to take vacation (should they so choose), but very little work is done during this period. However, it doesn't make up for the fact that a) most soldiers have been gone for over a year and b) we don't really get to take vacation during the rest of the year! So, whenever you hear that soldiers get 30 days of vacation a year, just remember that this includes weekends and holidays, not to mention the fact that we usually have to deploy in order to get time off when we come back!
Take care...and see you soon!!!