I know it's kind of unlike me to go over 20 days without posting, but the laziness of the holiday season has managed to dissipate, not only my desire to exercise, but also my desire to do something as easy as type a "public email update." My apologies to all three of you (if there's even that many) who have been checking my blog almost everyday this month, but I just decided to take it easy!
However, if you are wondering how the trip to Europe with the wife was, please check her blog (www.tnarmywife.blogspot.com) as she has been more motivated to post about the many wonderful sights we saw and the food we ate. Don't ask me where she's getting the energy to do this, as we've both been sitting on the couch most of the holiday break; but it looks like she was on the laptop doing something productive while I was taking catnaps.
Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday and already have your New Year's Resolution list taped to the fridge!
Happy Holidays and take care.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Friday, December 5, 2008
Europa
After 7 days of reintegration (minus the 4 day weekend we got for Thanksgiving), Leslie and I are about to head out on our celebratory excursion to France and Italy!
For those of you wondering what my "re-integration" program consisted of, it was nothing more than annual check-ups on medical, dental, personnel, and finance related issues. When a unit deploys, soldiers are basically re-stationed from Ft. Campbell to Iraq during the deployment and the re-re-stationed (?) back to the post upon their return. In short, we had to change all of our files to show that we are no longer in theater. Luckily no day lasted longer than a few hours and I was back at home for lunch everyday. Other than getting up at about 0515 every morning, it wasn't that bad of a process. Now Leslie and I can enjoy the fruits of our labor for the past 5 months with a trip BACK across the Atlantic (at least for me).
A customary policy within the military is to grant a period of roughly one month of optional leave to personnel who have been deployed for any length of time. Known as Block Leave, soldiers can take up to 31 days of consecutive leave days before beginning the "Reset" phase of a deployment life cycle. So, for the entire month of December, we do not have to work...well, those of us that are taking time. The only catch is that we are not just given 31 days of FREE leave; instead, we are required to use our regular leave days, or as many as we have accumulated. Active duty military personnel are given 30 days of leave every year, so if you've been deployed for a year, you're are essentially using up all the leave days you received while deployed. HOWEVER, if you took the maximum 18 day R&R leave while deployed, you really only have about 12 days to use. As a result, if soldiers don't have at least 21 days of leave (you are allowed to go in the hole up to 10 days), you can't take the whole month off. Such is the case for me, since I took about 3 weeks off after graduation from Officer Basic Course in Maryland before arriving at Ft. Campbell. Therefore, Leslie and I are only going on a 12 day trip and will return just in time for the holidays.
I hope this update finds all of you doing well and looking forward to a wonderful holiday season with your families. I seriously doubt that I'll be able to post an update while on our trip, because we'll be in the midst of enjoying some AWESOMENESS!!!
So, until then, I bid you a farewell.... and take care!
After 7 days of reintegration (minus the 4 day weekend we got for Thanksgiving), Leslie and I are about to head out on our celebratory excursion to France and Italy!
For those of you wondering what my "re-integration" program consisted of, it was nothing more than annual check-ups on medical, dental, personnel, and finance related issues. When a unit deploys, soldiers are basically re-stationed from Ft. Campbell to Iraq during the deployment and the re-re-stationed (?) back to the post upon their return. In short, we had to change all of our files to show that we are no longer in theater. Luckily no day lasted longer than a few hours and I was back at home for lunch everyday. Other than getting up at about 0515 every morning, it wasn't that bad of a process. Now Leslie and I can enjoy the fruits of our labor for the past 5 months with a trip BACK across the Atlantic (at least for me).
A customary policy within the military is to grant a period of roughly one month of optional leave to personnel who have been deployed for any length of time. Known as Block Leave, soldiers can take up to 31 days of consecutive leave days before beginning the "Reset" phase of a deployment life cycle. So, for the entire month of December, we do not have to work...well, those of us that are taking time. The only catch is that we are not just given 31 days of FREE leave; instead, we are required to use our regular leave days, or as many as we have accumulated. Active duty military personnel are given 30 days of leave every year, so if you've been deployed for a year, you're are essentially using up all the leave days you received while deployed. HOWEVER, if you took the maximum 18 day R&R leave while deployed, you really only have about 12 days to use. As a result, if soldiers don't have at least 21 days of leave (you are allowed to go in the hole up to 10 days), you can't take the whole month off. Such is the case for me, since I took about 3 weeks off after graduation from Officer Basic Course in Maryland before arriving at Ft. Campbell. Therefore, Leslie and I are only going on a 12 day trip and will return just in time for the holidays.
I hope this update finds all of you doing well and looking forward to a wonderful holiday season with your families. I seriously doubt that I'll be able to post an update while on our trip, because we'll be in the midst of enjoying some AWESOMENESS!!!
So, until then, I bid you a farewell.... and take care!
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