I'm Going Home,

Back to the Place where I belong

Sorry for the singing! Anyways, yes it is true! For everyone that was wondering....we are coming back to TEXAS to visit! Finally, it has been a year and half since we have been there. We did not have plans to go till November or December but thanks to the Army moving dates if we want to go before he deploys we have to go in August.

So the dates right now we are given is August 23 to September 13. We have not decide how long we are going to stay in Texas but when we find out more information we will let you know. So, this will be Jeremy's last trip before he deploys because now they have moved the dates up and say they wont see Christmas. So After this leave he has 2 weeks then leaves for 3 or 4 weeks for NTC training in California and then when he gets back from that it will basically be waiting for the actually deployment. So if we want leave we have to take it now. I just wished we would have known a little before now to save more money. Anyways we will make it work.

Well, since Jeremy probably wont be here for Christmas, my plans right now is after he leaves I will go to Texas for Christmas, New Year's, Parker's Birthday and Caleb's Birthday( Amanda's Boy). And then I will probably head back to GA. I will be back and forth...LOL!

So, anyways I am exitied. I get to go in the summer still and try out my dad's new pool. Yeah, Adam and Kim yall have to bring Parker down and I can go swimming with him! I can't wait to see my nephew finally!!!

So more details to come! We are trying to figure out who to see when, but it will be alot of his family due to I will go back to Texas after he leaves anyway. LOL!

Well, that is all I have to say for now!

Battalion's Birthday Celebration

Okay so today was Jeremy's Battalion (69 Armor) 69th Birthday. So to celebrate the day they did a family day with live firing. It was boring just because it was not plan out to well. I got the email and it explain family day with family chances to shoot, vehicles rides, kids activities and so much more. Sounds good, but half of that was not there. Okay so I had to be at the battalion at 0800 (haha 8:00 am) to catch the bus since it was out on the actual range so the tanks can fire. So Jeremy was told last night that he could not ride with me on the bus, so i kinda did not want to go alone but all well. Anyways Jeremy had to be there the same time as me so we parked by the battalion but there was no one there, so I walked with J over to his company. Yeah there were family members standing around with their soldier so that was good. That is when Jeremy found out that if you do have family then you have to ride the bus with them....so YAY! So anyways the buses did not leave till about 8:40am so it was alot of sitting around, boring! So when we get there after about a 30 minute ride on a buses. Now, that bought back the memories!!
So we got there and walked around for awhile. They had all the vehicles that are use in this battalion on display. The kids can climb in them and all that fun stuff. Jeremy's M88 was out there, he had to drive it out there the day before. There is a picture below of that. Anyways, so they announced that they were going to start the program soon and for everyone to come and have a seat on the benches. So of course we did, 30 minutes later the show never started. I was debating getting up and walking around because it was noon and the sun was straight above with hardly any clouds and there were NO shade at this range at all. People were sitting under the benches just trying to get some shade. The Bradley and Abram practice shooting but it was so boring sitting there. Then the guy (sorry don't remember the rank and name) came out and said "We will be starting in 5 minutes". HAHA! After another 15 minutes he comes back and says, "We will be starting in 2 minutes". At this point I looked at Jeremy and ask him jokey, "Army does alot of things different, are minutes longer then 60 seconds?". Finally the show started, it was cool. They even cut the cake with the sword. Again it was cool. Then they had the food I was expecting just normal hamburgers and hot dogs but they had that plus ribs and chicken and it was good!! Then they let family shoot the guns but I did not do it there was a long line and my ears were already hurting cause I did not put in my ear plugs during the show so I did not want to shot anything.
So anyways here is some cool army things!

Bradley doing donuts! I thought it was cool to see tanks doing donuts!

These are Snipers in there Gorilla Suites. There really worked!
They laid down in that field and I could not see them at all.

This is a Bradley shooting.

Here is an A1 Abram going though the mud!

This is Jeremy's M88. I can't believe he actually drives this thing!
It is basically a tow truck.
No, he is not in the picture, he was with me
so it is his SGT and the other recover guys showing the kids the vehicle.

Now here are the videos:
Warning they get kinda loud but picture what I went though...LOL!
Also, epically on the first one sorry about the shaking but every time it shoot I could not help but jump no matter how hard I tried not too.. LOL!

1st) This is the Abram (A1) shooting stand still. This one is really loud cause we are so close!
You hear Jeremy say it but notice you see the flame before you hear the bloom. Also, I tried to let you see how far it shoots on the last shot but could not see.


2nd) This is a video of the Abram in offense position. That means it is shooting while not stopping.


3rd) This video was cut short because my camera batteries died but here is what is going on. The snipers killed their target and was leaving the area so they set off a smoke bomb (the purple smoke) so they would not be seen while leaving and then the Bradley comes up to take over. They use the smoke to hide as they get out of the Bradley. What is going on is there is another Bradley on the left (you cant see) and then about 10 gunners in between. The two Bradley go up and shot when it is clear the gunners jump out and make a line in between them and shot then when clear they move up another 100 feet or so with the Bradley next to them. Kinda cool I wished I would have gotten it all on tape! Sorry!

PFC and PCS

Okay so I know many of my non military friends and family have no clue with what I just wrote for the title. Okay so the first thing is PFC mean Private First Class or it is level E3. (The E stands for Enlisted.). So this is Jeremy new rank. He has actually been a PFC since February because of some paperwork and what have you he been waiting for his pinning, which never happen. So, Tuesday his SSG (Staff Sergeant) said to him, "you know you are out of uniform?" So Jeremy took that to mean okay so go get my PFC rank and wear it. So during lunch he did and no one said anything. So today, Wednesday his SSG told him that he could wear it all the paper work says he is a PFC so now it is offical on his ACU (Army Combact Uniforms). So Yeah on that. Now he can really work on getting his Specialize which would be the next level up.

Okay, next topic PCS. What is PCS??? PCS means Permanent Change in Station. Basically it means move which is only one more letter then PCS so I dont know why they have to say PCS and cant just say "you are moving." That is the Army for you they create a new dictonary.
Okay so where am I going with this: Okay, some of you might think this is crazy but I would really love to take the chance now because we are still young, and have no children right now. So what is what we want, we want to be station in Germany. Yes, I said it Germany. A whole other country. Why? Cause I want to see the world, have always wanted to. We have no children to worry about now is our chance to go somewhere and see more then just the states. Our choices for outside the 48 States were Germany, Alaska, Hawaii, and Korea. Alaska and Korea are our second choices. I would do anything to see Alaska in the summer but I dont think I could handle it in the winter. LOL! Korea would be okay, but there are not many chances for spouses to go to Korea and I dont think I would eat Korean food so I would probably strave or learn to eat just at home....LOL! Yes, we did not put Hawaii I dont really want Hawaii, yes I would love to visit it but the ideal of spending 3 years or so on a island scares me...LOL! I like to travel there is no where to travel just making circles around the island. I mean in the Year and half we have been in Georgia have have been around 3 different states and seen alot.
Okay but if we are not able to go ONOUCS we put that we want to go to 1st) Fort Carson in Colorado. This was Jeremy picks... I been trying to talk him out of it..I am scared of getting blizzards and snow in. So our other choices.. 2nd) Fort Lewis in Washington State. Yes I know snow again... but I heard about how pretty Washington state is and I dont know just seem nice. I love rain and they get a bunch of them....PS that is where Forks is in washington state!! (For you Twilight fans like me!) Okay so our 3rd choice ) Fort Drum, NY. This is in Upstate New York near the top Canada border. Again Snow. If you can't tell my husband loved the snow when we lived in Utah and wants to have snow again for skiing, and such. Me I am fine in HOT, SUNNY places...lol. Yes Fort Hood or Fort Pork was not on our list sorry like I said earlier since we don't have children yet we want to take the time to see more of the world which is why we picked the places we did. If you can't tell they are in different areas.
Okay so where am I going with all this. It is time for Jeremy to resign and he can chose if he wants to stay here in Fort Stewart, GA or go somewhere else. We want to go! Nothing against Fort Stewart I am just ready to move. I am not a settler I like to keep moving along, we have never lived in a house for more then 2 years in the 7 years we been married. That is crazy. LOL!
Anyways I am rumbing now. I was hoping maybe we could get orders and PCS (do you remember what it means) and move before December and then he would be able to avoided the deployment. He dont really want to do that because he says he has been training with them and such that he feels it is chickening out on them. Anyways, but Tuesday he went in to talk to the SGT that handles the resign for the Company and this is what we found out.
That starting June 27th the Battalion is on a hold on PCSing until October. He could resign to stay here no problem. And if he did that (we still would not get any bouses) because right now all reenlistment bouses are suspended. Jeremy told him what he wanted and there was really nothing he could do. So now we have to wait till October 1 to go talk to him again to see if we could PCS. The guy did say that he made be able to get it where he would PCS before the deployment but if not he could resign and deployed and then when he comes back in January of 2011 he will do his 60 days of home to adjust and then we would move. So anyways, all I know now is nothing, I have to wait until October to figure out what we are going to do. Fun, Fun Fun... That is the Army's Game..... ...... ... Hurry up and Wait!!!!!!

PS sorry that this is so long.... I am kinda rummbling on and on again!

Bring on the 4th of July

Okay so yeah it is only the 2nd of July but my July 4th activities are already up in full swing. I have to say that I since we been here July 4th means more to me now then it every did in the past. So yeah living on a military installion they go totally out for this holiday and it last for days. They have shows, rides, games, concerts and so much more. Anyways so today I decide to make a cake. I wanted to just do white icing with strawberries, blueberries but I dont eat blueberries so I just decide to iced it with icing. So I decide to do a double layer white cake with cool whip and sliced strawberries in the middle. So here is the finished results:




Okay so tonight we went to A Salute to the Nation and Twilight Tattoo. A Twilight Tattoo is something that start years ago when Military bands would play at night for locals towns. So anyways we went to the ceremony and it was very nice other then being hot. They did some awesome military history and amazing songs. I wanted to cry because they sung the song "I'm already there". This song is very sad for military families. So anyways here are some pictures of our wonderful night. Then tomorrow we are going to go to the activities around post and then it is the Trace Adkins concert. So I will post pictures then.

This Is the 3ID Marching Band... This took me back to high school the way they marched out on the field and did some basic formations.

This is a picture of a solider representing every war that the 3ID was part of throughout the years, which includes: WWI, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War, Cold War, Dessert Shield, Dessert Storm and Iraq Enduring Freedom.

This is the color guard. It is was so old fashion, the piccolo prayer and drum was playing Yankee Doodle.

This is 3ID mascot Rocky the Bulldog. We are call the Dog Face Soldiers.
He is in front of the flags.

This part was amazing! The soldier and helicopters came out of nowhere in formation and then stood there while the soldier said the Soldier's Creed.

So that was the show basically. I have learned so much history. I thought I took American History in high school but I guess you dont really learn anything until you apply it to yourself. So I enjoy learning the history of this great country, that I am happy to live in. I am glad that I have the freedom that others have fought for us to have. I am grateful for everyone that has given their life in some way to make this country free so I can chose to worship how I pleased, or even walk down the street. So no matter what fun this weekend brings we are must remember the meaning of it. So everyone have a Save and Happy July 4th!