Well, it has been a good minute or two or more since my last post. Lots of exciting things have happened.
First, I left Ft. Bragg at the end of March. I had my orders west and I was bound to go. That was a great thing for me. By the time I left F Co and Ft. Bragg, my morale had dropped to an all-time low. In fact, my morale was so low that my work ethic had all but vanished.
En route to Ft. Carson, Colorado, I made a few pit stops. The first stop was home to Knoxville. I needed some time with the parents, nieces, cats, and other friends. It was great. My next stop was down to Chickamauga, Georgia. There, I met Regina's parents for the first time. They instantly took a liking to me. For those who don't know, at the time, Regina was my girlfriend. That evening in Georgia (03 April 2009), I proposed to Regina. I took her back to the place where I first fell in love with her. That place happened to be in Chattanooga, Tennessee. That day also happened to be her brother and sister-in-law's wedding anniversary. Miraculously, the woman said "yes." After spending the night in Georgia and enjoying a wonderful time with Regina's family, I headed back to Knoxville. The following Monday, I left, stopping off in Athens, Tennessee. There, I had breaksfast with an old friend from college. From there, I began the trek west. I stopped off in Junction City, Kansas and spent a couple of days with my cuz-in-law and my little cuzes. It was a great time, but I needed to get on out to Fort Carson.
Upon my arrival, I went to work. I had been assigned to the Division Special Troops Battalion of the famous Fourth Infantry Division. The division was in the process of moving to Carson from Ft. Hood, Texas. A couple of the division's brigades were on Carson, as well as a Forward Detachment of the DSTB and the division head quarters element. The DSTB did not have a communications chief on Carson. Once they realized that I had a communications Military Occupation Specialty, they put me in the slot. I actually began doing the job of someone who was two or three pay grades above me. My work immediately impressed the leadership.
In May, I flew to Iowa to spend a few days with Regina. She had landed herself a summer job up there. That was fun, but the four days went by way too fast. She came to Colorado to see me, the following month. I had managed to earn myself a three-day pass for a PT test. I also found a really good church to join. It is called Rustic Hills Baptist Church. The congregation immediately enveloped me and took me in as one of their own.
Over the summer, I continued my work with the DSTB. I seemed to get busier and busier. Eventually, the division got up to Carson and command was formally established on "The Mountain Post." The Division Commanding General and Division Command Sergeant Major both gave me coins in appreciation for the work I had done in establishing the DSTB's communications on Ft. Carson. I also managed to get a few soldiers and even some people above me in the Communications Section. Things were going really well.
August turned into a crazy month. Sergeant, First Class Cordero, who is my NCOIC scored a four-day pass for me to go to Iowa to move Regina from there to Colorado. While en route to Iowa, I blew out a tire on my Jeep, in Kansas. Some wonderful Christian folks stopped to help me out and gave me some snacks for the road. The flat tire only set me back about an hour and a half, thanks to those fine folks. I got to Iowa, spent a couple of days there, then loaded Regina's stuff into a moving van, put her car on a dollie on the back of the van, and proceeded to drive back to Colorado. Regina drove my Jeep back.
We got back to Colrado around 0300 on 25 August. Regina and I managed to get a few hours of sleep, then we unloaded the moving truck. After that, we took care of the paperwork part of the marriage. I then reported back to work the next day. On Friday of that week, the Battalion had its usual close of business formation. During that formation, I recieved an Army Achievement Medal for my work. Then, I got promoted. Actually, the promotion part of the ceremony happened before the award. Regina got to pin my new rank on me...well, attach it via velcro. I was promoted from Specialist to Sergeant. Of course, the custom in a promotion is that the person who pins the rank on you gets to hit you. Regina put a good punch in my chest. The entire battalion was impressed. Then, I had to "run the gauntlet." By that, many of the NCO's got their turns at punching me in the chest. It was a great day.
Regina and I managed to get a lot of the paperwork associated with getting married out of the way. She got her ID card and got enrolled in the insurance program. I also managed to get the paperwork filed for my housing and food allowances. After that, Regina headed back to Georgia to finish the plans for the wedding.
In September, I boarded a plane and flew back east. I had not been to Knoxville in over five months. It was good to be home. The wedding took place on 19 September. It went down exactly the way Regina and I wanted it to happen. Other than getting stuck in traffic for several hours in Pigeon Forge, the honeymoon was a blast, too. Granted, it was a very short honeymoon. After a couple of days in Gatlinburg, we returned to my parents' house in Knoxville to gather furniture and other items. From there, it was back to Georgia to get the wedding presents and a few more of Regina's things. On Tuesday, we left to make our way back out west. We stopped off in Junction City, Kansas. My cousin had just returned from Iraq and I wanted to spend a couple of days with him. I had not seen him in over two years.
We had a good time in Kansas, but we needed to get back to Colorado. We arrived on a Thursday afternoon. On Friday, we unloaded the truck and began to set the apartment up. Regina got a job at a scrapbooking store and began work the following Monday. I went back to work on that Wednesday. My first day back involved a PT test. I passed, but wasn't impressed with my score. Oh well. I knew my score would be down, just a little.
Yesterday, the ladies of RHBC gave Regina a post-wedding shower. We got lots more wonderful gifts. Now, we are relaxing and just trying to get our home set up.
Yep, things have been sorta crazy over the last several months. But, life is good. I wouldn't trade Regina for the world. Besides Christ, Regina is the best thing to ever happen to me.
