Blake is at Ft. Knox in Kentucky. As much as we dreaded him leaving again with no return date in sight, I can say that I'm thrilled that he left a little over a week ago and arrived safely there. What a shock to learn what had happened on Ft. Hood where Blake has spent the majority of his time in the US. We got dozens of calls and messages from friends wondering if Blake had left yet, and it was so good to say that he had indeed left Ft. Hood before any of that happened.
He loves it in Kentucky. The trees in fall have colors he has never seen on trees in life. He says it's a beautiful base and the people there are very kind and cooperative. The only downside that we've heard so far is he thinks that his deployment rotation may have been moved up a bit, but it's still in the distant future.
We thought when he arrived in Kentucky that he would be working in his field, but it doesn't sound like that's been the case so far. He says that the computers are still in the middle east so he thought they would be pulling details until they arrived stateside. He really can't complain though; he's had it pretty easy so far since he arrived back from his deployment. Go to work at 6:30 and off by 7:30 till the next day. Life in the Army is tough!
More good news is he's been promoted. He's a Specialist 4 now. More rank, more responsibilities, and a little more pay.
Please keep the soldiers and their families in your prayers. Especially the families of the soldiers who were lost at Ft. Hood this past week in the terrorist attack. And yes, it was a terrorist attack.
Well, more info as we learn more.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Friday, September 4, 2009
What's Going On?
It's been such a long time since the last post that I went back and re-read what I had written. It still seems unreal having him back on USA soil. But with re-reading comes the realization that I have been slacking off again in letting every one else know how he's doing, so here goes nothing.
Blake is still at Ft. Hood and expects to be there until sometime around mid-October. We've been getting together as much as possible over the weekends and just enjoying his company. It's an odd feeling now to just be able to pick up the phone and call him, or actually get a response to a text message. I think he's getting a little anxious to go up to Kentucky though. Several of the others in his division are already there setting up their housing and getting their kids settled in school, and Blake actually said that they would send him up when he got ready to go. He's just been enjoying having family and friends close enough to visit over the weekends.
From the sound of it, it seems that they are having trouble finding things for his group to do, so they get off pretty early in the day. One day Blake said that they all showed up for PT and when it was over, they were all released until the next day. Getting passes is pretty easy, or so he says. More and more, he's grateful he chose what he did as a career field.
One thing I can add is a couple of weeks ago, while he was spending the weekend with us, we had a pipe start leaking in the main bathroom at about 1 in the morning. So, for the second time in our lives, Blake woke us up to tell us there was water on the floor of the house. The first time was in 2001 with Tropical Storm Alica in Houston. Fortunately this time though, there is no carpet in the house. It's all stained concrete, so the cleanup was a lot simpler. One lesson that I learned was the wet concrete in the garage is just as slippery as the wet concrete in the house. I slipped and fell twice trying to get the rugs outside. Everything is ok though, and the house was back in shape in just a couple of hours and I had a knot on my head.
That pretty much says it all. I'll keep this up as long as you keep reading. It's been a lot of fun going back over the past two years.
More when we have more...
Blake is still at Ft. Hood and expects to be there until sometime around mid-October. We've been getting together as much as possible over the weekends and just enjoying his company. It's an odd feeling now to just be able to pick up the phone and call him, or actually get a response to a text message. I think he's getting a little anxious to go up to Kentucky though. Several of the others in his division are already there setting up their housing and getting their kids settled in school, and Blake actually said that they would send him up when he got ready to go. He's just been enjoying having family and friends close enough to visit over the weekends.
From the sound of it, it seems that they are having trouble finding things for his group to do, so they get off pretty early in the day. One day Blake said that they all showed up for PT and when it was over, they were all released until the next day. Getting passes is pretty easy, or so he says. More and more, he's grateful he chose what he did as a career field.
One thing I can add is a couple of weeks ago, while he was spending the weekend with us, we had a pipe start leaking in the main bathroom at about 1 in the morning. So, for the second time in our lives, Blake woke us up to tell us there was water on the floor of the house. The first time was in 2001 with Tropical Storm Alica in Houston. Fortunately this time though, there is no carpet in the house. It's all stained concrete, so the cleanup was a lot simpler. One lesson that I learned was the wet concrete in the garage is just as slippery as the wet concrete in the house. I slipped and fell twice trying to get the rugs outside. Everything is ok though, and the house was back in shape in just a couple of hours and I had a knot on my head.
That pretty much says it all. I'll keep this up as long as you keep reading. It's been a lot of fun going back over the past two years.
More when we have more...
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Home Again, Home Again
Here are the promised pictures of Blake's homecoming. We met Dusty in Killeen at the main gate about 5:30 to meet Blake and his group who were supposed to arrive at 6:30. However, the first thing we heard when we got there was they were about 2 hours late. As it turned out, it wasn't a whole two hours, but rather an hour and fifteen minutes late. Blake arrived at the gym at 7:45. We stayed around, met his NCO whom we had heard so much about from Blake, finally found his bags, and took off back to Austin.
Blake wanted to have his first meal home at Outback, so we went to the one on Lamar St. It was late, but we were early enough to get served and enjoy our meal. Blake had only one thing on his mind: steak.
Blake and Dusty both stayed over the weekend, but had to get on the road Sunday afternoon. Blake had a great time visiting with the neighbors, shopping at the San Marcos outlet mall, and visiting our church. It was the very best Father's Day ever for me.
We roared at some of the stories he told us of meeting personalities at the USO shows. He met the cast of The Unit, and had his picture taken with Dennis Hasbert (see below) who also makes the Allstate commercials. When he was shaking hands with Hasbert, he said, "You're in good hands." The picture taken shows Hasbert looking down at Blake. He said, "You're a smart-ass, aren't you?"
"Yes, sir," Blake replied.
When Blake met David Robinson, former center for the San Antonio Spurs, he looked up at him and said, "I thought you would be taller." Robinson, Blake says, cracked up.
Other things Blake told us about the stay were "riding in Blackhawks (helicopters) is cool," and (I know you'll appreciate this BJ), "Chinook pilots are the craziest people in the Army." Apparently, he spent a lot of time in helicopters while he was deployed.
We also heard about the "Great Voice in the Sky" who made announcements immediately preceeding controlled ordinance detonations. Such as, "There will be a controlled detonation in 5 minutes." 5 minutes later, BOOM. No big deal, right? Until you hear, BOOM! Then 2 or 3 minutes later, "The explosion earlier was a controlled detonation." That's just not right!
One other thing we learned was that in early May the entry I made titled "Reality Check" was not the whole story. He was actually on the base that was overrun and took part in the firefight. No wonder he was so shook up when he called. Good grief, I'm glad he didn't tell us all that when it happened. This was all part of our "education" as we learned that while for the most part, it was in a good area, he was by no means as safe as he led us to believe.
Well, here are the pictures:
Dusty found him first, but Mom was right behind. She was overjoyed to see him again. This whole episode in the gym was very touching. 300 men who hadn't seen their families in a year. It was something.
When you can finally get a picture of the two of them stopped long enough for the camera shutter to snap, you usually get a pretty good shot. This one was one of my very favorites. Dusty was a big help over the weekend, and Blake was thrilled to see him again.
30 hours in the air from Kurgystan to Killeen. He said he had left at 9:30 that morning local time and had arrived at 7:45 the same evening. Talk about globe trotting.
Blake says "Good-bye" to friends he had traveled with and prepares to start the task of finding his bags in all of the mess that had been unloaded from the 5 buses that had brought them all to the gym. There were 300 duffel bags, 300 back packs, 300 assault packs, and the only difference in any of them was the name on each. Talk about a mess trying to find your luggage.
Blake finds his laptop bag first and then goes about the task of finding his other bags. It took about 20 minutes to find them all. What a mess. But it was so good to have him home again. Now, he's at Ft. Hood until mid-October when his unit transfers to Ft. Knox in Kentucky. I wonder if he can get assigned duty polishing the gold bars. That would be nice duty.
Blake wanted to have his first meal home at Outback, so we went to the one on Lamar St. It was late, but we were early enough to get served and enjoy our meal. Blake had only one thing on his mind: steak.
Blake and Dusty both stayed over the weekend, but had to get on the road Sunday afternoon. Blake had a great time visiting with the neighbors, shopping at the San Marcos outlet mall, and visiting our church. It was the very best Father's Day ever for me.
We roared at some of the stories he told us of meeting personalities at the USO shows. He met the cast of The Unit, and had his picture taken with Dennis Hasbert (see below) who also makes the Allstate commercials. When he was shaking hands with Hasbert, he said, "You're in good hands." The picture taken shows Hasbert looking down at Blake. He said, "You're a smart-ass, aren't you?"
"Yes, sir," Blake replied.
When Blake met David Robinson, former center for the San Antonio Spurs, he looked up at him and said, "I thought you would be taller." Robinson, Blake says, cracked up.
Other things Blake told us about the stay were "riding in Blackhawks (helicopters) is cool," and (I know you'll appreciate this BJ), "Chinook pilots are the craziest people in the Army." Apparently, he spent a lot of time in helicopters while he was deployed.
We also heard about the "Great Voice in the Sky" who made announcements immediately preceeding controlled ordinance detonations. Such as, "There will be a controlled detonation in 5 minutes." 5 minutes later, BOOM. No big deal, right? Until you hear, BOOM! Then 2 or 3 minutes later, "The explosion earlier was a controlled detonation." That's just not right!
One other thing we learned was that in early May the entry I made titled "Reality Check" was not the whole story. He was actually on the base that was overrun and took part in the firefight. No wonder he was so shook up when he called. Good grief, I'm glad he didn't tell us all that when it happened. This was all part of our "education" as we learned that while for the most part, it was in a good area, he was by no means as safe as he led us to believe.
Well, here are the pictures:
Dusty found him first, but Mom was right behind. She was overjoyed to see him again. This whole episode in the gym was very touching. 300 men who hadn't seen their families in a year. It was something.
When you can finally get a picture of the two of them stopped long enough for the camera shutter to snap, you usually get a pretty good shot. This one was one of my very favorites. Dusty was a big help over the weekend, and Blake was thrilled to see him again.
30 hours in the air from Kurgystan to Killeen. He said he had left at 9:30 that morning local time and had arrived at 7:45 the same evening. Talk about globe trotting.
Blake says "Good-bye" to friends he had traveled with and prepares to start the task of finding his bags in all of the mess that had been unloaded from the 5 buses that had brought them all to the gym. There were 300 duffel bags, 300 back packs, 300 assault packs, and the only difference in any of them was the name on each. Talk about a mess trying to find your luggage.
Blake finds his laptop bag first and then goes about the task of finding his other bags. It took about 20 minutes to find them all. What a mess. But it was so good to have him home again. Now, he's at Ft. Hood until mid-October when his unit transfers to Ft. Knox in Kentucky. I wonder if he can get assigned duty polishing the gold bars. That would be nice duty.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Back in the USA
Well I never thought I would be saying this, but Blake is back. He arrives at Ft. Hood at 6:30 this evening for the reception. He's been in transit for 8 days now, but we received a call from the Army this morning around 10:30 giving us the news that he would be at Ft. Hood this evening.
The neighbors here in Buda decorated the street with flags all down the street and a yellow ribbon on every mailbox. It's really spectacular. I'll post pictures of it as well.
Dusty is driving down to meet us in Killeen, and from there on to Ft. Hood.
We're all very excited and can't wait to see him again. We'll be posting pictures on the next update, which, I promise, won't be very far off in the future.
Well, gotta go now to meet our soldier. More info soon.
The neighbors here in Buda decorated the street with flags all down the street and a yellow ribbon on every mailbox. It's really spectacular. I'll post pictures of it as well.
Dusty is driving down to meet us in Killeen, and from there on to Ft. Hood.
We're all very excited and can't wait to see him again. We'll be posting pictures on the next update, which, I promise, won't be very far off in the future.
Well, gotta go now to meet our soldier. More info soon.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Leavin' on a Jet Plane
Got a recent message from Blake that he would be leaving his deployment this Saturday, the 13th. Of course, one doesn't just simply leave there and come straight home, so the whole trip is slated to take about a week with the last stops being in Germany, then Maine, then back here in Austin.
He's excited, just as you would imagine him to be, of the prospect of coming home. The neighborhood here is planning a big welcome home for him and decorating the houses all up the street with flags and such. Janie is making a banner. We had thought of borrowing the one from the family down the street that said "Welcome Home Daddy" but didn't want to scare Blake too badly.
Blake has said that he has put us on a notification list, but I'm not too sure what that entails just yet. We'll have to see. At any rate, there will be plenty of pictures up here soon, and we'll post something else as soon as we know more. Till then, take care all. He'll be home soon.
He's excited, just as you would imagine him to be, of the prospect of coming home. The neighborhood here is planning a big welcome home for him and decorating the houses all up the street with flags and such. Janie is making a banner. We had thought of borrowing the one from the family down the street that said "Welcome Home Daddy" but didn't want to scare Blake too badly.
Blake has said that he has put us on a notification list, but I'm not too sure what that entails just yet. We'll have to see. At any rate, there will be plenty of pictures up here soon, and we'll post something else as soon as we know more. Till then, take care all. He'll be home soon.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Reality Check
Blake called Friday night very upset. As a conversation starter, this isn't in my top 10 list of favs. "Wanted to talk with you about what happened before you see it on the news." Nope, you never want to hear that as the first words out of someone's mouth.
The base very near where he is was overrun and at least 2 soldiers lost their lives. Both were known to Blake and he was pretty shook up. Blake's group was in a big rush to get a plan together to get the helicopters there to evacuate the wounded, but unfortunately they were too late.
Please keep the families of these soldiers in your prayers.
On a more positive side, Blake thinks he's going to be home sooner than the end of June. Possibly the first of the month if all goes ok.
The base very near where he is was overrun and at least 2 soldiers lost their lives. Both were known to Blake and he was pretty shook up. Blake's group was in a big rush to get a plan together to get the helicopters there to evacuate the wounded, but unfortunately they were too late.
Please keep the families of these soldiers in your prayers.
On a more positive side, Blake thinks he's going to be home sooner than the end of June. Possibly the first of the month if all goes ok.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
The Forgotten Soldier
You would think we had completely forgotten about Blake if all you saw was this website. The fact is we've been in touch with him a couple of times, and it's time to bring everyone up to date on what's going on with our favorite soldier.
Blake is studying to retake his ASVAB test. This is the test that everyone has to take in order to get into the military and your score on it pretty much determines what you are qualified to do when you're in. He's going to retake it in order to get a higher score in one of the areas so when he makes Staff Sergeant, he can apply to become a Warrant Officer. This is just about the best news we've gotten from him since he went in. He's really a completely different person now since he joined the Army, and we love the change. Not that we didn't like him before he went in, but he's a lot more responsible and sure of himself now. We've always told him that there's nothing he can't do, and now he believes it.
This week, we learned that there are over 250 varieties of snakes where he is. Of this number, 52 are poisonous. He did his own Google search to get this information. One wonders what caused this sudden interest in snakes, but we also learned that a cobra was found in a latrine there. Now if that doesn't cause you to lose bladder control, I don't know what would. He was quick to assure us that it wasn't him who found the snake, but Blake has NEVER liked snakes, and this is just one more reason he's counting the days until he can finally come home.
We still hear from him rarely, but it's always a great surprise when we do. He's keeping up with his exercise regimen and can now count two bumps in his quest for a "six pack" stomach. I reminded him that it was a different sort of six pack that would wipe out all that work, and he was adamant that after all the work he had put in to doing this, the last thing he was going to do was ruin it.
We're all looking forward to the end of June when we can see him again. The plan is not to fly into Dallas as we had expected, but rather to fly from Maine straight to Ft. Hood for the final stop. I'm guessing someone will let it slip where he will actually land in Texas and we'll pass on the info. No way we're not going to greet him when he gets off that plane.
Take care all and keep him in your prayers. More news when we know more.
Blake is studying to retake his ASVAB test. This is the test that everyone has to take in order to get into the military and your score on it pretty much determines what you are qualified to do when you're in. He's going to retake it in order to get a higher score in one of the areas so when he makes Staff Sergeant, he can apply to become a Warrant Officer. This is just about the best news we've gotten from him since he went in. He's really a completely different person now since he joined the Army, and we love the change. Not that we didn't like him before he went in, but he's a lot more responsible and sure of himself now. We've always told him that there's nothing he can't do, and now he believes it.
This week, we learned that there are over 250 varieties of snakes where he is. Of this number, 52 are poisonous. He did his own Google search to get this information. One wonders what caused this sudden interest in snakes, but we also learned that a cobra was found in a latrine there. Now if that doesn't cause you to lose bladder control, I don't know what would. He was quick to assure us that it wasn't him who found the snake, but Blake has NEVER liked snakes, and this is just one more reason he's counting the days until he can finally come home.
We still hear from him rarely, but it's always a great surprise when we do. He's keeping up with his exercise regimen and can now count two bumps in his quest for a "six pack" stomach. I reminded him that it was a different sort of six pack that would wipe out all that work, and he was adamant that after all the work he had put in to doing this, the last thing he was going to do was ruin it.
We're all looking forward to the end of June when we can see him again. The plan is not to fly into Dallas as we had expected, but rather to fly from Maine straight to Ft. Hood for the final stop. I'm guessing someone will let it slip where he will actually land in Texas and we'll pass on the info. No way we're not going to greet him when he gets off that plane.
Take care all and keep him in your prayers. More news when we know more.
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