Daybell Dayz: Summer Dayz Drifting Away....

So Jeff and I have made another big change in our lives. He (and I in full support) has decided to join the military. This is some thing that he has always wanted to do. It took me around but I have finally agreed to the situation. We looked into it mainly for paying for school, and then the rest is history. He is now part of the R.O.T.C. program at UNLV and loves it. At first the plan was for him just to be in R.O.T.C. and then go active duty when he graduated but things were not working out. We changed directions, and Jeff has chosen to do the SMP route. This means that while attending school, and being apart of R.O.T.C., he has chosen to sign up for the Nevada National Guard. This all started in the beginning of June. In the first few weeks of July Jeff had started taking his Military Science classes. He was two years behind and needed to catch up before the fall semester started. He had attended about three or four classes, when things got thrown into over drive. Jeff went to class one morning and there was someone new there. Someone he had never met. That person happened to be the Colonel over southern Nevada. They talked and the general was so impressed that he wanted Jeff to be on a plane in two days heading to LTC. (Leadership Training Center.) This is a month long camp for cadets who have started the ROTC program late in their college career. We knew about this camp and were expecting him to go next summer. To our surprise he had the option to go now. The thing is, it wasn't really an option. Jeff found out the news on a Thursday morning, and he left Saturday morning. We had to get everything he needed together in two days. Needless to say there was a lot of running around to do. Jeff left Saturday morning for Fort Knox, Kentucky for ONE MONTH!

The month was an interesting one for us. Jeff was off having the time of his life, while he was running himself ragged. He would be up in the morning at 4 am. Do some PT (physical training). Grab breakfast (They had 3 mins to eat) Head to a morning activity, which could have been anything from land navigation, to a high ropes course, marksmanship, to water survival. They would have 3 to 5 mile ruck marches here and there. On a good day they wouldn't get rained on and they could enjoy an MRE for lunch. They would then either finish the morning activity, or start and afternoon activity. The would grab dinner around 5 or 6, and call cadences in between. They never really stood still, because there was always something to be done. After dinner they would either listen to a presentation, or go and work some more. At 9 they would head into the barracks and prepare for the night. Lights out would be at 10. He would call me after his cleaning was done and we would talk for about 20 to 30 mins. During the night he would have to wake up 2 to 3 time to do fire guard. That is when you have to either clean the bathrooms or keep watch over the barracks for an hour. If you got back to sleep you would be woken up at 4 am by the drill Sergeants to do it all over again.

He learned so much and would not change it for the world. He has so many stories and I loved listening to them all. He made many new friends, but is glad to be back.