Hubs' first week and the zoo

We went to the zoo today. It was lots of fun though we lasted about 2 hours. We saw the elephants, the rhinoceros, the alligators and the gorillas (those were Gator's must-sees).









Here's Hubs' synopsis of his first week at Ft. Benning:

I arrived around dinner time on Monday, May 26th (Memorial Day) and got all checked into my room on post. Officers get to live in a hotel-like complex rather than the barracks. The rooms have a full sized bed, private bath, small desk built into the wall with internet access, and a small kitchenette. Tuesday was spent getting my ducks in a row (i.e., buying needed uniform items, buying groceries, prepping uniforms, etc.). That evening I decided to do laundry and ran into a group of officers from South America. You never know when Spanish will come in handy. I met the Installation Chaplain, the senior Chaplain here at Fort Benning, on Wednesday. He is a fellow Southern Baptist and seemed to be a real servant leader. Wednesday afternoon and Thursday found me shadowing the Battalion Chaplain from the 11th Engineer Battalion, a unit that builds bridges, roads, buildings, etc. Oddly enough, that guy was raised in St. Marys, GA where my submarine had been homeported from 2002-2005 and we knew some of the same people. The world is truly small. Thursday evening I was able to link up with some extended family here in Columbus for dinner and some great, non-military interaction.

Friday, though, was the day I'd really been waiting for: reporting to Airborne School. Things were a little tenuous at first because I technically was showing up without a reserved seat in the class. The Installation Chaplain had worked a super secret deal with the Command Sergeant Major of the Airborne School to let Chaplain Candidates participate. Thankfully it didn't come down to needing to drop names. Instead a far more sophisticated system of discrimination was used to decide whether the small group of folks without a seat would get to join the four to five hundred folks with seats: we were asked which state we were from. I'm serious. When asked I said "Florida, Sergeant Airborne! Go Gators!" The Sergeant in charge responded with a "Go Gators" and that was that; I was in. (See there -being a Gator is valuable no matter where you go.) We were herded like cattle from noon until around 5pm filling out documents, receiving equipment, getting divided into four platoons and then further divided into four squads per platoon. We even learned some songs. From the sea of eighteen and nineteen year olds in our squad just emerging from the bowels of basic training, I expect ministry opportunities will be plentiful.

We have the weekend off to hydrate and rest. Hydration will be a key to survival in the Georgia heat. Yesterday we had a guy face-plant due to the heat less than ten minutes into inprocessing. The first event Monday will be the Army Physical Fitness Test at 4am. Let the games begin!

I appreciate your prayers for safety, courage, and for opportunities to influence lives for Christ over the next three weeks of Airborne School.

For God and Country,
Hubs