Our Daring Adventure

Sorry it's been awhile since I last posted. :) Things have been just a little hectic over the past month, but I have a lot to report. Joe graduated from Commissioned Officer Training on April 9th!! I am so proud of him. Here is a picture of him in his dress blues - doesn't he look so handsome? I'm one lucky girl! :) He ended up doing really well both physically and academically. On his final PT test, he scored a 97.5 (out of 100). He was 3 seconds away from getting a perfect score on the run (and scoring 100% on the test). He got full marks on waist circumference, push-ups, and sit-ups. I think he did amazing, but of course, being the perfectionist that he is, he was disappointed that he missed out on a perfect score. Here is a picture of us at the Dining Out the night before graduation. Dining Out is essentially a military formal, and was a lot of fun. Joe is wearing his "mess dress" in the picture. Wikipedia (as usual) does a good job explaining the military D...

I did get a chance to talk with Joe a bit more this weekend. He sounds tired and a little overwhelmed with the amount of work, but says that he is learning tons. Above is a picture of the OTS sign at Maxwell AFB. He described to me their typical day, which lasts around 18 hours. They rise at about 4:30 AM, march off to Physical Training (PT), return to the dorms for a shower, march to the cafeteria for breakfast, spend 4 hours in class or training, lunch, 5 more hours of class or training, dinner, and so on until about 9:00 pm. Then there is homework, laundry, tending to their uniforms, etc. He told me that almost all the meals are "tight" meals. This means they must eat at the modified position of attention, and be completely silent. Apparently, he has developed the reputation for being the quickest eater in the class (I'm so proud!) They only get 5 minutes or so to eat, and the only items that must be finished are 3 full glasses of water. I'm not sure I could finish...

Check Joe out! Doesn't he look nice in his ABU? I hope to post a picture of him in his dress blues soon. He said things are going well, just staying extremely busy. He did get an "excellent" rating on his initial PT test yesterday!! I knew he wouldn't have any problem with the physical aspect of training. :) I'm hoping to get more of an update from him this weekend.

I was able to talk to Joe last night briefly, and he seems to be doing well. He said he was "corrected" a few times already, once for calling a female training instructor "sir" instead of "ma'am" (oops!!). It's hard to imagine someone else yelling at him (just kidding!) Today will be his first official day at training and this morning they are supposed to do the Crossing of the Blue Line, which you can check out on a video here . The video also gives other info on Commissioned Officer Training. Keep Joe in your prayers as he is going to be worn out with a lot of things to learn in the next week especially. I hope to be able to talk to him more this weekend about his experiences and post a picture of him in his uniform.

Well, Joe is off to Maxwell AFB for the next 4 & 1/2 weeks at COT. I'm going to miss him terribly, but I know the weeks will fly by until we are together again. I have so much to finish up here in Louisville before heading down to Florida - 2 more weeks at work, taking the GMAT, packing, and coordinating the move to name a few. (Whew!) I'm so thankful I have my family here to help me out as well. Please keep Joe in your prayers, as this whole experience is brand new to him. He appreciates all your kind words and thoughts more then you can know. I plan on posting updates on his "adventure" fairly regularly. Maybe he'll get a chance to post something (probably not, but maybe). Before he left, he did ask me to give him a military haircut. I hope this is acceptable and in "regs", but it's a good thing I've been cutting his hair now for the past 10+ years so I wasn't too nervous. He asked me to cut it a little shorter then required...

I wish I knew how to post pictures because I might be able to show you what nervousness feels like. I'll have to learn that later. Anyways, its been a bit of a journey even up to now. I've failed to get my uniforms ahead of time, as recommended by everybody who has ever done this. It isn't my fault though, I drove all the way up to Wright-Patt and gave the gate guards my orders and picture ID. The guards protective instincts kicked into overdrive and they decided NOPE we will not let this guy on because we don't want to be responsible for what this 26 year old 152 pound lawyer from Kentucky in a Black Honda Civic (that is ever so slightly dirty) is gonna do when he gets on base and trys to buy clothes. Oh well, all this means is that I'm gonna get yelled at when I go to buy clothes at COT. As far as preparedness for training, I have good news and bad news. The good news is I am in good enough shape to take care of business. The bad news is I don't know enough ab...