Hello, everyone. Yes, it's me...the Nigh family soldier! I've returned to the lofty forefront of our tiny little corner of cyberspace. I don't know that I necessarily have a whole lot of news to share on here, so much as I have my own perspective to offer on some of the things that Lisa has already posted about my time in Basic Training and Officer Candidate School. But, it is a lot of time to cover in just one post. So, forgive the repeats.
So, going all the way back to March 9, the day that I left. At the MEPS in Milwaukee, while I was sitting and waiting for hours on end, my sweetheart came and tapped me on the shoulder. It was wonderful to see her and difficult at the same time, as I knew that I would not be seeing her again for a very long time. I was called back with a number of other people to receive our travel briefing, then we had to wait for the MEPS people to call us up to get on a shuttle for the airport. Then, I bid a tearful goodbye to my Lisa before leaving her for what would seem like a very long time. My flight got delayed a little and we got into Atlanta fairly late. They couldn't fit all of us onto the bus that was there to take us down to Fort Benning, and I ended up with the unfortunate lot who got to stay behind and wait for the next bus. We did finally make it to 30th AG, the reception battalion at Fort Benning, around midnight. But, rather than put us to bed when we got there, they took us to get our PT issue and fill out our first round of paperwork. It was a really late night. The next week or so would be very much the same, wake up early to screaming drill sergeants, go eat, then stand in line for shots, stand in line for paperwork, stand in line for haircuts, stand in line for eye exams, stand in line for clothing, stand in line for dental x-rays, I swear we sometimes stood in line just for the sake of standing in line. Then of course, we would eat lunch, followed by more standing in line, then eat dinner, followed by standing in formation (a nice change from standing in line...I guess) and finally going to bed. I'm fairly certain that one of the missions of the reception battalions is to make certain that the new soldiers are all familiarized with the Army's standing principle of "hurry up and wait" before they even get out into the regular Army. They did a good job. I got it.
Then, on a Tuesday afternoon, all of us who were lucky enough to be leaving 30th AG brought out our bags and threw them on trucks which drove off to be delivered to our new home for the next 10 weeks. We were not as fortunate as our bags. To the sound of our new Drill Sergeant's cadence, we marched over to the company area of Bravo Company 2nd Battalion 47th Infantry Regiment on Sand Hill. Over the next 10 weeks, we would crawl through dirt and mud, climb ropes, repel down ropes, throw grenades, go through a gas chamber, march many miles with heavy packs, practice room clearing, learn combatives, march more miles with heavy packs, shoot M-16s, shoot machine guns (including the 50 cal, ooooooh baby!) Of course, you mingle that with a good smoking from our Drill Sergeants from time to time. Every letter from friends or family was like manna from heaven! Every letter from Lisa was like pizza from heaven!! It was easily the hardest thing I had done in my life to that point. But, it was worth it. I would never want to do it again, but it was worth it.
After Family Day and Graduation, where I got to spend the better part of the day with my wife, as well as with my Mother and Father-in-law, including a visit from my brother-in-law and fellow soldier, Chris, I was shipped off to OCS. It seemed like a very long bus ride across post when it really wasn't. It probably felt like a long ride because I was under the impression that I would not get to spend the weekend with my wife as I had thought I would. The new area was an intimidating one, probably because it was new and unfamiliar. But, I would learn to enjoy the new freedoms that I would have as an officer candidate. Unlike Basic Training, we were permitted to have our cell phones, which allowed me to call Lisa every night! The barracks we stayed in were laid out like a dorm, so I didn't sleep in the same room with 60 other guys and get every cold or other upper respiratory infection that everyone else got. We got every weekend off, which was the best thing of all! I actually got to spend an occasional night with Lisa. This was all such a nice, pleasant change from Basic where I barely heard from Lisa, let alone saw her. Of course, one pleasant little surprise out of all that time with Lisa was that we would discover that we were expecting our first child!
Graduation and commissioning was great! Lisa's parents were there, as well as our nephew, Lucas. My friend and former roommate, Sean, and his girlfriend (now, fiance), Heidi, were there. My parents were able to come! That was really nice as I had not seen them since I left for Basic. They were out in Utah so that they could attend my sister, Becky's, wedding which was the day after my graduation from Basic.
So, I was a newly commissioned 2nd Lieutenant. What was the first thing I did? Along with Lisa, I packed up all of our things at our apartment in Phenix City, AL and we drove the five hours up to Columbia, SC where we currently reside.
For the time being, I am snowbirding (which really only means working until my class starts.) I was able to go up to Fort Lee, VA and compete in a 5K run at the Sustainment Bowl. It was fun! I finished 7th out of 20 runners and my team took first! Other than that, my job here at Fort Jackson has me recording classes at the NCO academy on post. It's a pretty decent job that, if nothing else, keeps me from going stir crazy until my class starts. I look forward to moving on in my career, though.
So, there you have it. Not the glorious, trite, witty missive one might expect...but, hey...I've been out of it for awhile. Give me some time, it's just my first entry in awhile. Hopefully, I can muster some more...soon.
