Shipping out.

This Thursday at 4:45 Am.

I will be going to Ft. Benning for 6 Weeks for Infantry School, then hopfully after christmas break back to Ft. Benning for Airborne School if I can get into a slot. If not, then off to Ft. Campbell as my Home Duty station. Along with the 82nd Airborne, Ft. Campbell's 101st Division ( Air Assault ) are the most active Major Army units that participate in conflicts worldwide.

Getting ready to leave... Finding and packing up all belongings I need to take, Journal, Bible, Clothes, pictures. The good stuff.

The hardest part is weaning myself from everything I have really known and accepted in my home type environment. While at times it hurts, I welcome it because its time to grow and leave this part of me behind. This hasnt exactly been the best time of my life lord knows, and while I dont like to leave things, starting a new life and a new chapter is always a good thing for me. I'm sure you all know enough about me now to know I like veriety, its the spice of life, and the method of change. Doing the same thing over and over isnt moderation, so it cannot be balanced.

However, I feel I owe everyone somthing from me. A letter of appreciation, and recognition, sort of a thanks for the times, heres what i think about you type of deal. Ive always loved to write ( as you can probably tell ) and I want to give everyone a special gift from me, and one of the best ways I can do that without buying somthing, is an eternal thought on a piece of paper. ( or text- )

Anyone have -any- questions for me? I mean it, anything. Since most of you are at work and bored and stuff, maybe we can get a Q & A going. I have nothing to hide.

If you want to understand why I feel this way beyond my story. I have somthing for you to check out. I stumbled on it a few days ago, and it just touched me to find it, and I am very glad I did.

www.ranger25.com

I read this and it will stay with me always.

A Soldier's Christmas by Michael Marks

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
my daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree, I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eye when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear.
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts,
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said, "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night"

"Its my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me."

"My Gramps died at 'Pearl' on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers.
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam
And now it is my turn and so, here I am."

"I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile."
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red white and blue... an American flag.

"I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home,
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat,
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sisters and brothers,
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To insure for all time that this flag will not fall."

"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright.
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone.
To stand your own watch, no matter how long."

"For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.

Good memories are our second chance at happiness. - Queen Elizabeth II