Trying to Shape Up

As a more "mature" Soldier, life has been very interesting.

I say "mature" meaning, "older".

Most of the guys that I am working with are literally about half my age. And because I was out of shape for so long my body is trying to figure out what in the world happened. It probably thinks that this is a case of the "Body Snatchers."

Potential conversation of the body to the brain--"Hey! Who are you and what did you do with the original owner!?!"

We recently started doing road marches again. I say again, because we had stopped due to block leave and other special activities. I asked one of the senior NCOs if he had any suggestions for getting back into it and he said, "well, for me it is a body memory thing. I just throw on the gear and start walking and my body memory kicks in. I just remember road marching." My response was, "yeah, but my body memory is the couch."

So needless to say, road marching and running have been interesting challenges, but I am making it through.

I should explain that this is not like walking through Disneyland in shorts and tennis shoes. You are in full uniform, with a Kevlar helmet, body armor with plates, and a ruck sack. All of it weighs probably around 40-50+ pounds. Typically, when I am done with a road march I have lost about 3-5 pounds of body weight.

I've included a picture of my assistant and I getting ready to head out on one of the current marches. I can say that I think our bodies are starting to make some new memories concerning road marches and ruck packs.

Welcome Home

This week Ft. Campbell is hosting a semi-annual celebration called the Week of the Eagles. We have already had opening activities including a couple concerts, an airshow, and a special event that took place this afternoon.

When 101st Soldiers come home from deployment there are all kinds of briefings that they go through, but one of the moments that is most special is the welcome home.

The post will try to let family know when their Soldier's plane is landing at the airfield. That way the family can be there. But the post buts on a large ceremony of welcoming for the Soldiers. It is something that many Soldiers of the past did not receive. This is especially true for many of our Vietnam and Korean war vets.

Well, some of the folks around Fort Campbell decided to try to change that. They worked with the leadership of the post and the 101st Division and put on a "Welcome Home" ceremony for previous vets, especially those from the Vietnam war. They thought that some of the vets might welcome the idea of having a special ceremony just for them. What was a little bit of a surprise was the number of people who were willing to travel in order to be a part of the celebration.

What started as a plan for "A" welcome home became 3 different welcome home ceremonies because they could not fit all of the vets into one celebration in the hanger. Yes, you read that correctly. They had so many vets respond that they could not fit them all into an airplane hanger. They had to break them into 3 different groups. I am proud to say that no one was turned away.

I expected to see emotion in the faces of the vets, but the emotions of their family members in the stands was even greater. These people represented entire families who had struggled for 40 or so years with some of the pain of how they were treated, and it seemed as though a good amount of healing was accomplished.

It was an awe-inspiring moment, and we were glad to have been a part of it, and very proud of our post, leadership, and the community to bring it all together.