Today...from Mississippi

Today has been an interesting day so far. Yesterday I found out that all the training that was supposed to occur for me and my team had been declined by someone (name unknown at this point) and we had not been notified. As it turns out though, there are still some decent people in this monster we call the military that are willing, able and ready to help us get all the training we need...as well as our leadership giving us the "green light" to research training and get signed up. So that was good news.

I also had another unique opportunity this morning after I got done with a computerized test to test my brain functioning (yes, contrary to popular belief I do have a brain and it does work!). The public affairs officer for our brigade sat right behind me on the bus this morning leaving the testing and asked if I had anything going on right after we got off the bus...this is always a dangerous question when asked by a PAO! So, instead of instantly saying that I didn't have anything pressing that had / could be accomplished right then and there, I asked him why he was asking. He stated that they needed a few soldiers to do a Skype call with the people at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines. After giving him a farely blank stare, I asked him to clarify...what people at the state fair? He didn't really ellaborate, just told me to follow him. I followed him to one of the buildings that all the personnel soldiers were working out of and waited. He finally turned his computer around, pulled up a chair in front of it and told me to sit down.

Very shortly after sitting down, I saw a screen pop up with someone that definitely looked like there were in a tent of some sort behind a microphone and podium. Before I could say anything, he made an announcement to the effect of, "we have with us a soldier from the 34th Infantry joining us by Skype...let's give him a round of applause!" Suddenly the camera panned back and you could see bleachers of people clapping and cheering...needless to say it was a very impressive sight!

The gentleman behind the podium asked me what my name was, where I was from and what my job was going to be...very basic and very quick, but very touching and impressive considering all the hardship that most of the state is feeling right now with all the flooding.

So, from this platform and this form of media, I would like to say thank you to all the people at the state fair that clapped and cheered! It means the world to us to have our family, friends and neighbors behind us on this mission...a mission we will complete with the Midwestern work ethic we are famous for!

~Jake