As usual, the only thing constant is change and uncertainty. I was sent home early on Tuesday evening to prepare for Air Assault School on Wednesday. On Tuesday night I got a call telling me I would not be attending school because I had not completed the necessary prerequisites. I knew that soldiers had to complete a 12 mile road march within a few months prior to school. I hadnt done that but it is usually is overlooked by command. Our commander, however, is new and wanted to play things by the book.

Since I am not going to Air Assault and not flying, I am doing odd jobs and taking care of administrative matters. I went and got all of my new digital pattern ACUs (army combat uniforms). The best part about these uniforms is that the boots are brown suede and do not get polished. I have helped in the maintainance shop with odd jobs also. The rest of my time is spent studying and convicing the other pilots to quiz me on subjects that I will need to know when I fly again.

There is a good chance I will fly in about two weeks. I hope so. It looks like my progression training will be conducted by a relatively new female Instructor Pilot. She seems like she will be a good teacher. She has already started helping me with my studying so the flying might progres a little bit faster.

I am attaching two photos of the new airfield. Each of the three companies has 10 aircraft. You might also see that we share the airfield with some Apaches. I am sure you will notice that there are no orange doors. These helicopters are the real deal. Note the horse head on the nose. That is my company symbol. We are "The Lancers".

I dont even know where to begin. When I last wrote I was still at Fort Rucker. I am now at Fort Campbell. During the intervening month a was in Alabama, Washington State, Colorado, New York, and Washington, DC visiting friends and family. I was fortunate to get to see very many of you. I had a wonderful time reconnecting with the people who are important in my life and pretending to be a civilian. Check out this picture from the beach. Notice the facial hair.

Since arriving at Fort Campbell I have found an apartment and started to buy some furnishings. I sincerely hope that everyone within the range of this message will eventually come and see my place. As an added incentive, Nashville (a really fun city) is nearby and you have a place to stay while you explore "music city."

I have just finished in-processing for the installation and will report to my unit tomorrow. It turns out that Maltby and I will NOT be in the same unit. He will be doing "general support". I will be doing "air assault." We will fly out of different air fields, do different missions, and in effect, never work together. Oh well, at least we are still neighbors.

I am also getting used to the culture here at Fort Campbell. I like it so far. Unlike Rucker, it is not swamped with flight students of approximately the same age, experience, and mentality. There is great diversity here and that is much more fun. It also means that I am getting used to saluting, and being saluted.

That brings up a funny story. Warrant officers think of themselves as a fraternity and wont acknowledge the official rank structure among them. We are collegues. Nonetheless, I was taught at Rucker to salute senior warrants just like any other officer. I tried that today. I saw a CW4 and saluted. He litterally pushed me away and told me to never do that again. He had a smile on his face and his point was well taken. "Thanks sir", I said, "I am glad we got that out of the way." Read more about Settling In