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Published On: Mar 17, 2007 02:40 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Mar 17, 2007 02:40 PM
Trips to North Carolina and South Carolina
Visiting my husband while he is stationed in Fort
Jackson, SC and Fort Bragg, NC.
My husband had shipped out to join the Army as a
new recruit (at age 36 no less!) on Feb. 1st. We said farewell and there was a
lot of crying for the next few days. As of June 2006 Brian had been in training
for 5 straight months. He had been in the hospital 3 times--once for sunstroke,
once for dehydration and once for a stress fracture of his foot. He had also
managed to lose about 35 lbs. in less than 5 months time. Brian tells me that
the Army paid him to lose weight. I have told him that he is unclear on the
concept. He did lose a lot of weight and gained a lot of muscle. Still it's not
the fitness regime that I would have chosen. A fitness regime that sends you to
the hospital is in my opinion--too
harsh!
We had been planning for quite some time to go out and visit Brian again. The first time we had visited was when he graduated from "Basic Training" at Fort Jackson, SC April 13, 2006. Laurana and I flew out from California to see him graduate and to meet my (new) husband. I have to say "new" husband since I really didn't recognize him when we first saw him. After his graduation ceremony we were told to go out onto a field with about 2000 other "soldiers". Each one had the same army fatigues, same black beret and the same shaved head. I couldn't tell one soldier from another! Luckily Brian found us!
Laurana and Brian at his April Graduation from Boot Camp
I was actually a little peeved when I first saw him. I was angry since our family had been torn apart these past few months and would be torn apart again. I did not support Brian's decision since it had put so much stress on our family. It had been hard to be a single parent! Brian was very good to us though. After being yelled at all day for the past few months he was very humble and even quiet. My biggest surprise was that he made the beds every day while we were together--even if we were staying in a hotel room! We stayed in South Carolina for a few days and then drove Brian to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He was to continue his "Advanced Individual Training" (AIT) at Fort Bragg. His army specialty was "Psychological Operations". It was Easter weekend when we brought him there, so the Army allowed us one final night together as a family. We drove out to Wrightsville Beach, NC and enjoyed a dinner, sunset and the beach together.
Laurana and Brian at Wrightsville Beach, NC
Our second trip to see Brian was in June. Brian wanted us to come out earlier, but I wanted Laurana to finish school before we flew out. Laurana finished her Kindergarten on June 12th. We flew out to see Brian one week later. We were already familiar with Fort Bragg, NC from our last visit. I had also made advance reservations at a nice hotel at Wrightsville Beach. Unfortunately Brian was in the middle of training when we visited, so we didn't quite get the family vacation I had anticipated.
We saw him for the first time on April 23rd. We stopped on by his barracks and dutifully ignored signs that said the area was out of bounds for anyone other than Army students and teachers. One of the drill sergeants stopped me and asked what we were doing here. I didn't want to get Brian in trouble, but I mentioned that we were coming to see Brian and that the staff had already known about it. Brian had told the drill sergeants that I was coming to help resolve the IRS and lawsuit difficulties we were under (See my Venting Blog ). Though we were under some difficulties the real reason for the visit was just so the family could be together again and to have a weekend vacation to the beach. But anyway, that cover story allowed us to visit Brian. We initially just saw him during the evenings after 8PM. I usually ordered some pizza or Chinese take out and we ate a makeshift dinner together. Many of Brian's comrade's quickly found out what was going on and would swoop down on our meals in order to mooch some food. Brian became quite popular with some of his hungry compatriots!
Family Dinner at Fort Bragg's Army Barracks
Laurana and I spent the days wandering around Fort Bragg and we usually spent abut 2 hours with Brian each night. I even found a nice horse riding stable on base. It was $1 to take Laurana on a 30 minute pony ride! It's too bad that the humidity was over 80% almost every day and temperatures were in the 90's. So even though there were nice things to do on base we opted to stay inside most of the time. I also found the drill sergeants rather peculiar. Laurana and I were waiting in the lounge outside of the main desk while two new recruits showed up. One of the drill sergeants (who I was told was the most foul mouthed and mean of the bunch) started to cuss out profanities and yelled at the recruits to do some senseless pushups (in the intense heat and humidity). After the cussing had ended and the drill sergeant left--he saw my 6 year-old daughter. He stopped dead in his tracks and apologized profusely. He even offered to let Laurana wear his drill sergeant hat (which I later found was almost sacred). He did seem genuinely sorry that my daughter had heard the cussing and then he closed the door to the lounge so that we wouldn't hear him as he yelled at the front desk recruits about why they didn't tell him that we were here. I hope no one else got in trouble that night. I only saw one small glimpse of the cussing, intimidation and physical punishments recruits go through. After seeing it I have to ask why any human being would voluntarily ask to be put under such circumstances. By the way, I would have taken pictures of the drill sergeants, but I was forbidden to do so. I would have liked a picture of their "funky" curled hats though.
Brian was originally supposed to leave with us on Friday night to go to Wrightsville Beach, but the drill sergeants thought otherwise. We were finally allowed to take Brian on Saturday. This left us only one night in which to vacation together. We checked into a wonderful hotel called the "Silver Gull" (910) 256-3728. It was 200 feet from the beach and had a large hotel room with two full sized beds and a kitchenette. There was even a balcony from the room that faced the beach.
Laurana on the Hotel Room Balcony. Laurana and Brian at Wrightsville Beach.
I mentioned that the humidity was high while we visited. On this particular day it rained. But since we were at the beach and were getting wet anyway, we just rolled with it. The rain was off and on throughout the day. Laurana loved the beach and found an entire bucket full of sea shells to take home. Brian was happy that we had visited a steakhouse the night beforehand and he managed to eat a 20 oz. prime rib! It was enjoyable to be together for a little while. Then a storm came in and we were obliged to pack it up and head back to Fort Bragg (which was 3.5 hours away). We then had a bittersweet parting, but pledged to see each other one final night before Laurana and I flew back to California.
Our final flight back was a mess. Thunderstorms were rocking the area and to make it even worse our portable DVD player was broken! I was stuck at the Raleigh, NC airport for 9 hours with only a few coloring books to keep Laurana entertained. Ack! Our flight from NC was delayed and we ended up making 3 different plane trips before we settled back at home in Sacramento, CA. I quickly went off a day after we got back to buy another portable DVD player. You don't know how valuable those things are when you are traveling!
We had been planning for quite some time to go out and visit Brian again. The first time we had visited was when he graduated from "Basic Training" at Fort Jackson, SC April 13, 2006. Laurana and I flew out from California to see him graduate and to meet my (new) husband. I have to say "new" husband since I really didn't recognize him when we first saw him. After his graduation ceremony we were told to go out onto a field with about 2000 other "soldiers". Each one had the same army fatigues, same black beret and the same shaved head. I couldn't tell one soldier from another! Luckily Brian found us!
Laurana and Brian at his April Graduation from Boot Camp
I was actually a little peeved when I first saw him. I was angry since our family had been torn apart these past few months and would be torn apart again. I did not support Brian's decision since it had put so much stress on our family. It had been hard to be a single parent! Brian was very good to us though. After being yelled at all day for the past few months he was very humble and even quiet. My biggest surprise was that he made the beds every day while we were together--even if we were staying in a hotel room! We stayed in South Carolina for a few days and then drove Brian to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He was to continue his "Advanced Individual Training" (AIT) at Fort Bragg. His army specialty was "Psychological Operations". It was Easter weekend when we brought him there, so the Army allowed us one final night together as a family. We drove out to Wrightsville Beach, NC and enjoyed a dinner, sunset and the beach together.
Laurana and Brian at Wrightsville Beach, NC
Our second trip to see Brian was in June. Brian wanted us to come out earlier, but I wanted Laurana to finish school before we flew out. Laurana finished her Kindergarten on June 12th. We flew out to see Brian one week later. We were already familiar with Fort Bragg, NC from our last visit. I had also made advance reservations at a nice hotel at Wrightsville Beach. Unfortunately Brian was in the middle of training when we visited, so we didn't quite get the family vacation I had anticipated.
We saw him for the first time on April 23rd. We stopped on by his barracks and dutifully ignored signs that said the area was out of bounds for anyone other than Army students and teachers. One of the drill sergeants stopped me and asked what we were doing here. I didn't want to get Brian in trouble, but I mentioned that we were coming to see Brian and that the staff had already known about it. Brian had told the drill sergeants that I was coming to help resolve the IRS and lawsuit difficulties we were under (See my Venting Blog ). Though we were under some difficulties the real reason for the visit was just so the family could be together again and to have a weekend vacation to the beach. But anyway, that cover story allowed us to visit Brian. We initially just saw him during the evenings after 8PM. I usually ordered some pizza or Chinese take out and we ate a makeshift dinner together. Many of Brian's comrade's quickly found out what was going on and would swoop down on our meals in order to mooch some food. Brian became quite popular with some of his hungry compatriots!
Family Dinner at Fort Bragg's Army Barracks
Laurana and I spent the days wandering around Fort Bragg and we usually spent abut 2 hours with Brian each night. I even found a nice horse riding stable on base. It was $1 to take Laurana on a 30 minute pony ride! It's too bad that the humidity was over 80% almost every day and temperatures were in the 90's. So even though there were nice things to do on base we opted to stay inside most of the time. I also found the drill sergeants rather peculiar. Laurana and I were waiting in the lounge outside of the main desk while two new recruits showed up. One of the drill sergeants (who I was told was the most foul mouthed and mean of the bunch) started to cuss out profanities and yelled at the recruits to do some senseless pushups (in the intense heat and humidity). After the cussing had ended and the drill sergeant left--he saw my 6 year-old daughter. He stopped dead in his tracks and apologized profusely. He even offered to let Laurana wear his drill sergeant hat (which I later found was almost sacred). He did seem genuinely sorry that my daughter had heard the cussing and then he closed the door to the lounge so that we wouldn't hear him as he yelled at the front desk recruits about why they didn't tell him that we were here. I hope no one else got in trouble that night. I only saw one small glimpse of the cussing, intimidation and physical punishments recruits go through. After seeing it I have to ask why any human being would voluntarily ask to be put under such circumstances. By the way, I would have taken pictures of the drill sergeants, but I was forbidden to do so. I would have liked a picture of their "funky" curled hats though.
Brian was originally supposed to leave with us on Friday night to go to Wrightsville Beach, but the drill sergeants thought otherwise. We were finally allowed to take Brian on Saturday. This left us only one night in which to vacation together. We checked into a wonderful hotel called the "Silver Gull" (910) 256-3728. It was 200 feet from the beach and had a large hotel room with two full sized beds and a kitchenette. There was even a balcony from the room that faced the beach.
Laurana on the Hotel Room Balcony. Laurana and Brian at Wrightsville Beach.
I mentioned that the humidity was high while we visited. On this particular day it rained. But since we were at the beach and were getting wet anyway, we just rolled with it. The rain was off and on throughout the day. Laurana loved the beach and found an entire bucket full of sea shells to take home. Brian was happy that we had visited a steakhouse the night beforehand and he managed to eat a 20 oz. prime rib! It was enjoyable to be together for a little while. Then a storm came in and we were obliged to pack it up and head back to Fort Bragg (which was 3.5 hours away). We then had a bittersweet parting, but pledged to see each other one final night before Laurana and I flew back to California.
Our final flight back was a mess. Thunderstorms were rocking the area and to make it even worse our portable DVD player was broken! I was stuck at the Raleigh, NC airport for 9 hours with only a few coloring books to keep Laurana entertained. Ack! Our flight from NC was delayed and we ended up making 3 different plane trips before we settled back at home in Sacramento, CA. I quickly went off a day after we got back to buy another portable DVD player. You don't know how valuable those things are when you are traveling!
Posted: Tue - July 25, 2006 at 03:36 PM