Today was 0 day.  I left my wonderful family in the O.C. and headed to Fort Benning, Georgia.  My wife and kids dropped me off at the airport at 05:30 with hugs and kisses and it was downhill from there.  The lady in the check in line argued for 15 minutes about paying for extra weight for her bag.  Normally I would side with the lady but it took two people to lift her bag onto the conveyor belt.  My first flight was uneventful; however, the next flight was, let’s say, interesting.  After boarding the plane, we had to sit in 95 degree heat for 30 minutes while they tried to figure out a maintenance problem.  They finally gave up and asked us to de-plane.  Great, I am going to miss the War over a maintenance issue.  No sooner had we all got off the plane then we were told to get back on.  The problem was solved.  Didn’t create a lot of confidence but we made it to Columbus.

So I am FINALLY here at Fort Benning at the Combat Readiness Center where I will spend the next 7 days getting my shots (ouch), my weapons, body armor and reams of paperwork done (actually, it’s all computer but I had to bring copies of everything which probably consumed a redwood tree).  I really not complaining.  I feel so lucky to actually be here.  I was thinking on the fight here, how many people my age are lucky enough to be able to serve their country.  Without family support, good health and some financial stability, this would have never been possible.

The first three days at Benning have been really interesting.  There is a lot of hurry up and wait but all in all, the Army NCOS (non commissioned officers) are doing a great job moving 400 soldiers and contracting civilians through the process.  You might wonder who the civilians are.  Well, so do we (the soldiers).  Some are linguists (mostly Afghans), DOD (dept. of defense), computer people and a bunch of folks who really don’t want to talk about what they do.  You don’t push these folks since they are really scary looking with some mean looking tattoos and very well defined muscles.

Arriving on Friday evening, we were assigned our 4 man rooms with bunk beds.  I lucked out with a lower bunk.  Since my roommates are prior service, they make sure I am at the right place at the right time.  It’s important to be on time in formation so no one else suffers from your foibles.  The Army doesn’t tolerate Private Benjamins.  Sat. morning we had a very late start at 0900 followed by 3 hours of filing out paperwork that we would need for the next three days.  We were told to bring 14 copies of our orders and we are using all of them.  A few more meetings after lunch and then I finally got to go to the gym and work off the fried EVERYTHING that I have eaten over two days.  Unfortunately, we have an ice cream machine in the DFAC (dining facility).  I have turned on my roomies and a few others to vanilla ice cream in orange Fanta for desert.  I think they may hate me for that.  The gym is excellent and not crowded except for the scary people I mentioned earlier. 

Monday was medical srp (soldier readiness program).  We were ushered through medical screening, dental screening and vaccinations (big ouch for Anthrax).  We were told to exercise the arm that we were vaccinated in (more like a sledge hammer) so I went to the gym and got my run and pullup regiment done.

Tuesday was getting all our financial and legal paperwork done.  Took most of the day.  Wed. was in theatre training and IED (improvised explosive devices) recognition. 

Thursday was the firing range to familiarize ourselves with our new weapons and packing our duffle bags (3 for me) and ruck sacks.  The object is to take the least amount of gear because we have to carry all our own bags everywhere we go.  Each bag weighs at least 50 lbs.

Today (Friday June 5) I woke up and realized that today was the day.  I got very emotional about following in the footsteps of my grandfathers, father and youngest son, Kevin (1^st Battalion, Fifth Marines).  I am NOT a very emotional person and almost never cry but today was my turn.  I am so excited and anxious, not scarred, just anxious about going to a war zone where there are no front lines.  I can’t wait.!! I have got a lot of good advice from prior service soldiers this week but I think the best advice I got was from my brother-in-law Tim Ward who told me “never jump into a hole where your head sticks out further than your butt.”  Good advice.

Around noon we were bussed to the airfield at Fort Benning.  We had a wonderful hot turkey dinner before we boarded our charted commercial flight.  After lunch we marched out to the awaiting charter commercial flight.  What an exhilarating feeling marching out to the plane in the warm, humid Georgia air to begin the first leg of our journey to our stop in Europe.  Next stop will be Kuwait (122 degrees today) where we will wait for military transport to our next destination.  Usually takes 2-3 days to continue get transportation to my next location where I will again, have to wait for transportation to Camp Phoenix, my final destination.