While I'm sitting around waiting for my ride down to Ft. Benning, I thought I'd write one last blog from C'Ville and get the past couple days out of the way, so I can focus on Ft. Benning and DCC from this point forward.

Monday was a very mellow day. We showed up for PT in the morning, to find it raining and cold. We formed up as always, and then broke up into our run groups to conduct some level of PT. Ranger Powell took charge of Run Group 1 and we headed out for our last circuit around O-Hill. We got about a mile into the run when our Staff Run Group leader came speeding up behind us in his car, blaring his horn, and ordered us back to his office. Not knowing what we'd find, we turned around and headed back to TJAGLCS. When we got there, our Staff Leader had bought us breakfast, and we sat around watching ESPN highlights for our last official PT session.

Monday, we did have two classes on the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act and its accompanying statute that has to do with reemployment, but I can't remember the acronym at this time. After classes were finished, I and two of my classmates were taken to lunch by our mentor, Major Jersey Shore, before we were give then rest of the afternoon off in anticipation for our Dining-In. I got a little gym time in that afternoon, and then went back and took a nap.

For those who do not know what a Dining-In is, I'm sorry, but I am not going to go into detail about it. It should be somewhat of a surprise for all the new Direct Comissionees, but rest assured, it is a super fun time. One word of advice, if you are someone who puts themselves out there in a public manner, say you write a blog or ask a lot of questions in class, then be prepared to be ROASTED, and roasted hard. There is an "entertainment" portion to the Dining-In, and I, along with a select group of my classmates were singled out for "roasting" and it was Hilarious. A couple of my classmates took offense to the jokes made about them, but I'm not sure why. It was all in good fun, so when it comes time for you future students' Dining-In, just be ready to laugh at yourself.

Tuesday morning was rough for most of us, because the Dining-In's central theme is heavy drinking, so much of the class was a little worse for wear. We had to get up a little earlier too so that we could re-take our class photo. After that, we had a "panel" discussion with several former Staff Judge Advocates (SJAs) before going through graduation rehearsal. Once that was finished, we got the rest of the afternoon off to start packing up and getting ourselves ready to leave TJAGLCS. Tuesday was an extremely lazy day, with the exception of a quick workout, and one final squash match with Ranger Powell. I'm sorry to say, I got my butt KICKED, and so we ended our competition at an even 4-4, which means I'm going to have to PCS to where ever he is and challenge him in the future.

Tuesday evening a large group of those classmates who are Bifurcating/Waiving DCC and a couple others went to a nice dinner to essentially say good-bye. If you're a National Guard or Reservist, you can petition to "Bifurcate," and go to DCC at a later time within the next 12 months, which allows you to return to your civilian practice in the event taking another 6-weeks off would material affect its viability. Others are allowed to "waive" DCC, but you have to have a lot of prior experience, and even then you still have to apply and be accepted. Only a few, obvious candidates succeeded with these petitions, so don't count on it.

Wednesday was graduation, it was short, sweet, and done with in less then an hour. Many family members came, but to be honest, the ceremony was so quick, if you're family would be traveling a great distance to come, it may not be worth the expense, particularly when you're leaving a matter of hours later to head to DCC. Regardless, it was a very nice ceremony, and a final good-bye to those who are not coming to DCC with us. Before graduation, I got one last run around O-Hill, it wasn't as daunting as usual. The rest of the day was all about packing up and getting ready to leave. The weather had turned VERY bad, so I didn't go very far.

Now its Thursday, BBB and her husband are driving one car, while Lady Lucht and I are driving another, as we carpool South. We're going to stop in Charlotte, NC for two nights, before proceedings to Benning and getting the last six-weeks of training completed. To "Baker," I'm not going to publicly announce where I am going to be stationed in Korea, as the Army has asked that those who blog remain vague as to specifics regarding stationing and deployments. However, since you're in the 183rd, you should have an AKO account, or being working towards getting one, and when you do, you can do a simple search for my name, get my email address, and I'd be happy to tell you all about the process of heading to Korea via email.

Otherwise, thank you everyone for reading, if you have specific questions keep asking them, and if you have an AKO account, please don't hesitate to email me directly.

I wanted to Thank everyone who commented on my last post, wishing my classmates and I luck at DCC and graduating the class in general