Apologies first for being MIA for over a week. To be honest, I don't have a whole lot to report, and even if I did I don't know if I would have had the time or energy to write about it as this new last week has really been a lot of constant busy work to be done after class. It is also writing intensive, so after spending a couple hours on a certain letter or memo, I don't really feel like sitting down and thinking through a blog entry.

However, pity party aside, allow me to get you caught up with the past 10 days at TJAGLCS (pronounced "Tee JAG licks"). Labor Day weekend was excellent. It started out with a scorpion death run with Ranger Powell and BBB, before having an even longer tailgating session, broken up by a quarter and a half of "high school football" (i.e. UVA football, not my line), and then more tailgating. Sunday my family arrived, and we toured a great selection of Charlottesville Vineyards, and really ate well, which is the whole point of having rentals visit... right? It was great to see the family. It had been almost exactly two months, and the changes that have occurred already were shocking to them (namely the bald head, and the loss of size... but more on that saga later.) My parents were joined by our close family friends who, being from Virginia, graciously chauffeured us around the great sites and restaurants of C'Ville.

Of course, that awesome weekend had to end, and it did with morning, Squad PT, last Tuesday. This mornings PT was easier then usual, and so, though a bit frustrating, allowed the body to get back into the swing of things after several days off. Also on Tuesday we continued with the always thrilling subjects of Family Law, Tax and Estates, and Consumer Protection. This area of study makes up the other half of Administrative Law, which was the first subject we faced when arriving at TJAGLCS. I would try and recount what we learned Tuesday morning, but these subjects (especially Tax and Estates) is very difficult, convoluted, and confusing, particularly for someone who really only knows Criminal Law and never touched these subjects in Law School (because I didn't have too). However, seeing as I now know that I will be a part of the Legal Assistance Division for my first Duty Station, I paid as close attention as humanly possible, and absorbed all that I could.

Wednesday morning PT was a 5-mile ruck march. We maintained just under 16-minutes pace which was great for the class' average (we need to be able to maintain 18-minutes miles for DCC). Wednesday morning, instead of getting the morning off, I had to do a "client interview" with my advisor as part of the Admin Law prerequisites. This "interview" was used to test your "people skills" as well as your grasp of a couple issues in Consumer Law and Family Law. It was actually pretty fun, my advisor, tried to be clever with me, and I think I handled it pretty well, though there is always room to improve. The rest of the day was dedicated to the subjects discussed above. That afternoon I took the afternoon off from PT because we had our Family Law Exam the next morning.

Thursday's PT was Squad PT again. This time, 1LT Saylor decided that he was going to slow smoke us with long sets of push-ups and sit-ups. Though it was exactly cardiovascular in nature, it was certainly a strength training smoke-vest, so I have to give him a little credit. Thursday morning, as alluded to above, was the Family Law Exam, which for the first time was ALL WRITTEN. As with all of our prior exams, there was no real hiding the ball in the exam, and if you had studied, and properly manipulated your deskbook (yes it was open book) you should have done just fine. After a couple more blocks of class, the day ended, unless you were a magnanimous person and you decided to donate blood in the tri--annual TJAGLCS blood drive. Having not given blood in quite some time, I felt it incumbent upon me to do so, this also provided an excellent excuse to not workout in the afternoon. Since both my workout partners were also giving blood, I really didn't have a choice.

Tip to the future classes... be prepared to give blood, because if you get a high enough percentage of the class to participate you will be give the following morning of PT off, and that is exactly what happened. So what did the entire class do, given that we had an awesome opportunity to recover and sleep in the following morning... Oh yeah, we went out, as it is Thursday night Karaoke Night at Baja Bean, and if there is no PT on Friday morning, you better plan on singing. Having learned from last Thursday's experience, most of us remained relatively in control this Thursday, so the full day of classes on Friday were not as terrible as the week before.

Friday's class were much the same as the rest of the week... a total blur, and soon enough it was the weekend, AGAIN. However, Friday afternoon started with yet another squash match, and another victory of the wildebeest over Ranger Powell (5-1, doing the blog writers of the world proud). Friday night was actually very subdued as a few of us just went to a slow dinner before returning home and getting some much needed sleep.

Saturday began with an 8-mile run with Ranger Powell and BBB, outstanding, then my first experience with the fast food chain, Waffle House. It was fantastic, but in retrospect, not the best idea with a weigh-in Monday morning. The rest of the afternoon was spent getting homework done, yes, we had quite a bit of it. Having conquered most of it, and knowing that many of our classmates were watching college football at a Wild Wings Cafe, I went to join. Not surprisingly, many of the great football colleges are represented in the JAG Corps, which makes Saturdays quite an interesting experience. Non-monetary bets are being placed on games of interest, the stakes being something particularly embarrassing or painful. Last week a classmate who lost a bet had to take the Buffalo Wild Wings Challenge (12 of the hottest wings BW3s can make in under six minutes), and this weekend was no different, as a UGA fan had to sing the Carolina Gamecock fighting song today in class. Saturday was a fun day, this class is great...

Sunday started with quarter-mile repeats on the minute-thirty (eight of them) before 30 second sets of push-ups and sit-ups. After that, 1LT LeBouton set up yet another flawless golf tournament. So, I spent all of Sunday afternoon in the beautiful weather, playing golf, and ultimately being a member of the dominant team (Well done Lady Lucht, 1LT Brown, and 1LT Curtis). After a very light dinner, it was off to finalize my homework assignments due this morning and to bed.

This morning there was no PT as everyone was getting weighed. Though I'm slightly embarrassed to admit it, I again didn't make the tape. This is an issue with only two weeks of class left at C'Ville. My issue is that I have lost 10lbs, 5 inches around my waist, and 6% body fat (according to "Army measurements," you all know my opinion so I'll save you) but this counts for nothing. I cannot lost 1% more of body fat, essentially a half an inch off my waist, I will graduate JAOBC with a "marginally meets course standards" on my Officer Record Brief (ORB) and that would be a terrible thing. I was pretty angry today as I thought I had this for sure given the changes in my body that I am seeing, but apparently it isn't quite enough. So, I have until the morning of the 27th to lose that last half an inch. Not impossible by any means, it just means that I am going to have to work very hard, and essentially starve myself and I'm ok with that. I should have had this under control before I even arrived, and this is the price I'm going to have to pay. So, after the Record PT test on Wednesday morning, its on. BBB and Ranger Powell have agreed to smoke me every afternoon (like I said, the people in this class are amazing) and with a properly monitored diet, I should be able to make it. As always, I'll keep you posted.

The rest of class today was cake, and after a 4-mile run and a PT test worth of push-ups and sit-ups, I'm about to settle down for the night. However, before that happens, I have some questions to answer, but before I do, I want to thank everyone who participated on my mini-poll regarding the means of disseminating information to incoming classes. Essentially, my proposal, which I turned in today, would set up a "mentoring website" which would be monitored by students and faculty, that would be open to anyone interested in the JAG Corps. Anyone could post a question, and a select group of current students and faculty would be charged with answering those questions based on their experience, and if they don't have any experience, they would be charged with researching and finding that information. Given the diverse and expansive amount of information that everyone wants, it would be impossible to compile it all into some kind of packet that could be sent out to prospective/future students. This way the website would serve the dual purpose of sounding board and point of contact. Furthermore, JARO could post helpful material for everyone to see, and over time, the website could serve as a searchable database of information as the questions are compiled and filtered.

Okay, back to the questions/posted issues...

Daniel - you wrote about the lag time between getting accepted into the JAG Corps and the departure time to JAOBC. Specifically, you're concern is regarding your status for that period AND the lack of confirmation when you send paperwork into JARO. To the first specific concern, your status; until you arrive with your designated class at Ft. Lee, you are a civilian and you have no real connection to the Army. It sounds as if you already know which class you will be entering, therefore you should be able to find the start date. I would suggest you take any job opportunity you can up until the point you leave for JAOBC, that's what I did, and it worked out pretty well. I realize that isn't a great answer, but this is the process and if you want to be a JA, this is just how it is.

Furthermore, I recognize that the process can be frustrating, and certainly unnerving, particularly when you have a deadline to get paperwork mailed into JARO and you get NO confirmation that it has been received. My solution to this issue was to send my mail with a tracking number and ensure that it arrived at the correct location. Short of that, unfortunately, it is impractical for JARO to send notification of receipt of your paperwork, and that office is so busy with current students, you future students, and prospective students, that is is equally impractical to expect them to do much more then they already do. In short, I understand what you're saying, but until the staff in that office is expanded, they really are doing a fantastic job, you'll get to meet them too.

Joey JoJo - You ask a couple great questions. First, the uniforms are always frustrating particularly if you have no experience with them. This is my suggestion, and I'm positive the vast majority of my class would agree with me; Before arriving at Ft. Lee, don't worry about having ANY of the uniform/packing list sent to you with the EXCEPTION of the PT outfit, which consists of the grey Army PT t-shirt (long sleeve shirt, and jacket if you're showing up in the winter), and the black PT shorts (and PT pants if you're showing up in the winter). This outfit, along with a pair of commercial RUNNING SHOES (not those five-finger monstrosities, and I'm not going to debate that opinion, just don't bring them to JAOBC) is all you're going to wear while in class for the first week. Furthermore, you will have more then ample time to acquire the rest of your uniforms, and you will receive briefings on exactly what to get and what it should look like.

As for the memorization you mention, it is always good to know (and memorize) the Army Values and Soldier's Creed/Warrior Ethos, if you can but we haven't been tested on it yet and it would be interesting if we were. So if you want to be "super hooah" go for it, it can't hurt you.

Joe - DCC is just under 6-weeks long, and it going to be AWESOME!!!!

LP - Health Insurance begins, and covers your family, as soon as you fill out the necessary paperwork on either the first or second day of training. You get quite a lot of briefing on it, and it is one of the first things you tackle upon showing up at Ft. Lee. If you want to look into the coverage before you arrive, the Army uses TRICARE, and their website is www.tricare.mil and that includes dental and eye coverage as well.

All right, that was longer then I thought it would be, but great questions and issues, and if I didn't answer anything fully please don't hesitate to ask a clarification question, and I'll do what I can do better provide you the information you're looking for. As always, thank you for reading, and thank you for putting up with the typos, I'm ready for bed, who would have thought becoming a JA would be so tiresome?