We have arrived in Charlottesville, the regimental home of the JAG Corp, and I have to admit I'm pretty impressed. I have always heard that Charlottesville is a fantastic town, and I believe it certainly lives up to the hype. It doesn't hurt that one of the oldest and most venerated universities in the country also calls this town home.

After the short hour and forty-five minute drive, my party bus compatriot, Lt. Santoro, and I drove up the hill to the JAG Legal Center. A very nice building seated directly adjacent to UVA's law school. After confirming that we had arrived in the correct place, Lt. Santoro and I grabbed a couple of our classmates and we headed to the part of campus called "The Corner." We had a killer sandwhich at Little Johns, before receiving a number of phone calls wondering where we were? We weren't late to anything, but since our group had driven the three government vehicles from Ft. Lee to Charlottesville people wanted to unload them and turn them back in.

So we made haste back to campus and did exactly that, unloaded the vans and prepared for "in-processing." This in-processing session was very quick for the amount of information we covered, and once we finished with that, we were led on a terrain walk so that we could familiarize ourselves with the JAG building and our PT areas.

Once our tour was over, we were allowed to move into our accomodations. Roughly 50% of our class is staying in "hotel-like" rooms literally on top of the JAG Legal Center. The rooms are pretty nice, certainly a step above dorm rooms, but there is certainly a feeling of being back in college here, and I like it. The best part of the day came as no surprise, in that we get the entire weekend off to acclimatize ourselves to our surroundings and get settled in. Of course, as I said in the last entry, we are all doing APFT's next week, and now PT is going to start in ernest. I believe it will be EVERY day at 0550, and I am EXCITED (bring on that six-pack!!!).

A couple of us are taking some suggestions given to us by a friend of mine and heading to the Down Town Mall (?) area for dinner and a little exploration, should be fun.

Lastly, I was asked in the "comments" of my last entry whether most people drive their own car? The answer is yes, I think of our 115 member class, maybe 20 did not drive themselves. I am one of those people without a car, and I have to admit, I am happy I don't have one. Though it is nice to be able to go and do whatever you want, the car is really not necessary, and you end up carpooling with people all the time. The big issue is going to be what everyone does with their cars when we arrive at Ft. Benning. I'm pretty sure our training there will not necessitate a car at all, and only on the weekends will we possibly use a car (assuming we get them off, which is a big assumption). So, I would recommend not bring a car if you can handle it, but at the same time, the majority of your classmates will likely have their cars. Another added benefit of not having a car, is not having to worry about going through all the procedures of getting reimbursed for your travel expenses (like weighing the car, and mileage, etc...) Just food for though.

Thanks for the question, keep them coming...