  This is, as you can see, the first entry in what I hope will be fairly regular updates to my weblog. It made sense to me, as I don't know how much time I will have once my unit gets activated to send out letters and/or emails to everyone that I would like to. This will serve as a forum for people to get a glimpse into life as it unfolds throughout the deployment. As it stands now, on 8 June, 2004, we are all anxiously waiting out Mobilization date of 1 July. On that date my unit will move from Lewiston, Idaho to Fort Bliss, Texas. For those of you who are not familiar with Fort Bliss (as I wasn't), it is located near El Paso, Texas, which is also very near the New Mexico border. We will not, however, be spending much time on Fort Bliss itself. Instead, the training sites are 60-70 miles out, and consists of three separate sites, each with a different focus. Each site is a 10 day training circuit, with 3 days in between sites for movement to the next site and rest. From what I understand it will be some long days. After Fort Bliss, the unit will attend 1 of 2 training bases: Fort Irwin, California or Fort Polk, Louisiana. I have spent time at both (4 years at Polk and 2 months at Irwin) and each has it's own ups and downs.
After spending a month training there, rumor has it that we will receive leave prior to deployment overseas to Iraq. Spirits in the unit itself have remained pretty high, but then no one can say how that may change once the shit hits the fan, as it were. I do have every confidence in myself and my comrades, and this training that we will be attending will only enhance that.
My section, the Medics, will even be receiving extra training for our medical skills. That is very exciting in itself and I am looking forward to brushing up a bit. As it stands, I do not know when things will change, or when I will have time to enter again post-mobilization. I don't imagine that there will be internet access at Fort Bliss, nor the time to utilize it. I will make every effort, however, to update this blog frequently. 
