The Shadow knows...

Yesterday was a very cool day for me. I did something that confirmed for me the direction I want to take my Army career.

For the past year, I've been tossing around the idea of whether or not I want to branch out into the medical field. The Army has a great P.A. program (IPAP) and I've kind of thought I might want to cross over into that field.

Psychological Operations isn't really working out for me, and I've only been in this job for about five months. Sure, being part of an elite organization is pretty cool and the training opportunities are second-to-none, but in the end I will have very few marketable skills, especially since I don't want to go into Marketing after I leave the Army in 6 to 13 years.

So, since I have the opportunity to talk with people that actually do the job I'm thinking about, I thought I would shadow some P.A.s and Nurses down at the Army Hospital. I had to get permission and all, but that was easy.

I worked for an extra four hours after my normal work schedule last night, just hanging out with the two P.A.s and the Nurses in the ER and I must say that what I saw of being P.A. has me totally stoked for becoming one. It is exactly what I want to do.

It fits my personality, my natural talents, my intellectual curiosity, and it is virtually recession proof. I don't think I could ask for more.

So, next year, I'll drop my packet (that's Army-speak for apply) for the IPAP program and we'll see what happens. I have a lot to do until then, but I have about 10 months until the deadline next year and I am totally going to need every day of it to get ready.

Keep up with our Adoption!

This is our Adoption Blog. Read it to keep up with where we are in the process.

In the meantime, I'm doing what every good parent is supposed to do and I'm preparing to be a parent as well as I can.

My current reading selection: Parenting the Hurt Child.

Great book. Really, really good. I would recommend it even for parents who have children the old-fashioned way.

Mah Rig

In the Army, we all wear uniforms. There are universal standards for wear of our uniforms, like what kind of boots we are allowed to wear, and there are local standards, like what kind of cold/wet weather gear we are allowed to wear.

This standard of uniformity exists everywhere in the Army. In about 99% of all units, what each Soldier is supposed to look like every day is prescribed in some kind of Commander's SOP. This applies for the uniforms and even the body armor that we wear. (Our body armor is modular now, so we can attach different types of pouches here and there, depending on the mission requirements.)

Now that I'm in Spec. Ops., my life isn't so ordered. Oh, I still have to look like everyone else does on a daily basis, but I actually get to "personalize" my body armor, which is pretty cool. I don't mean I get to wear flair, a la Office Space, but I do get to use whatever pattern and type of pouches I want and I can put them wear I want.

So, I started with two pouches. I have a pouch that I used to keep my weapon cleaning stuff in and today I bought a large pouch to hold my Camelbak bladder directly on my IOTV, instead of having to carry it around.

I don't quite have a vision for what I want this whole thing to look like, but I think I'm getting there. When I finish it,I'll post a picture.

Has it been that long?

What? Where have I been? Geez, I don't know. But topics are piling up in my brain screaming to get out. And I need to do something about that before my head explodes.