The death of the Jeep

Me by the truck


The now dead Jeep

Well, The Jeep is officially dead. After quite a bit of thought and research, Lindsey agreed that the easiest thing to to is for her to learn how to drive a stick, and use my truck while I'm away for training. So last night, Nick and I jump started the truck, inflated the flat tire, and the truck has be brought back to life.

I'm getting very excited about shipping out for OSUT (One Station Unit Training - Basic and Advanced training combined). I'll probably spend the day packing things up and hopefully pick up some book boxes from REI. My friends Paul and Joey are coming down from Seattle to see me before I leave and will get here tonight.

I've also decided which duty stations I'm going to request once I'm given the chance. The Army lets soldiers pick 3 CONUS (Continental United States) and 3 OCONUS (Non Continental) bases. My CONUS choices will be....

1. Fort Lewis, WA


2. Fort Drum, NY - 10th Mountain Div


3. Fort Campbell, KY - 101st Airborne

And my OCONUS choices:

1. Southern European Task Force (Airborne) - Vicenza, Italy


2. Fort Wainwright, AK


3. Bamberg, Germany - 1st Infantry Division

Fort Lewis is an obvious choice. It's close to all my friends and family in Oregon, and I LOVE the Northwest. The 10th Mountain Division is an easy choice because they train in Colorado and Alaska and are the only mountain division in the Army. And Fort Campbell is a good choice because the 101st Airborne is a great unit, and my friend Garth is stationed there.

The OCONUS choices were a bit more tricky. The first one in Italy is a fery small contingent, and would be nearly impossible for me to get into, so I placed it first because I'm pretty sure I won't get it. Fort Wainwright in Alaska sounds GREAT to me for several reasons. First, it's Alaska. It may get cold, but I like cold and I love snow. Second, it's not far from Oregon. And finally Bamberg Germany would be simply great, because I'd be back in Europe again.