hey, sweet family and friends!
Greetings from Fort Benning, Georgia!

I am missing all of you terribly, but things are going well. Here's what I've done so far... The flight to Atlanta was uneventful, but bumpy! The pilot said there was no good air at any elevation, so we did a whole lot of bump-bounce-shimmy. Alittle unnerving, but nothing major. After we landed I walked about six miles (okay, maybe not. but close) before I finally figured out that I could ride the train. (When I started for the baggage claim area, the first sign was divided into two columns and on the top left it said, "Walk here" and under that it said "baggage claim". Have I mentioned that I'm a rule-follower? So, I walked.) And when I finally got down to where it said "600 meters" still to go, I stopped and read the signs for the trains (I know, you told me, Erica...just took me alittle while.) and got on and rode for the last little bit.

I've never been through Atlanta before, and it's a big place--the baggage claim for our flight had about 8 flights listed on the sign, and they would change from "arrived" to "bags on belt" as they got to them. One of my duffels came out almost immediately, and the other followed soon after, but the second one got hung up at the top of the discharge chute--something was caught in the belt, and it looked like it was the padlock that had gotten swallowed. Made for a big pile up which everyone else really appreciated, and I was afraid it was going to get ripped apart. Fortunately another army duffel came along and smacked some sense into it, and they both came careening down the slide and about knocked me over. Life is good. :-)

And thanks, Adam, for the advice to get a sky cap--I don't know if I would have tried to walk those bags all the way out Door# W-2 and across the street and down the hill to the ground transport area, but it would have been ugly. I piled them on the first cart I saw and didn't think twice about paying the guy $5 for three minutes--it was well worth it.

The ride to Columbus took about an hour and a half, and I slept much of the way. As far as I know, I didn't do anything embarrassing...and I don't plan to ask. After a bried stop in Columbus, the same driver took me on to Fort Benning. I got here about 7:30 p.m., and on the way realized I hadn't eaten anything all day--good thing I had my ReLiv. The driver dropped my bags at the front door, and I went in and was handed a map of the base with my building circled, and a pile of army bedding. So now I'm thinking, "hmmm...two fifty pound duffels, a messenger bag and a pile of bedding. This will be fun." Fortunately for me, when I went back in to explain that I would be leaving one of the bags and coming back for it, there was a new guy, and he told me about the carts that were just around the side of the building. Made life much easier, to say the least.

I found my room--talk about luxury! yeah, this ain't it. But it's fine--I walked down the lo-o-o-ng hall to #15, and went in to find two double sets of wall lockers, and two sets of metal twin beds. Both bottom bunks appeared to be claimed, so, yup--you guessed it. I'm on the top bunk. I used to run to grab a top bunk at summer camp. Apparently, I was nuts. The communal bathroom/shower is at the other end of the hall, of course, but that's okay. Anyway, I got my stuff moved into the lockers, and piled my bedding on the bed, and then did something totally out of character. Instead of curling up in a ball on my bed, I headed out to explore Fort Benning.

I found the dining facility, which was no small feat, and did my best to ignore the "No Hats in the Dinning Facility" sign. Apparently, they've eaten at our house. :-) So I did get to eat, and I while I was enjoying my salad and chicken noodle soup, a lady introduced herself to me and asked if I was with MSWA or WSMA or QRBP...I don't know. I've never heard so many acronyms in my life--sometimes I want to say, AYKM?? :-) Anyway, she is a former soldier on her way as a government employee to Kuwait. She'll be overseeing all the aspects of the contracts between the military and the four major contracting companies, one of which, of course, is ITT. She introduced me to a couple of other people, and we spent an hour or two walking around the base and talking, so that was nice. I told her she could come and have dinner with Dick and I once we get to Kuwait.

This morning we had our first ITT formation (thankfully, no calisthenics involved) and filled out lots of paper work. We had time to grab lunch, and then headed back to go through 300+ power point slides on everything from Cultural Awareness to Combatting Trafficking in Persons. Not that I actually learned anything, since the basic approach was, no test, no requirements--which meant that everyone just blazed through it all as fast as they could click. There might be some connection here to lack of effectiveness in the field, but I could be wrong. But I do know that I'm at least as well-trained and prepared as everyone else in the group. We're on our own for the rest of the day--have to report at 0700 tomorrow for several hours of "really cool" hostage videos. I'm pretty sure he was being sarcastic about the "really cool" part.

We are scheduled to leave on Friday, May 23rd, although they won't give us any flight information until the last minute, as it is classifed. One thing I thought was pretty cool--I am actually considered a part of OIF, which is Operation Iraqui Freedom. Military experience minus boot camp--not a bad deal. Well, I'm sure you've probably heard enough, so I will close for now. To my children and grandchildren: thank you all so much for all you have done and continue to do to make this work for our family. I will forever carry in my heart the memory of your smiling faces through the glass at the airport, and I am so incredibly proud of you all. To all my dear friends: Thank you, too, for your prayers and love and support--I truly am the lucky one, and I love you all.

اذهب مع الله("Go with God")
Much love to you all...Mom/Melanie