The impact hole from an American weapon in this first picture and the photo of a Major talking to a crowd, as well as the picture of "graffiti" in my new profile picture all come from a "field trip" I participated in. We went to the site of a battle where the only Medal of Honor in this military operation (Operation Iraqi Freedom) was earned. The Major took us around the site and told us the details of the battle. At the end, we stood in a formation and saluted the spot that SFC Paul Smith had given his life while saving over 100 American lives. What a trip!
Our gym is named after SFC Paul Smith, so every time we go to the gym (supposed to go more often than I manage to go :-) we see his picture and that of his wife and young son receiving his flag.
The next pictures you see will be on the lighter side. I decided to highlight one of my coworkers. I don't think he'll mind....but he's not here, so it's ok.
He is about 25 years old and a SGT (sergeant), trying to make some points to earn a promotion to SSG (staff sergeant)! He and I teach together most of the time. He's a proud husband and father of a 1year-old. I know this because I hear his end of much of his phone conversations to them! Yes, he talks to his 1year-old like we all do (in a child's voice :-)
He is funny and likes to fish. Enjoy these 3 pictures:
These are taken in our office from my chair/desk. Well, the 2 are...not the one of us fishing. I tried to catch something. He fed the fish and laughed as he watched them eat the bread off his hook.
At scouts (Girl Guides and Scouts), we attempted to make sun screen prints (put a shape on the dark paper and leave it out for the sun to fade the outside, leaving the shape darker). Unfortunately, since we are meeting later due to the heat, we didn't have enough sun to do a good job. There was another construction paper craft going on, but I forget what.
There was a game that one of the boys dreamed up based on American Gladiator. Two people were tied to a pole in the ground by a rope with a bungee piece. They raced to see who could take a ball out of the main box and put it in their own box (one at a time) to end up with the most balls. It was funniest when somebody got pulled back by the bungee and flopped to the ground. One female soldier did that but jumped up running and kept playing.
It was also funny when the girls played. They grabbed all the balls they could at once and ran to put them in their box.
We ate at the local restaurant again after the meeting. I found a Pizza Italia that is great!
I'm playing softball once or twice a week. I'm not any good at hitting yet, but am getting better. I used to be good at it during some chances at bat. Today, I played second base: made one error in throwing and caught one throw from the outfield to tag a base before a runner could get back to it (OUT!!!!!)!
I'm enjoying my classes pretty much. They are a little (spell that LOT) frustrating at times. After all, they work with equipment. How many of you have been frustrated with a computer or other machine at times???? Oh, ALL of you!
I'm also trying to get a computer certification or two (have to pass a test for each) so I can pretend I'm really smart when I get home!
I practiced firing a weapon today. It was a plastic weapon cabled to a computer that is designed to help me be ready for our range fire next week. We will all go to the range and fire our weapons at "pop-up" targets that simulate being as much as 300 meters away. Surprisingly, I am better at the 300 meter ones than some of the middle-range targets. I do ok, though.
If I remember, I'll tell you how I did, next time. We shoot 40 rounds (bullets), so 40 would be perfect. The best I think I've done before was about 32.
I know that the summer has started for my teaching friends and our students! Have a great one! I'll get to join next year's students part-way through the year! I sure do look forward to it since I missed this year's students so much! (I enjoyed talking to and listening to them a few times when I called while they were in the room. They made my deployment better because of things they sent, and how nice they were when I called!)
Everybody take care of each other!!!! Be safe!
