**Updated 6 May 2009 to include all Ranger Grad videos**
Here are most of the videos that I took during the Ranger Demonstration & Don's Ranger Graduation the morning of May 1st at Fort Benning, Georgia! One of the videos that I cannot post is of the beginning of Don's Graduation, the speaker's message, etc. It came out to be almost 20 minutes, so I'm having trouble finding a place to upload it! Hopefully I figure it out soon :) The rest of these are really cool, though, so enjoy them!
That's all for now! We're keeping busy these last few days before we leave, spending time with family & taking care of what needs done! Sadly...I somehow caught Strep Throat while in Georgia, so I haven't been much fun... But Don's taking good care of me & I now have antibiotics! Hopefully, I'll be feeling much better by Thursday!! *fingers crossed* ♥
Here are the pictures that I took of Don's graduation! It was awesome! I took video of the entire graduation; I now just have to figure out where to upload it since it's pretty long :) It was great, though! And the Demonstration was sweet! (I have video of that also!) I am so proud of Don! I had so much fun watching him graduate, pinning on his tab (which I wish we had pictures of!), & now we're about to start our European adventure! :)
As soon as I've uploaded the videos, I'll add them to this post! Thank you all again for your support! Don did so well!!!
Another fabulous day in Georgia! Spent the morning & afternoon at the hotel, then drove to post to pick up Don for his last pass before Ranger Grad! Wahoo! We only had 5 hours together today, but I soaked it all up, enjoying every minute that I've thought so much about for the past two months! It is so wonderful being back together; it makes everything right again :)
As I waited for Don to be released this evening, I decided I'd appreciate it later if I'd go ahead & take a few quick pictures. Here are three. These are the guys who will be graduating tomorrow (can you find Don?!). What a great group!
I'm hoping my camera battery will be up for a challenge tomorrow because I'm planning to film the Ranger Demonstration, which takes place before Graduation & is supposed to be pretty sweet, as well as the Graduation itself! Plus, I'll take lots of pictures of Don & his Ranger Tab!! I am so proud of him!!
So, Ranger Demonstration & Graduation in the morning, then an afternoon of getting everything together that we need for our drive back to Colorado, & finally finishing out the day with a fun evening with friends to celebrate! A busy but absolutely wonderful day! I can't wait! And neither can Don :)
Hello from Columbus, Georgia! Of all the days since February 25th (when Don & I had to leave each other...), today has been the best! I'm finally back where I belong: with Don :)
We had a great day together! Took a ride onto post this afternoon with a good friend of ours (Thank You!) to pick up Don when his pass began. Boy, was it good to see him walk across the road straight to me!!! Two months of waiting & we're finally back together! And he looks great; he's already put back on 10 of the 20 pounds that he lost during Ranger School!
Then, we headed to the Travel Office @ Benning & took care of getting our plane tickets for Germany. We're leaving May 7th! Ah! I knew that it would be soon, but making the arrangements & seeing the tickets sure does make it real. I am ready for our big adventure! And we'll be doing it together, which makes me oh so happy! No more distance between us for a while :)
Don gets another pass tomorrow, then Ranger Graduation on Friday!!! I am so proud of him! This is such a difficult course, & not only did he finish, but he finished on his first try! An accomplishment that isn't all that common! He is one amazing guy!!
When I take some pictures, I'll be sure to post them. It sure is nice to have them to remember these wonderful occassions, but sometimes it isn't easy to take out the camera & just start clicking away when you're so caught up in what's happening around you! Plus, I know I'll always remember this, even without pictures :) Pictures of his Graduation, however...I will take gobs!
I'm flying to Georgia tomorrow to be back with Don (Hooray!) & to go to his Ranger Graduation on Friday!! I am so excited to see him, & I am really really really proud of him for all that he has done! My husband the Ranger :) It will be so great to finally be by his side again, where I belong, & to celebrate this huge accomplishment! I can't wait!
Well, we've about done it! More appropriately, Don has about done it! I am so proud of him for all of his hard work & determination, as well as his ability to stay so optimistic & cheerful even when he's going through something as incredibly difficult as Ranger School! How does he do it?! I'm very impressed, & more proud than you can imagine!!! And a week from today, he will officially be a Ranger, Tab & all!! I can't wait! And I'm sure he can't either :)
My Grandfather is very ill right now, in a hospital in Missouri where most of my parents' family lives. We drove there last weekend to see him, & my Dad is still there with everyone. It really made me miss Don, being in the hospital & seeing how important family is. There is a reason God made us to be in pairs :) Family is such a wonderful thing. My Grandfather doesn't have many days left, the doctors say, & so I am trying to figure out how to make it back to Missouri as well as to Georgia for Don. But regardless of whether or not I can get back to Missouri, I am so glad that I was able to be there last weekend when he was still speaking. He knows that I was there & we were able to talk a bit. Life really is a cycle, one generation to the next, & it makes you realize what the most important things in life are & what you should be paying attention to the most . It is so easy to become distracted with politics & the economy, etc. But your family is always with you, beside you, loving you! I am going to miss them all when Don & I leave!
...But my Mom has already been looking at plane tickets into Frankfurt, & if you have flexible traveling dates you can get a pretty good fare!! Any takers?! :)
I will be taking pictures & video of Don's graduation, & I'll post them for you all! Hmm, I think I need a camera crew so that I don't miss anything ;)
Xoxo
*.These pictures are some of my favorite from our Honeymoon on Petit St. Vincent! It was absolutely beautiful & so relaxing! If you're looking for a quiet tropical getaway that has everything you could possibly want, I definitely recommend PSV :) I hope that Don & I can go back someday! An anniversary, perhaps!.*
It's amazing that Don is really almost finished with Ranger School! Wow! And he is going to finish the first time through :) He is amazing!!!
Thanks to those of you who have kept me in the loop about Don's schedule & filled me in on the things about Ranger School that he would tell me if he was able to :) You guys are such a huge help! I have such a better understanding of how the next few weeks will go down thanks to you!
So, a week from tomorrow, Saturday the 25th, Don should be getting back from his very last field training exercise!! The last week before he graduates, he'll be riding back to Fort Benning, out-processing, & eating, eating, eating!! (I sent him a box of food that weighed 10 pounds, so I'm already doing my part to help him put back on the weight!)
It's nice to know that even though we're two weeks from his Graduation, he really only has one week of the really tough stuff left! Amazing!!! And I'll see him on the 29th!
We'll be in Vilseck before we know it!
--------- The picture in this post is from the Army Navy game of 2005. The first I went to! It was bitter cold, but so much fun! I can't wait to go with Don again someday! And hopefully it won't be too long before Army Beats Navy! ---------
Don has passed the Mountain Phase of Ranger School & is moving on to the Florida Phase! Wahoo! I was expecting a phone call from him today. He'd written in his letters that April 11th was his break, & I couldn't wait to hear from him! Imagine my surprise when, while at Don's parents last night for dinner, the phone rang & the caller ID read "US Army"! Don's Dad picked up, & guess who it was?! :) The phone was quickly handed over to me, huge grin on my face, & Don & I were able to talk for a bit! It only amounted to about 2 minutes, but that's all I needed to get me through these last 3 weeks! Plus, considering my cell phone was in my purse since I wasn't expecting a call, I missed 2 calls from Don before he tried his parents' house. Thank goodness I was over for dinner!!!
He's doing absolutely great. He sounded so good. No more awful cough like he had the last time he was able to call! He said that the Mountain Phase was awful, but it's over now!! I am so proud of him! We weren't able to talk about very much because of the time crunch, but just knowing that he's doing well & in good spirits is enough! We'll see each other soon! :)
I bought my plane ticket today to go to Fort Benning for Don's Ranger Graduation! My parents are coming with me, which is exciting too! Then, Don & I make the drive (loooong drive at that!) back to Colorado, then off to Germany! I can't believe how quickly time has flown by. It's hard to really imagine that a month from now, we'll be in Germany! Pinch me! It hasn't hit me yet...
On another note, I hope that you all have an absolutely wonderful Easter tomorrow! Easter is such a wonderful & important holiday to me because of my faith, but I'm also reminded of when Don proposed in New York's Central Park on Good Friday of 2007 :) Here's the picture, which I adore so much! Don proposed just perfectly. God has given me so many blessings! And Easter is such a wonderful reminder of each of them.
Based on what I know right now, I should be getting into Georgia for Don's Ranger Graduation 3 weeks from today! He graduates on the 1st of May, but I'll get there a few days early because I think he'll have short passes in those few days before the Graduation! 3 weeks! Can you believe it? It's amazing how fast this last month & a half have flown by...
Don gets his second & final break this Saturday, & I can't hardly wait for my phone call :) Then, he's off to Florida for the final leg of Ranger School! I'll be pinning on his Ranger Tab before I know it!!!
Hope you all have been enjoying my recipe postings lately! Let me know if you have tried any of them!! ...Can you tell I'm doing my best to stay side-tracked?!
If any of you would like to send Don a letter while he is in Florida, which he'd just love, send me an email or leave a comment here & I will get his address to you!!
Here's to the last 3 weeks! I absolutely cannot wait to be back with my husband. At the same time, it isn't easy knowing that shortly after we're back together, we'll be leaving our families here in Colorado & heading to Europe. I will miss them so much. But they will get lots of European goodies shipped to them, along with plenty of postcards!!
Love to you all!
--------- The picture I have put into this post is one of my VERY favorite pictures of Don & me! Of all the years we've been together & all the pictures we've taken, there's something about this one that I absolutely adore. It was taken at the Philadelphia International Airport just a short time before I left to go back to Oklahoma from our Army Navy weekend! We had such a fabulous time, even though Army lost... And I just love love love this picture! Defintely one to share. ---------
Hey, everybody! I hope you're all enjoying the blog so far! :)
Got another letter from Don yesterday! He still sounds great. He is so good at knowing just how to handle difficult things, setting goals for himself to keep himself moving forward, always staying determined to do the job right! He amazes me, really.
The weather in Georgia has been pretty rainy, & Don said it hasn't been much fun being out in that. They've been climbing up Mt. Yonah, learning different techniques & how to make pulley systems for pulling a casualty up a mountain, etc. "Pretty big mountain but no Rocky Mountain. However, the mountain you are on is the only one that matters, & Mt. Yonah is pretty steep..." That cracked me up a bit ;) He said that some other guys compared te view from the top to views in Germany, & Don said that got him really excited for our move!
They finished their first 5 day field exercise today, & they being their second 5 day field exercise this Sunday through Thursday. Then he has his next (& final!) break on the 11th! Then off to Florida for the last phase! Woohoo!
A big thanks to any of you who have sent something to Don! Every little bit of encouragement & support helps! He's doing great & I'm so proud of him!
What an amazing man I married :)
--------- Oh! And just to spice things up a bit, I'm going to start putting in some of my favorite old pictures of Don & I together! Always fun to see & share :) This picture is of us at West Point's Yearling Winter Weekend, which took place in February of 2006 (Don's second year at West Point.) ---------
Finally, it is April! Which means that Don will graduate in one month! Wahoo! I am so proud of him, & am obviously so anxious to be back with him!
I've continued receiving letters from Don about...once a week. Sometimes, I get more than one letter at once, which feels like Christmas!! I read them over & over! He is doing really well in the Mountain Phase right now, being fed enormous breakfasts (including pancakes made with cake batter!), & passing the tests with flying colors! Am I surprised?! ;)
Last I heard from him, he still had his cold. Keep him in your thoughts & prayers, please, that he will be healthy soon, that he will have the strangth he needs, & that he will be able to keep a happy & optimistic outlook throughout it all :) He is getting along just fine right now, no worries at all, so I don't doubt that things will continue that way! But prayers are always a good thing!
Thank you all for your support & encouragement! Xo!
Don called me this morning! I woke up at 7:30 to a call from him & was so excited! I thought that I may have been dreaming; I've been so anxious to be able to finally talk to him!
He has passed the first phase of Ranger School & is now in phase two, the Mountain Phase -- I'm so proud of him!! He sounds great, other than the fact that he is sick & exhausted :( But he's in good spirits, ready to tackle the rest of this training & be done with it! :)
It was so wonderful to finally talk. We're used to being apart from each other (unfortunately!), but this whole no talkin' thing is something we're definitely not used to! Three weeks without so much as a text message isn't easy, but thank goodness for letters in the mail!
Keep him in your prayers, that his cold goes away & that he stays happy, healthy, & safe for the remainder of Ranger School. Hooah! :) ...just had to throw that in, I'm so happy!
I received another letter from Don today! He wrote while riding the bus that was taking them to an area where they'd be brushing up on their Airborne skills. He sounds like he's really in it now, not getting much sleep & staying extremely busy. He had a 12 mile ruck march, among other rigorous tasks he had to perform, & did well on them all. I know it's so tough & I'm so proud of him for sticking with it & doing such a wonderful job! It isn't always easy to think about him out there staying so incredibly busy non-stop, but gosh I'm so proud of him!
All's well here. I've had my hands full too! My oldest sister & her 3 1/2 year old arrived a few days ago for a 2 week visit -- sick. We've all been pitching in to take care of him (poor guy really is so sick!), & now it looks like my oldest sister has caught the bug also. I'm loading up on vitamins, hoping I can get through this without catching it too!
Hope you all are doing well! Keep Don in your thoughts and prayers, that he'll stay safe, healthy, & happy, & that he will continue to do well! I know that he will, though ;)
Yay! I got two letters from Don today! I was like a little kid when I was opening them & reading them, I was so excited! Letters are so much fun to get anyway, but when they're our only form of contact, they're absolutely wonderful!
He's doing great with Ranger School so far. He passed his RPFT (Ranger Physical Fitness Test) on the first try (woohoo!), completed the CWST (Combat Water Survival Test) in an icy cold Georgia pond (Victory Pond, I believe...) doing a 15 meter equipment swim and a three meter drop to pass, completed the Land Nav course (although he said he got bogged down in a swamp for a bit!), etc. Basically, lots of acronyms & even more impressiveness on Don's part ;) He's doing so well & sounds like he's in great spirits! Gosh, I'm so proud of him!!
Now that I've received the first two letters, I'm sure I'll be getting them on a fairly regular basis now!! Yay! It's so good to see his handwriting & know how he is doing! I love him :)
Don has been in Ranger School for a week now, & he must be doing great because I haven't heard a word from him! Strange that means all is well, but it does! I do catch myself carrying my phone around, waiting for a call or text message...then I think to myself, "Amanda! He's not going to call or text! He can't!" Habit, I suppose :)
Hopefully I'll receive some letters from him this week, though! I sent him 5 letters last week. Remember to email me for his address if you're interested in writing! He'd love to hear from you all and know that you're thinking of him!
All is well here, just keeping myself busy in order to keep my mind off missing Don. 1 week down, 8 to go :)
Don started Ranger School today. I talked with him this morning before everything started up, and he is doing really well! Ready to begin...and to be finished also :)
Don sent me a temporary address to use until he finds out his company and platoon. If you'd like to send him a letter, which he'd love, please email me (irwinad@gmail.com) and I'll give you the address! I'd post it on here, but I don't know that that's such a safe idea. Better safe than sorry! Anyhoo, the most that you can send him now, other than a letter, is a piece of caffeine-free gum! haha So best to stick to just a letter! The support, encouragement, and prayers that you all have given us have been such a blessing, and Don would truly love hearing from you all! It would mean a lot to him and would really help him as he goes through this difficult training. I'm sure each and every letter he receives will put such a smile on his face!!!
Thanks again for all your prayers for Don's safety and success! He's going to do just great, I know it!!
Don starts Ranger School on Sunday. He signs in a 11 o'clock Eastern time, so that's the official starting point! I'm so proud of him for all that he has accomplished so far, and being able to go to Ranger School is just a cherry on top :) Who would have thought that it would be possible for me to be any more proud?!
Here are a few pictures of when I shaved Don's head for Ranger School (tear tear). I must admit, though...since I knew that there was no way to mess up, I actually had a bit of fun with it, I can't lie! It's a bit obvious from some of the pictures, too... But I'm also not so crazy about the fact that all of this means we're going to be apart from each other for 9 weeks, with only about 2 phone calls to each other during all that time :(
Please keep Don in your thoughts and prayers as he begins his Ranger training, that he stays safe, healthy, and that all goes perfectly for him! He'll be working so hard and not getting enough food or sleep at all... He's one tough man!
As if there were any way for me to be more proud of my amazing husband, Don has been offered, and has accepted, a slot for Army Ranger School! This is such an accomplishment, and he has worked very hard to qualify!
Ever since we arrived here at Fort Sill, Don has been doing Ranger PT (Physical Training) every morning of the week instead of the regular Army PT. And let me tell you, it does not sound easy at all! Last week, he had a 5 mile run, then a 12 mile ruck march the next day (starting at 3 am!). He sometimes runs up hills while carrying a guy on his back! I don't know how he does it! And you'd think that by now I might be used to how amazing he is, but no! I'm constantly impressed by him. So, a big congratulations to Don for all his hard work :)
Ranger School is incredibly rigorous training, comprised of three phases. During this training, Don will only have two 8 hour breaks! It's going to be very tough and trying, but if there's anyone I know who can do it, it's Don! If you want to see more about Ranger School, here is a great website: The Ranger Training Brigade
Also, Don's BOLC III graduation is in less than a week, on February 3rd! He has worked tremendously hard in this training too, mastering all there is to know about Field Artillery! He's done so well, in fact, that he is currently holding the 2nd place position in his class! Woohoo! I guess you could say that he's pretty smart, but I do hold a slightly biased opinion ;)
Here's a video of Field Artillery here at Fort Sill for you to watch if you are interested!
Don's will start Ranger School on the 1st of March, delaying our move to Germany by about 2 months. I will move back to Colorado to live with my parents while Don completes the course. It will be the longest we've been apart in quite some time, but it will be worth it! Don's training there will mean a lot to him personally and also for his Army career, and going to Ranger School is something that most soldier's aren't able to do. So the two months apart will be difficult, but for such a great reason!
We have set packing and shipment dates for all of our belongings to go to Germany! The 23rd and 24th of February will be busy for us for that reason, then moving out of the apartment! We will stay in Army lodging here at Fort Sill for roughly 5 days afterwards, and then Don will head to Georgia and I will head to Colorado.
Quite the update today! And I'll sign off by saying...
I'm an Army Wife living a very blessed life with my incredible husband & our two adopted Great Danes! I blog about our experiences, our travels, & anything else that inspires me! I hope it inspires you too ♥
