We finished our CPX-S on Wednesday, and spent Thursday morning conducting an After Action Review (AAR). The Army is very introspective, and after any exercise there is time set aside for Soldiers of all ranks to constructively criticize the leadership. The lowest Private can legitmately tell the Brigadier General where he thought the training could be improved. We are one of the few Armies in the world that does this. Pie-in-the-sky sentiments aside, they are very boring, and most Soldiers just try to stay awake for hours while the senior leadership give their "sage" advice.
The CPX-S went well. I learned a lot, and feel much more confident in my abilities going forth. We have our validation exercise (the CTE--Culminating Training Exercise) which begins on Wednesday, and it goes through Sunday. If we get a "Go," then we will be ready to head over to Kuwait.
Yesterday through Wednesday are somewhat slower. We had yesterday off completely, and were able to go off post IE get out of Fort Bliss. However, our leadership did the Army thing, and we could only go to certain places...and we had to be in uniform. I hate wearing the uniform out in public for non-official --or Halloween ;)--purposes. It screams of "Look at me, Look at me!" However, it was nice to get away from post. I was also able to see "Our Idiot Brother." I highly recommend this movie. I really enjoyed it, and it will definitely be on my Christmas list.
I hope all is well with you, and good luck to everyone at ASH on Monday. I've enjoyed reading my ashmi emails. It makes me feel like I'm back there, and the excitement is palpable. It's one of my favorite times of the school year (Behind the last day of school, and Christmas vacation, of course!).
Okay, that was fun. You can come home now!
ReplyDeleteHi Michael! The Engle family is enjoying our last week of summer vacation. It is almost 9 am and the middle school child and the high school child are still sleeping....The party is almost over! They registered last week and Jonathan is trying to get out of having three English classes next year; two of which are electives. When you don't have lots of AP selections, you sort of get whatever is left over for electives. English is not his favorite....Libby, likewise, not being a band student, has room for electives as well and is signed up for applied engineering.....trying to get out of that as well....we'll see what the guidance office comes up with this week! I'm trying to keep the checkbook balanced with all of the start of school expenses. Both children "need" new clothing. And then there are the countless school supply expenses. There is an advantage to having just two children! We will take good care of Christina. And we will keep in touch with you as well. Until next time.... :)
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