The weekend is here! And it has been great so far, although very, very hot. I skipped my morning run on Friday due to the heat, which was somewhere over 105 degrees. AJ came home at his usual time on Friday and hopped in the shower right away because we had a dinner date. He met another 2nd lieutenant who's here for transportation BOLC I believe, so he's not in the same class as AJ. He had breakfast with this guy on Thursday morning, during which they discovered that they have the same amount of siblings, almost the same birthday, look similar, and love to talk--which in their minds, made them best friends. ;) The soldier just got married a month ago like us, so they immediately set up a double date for us wives to finally make some friends. It turns out they love ethnic food and sushi like we do, so we met at Elephant Thai, a restaurant right off post. Our husbands finally learned each other's first names, and we all agreed to try to remember to use first names when we're together. Of course, this is no problem for us wives. This couple is on active duty and will be stationed at Fort Hood, the other base in Texas, which is a far cry from their home in Colorado. AJ and J are so similar that it's crazy, and I really enjoyed getting to know R. We talked for a full two hours at the restaurant and then invited them to see our place and have a cup of coffee. They live in Fort Lee housing, which means that they don't have a kitchen or anything like that. They actually brought things they would need for an apartment, unlike AJ and me. I told R that she is more than welcome to come over and use our kitchen at any time, and I'm pretty sure we will be having them over for dinner quite a bit. She has made friends with another young wife who has a daughter the same age as AJ's niece, so I'm excited to get to know her too. It was such an encouragement to finally meet someone here who shares my experiences and who can share their perspective on Army life, deployment, children in the military, etc. I'm so thrilled to have a friend. We're going to church with them tomorrow, which is great because we haven't had a chance to try to find a place yet.
AJ took me for a drive on post yesterday before dinner. This was my first time at Fort Lee, and it was great to finally visualize where he goes every day. It feels a little bit like a college campus, just not quite as home-y, I guess you could say. The Army is super creative about street names too- A, B, C, and D streets, Lee street. We found the commissary and PX, which will be great for me once I get my ID. I'm looking forward to getting my paperwork done and meeting with Army Community Services to try to find a place to volunteer or something while I'm here.
I've been learning more and more about Army culture and being an Army wife in general these days, mostly through AJ. One day he came home from a security briefing will all this new information he wanted to put to use. Obviously, security is always important for anyone to know about, especially when you're in a new area, but it's super important in the Army. He told me some crazy stories about information being leaked to terrorists just by someone doing something innocent like posting a picture on Facebook. I try to be careful about what I say on the Internet anyway, but I now that I'm affiliated with the military it's crucial.
I'm also new to the serious hierarchy here and the strict boundary between officers and enlisted soldiers. This area is crawling with enlisted people here for AIT, which comes right after basic training. Their freedom is still very limited--they have to go places in groups and must always wear an ACU backpack, which singles them out very easily. I had no idea how much enlisted soldiers really do live in a different world, as AJ puts it. It's crazy that many of them are here straight from high school--some of those 18-year-olds are even MPs (military police) on post, which is a little weird. Officers are told not to go near them, period. As an officer, AJ has plenty of freedom here; our lives would be very different if he was enlisted.
Well, that's a lot for today. We're probably going on post to the Quartermaster Museum and Army Women's Museum today, mostly just so AJ can say he's been but also so that I can learn more about his job. We're supposed to meet up with yet another couple tonight, so that'll be fun too I'm sure. Time to start our day.
No comments:
Post a Comment