AUSA Conference

Chris, Kate, myself finally HOME!

I was invited to attend the AUSA (Association of the United States Army) conference in Washington D.C this week. It was a great opportunity to represent Fort Jackson and all the issues we want brought to the attention of the commanders. What a great week!

woah. is all I have to say. It was a great opportunity for me as well as the other 3 ladies who came. Needless to say it was a HUGE eye opener. This was the first year that TRADOC was invited so that was HOOAH!

after our first day of sessions we realized that all the info and training we were getting was geared towards FORSCOM (the posts and unit that deploy)..... not really helping us out. So we brought that to the attention of the "higher ups" putting on the conference. They were very excited ot hear from us. So they tried to shift as much as they could. I was surprised at how LITTLE FRG leaders did NOT know?? A couple ladies never heard for EMFP??? excuse me? Or Respite care???? And I was excited to learn that we have our sh!t together at Fort Jackson compared to other BCT posts!!! I did learn that other BCT posts get cycle breaks where as Ft Jackson is working on almost a year with zero cycle breaks for majority of the units. I brought his issue up to the Deputy Tradoc commander and he was surprised and concerned with that news... so i"m hoping something will be done. Also I learned that respite care for Drill Sgts families is on the way (hooray) AND most important we met with Congresswoman Gilford from AZ and she told us the bill for the 3.9% raise was pushed through!!! SAWEET! Then on the way home we shared the bus and plane with Congressman Wilson (woohoo) and he also assured us that the raise was going to come! So that was great news!

How do they do this?

As my time grows near for me to go to D.C. for a conference I wonder how in the world am I going to leave my babies?? I have been extremely lucky to be a stay at home momma and beside the occassional sleep over the kids are usually home with me. I am only going to be gone for 4 days but man it seem like a long time. How does Wayne do it for a year??? As my heart hurts I try to be strong and think to myself this will be so good for the kids to spend 4 whole days with DAD! WOAH! Alright so chin up and drive on little soldier girl, your country (well the family members) need you.

School has begun!

Ariana started school on August 20th and Angelo started August 24th. They both seem to be doing great and adjusting well! We have open house on Thursday this week so it will be exciting to see their classrooms and hear what the teachers have to say.

Cause I'm a blonde, yah yah YAH!

after not much thought at all I decided to color my hair really really blonde and I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!

Just something to think about...

Professor is a Genius


An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had
never failed a single student before, but had once failed an entire
class.

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That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one
would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.


The professor then said, "OK,
we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan".


All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade
so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.


After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.
The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied
little were happy.


As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had
studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a
free ride too so they studied little.
The second test average was a D!
No one was happy.


When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.

The scores never increased as bickering,
blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would
study for the benefit of anyone else.


All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that
socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great,
the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward
away, no one will try or want to succeed.


Could not be any simpler than that.

Land that I love

I love the 4th of July! It truely is one of my favorite holiday's!!! Here are some pictures of us celebrating our independence!!

The summer is half over??

And what a great summer it's been. Filled with waterpark visits, bbq's countless evening's spent outside, Fireside chats, and vacations to Virginia Beach and New Jersey. The kids are surviving and not driving me insaine.. yet..... Soon we'll be looking for school supplies and waiting for the ever antisapated school teacher assignment. I've been keeping busy with AT EASE and the Spouses Club and cannot wait for both to start back up in August. So as we enjoy the last half of summer I hope we make the best of it!!!