blanket time!

showing dad how its done










looking cool

About my First Duty Station

By Jackson

While I still haven't received my orders yet I did receive a letter from the personnel officer of the commander of the 505th Quartermaster Brigade stationed in Japan saying that I am on their list of officers they are going to receive in the next little while (I was one of 5 to receive this letter, the only quartermaster and the only 2LT [2 were first lieutenants and two were captains from the signal and ordinance branches]).

I would say that it is now VERY likely that Lisa and I will end up in Japan. There are only 350 soldiers there (it's really more of a Navy post) but we still don't know if we will be at Camp Zama just south of Tokyo or Torii Station on the island of Okinawa.

More to come!

foot boy

Here he is performing his latest favorite, grab the feet/socks. He has also started saying his consonants, currently he talks in lalalalala.

My Training

Just a little amendment (and explanation of terms) to what Lisa already posted about my first six months after I graduate and commission on 13 May 2006!

I will be going to Fort Lewis, Washington as a TAC (tactical training) officer (assisting to train the cadets who will be commissioning next year) at LDAC (Leader Development and Assessment Course), also know as Warrior Forge. That will be from 1 JUN - 23 JULY.

After a little leave I will be reporting to Fort Sill, Oklahoma (home of the field artillery) for a new bit of training for newly commissioned officers called BOLC II (Basic Officer Leadership Course 2 [the ROTC program now considered BOLC I]). The purpose of this training to counter act the new style of terrorist insurgency attacks going on in the world. There is really no front line anymore so the Department of the Army wants to insure that every officer, even the logies (logistic folk) like myself can react successfully in the event of an ambush or firefight. Most (including myself) are calling this "LDAC on steroids" and don't really want to do it but in all honesty it could save my life so I won't complain about six weeks of field training too much. I do get to fire a whole bunch of weapons so I guess it won't be all bad. I will be at BOLC II from 6 AUG - 22 SEPT.

BOLC II is followed up by BOLC III, aka OBC (Officer Basic Course) and my OBC course is at Fort Lee, VA, home of the Quartermaster Corps. This course will introduce me to all the many different aspects of the quartermaster branch so I have somewhat of an idea of what I'll be doing when I finally get to my first duty assignment. OBC runs from 1 OCT - 5 JAN. We're still trying to figure out if Lisa and Coryn will be coming to Virginia with me... hopefully we'll be able to work that out.

Following OBC I am going to try to get slots at two other schools offered by the army, both at Fort Benning, Georgia (home of the infantry). I hope to be able to go to the three week jump school course, aka airborne school. This would make me a qualified army parachutist. I'd then like to go to the five week rigger school where I would become qualified to fold and use the many different types of parachutes the army uses. The hardest part of that school would be the final week where you study personnel parachutes, learn how to fold and inspect one, and then jump with a chute you've packed! There's a good way to insure the folders are paying attention.

That's about all for now, but I'll keep you informed as I learn more.

aww

fun on the floor













future pianist

We have received some information about what Jackson will be doing after graduating. First he will be training the next group of ROTC cadets at something called LDAC, which is at Ft Lewis WA. He will be there from June 1st to July 23rd. He then has 13 days before he has to report for his own camp (called Bullock 2 or something like that) on August 6th. It will be in Oklahoma until September 22nd. Then, he will attend the Quartermaster officer basic training (OBC or Bullock 3) from October 1st to January 5th.

So, he didn't quite get the positions or places he was hoping for, but I'm sure this will be the best thing for us.