I Promise I Don't Mind, Now GO!

So here I sit, 7:45 in the evening, alone on a Saturday night. This normally wouldn't sound so strange, if you didn't know that my husband is with 6 other Army guys scooting around Florence on rented Segways after just having visited the Museo Criminale - the Serial Killer Museum.

It all started a couple weeks ago when training for the EIB - Expert Infantry Badge - began. There were many stations set up on the North 40 (a huge grassy area on Post used for, well, training) and the soccer field. Training consisted of low-crawling, gun assembly, grenade throwing, camo face-painting, map-reading, and lots of other "trials" that required the soldiers to be on the ground. Because Mother Nature has a sick sense of humor, those two weeks were filled with rain. Cold, steely, unforgiving rain. I think I've done more rinsing, scrubbing and washing of ACUs and cold/wet weather gear in the past month than I have in the past 2 years. Anyway, the stations are difficult, and failure to pass a station trial results in a no-go. Three no-go's total means you're done. Two no-go's at one single station means you're out. This training went on every day from 5 am to 5 pm, often with a very short break for lunch, if any. It's done every year the guys aren't deployed, and the few that pass each year get to run the stations each following year. Testing began Wednesday and finished Thursday, and according to Michael, soldiers were "dropping left and right." For two weeks I watched him come home late, exhausted, dirty and hungry, and I watched him work so hard at getting each trial right. All day Thursday I waited in anticipation, hoping to hear good news. Finally, sometime early in the afternoon, I got a text message on my phone. Michael passed True Blue! He'd passed all the stations on the first try, with not one single no-go! I smiled so proudly all afternoon, and upon his news I started a nice celebratory dinner in the rotisserie. Friday was the awards ceremony, and the soldiers who finished True Blue were pinned separate from the other badge recipients. That evening we celebrated with a glass of wine and Michael crashed on the couch from exhaustion. As happy as we were that he did so well, we were both glad it was finally over.

So this morning we all got up early, got dressed and took Michael to Post to meet some friends for what was supposed to be a day trip to Florence as a reward. They were to meet up at 830 to head to the train station, and once they got to Florence, they immediately decided to get a hotel room. All afternoon I wondered what the boys were up to while Jericho and I ran errands on Post. When I finally heard from Michael, they'd already had a blast at the museum and were about to check out the latest in scooter technology.

I'm so proud of him. He works so hard at being a good Soldier, and he definitely has his priorities in order. He takes care of his "guys," and he puts them before himself. He deserves this down time; he's earned it. I trust him to make good decisions and be on his best behavior when he's away from home, but for some reason, I can't shake the feeling that he's gonna come home with a tattoo.

I'll let you know.