Fort Meade, MD

I finally made it to Fort Meade, MD. I got here about 11:00 at night on Tuesday. We were given a room (no linens) and went to sleep (and froze (the heat was turned on Friday night)). We began our training at the Defense Information School (DINFOS) on Wednesday. The training is supposed to be 10 days long but because we got here late it will only be 9 days for us. On Friday we completed our first third of training which is the writing for broadcast and announcing skills portion. We had to write a few broadcast story scripts. We then were graded on three recorded in booth news vocal reads. It is really surprising how quickly all of the things we were taught years ago come back to you. Starting Monday we begin the Radio portion of our training, then Wed. we will go on to the T.V. portion. We will be all done on Friday. From there we should go on to a mobilization site, then deploy. It is really neat to see our old instructors again and hear them teaching the new students. I still miss my three girls a whole lot, but I get to talk to them daily, so at least we are still connected.I have a few pictures taken here, but won't really be able to put them up here till tomorrow(ish). It is kind of ironic that here at the Public Affairs School, we have the least amount of computer access. As a side note, we did get linens for our beds on Wed. and were able to have restful sleep since that first night. Since I am only here for about five more days, I'm not giving out the address here. I probably wouldn't be here by the time it arrived. I should find out within the next 2 weeks what my address in Iraq will be and I will make sure everyone knows it as soon as I do. Also, the instructors have been really helpful preparing us deploy. In addition to the training we are doing here, they have linked us up with multiple broadcast journalists that are stationed here now that have deployed within the last few years. They have been able to give us specific insite into our job over there. Each person has a different aspect that they seem to focus on. One talks about the technical side of things, one the mental/emotional, one the physical. So we are begining to get a good idea of what to expect. And from what I hear, the base where we will be located is pretty comfy as far as deployments go. Of course I would much rather be home and never have to go, but as long as I'm going I am glad things are turning out like they are. I love you all, and will write more as I know more.

Quote of the blog:
Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.
Oscar Wilde