Army: About Time I Posted Again

Alright, so here is my second update from Afghanistan.  Life is going pretty good and I am finally getting into the swing of things.  The work isn't as hard as it was when I first got here and the hours aren't as long.  Starting next week, I should get a couple of mornings off a week, which is great, because I love to sleep!!!!

But I want to keep my update in terms of my goals so whoever is reading this (and my counter keeps going up, so I know you are out there!) can help keep me on track.  I'll consider it my online accountability.

Emotional- So, my emotional goal really ties in with my spiritual one.  This week, I have really tried to be a good wife by praying for my husband every day and spending the time to reflect on him.  For his birthday, even though even when I am stateside we don't normally do much, I decided to surprise him by ordering cupcakes to be delivered to his work.  It doesn't seem like much to me, but I want to continue to try and find ways to love my husband better when I don't have a lot of time to do it.  And I also don't want to get into a habit of trying to compensate my time with money spent on him (afterall, it is OUR money anyway, so spending it on him doesn't make a lot of sense). 

Spiritual- I have reached my goal this week of praying every night.  I have said I want to journal, but I didn't expect I would turn to e-journaling.  I want to get back to putting my prayers on paper, so I need to set aside time coming up to copy my old ones down from my tablet and writing them in the beautiful leather bound journal my Dad gave me for Christmas.  I have also been working on reading my bible every morning, which I have to admit, I am not very good at.  After our small group just finished reading through the new testament, I am just not sure what to do next.  I have been trying to focus on Galatians since that is what our bible study (our Chaplain just started it this past Tuesday!) is going through. 

Physical-  So this week, I have started doing CrossFit and I love it! I love the intensity and our beginners classes are great.  The instructors are volunteers who all instruct at gyms back in the U.S. who love what they do and want to share it with others.  They take the time to explain what right looks like, what wrong looks like, what muscles you should feel movements in, and which muscles you shouldn't.  I do an hour every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and my boss has been really supportive (so long as I have my work done, of course!).  I have completed 3 out of the 9 beginner classes.  Once I finish with these, I think I will do CrossFit Tuesday and Thursday mornings, Monday and Friday run 3+ miles, Wednesday hit the gym for a core workout, and keep Saturday as an open workout for whatever I feel like doing.  Sunday is my day of rest of course.  I am intrigued to see what CrossFit will do for my P.T. test score.

Mental- So my mental goal has shifted a bit.  I still want to get my real estate classes done (which I haven't had much movement on this week), but I have found I have an amazing opportunity here.  I have the opportunity to become a Lean Six Sigma black belt.  The jist is, I will be working on a project for the next 6 months that measures efficiency in some part of the Army system and I will get to mathematically find a way to fix it and potentially truly change it.  For a Lieutenant, this is my best dream.  I love the possibility of influencing the Army in a postive way and truly changing things.  I am sure as I get into, I will slowly become more  negative as it takes more time away.  But, I should come out on the other side which will give me a certification I can use in the civilian world.  I haven't had a black belt project approved, but if I do, that average salary on the outside is somewhere around $120,000.  If I get bumped down to a step below or a green belt project (which I don't think will happen, but it definitely could), the average salary goes down to about $90,000 in the civilian world.  And I really think it could help me start my own business.  So I am excited about that and will be putting a lot of my effort towards it.  Once it is finished, I will hit my real estate classes hardcore. 

Army: First Blog From Afghanistan

So here it is, my first blog from Afghanistan, now that I have internet in my room.

I don't have much for you all, mostly because this whole past week and a half has been a blur.  I've been in Afghanistan for about a week now and most of my time has just been spent learning my new job and getting to know those who work around me.  I actually have an NCO who works specifically for me now.  The work has been easy because the outgoing unit is still here so there are two people working every job.  But that also makes our work space very crowded and there isn't really enough room for everyone at once.   But it is fine, because once the unit we are replacing leaves, things will get much more difficult.

I also have plenty of amenities.  There is a pizza hut, burger king, and I think popeyes right next to where I live.  The board walk has lots of electronics and food (there is even a TGI Fridays), but I am avoiding spending money on junk for now.  Soldiers spend there paychecks on a lot of crap around here.  And everyone has old school prepaid cell phones.  Unfortunately, they don't have many girly product options, like soaps, lotions, chap stick, body spray, make up removing clothes, etc, so feel free to send that sort of stuff if you would like.  

Yes, everyone has cell phones here. Even me!

Aside from that, everyone talks about deployment goals.  People say that during deployments, they want to get buff or learn a language, or something along those lines, so here are my goals:

Spiritual: I want to get in the habit of praying every day, and not just for my food. I am not usually good about praying and I know that it is probably the best way to love people.  To just sit down and pray for the people I can't always talk to whenever I want, and rely on God to take care of them and me.  To do this, I have actually started a prayer journal so I can keep track of my prayers and after the deployment is over, I can see which ones God has answered.

Mental: I want to complete my real estate courses online.  This should be a pretty easy goal.  I haven't gotten any farther into it since I left, but that was because I didn't have internet.  I am hoping to get my next lesson done this weekend.

Emotional: I want to learn to be a better wife to my husband.  The most honest thing I can say about this time is that we are likely going to grow apart.  That's just how it is.  It's like going from being married and sharing every aspect of your life with someone, to something less than dating, where we can talk for short periods of time almost daily, but can't even be in the same room together.  This will be emotionally taxing.  While I was at NTC, I felt terrible because I felt like I was single, not like a wife.  (Not for any other reason than I didn't get to talk to my husband much and I felt like I wasn't really able to share my life with him).  So, I want to have realistic expectations, but I also want to find new and more creative ways to be a good, loving, respectful wife to my husband while I am far away from him.

Physical: So don't laugh, but I want to get a six-pack this deployment.  Mostly, I just want to tone my muscles, but my measure of success is a six-pack.  I already have a pretty flat tummy, so I figure it's not that far off.  Plus I have always had good core strength.  But we will see!

That's all I have got for now.  I am hoping to keep you all updated on my goals as I continue through this deployment!


Also, I think I am going to cut my hair.  It seems like the perfect time!