Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Fort Drum and Watertown

Hi everyone. We are now in week three of Fort Drum after PCSing from Fort Sill (aka we moved on the army's dime to a new assignment). And we are LOVING it.

First off, Tamara had a tough year in Oklahoma this last year. I won't get into details but she had been living there for 15 years and the shine was off. She was really unsure about this move as I had never been to Fort Drum and there were plenty of horror stories about this place usually involving weather and the area being serious banjo music land.

The weather stories are probably true. It has been nice much of the time, but it has been cold (really cold) several times and it snowed yesterday. It has all melted, but still getting snow in late April was a bit off-putting. But when its nice, its NICE. No harsh wind, no nasty sticky heat (yet), just pleasant cool weather, perfect for a sweatshirt.

As for the area around here. This place beats Lawton hands down. The nearest major town is Watertown, population about 25 to 30K. It gets bigger if you include the rather large number of small towns surrounding Fort Drum and on the lake (Lake Ontario) and the St Lawrence Seaway just an hour north. Lawton was 100000 and had maybe a quarter of the things that this place offers. Much more outdoors stuff that is family friendly (Fort Sill had some stuff but it was OUTDOORS outdoors, no kids or wives stuff). River cruises, Lake Cruises, lots of nice shops and places to eat. Hunting up the ying yang. Easy gun laws (unless its a pistol then brace yourself), all sorts of guns shops and outdoor places (they even have a firearms section in the PX, how cool is that?). The Mall is easily as good as any in OKC, and there is a much bigger one in Syracuse an hour south. Lots of GOOD chain resturants (unlike Lawton). TWO Drive In Theaters (we went to one last weekend, first time for Tamara and she loved it). And the people go out of their way to show that they are NOT like people in NYC. I have had two people apologize to me about NYC and how it must have "ruined" my expectations of what "real" NY is like.

Reminds me about how everyone in Nebraska keeps saying don't judge us by Omaha.

The only issues I have here is that housing is a pain. We are on the wait list for a house on Fort Drum and there isn't a whole lot of rentals. What is here is too small, too old or not easily leasable for less than a year.

On the whole, this is looking like a great move. I highly encourage my friends and relatives to visit us while we are here, this is a great place. But wait until after July so we can get a house first.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

On the Road Again

Hi everyone. I am typing this from Hammond, Indiana where we (Baby Girl, Wife and me) are staying for a few days to visit her parents and brother. We are in route to Fort Drum, New York for my new assignment in the 10th Mountain Division.

Fun times to say the least. The actual packing was simply insane. Tamara had to watch the baby and I had to supervise everything, so it was not 2 people moving it was 1 person moving two people. And it worked out that way, we had a bunch of stuff packed accidently when I had to step out for a few minutes to get the car weighed. So I have to show up early to get some gear.

But overall it has been a good trip so far. Baby girl has been enjoying it (the windmill farm in Iowa had her attention and then some), and even Tamara is relaxing some.

Army-wise Fort Sill was pretty good to me. I had a tough job but enjoyed it. I had two very good battalion commanders and I did some good work while there. I was able to get a couple VERY good schools before I left which will help a lot in the new gig. I got a wife and a baby girl, so even better. I also got Branch Qualified and then some with my tour as Bn XO (you need a minimum of 1 year in one of three different slots, and I got 2 years and 2 months), and a GREAT OER. I am pretty pleased with my last two years+ at Sill.

Fort Drum is going to be a whole new thing though. I am trying for base housing, and I have a job in Division Staff. A pretty high up one artillery-wise too. I have never worked higher than BDE, so this will be interesting.

The last thing is what is coming up in the fall. Some of you may not have heard yet, but I am heading to Afghanistan this fall. I will be working at Division Staff and I am working in RC South area. Yes, the area where most of the action is going on. But my job is a staff pouge so I shouldn't be doing anything too dangerous (of course, I said that the last time and look what happened).