11/21/08

Captured!

We're just headed home after two and a half weeks at Camp Parks. Camp Parks is in Dublin, California just east of Oakland. Mike was an instructor for ANCOC (advanced non-commissioned officer course) which included some pretty serious "war games". I got to play the part of an Iraqi villager (sometimes hostel, sometimes not). In the picture I'm getting frisked! I was really amazed at the seriousness of the training. For example; at one point I was walking down a dirt road with a baby and a soldier told me to "Halt"! I pretended not to understand and she gave me hand signals to get on the ground. And get on the ground I did! It was pretty impressive. But what was most impressive to me is what Mike does month after month to conduct these courses. They're time consuming, sometimes dirty and many times frustrating but alway important to those taking the class. He's my hero! We're still waiting to hear about a start date for Grand Prairie, TX but there are many opportunities to teach every month if Grand Prairie doesn't come through. In fact, the battalion would rather Mike NOT take the Texas mission because it leaves them so short handed of qualified teachers. Whatever happens will work out fine for us. We'll keep you posted. In the meantime we continue to enjoy the travel.