Friday, August 03, 2007

At long last...

Today stinks.

Quite literally. There is a paper mill about a half hour away, and depending on the direction of the wind, its stench reaches our house. It seems to be this way especially after it rains, which it did all night. I'm sitting in the living room- not even outside- and it stinks. Blech.

On a much happier note, Jon was promoted this week! I have been waiting for him to post, but if you frequent his blog, well, you know there's not much reason to frequent his blog. Maybe tonight. We'll be sure to get some pictures up.

If you have talked to him about his rank, you understand the frustration... chaplains in the Active world (or Reserve, for that matter) are promoted from 1st Lieutenant to Captain within a few weeks to a few months (at the most) of graduating CHOBC (Chaplain School). This is because, in order to be an officer, you have to have a Bachelor's- but in order to be a chaplain, you have to have a Master's- since chaplains come into the Army with that education, they are quickly promoted... unless, of course, you are in the Georgia National Guard, in which case it takes a minimum of two years. Yes, I said a MINIMUM. Regardless of whether those two years are spent in drill time (working your civilian job and drilling with the Guard once a month) or in Active time (as in Jon's case), it's two years. This is particularly frustrating when you're activated, because people see you are a 1LT chaplain and assume you have JUST graduated CHOBC...

So, finally. FINALLY. He was up for promotion in March, but like everything in the Army, it takes a few months for it to work through the system. Tuesday morning, he called and said he had received a phone call that his promotion orders were in. Two hours later, we were pinning him! (well, with the new uniforms, it's more "velcroing" than "pinning"...) Yes, it is the wife's privilege to actually pin the new rank, while all the soldiers are standing at attention. There were probably about 25 people there (not bad considering it was so last minute- and DURING lunch...). His Brigade XO (who happened to also be his Battalion Commander in Iraq) gave a speech basically about how Jon is the best chaplain ever (what? biased? me?), which was actually quite moving.

I pinned him from 2LT to 1LT the day before he graduated CHOBC, which was 3 days before our wedding. Hopefully in a few years, we'll get rid of the Captain bars and put on the Major's golden maple leaf!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sara,
Sounds like you and Jon are doing very well which i am very pleased to hear about. It's also wonderful that Jon was awarded his Promotion. Thats wonderful. I hope that you and the baby are doing wonderful and that you all are well. Stay cool and for goodness sakes could you try not to stink it up down there... :D enjoy the stinkless days! Living in Sparta is not much different on a windy day!
Smile On
-Christina

Lori McDonald said...

Congrads Sarah - As I am sure you have heard before - behind every great man - is an even GREATER WOMAN!!! LOL

This is just as much of a promotion for you!!!

Tell Jon I said I am very proud!

God Bless to you both!! Oh - extra money in time for the baby is always a good thing!! :)

Lori

Kat said...

WAY COOL!!!!! CONGRATS!