Time to brag!

My dear hubby has had an interesting couple of weeks at school. Last week the students had their Class A's (the green formal uniform) inspected. Poor Matt was in misery for the 3 hours they stood in formation because his uniform is so snug he can't take a full breath. (The Army is phasing out the green formal in favor of a new blue one, so Matt's trying to hold out on buying a new set until the blues are in.) He stood there for three agonizing hours in the sun while each soldier was painstakingly inspected. Lucky Matt was 4th from the last! When the inspecting Sgt. Major stopped in front of him, Matt held his breath and waited for what he was sure would be a blasting for his too-small uniform. Instead, the SGM looked at his medals and asked what he did to merit the Bronze Star w/Valor. Matt told him he'd been in the ambush of the 507th Maint. Co., and the SGM turned to the 1st Sgt. and said "We were just talking about that, weren't we?" Then he told Matt he'd watched a special on tv about it the night before. It didn't take long for him to put two and two together, and he told Matt he wanted to talk to him after the inspection. So, everyone was called into formation again and the SGM began to lecture them about how important it is to pay attention to detail. Then he called Matt forward and asked if anyone knew who he was. Of course no one did, so he proceded to tell them that they would have known if they'd paid better attention, and that he knew who Matt was because he'd seen him on tv the night before. Matt was embarassed and figured that would be the end of it, but the next day he was called into the Commandant's office. The Commandant kept him there for an hour while he made a bunch of phone calls trying to figure out the best way to get an article about Matt written and published in the Quarter Master Bulletin, a widely distributed military professional magazine. He coined Matt, which was very cool, and sent him on his way. (Ranking military leaders each have a personal "coin" minted to give away at their discretion, usually as an indication of some outstanding performance on the part of the receiving soldier. The higher ranking the giver, the more prestigious the coin.) Two days later Matt was called out of class to see the Commandant again. When he walked in the room he recieved the shock of his life. CSM Preston, the Command Sargeant Major of the entire Army was waiting to meet him!! They visited for a few minutes, then CSM Preston coined him. The Ft. Lee post commander was also there to coin him! Such an amazing experience to meet the ranking NCO of the entire Army, let alone be coined by him! But any of you who know Matt, know how laid back and unassuming he is. He was excited about it, but mentioned it almost matter-of-factly, and that will probably be the only time he'll bring it up.

As expected, he's doing really well in his classes. The days are long!! He has me call to wake him up at 4:30am and he usually gets back to his room by 8:00pm. He's the class leader and is acing all his tests (of course). Only four more weeks and we should finally get him home again! At least for a while...in February his team is flying to the States for an extended training mission. We're not sure how many weeks this one will last, but he'll be on friendly soil, for which I'm thankful!