The Concrete Thickens

Well, what to say? In light of the deployment opportunity, Ashley and I have talked about moving the wedding to this spring. We had intended to wait for a year or two, possibly October of 2009. However, I think we both have the intention of getting married before I deploy. So, just to get the ball rolling, we went to the church on Saturday to meet with the deacon. He laid out the process a bit, telling us about the paperwork that had to be filled out, the pre-marriage classes and counseling we'd have to go through, and the steps we could potentially skip because of the short time frame. He is going to ask for a dispensation from the archbishop in order to waive the normal 6 to 8 month waiting period, and he sounded pretty confident that it would come through. Ashley and I also took a personality compatibility test, and we'll get the results sometime this week.

School started Monday. I've got 4 classes this semester, and they all seem like reasonable classes at the outset. Linear Algebra should be a bit easier than calculus. I've been taking calculus for about 3 years, so the switch to a new branch of math may be a shock. My writing class, Technical Communication and Design, promises to be interesting. The bulk of the class will be focused on a Web Usability Test. As a group, we are going to pick a real website and contact the owner or web master. We'll develop tests to asses it's usability: how easy it is to get around and accomplish things. After that, we will write a report on our findings and give it back to the web master. It's going to be very interesting, and hopefully a little more fun than a standard writing class. My two computer classes are Principles of Programming Languages, and Operating Systems. I'm starting to really get into the meat of the computer science curriculum. With school starting, I'll have to cut my time at the internship to just three half-days a week. In addition, I'm looking at 13 hours of permanent bus shifts a week, with subbing and charters on top when the company needs it. It's going to be a busy semester.

The only other exciting news comes from this afternoon. I went in to the Drill Hall to talk again with the First Sergeant of the deploying unit, and she gave me some more details. We'll be mobilizing in late May or early June. The company will also have Annual Training through most of May, but I will be exempted by the First Sergeant if it conflicts with school. After a couple months of the standard up-training, we will be staying at Camp Anaconda, just north of Baghdad, and running a supply yard there. My job would most likely be IT and radio support to a section or all of the camp. That means this is likely to be a relatively safe, easy job. (I'm not sure of that yet, so I'm taking the "Hope for the best, plan for the worst" approach.) I've verbally agreed to transfer to their unit and deploy with them, but I haven't signed anything just yet. Still, I'm starting to get used to the idea. I'm not excited that I have to put my civilian life on hold, but I really think this is my best option.