RLTW

Anyone in Ranger Regiment knows that RLTW is shorthand for "Rangers Lead the Way!" - the battle cry of the United States Army Rangers. This week and weekend, Rangers definitely led the way here in the panhandle of Florida. We hosted our annual Ranger Camp Open House where we invite the public to come out to Camp and experience what being a Ranger is all about. On Friday, everyone involved participates in a huge rehearsal of the whole event. Last year and this year I have brought my 7th graders to view the rehearsal. The soldiers here have fun rehearsing to a live audience and the kids have a blast seeing everything up close and getting to talk and hang out with Rangers. Of course, they know that my house is somewhere on Camp and beg incessently to see it.

This year one of my students designed the T-shirts that we sold at the Open House on Saturday and did an amazing job. Unfortunately, she also passed out from heat stroke during the actual event and got to take a trip to the medics clinic here on Camp. She was fine after some TLC and hydration and felt very cool to have gotten the "behind the scenes" tour. And of course being treated by some pretty good looking guys made her the envy of all the other pre-teen girls, nearly resulting in an epidemic of small maladies that might require extra attention from the medics.

On Saturday, the day of Open House, the girls and I were up early, ready to go. I was still sunburned from Friday because, while I dutifully reminded all of my students to liberally apply the sunscreen, I of course forgot myself. We headed down to the Ranger Run just in time to see our friend Yohanna cross the finish line in the 5K. Considering that she has a 4 month old and a 4 year old and made darn good time on the run, Yohanna is my hero. All the money from the run goes to Fisher House Foundation, a foundation that provides homes for families of soldiers being treated in military hospitals for extended periods - think Ronald McDonald House for the military. With all of our wounded trooops, these houses that provide the comfort of home are even more important now. We raised $6000 this year for Fisher House. If you are interested in finding out more about Fisher House, visit http://www.fisherhouse.org/.

After the run, my friend Carrie and I dragged our kids to the FRG (Family Readiness Group) T-shirt booth and set up for a full day of sales. Her two boys, my two girls, and their friend Jasmyn all ran around the lawn and eventually convinced Sgt. Burke to let them watch cartoons on the big screen in the Gator (our restaurant/lounge/all purpose meeting room that serves up food and entertainment) and give them free chips. Once things got underway we went to watch the Reptile House Show featuring every type of venemous and non-venemous snake native to this region, two baby gators (Tyrone and Billy Bob) and our two adult gators, Stumpy and Vincent (one of the largest males in captivity). The Reptile House was followed by the Ambush Demonstration, the Hand to Hand Combatives Demo, the Repel Tower Demo, and finally, the Downed Pilot Rescue with parachute jumpers and fast ropers. By the end of the day, we were sunburned and exhausted. Duane is TDY at Ft. Benning for Pathfinders School so we didn't get to see him do anything but let me tell you, we worked that t-shirt stand like nobody's business which tells you something about being a soldier's wife: it isn't just the soldier who works for the Army! :) All in all, a successful weekend that I need a weekend to recover from.