Fast Changes

When I arrived to the 307th Integrated Theater Signal Battalion at the Schofield Barracks in Hawaii, I was told it was a non-deploying unit. I was told that the most we would do is go on missions to places like Thailand, The Philippines, and Guam among others. Basically I was told that our mission was to support the Pacific. Long story short, many things have changed since then and we are now scheduled to deploy in June to support Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF)which is just the governments fancy way of saying the War in Afghanistan. We were informed in January and that leaves only six months to get our battalion ready to go down range. That means lots of long days and lots of training, but most important to me is to be mentally ready for a year in a combat zone which is very hard and I don't know where to even start. They haven't given us a set date that we will fly out but they have posted a calender with all of our training and everything we have to get done, block leave is set for May 1 - May 15 and the 72 hour prior pregnancy test that the females receive is scheduled for May 29-May 31 so June 1 is looking like the day. I continue to keep my faith in the Lord and I know that he is going over there with us. I often refer to Ephesians 6:11-18, because I know that despite all the gear and equipment that we will be issued, I will still need to put on the full armor God everyday as well. I will try to post weekly, to keep this blog updated and post pictures and videos to give you a full insight. I ask for you to keep me and my fellow soldiers in your prayers. Until next time this is PFC Florence signing out...