My trip to Virginia

June 22 thru the 26th, I had the great pleasure of making a trip out to Virginia to visit my good friends Libby and Spencer, and their two beautiful daughters Avery and Tess. The morning after I arrived, I was honored to witness the "passing of the torch" to Spencer's successor - a year ago, Spencer was named Drill Sergeant of the Year (DSOY) for the Army Reserve. This means he's the best of the best of all Army Reseve Drill Sergeants!! It's a huge honor! For the past year he's been serving as a special advisor to TRADOC Command (the Army's Training and Doctrine Command). TRADOC is responsible, if I understand it right, for designing the training all solders undertake in the process of becoming an Army soldier.

So anyway, the morning after I arrived, we went to the ceremony naming the two new DSOYs for the Reserve and the Active components of the Army. It was quite awesome - I was actually close to tears a couple times - just with the coolness of it all (no, I wasn't an English major, and proper words to describe how amazing and neat this whole thing was don't come easily to me).

Click this link to see a LOT more pictures from my trip.

The rotunda, with the an aircraft carried cruising by in the background.


The DSOY competitors - these guys (and two gals!) have won numerous competitions throughout the ranks, and now are up for the final level - official DSOY of the entire US Army.

Spence, carrying the DSOY Reserve award...
Cute girls!!