It’s a Big Deal

This will probably be the last post I will be able to label “Military” now that my life as a military spouse has come to an end. I received an email from Shawn’s old commander’s wife about a volunteer award they had put me up for in recognition of my time as FRG advisor. I didn’t think much of it because I knew that there were many awards out there for volunteer service and I felt fairly certain they were easy to get. So several emails later we were finally able to nail down a date when I could escape from work in Austin to head up to Killeen to have the award presented. My one criteria for this date was that it had to be before November 30 since that was when my ID expired and I refused to go get a visitor’s pass for an installation I basically lived on for the last two years of my life. So Wednesday was the day we chose since I also had to be in Killeen for a meeting about the church retreat. Little did I know when arrived at the ceremony just what a big deal this award was. I had been chosen to receive the Helping Hand Award which has to be approved by the commanding general for III Corps and Fort Hood. For those of you non-military out there, that would be a 3 star general (they only go to 4 stars). I was pretty shocked when I discovered this and even more surprised to find out that out of 30 applications for the same award mine was one of only 2 that were approved. I guess I did something right in my year of volunteer service. I was really sad to leave this unit. Now I remember why. These were great people who took a lot of pride in their unit and in their jobs. The camaraderie of 3d ACR was unmatched in any other unit we were affiliated with during my time in the Army. I am proud that for a small moment in time I was able to be a part of such a great group of people and that they felt I was worthy of such an honor.