Don't Mess

In October we did a Spouse Spur Ride with our Squadron. Basically the wives go through an obstacle course type thing that the soldiers put together for us. We also learned some first aid and how to plot where we are on their maps. The soldier's do a Spur Ride as a Cavalry tradition and they earn their spurs to wear with their stetson and uniform. Jason already has his combat spurs. We got a spur charm for a bracelet. The Soldier's Spur Ride is done over 2 days, ours was 5 hours (about the amount of time the guys can stand babysitting their own kids:) Getting your "spurs" is kinda a big deal in the Cav. Here are pics. They explain why you might not want to "mess" with us:)

At the beginning they put the camo paint on our faces. The soldier helping me commented that it might feel a little weird. I replied that I new women who wore more makeup than this every day:) Then they had us line up in formation. Where do I stand? How far apart? Where? Which direction? Huh? Straight line? You'd think this was the easiest part but after a few frustrated attempts to get us in straight lines they gave up and physically pushed us into position. :)

Then came the PT test and run. I actually did pretty good. My wrist (tendonitis) hurt for two weeks afterward but it was worth it. The night before I raided Jason's uniforms to find one that fit. The pants you see above were the only ones that fit. Apparently they are the pants he was wearing when he got blown up in Iraq. There are still blood stains on the front. He took great delight in telling me that. My response? He must have been really fat in Iraq if these fit me only 3 months post pregnancy. :)
Sophie came and was the mascot for the 'WarHorse Honeys' Troop. She was so cute. She ran and ran and ran. (Very happy dog). Here she is doing recon for our "bounding" exercise. After we got in position there was a guy over the hill that we couldn't see who shot off his gun to make it more real. As soon as Sophie heard it she stopped and pointed at him. Jason was so proud that she knew right where he was even though she couldn't see him. Maybe he should take her out on training exercises.
Some of us "bounding". This was the funnest part for me. We split into two teams and would cover each others movement as we advanced on our target. Great fun. As the troop "leader" I got to call the signals to the other team when we were ready to move and when they could move.
Of course a taste of the soldier life wouldn't be complete without trying an MRE (meals ready to eat). Gross for the most part, and I had one of the "good" ones. Each one comes with a tiny bottle of tobasco sauce. No wonder Jason likes tobasco so much. What does it say that he puts it all over my cooking though. Hmm. I used to have a bunch of these in our food storage. I figured if we were desperate enough then we'd be willing to dig in and it has all the right calories etc to keep you going. We may be rethinking our food storage:)

We also changed one of the huge tires, got to ride in the humvee roll over trainer, and do a liter carry and other first aid stuff. It was a really fun day but I don't feel so bad for Jason when he is in the field. If this is a taste of what they do, they just play the whole time:)