I'm Back

So when I said I might have something to say at the end of January, I wasn't lying. I just did not anticipate that the combination of 8 hours a day of Powerpoint slides, 4 days a week of PT, and the more social aspects of the JAG officer basic course would take so much out of me.

At the end of the day, I simply did not have the energy to blog. The dial-up internet did not help. Nor did the fact that I was essentially cut off from the outside world, having little knowledge about current events or time to make progress on my Great Books Project.

That's not to say that I did not greatly enjoy much of my OBC experience. First and foremost are the great friends and colleagues I came to know over the 14 weeks at Fort Lee and Charlottesville. There is just something about spending so much time together in such unpleasant circumstances (whether it's conducting stand-to on a cold January morning or sitting through the aforementioned Powerpoint torture) that forges hasty but strong friendships. I continue to be in touch with more than a dozen, and hope that continues indefinitely.

Of course I also made the most out of being back in Charlottesville. Three years of law school there had given me just enough expertise to be a local guide in the first few weeks before everyone got their bearings. From Christian's Pizza to the South Street Brewery, I made sure my JAG friends experienced the very best that C'ville had to offer. It was bittersweet at times, since all of my memories of Charlottesville were memories made with my wife, who had to stay behind in Atlanta working the big firm life while I was in Charlottesville. Fortunately she was able to make several weekend visits, including a visit on our first anniversary to Veritas Vineyard, the site of our wedding.

The curriculum at JAG OBC was a mixed bag. The content was good. Most of the professors were very good. But the relatively short duration of the classroom portion, a mere 10 weeks, necessitated a delivery that was alternately called (by the professors) the "firehose" or "death by Powerpoint." It's not the ideal way to learn, and the stated goal of many professors was merely give us the ability to recognize the questions in our practice that might be answered by the course materials we were given. In that limited ambition, they probably succeeded.

And now here I am, working away. I took a week of leave after our April 7 graduation, found an apartment, moved my stuff down, and have been slowly learning the tricks of the trade. I'm assigned to the Legal Assistance section, which I requested, and am quickly becoming aware of the myriad legal problems that soldiers deal with (and create). I'm am very much enjoying the work, and my colleagues in the office are every bit as excellent as the friends I made at OBC. So things here are good. Very good.