Hooah!

1-10-09

Made it through the first full week here at CH-BOLC (Chaplain Basic Leader Officer Course), and now it's laundry night! Hooah! [That's a new word to me, by the way. No one seems to know the origin, or what it even means, but they use it all the time in the Army. It seems to mean just about anything you want it to mean, such as "cool" or "yes" or "I understand" or "way to go!" For example, the sergeant will say, "we're going to run that drill again, hooah?" And we all respond in unison, "Hooah!" Some of my colleagues are pretty gung-ho about it, too].

As for the laundry, my wife is home raking the leaves outside and I'm doing laundry inside. She said, "Something's wrong with this picture." I agree. I found myself trying to think through what would my wife do with this shirt? (I can't lie, I had to call her once for guidance!) I've now got clothes hanging all over the room to dry... she would be proud of me.

I think this Program will be pretty challenging, both mentally and physically. Not only will we do all of the Army stuff (saluting, marching, physical training), but there is also a classroom component to it as well. We all have to read quite a bit of material and write a few papers along the way, as well as do some preaching in front of each other--which they will video tape it for review. I understand we each have to lead a worship service out in the field (literally), to practice what it will be like with Soldiers "down range." So they're going to push us and try to make real Army Chaplains out of us by the time this is over. Some of my active duty peers will be deployed within months of ending this class, so they need to be ready. As do we all.