Victory Ranch

9 March 09

Monday

What a great day! We had a special treat today, as the cadre (teachers) split us up into our smaller platoons (about 25 people each) and took us out to a place called "Victory Ranch." It was designed to be a day of rest and retreat at a really neat place way out in the woods near Fort Jackson. This place is owned and operated by a Christian Ministry called Cadence International. They have Retreat Centers all across the country and also in Europe near major military installations. They only cater to the military, and open their doors to Soldiers and cadets for "get-a-way" weekends, and retreats from training. Here in South Carolina, the place is within minutes from Ft. Jackson and they welcome the Chaplain school every training cycle.

It is a large property with a log cabin and other buildings that can host about 30 people for a weekend. They provided us lunch and a nice place to relax and have some fellowship and fun away from the Chaplain school. It was cool. The timing was perfect because we have been going pretty full-steam ahead (they call that an Op-Tempo) for about 5 weeks. We will finish Phase 2 this week, have our final PT Test this Friday, and move into the final Phase 3 after that. Less than 4 weeks to go!

Next week we go camping for 4 days to practice what it's like living in a Forward Operating Base (FOB). This will simulate what it may be like in Iraq or Afghanistan (to some degree). I'm looking forward to it, and we're hoping it does not rain!