Here are some pictures from International Night on Wednesday evening. That is Catalin from Romania and Balia from Africa. International Night was a cool night, all the international students had some things from their cultures like food and drinks. It was a neat evening. The 5.4 mile run went ok the other morning. It was long and cold, and my knees hurt all day. But I'm tough and I'll survive. You know the old saying "If it doesn't kill you it will only make you stronger." I was not feeling very strong on Wednesday evening!?!?!? We have this week almost over and only two more weeks to go. Jamie and Jacob I love you and be good for mommy. Tonya I love you and I can't wait to see you in a week and a half.

Hello Everyone!!!

I hope that everyone is doing well. Thanksgiving break was nice to be back at home with the family. We are on the down hill slope with everything up here. Everyone is finishing papers and assignments for next week. In the morning we run our second to last challenge run. Tomorrow is the "Journey to OZ" 5.2 mile run at 8:00 am, the weather is calling for 34 degrees. Sounds like it is going to be a great morning for a brisk jog. I'll let everyone know how it goes.

Today in Stress Management the topic was Spiritual Wellness. It was one of the classes that I have enjoyed the most so far. I think that some of the stuff that we talked about, may be some of the reason that I'm here. I talked with the Instructor after class and got a lot out of our discussion. He has had some of the same struggles that I've been dealing with. For him he has been thinking about getting out of the FBI and becoming a Pastor but for now feels that he can do ministry here. It was a good discussion.

Chris I hope that you get over the "buck fever" before it warps your mind too bad. Jamie and Jacob be good for mommy, and Tonya I love you.

Thanksgiving Break

As I've been home on Thanksgiving break I've reflected on the experience so far. Without a doubt I'm thankful for my family, friends and God allowing me to have this opportunity in my life. Many times we get so caught up in our busy lives we forget about the real things that are important, and how blessed we really are. Everyone of my teenagers are more blessed than they realize. We many times look at what society says is important and we in America are very materialistic. 25 years from now you guys are not going to care about what you got for Christmas this year, but you will remember the love that your parents and close friends showed you. So as a challenge to my teenagers this holiday season, look at your life and make priorities about what are things in your life that are REALLY important and what are not. And we'll talk about them at some point around Christmas.

When I go back, I'll have three more weeks and I'll be home for good!!!!!! The time has flown by.

I hope that nobody ate to much turkey.

The Naval Academy

We went over to the Naval Academy the other Saturday to look around. Navy was having it's last home football game and this was the Navy Cadets marching to the game. Pretty Cool.

Married for TEN YEARS!!!!!!

That's right, today was Tonya and my 10th year wedding anniversary. If you would have asked me a year ago or two what we would be doing to celebrate our ten years of marriage, me spending 11 weeks away from her probably wouldn't have come to mind. Any way it has been a good ten years and we have two wonderful children together. I haven't always done everything right but she sure has been good to keep me around this long. Thanks for not running me off after the "tie licking incident" on our first date. :) Tonya, I love You and Happy Anniversary.

Check this out!!!!!!!

Yesterday evening the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team was doing some training in the area of the track. Pretty Cool huh!?!?!?!? I thought the guys from the youth group might get a kick out of this one. They wanted me to go up with them but I had to go and eat so I told them that I'd catch up with them later, yeah RIGHT!! See ya, Brent

Pentagon Trip

One of the ladies in my section was able to line up a Pentagon Tour. It was pretty neat to take the tour, they have over 23,000 employees that work in the building on a daily basis. The one picture is of where the plane hit the building. That is the only section that was not fixed. That is why the block of concrete is black from the fire. It was a very interesting trip.

Wednesday of the 7th Week

Hello All,

The weekend with the family was great. I played go fish with Jamie and Avery, wrestled with Jacob, and went out on a date with Tonya. It was nice to be home. I gave a guy from Malia, Africa a ride to Charlotte on my way home and way back to the Academy. It was interesting to hear and learn about his culture. This morning we had a 40 minute circuit training for our challenge called "Winged Monkey Assault". It was a pretty tough course, I was dead when I finished. Everybody take care and I'll talk at ya later.

Friday of the Sixth Week

Hello All, yesterday we heard a presentation from the Police Chief of Virginia Tech and the Lt. Col. of the Virginia State Patrol about the Virginia Tech Shootings in April. It was very informative and once again the facts that the national media portrayed was at best a pour representation of what happened. The Chief of Virginia Tech called in two SWAT teams to be on stand by once they found the first two victims and from the time of the initial 911 call officers confronted the suspect within 12 minutes. I can't drive from Granite to Lenoir in 12 minutes that's unbelievable. Of course the nation media was on a campaign for a different story than what actually happened. It was a very tragic event, but reason for the presentation was for us to try learn from happened. There were a lot of things that went very good up there that was never told in the rescue of the students. Several students were very brave in their roles during the event as well.

I'M HOME THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!! I'm excited about seeing my family, church family and even my old dog.

Wednesday of the Sixth Week

Hello Everyone, today was a good day all the way around. It was only about 34 degrees this morning for the four mile run. I ran it in 41 minutes and a little change. For me that is a little over a ten minute mile and OK for a Clydesdale like me. I worked on a group project with some guys, ate lunch and then went to the Wednesday bible study that one of the guys is doing. Today there was only four of us for the study, but it was still good. Later in the day I typed a one page paper then went and swam 1.5 miles. I ate supper and then went and heard from Bobby Smith the Louisiana State Trooper that was shot in the face and blind.

It was like listening to a very good preacher, you knew what he was saying was the truth but it was very hard to hear. He talked about his incident, his struggles with being to prideful to ask for help and the things that helped him to get through his pain and new found darkness. He talked about our emotional cups and when they get too full who do we pour them out on? The people that love us the most, our family. And how we take our families for granted and even though we don't say it, how we love our jobs more than our families! We would never say that but many times we do say that with our actions and not our words. This is going to sound funny when I type it, but tonight a blind man may have helped me learn how to see. I hope that I don't forgot the words that I heard tonight. Tonya, Jamie and Jacob I love you.

Tuesday of the Sixth Week

Hello Everybody, things here are going well. I think that my PT instructor is trying to kill us or something. He loves these things called circuit drills, and it will flat wear you out. Or at least it does me. This week has seemed sort of slow, it may have something to do with the time change. Tomorrow morning at 8:00 am we will do the Munchkin Run, which is a 4.2 mile run. I think that the weather is forecasting that it is going to be about 27 degrees. It should be interesting to say the least. Tomorrow night we hear from a gentleman by the name of Dr. Bobby Smith. His speech is titled Visions of Courage. He was a Louisiana Trooper that was shot in the face and it caused him to become blind. I've heard that he is good speaker. I'll let you know first hand tomorrow.

I saw that Justin has qualified for the state regional in track, that is awesome. Good luck Justin and do your best with the talents that God has given you. I understand that half of my youth group is on this basketball team, you guys keep giving your best as well.

Jamie and Jacob I love you!!! Listen to Mommy and your teachers and I'll see you again soon. Tonya I love you - more!!! For everyone else, the "more" is a high school sweetheart thing.

The Weekend with the Family!!!!!

The weekend was lots of fun. Jamie and Jacob believe that they can fly the jet behind them, Jacob said that riding in a tank looked kinda fun, and Jamie thinks that she could shoot the Grenade Launcher behind her if you just let it warm up a little and gave her a minute or so. It was very cool to get to hang out with them up here, and let them see what some of my world has been like for the last five weeks or so.

Things are going well for now, came back to the Academy after they left and swam a couple of miles, and worked on a paper. Classes are going well and I'm learning a lot of good stuff that I believe I'll be able to put to use some day. This week we run 4.2 miles on Wednesday for our Yellow Brick Road Challenge. It's called the Munchkin jog or something like that. I hope that everybody at the Grace Place is doing well, I sure do miss my church family. It won't be long and I'll be back to keep Kris and Nick in line. Kris, I'll have to get you some photo's of all the deer that just walk around up here. In the evenings they just walk out all around eating grass, when I see them out, I never seem to have my camera with me. Anyway I hope that game night went well tonight and you guys kept Susan and Junior in line. Take care and I'll see everybody real soon.