more days until we leave for South Carolina to see Ryan!!!
He is in the final stage of his training right now...a week-long field op called Victory Forge. I had no idea what Victory Forge was until another s*ldier's family member posted this on F*cebook.
"Victory Forge ends at night, and the soldiers gather around a forge. Flames spew from the top as the battalion commander puts the soldiers' experiences into perspective. He holds up a rod of iron and likens it to them when they arrived at Fort Jackson -- metal with a lot of potential but unshaped. But then, he says, they went through the fires of Victory Forge. And as he speaks, he reaches into the forge and pulls out a sword. Then the drill sergeants go down the line and congratulate the soldiers. "When the drill sergeants walk down the line and tell [the soldiers] they've 'done good,' many of them break down," Van Alstyne said. "They are being told this by someone they really respect. It means a lot to them."
