A New Adventure

Last July we were on vacation in Florida and Mark put in his packet for the Army War College.  There are two ways to do the War College, part time and full time.  Part time means keeping a civilian job, Army Reserve job and working on the War College all at the same time.  Full time means a PCS (Permanent Change of Station) to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, for 10 months to focus solely on the War College.  Not many Reservists are chosen and Mark knew his chances for full time were slim.  But why not take a chance and apply?  I remember him hitting the send button and him smiling at me and saying something to the effect of, "Well, it's in God's hands now". 

Fast forward six months.  It was a Thursday night and I had just tucked the girls in bed.  I came down to let Mark know they were all ready for him and he was just hanging up the phone with the strangest look on his face. 

Sarah:  "What's wrong?"

Mark:  "That was COL Morales, he says he thinks my name is on the list for the War College."

"He thinks?"

"Well, he said my name is on there, but I haven't seen it, and he was calling to say "Congratulations"."

"Resident or Correspondence?"

"Resident."

"You're kidding me!"

"No."

"We're moving to Pennsylvania?"

"Maybe."

Let me set the stage a bit more.  Mark's laptop has been on the fritz.  It takes forever, I mean forever to boot up.  So he's trying so hard to get it moving quicker, but it's not working.  Finally he gets the thing on and working but can't find the right page on his AKO (think Army e-mail) account.  When the correct page is located, it doesn't take long to get to the "B's" and there it is....

Brooks, Mark D.    USAR    Primary

Can I just tell you the shear joy that was radiating from my husband?  Have you ever wanted something so badly but knew that it wouldn't happen, then only by the grace of God you get it and then don't really know what to do?  That was us.  I don't think Mark slept that night.  We poured over the website, trying to glean any bit of information that was available to us.

The State Police have been so supportive of this new adventure as have family and friends.  We are so grateful that the path has been made relatively easy for us so far.  The Army seems to move at a snails pace when it comes to details, but that's just the way it is and it has been the way life has been for us with Army endeavors in the past.  I know that our friends look at us funny when they ask for details about where and when and we really have no idea.  I do know that class begins on August 8th and graduation is in June.  I know that the Army is going to come get our stuff and move us, but I have no idea when.  I know that we will be able to move into our home on post at some point before class starts, but I don't know how long before.  I have made up my mind that as long as the four of us are together, the rest doesn't really matter.  It will all come together, sometime.  But in the mean time, we wait and trust that God has all those details planned out already.