In late September 2009 I yelled "NOOOOOOOOO!" while staring in disbelief at the computer screen in my Provo, Utah apartment. How could this be? My life wasn't suppose to go like this? I hadn't planned on it? Hearing the scream, my roommates rushed into the room. Soon they realized what caused my panic.
Towards the end of my junior year of high school I decided to participate in ROTC during college and commision as an Army officer upon graduation. Due to some unique circumstances, I received my duty assignment several months after my peers and only weeks before the training commenced. The previous June when I filled out my "dream sheet" (a list of ten duty locations I rank in order of preference which the Army uses to fill its slottings) I never actually dreamed of receiving my eigth choice--Alaska!
While I tried to regain my consciousness, John, my brother, consoled me. He replied, "Jim this is awesome! Think about it. I can visit you in Alaska! We can do all kinds of cool things up there! Dad will love it!" Despite his well meaning attempts, the shock failed to wear off. Somehow, I recovered enough to attend dinner group that evening. Over dinner I shared the news with those in my group. Sharing the news with others failed to lessen my utter surprise. I wondered, "how could this happen to me!" and "this isn't where I wanted to go!"
However, with the passage of time, the shock began to ease (a little). During the 6 weeks between receiving THE surprising news and leaving Utah to begin the training, it slowly began to seep in. I really AM going to Alaska. Finally, after all years of schooling and training I thought, "I'm going to do it!"
I left Utah on October 27th enroute for Ft Benning, GA. After spending 7 weeks for initial officer training an hour and a half from my parents home in Georgia, I attended my specific career field training at Ft Eustis, VA. Finally, during the first full week of April I left Virginia for Alaska. Open for adventure, I took 3 weeks to drive across the North American continent (this included the detours I made to Utah and Washington before going on a three day ferry to Alaska). It was definitely the roadtrip of a lifetime!
Less than a week after my Alaskan arrival I found out that I would deploy to Afghanistan within 4 weeks. That brings me to my currently location in Afghanistan (six months later).
During this year I've driven 23,000 miles across the US, spent time in both the US and Afghan capitols, participated in both mounted and dismounted live fire excersies, and commanded a company during the three weeks when the commander was on R&R. Definitely, the most exciting and dangerous opportunity I've received has been leading Soldiers on combat logistical convoys throughout eastern Afghanistan.
When I read Alaska on the computer screen that fateful September 2009 day, there was no way I could have known what the next year had in store for me. Who knows what the next year will bring! (Well, I know what I'm looking forward to come next June!) While this past year has been filled with anticipation, adversity, and adventures, I continue to look forward to my future opportunities. This year has stretch and tried me in dramatically new ways. In addition, it has contributed toward me becoming the person I've always wanted to become!
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
I've Finally Succumbed to the Blogging World!
When owning a cell phone in high school was a fad, I waited until my sophomore year of college before getting one; when nearly every missionary in my mission had digital cameras, I used a film camera and resisted buying one until I returned home; and after Facebook launched, I finally joined the social network a year or two after most of my peers. And while I bought my first iPod this last August, I've tried to avoid blogging like the plague. However, like most things, I've finally succumbed.
It isn't due to any ideological problems I have with technology or progress, nor even my unwillingness to change (because in all of these cases I have!). It is more likely my desire to test and contemplate. Then test some more. I don't like rushing into decisions that I don't have to. Perhaps these things seem mundane (and indeed they are), but that is who I am.
During a marketing class I took at BYU our professor showed a graph of society's acceptance rate of products. While I have forgotten all of the names for this graph's segments of society, I roughly remember what the segments represented. The first group always buys what's new because . . . well, it's new! (these are the people who go to store openings at midnight to buy untested products. They make up about 5% of the population). The second group buys innovative toys early in the production stage based off of strong recommendations from friends who've used the product (roughly 35-45% of the population). Then there's my group; we wait until a product has been tried and tested and become accepted. We make our decision based off of friends who use the product successfully, and our own probing (we also make up about 35-45% of the population). The last group consists of the diehards. These are the people who won't quit using VHS or cassette tapes (even when it is more difficult to resist the current. They also make up about 5% of the population). It all forms a very nice bell curve.
I came to blogging slowly. I thought . . . Why do I want everyone to know my thoughts? Where will I find the time? And, couldn't my wife do it? Well, as time passed I thought some more. During my short time in Alaska I realized the hard time I would have communicating with all of the friends I've made. A blog would allow me to say something essentially one time that they could all read on their own schedule. Besides, while it is time consuming, there are positive benefits. For instance, the time I take formalizing my thoughts helps me put my life into perspective. And, since I'm not married, nor does it look like it will happen anytime soon, I should probably stop procrastinating.
Well, as part of my preparation before deploying to Afghanistan from Alaska, I opened a blogging account. I don't know how many Jim Rhoden's are out there, but while I was debating about the merits of blogging I wasn't going to let someone steal my spot! Again, I waited for another 5 months before posting my first blog entry. (To be honest, not having an Internet connection in Afghanistan probably had more to do with my slow start.) Due to limited bandwidth, this blog won't have many of the pictures, cool sounds, or YouTube clips that many other blogs have. I'll have to make due with what I have. But, now that I've done my necessary testing and prodding, I'm ready to dive into the blogging world!!!
It isn't due to any ideological problems I have with technology or progress, nor even my unwillingness to change (because in all of these cases I have!). It is more likely my desire to test and contemplate. Then test some more. I don't like rushing into decisions that I don't have to. Perhaps these things seem mundane (and indeed they are), but that is who I am.
During a marketing class I took at BYU our professor showed a graph of society's acceptance rate of products. While I have forgotten all of the names for this graph's segments of society, I roughly remember what the segments represented. The first group always buys what's new because . . . well, it's new! (these are the people who go to store openings at midnight to buy untested products. They make up about 5% of the population). The second group buys innovative toys early in the production stage based off of strong recommendations from friends who've used the product (roughly 35-45% of the population). Then there's my group; we wait until a product has been tried and tested and become accepted. We make our decision based off of friends who use the product successfully, and our own probing (we also make up about 35-45% of the population). The last group consists of the diehards. These are the people who won't quit using VHS or cassette tapes (even when it is more difficult to resist the current. They also make up about 5% of the population). It all forms a very nice bell curve.
I came to blogging slowly. I thought . . . Why do I want everyone to know my thoughts? Where will I find the time? And, couldn't my wife do it? Well, as time passed I thought some more. During my short time in Alaska I realized the hard time I would have communicating with all of the friends I've made. A blog would allow me to say something essentially one time that they could all read on their own schedule. Besides, while it is time consuming, there are positive benefits. For instance, the time I take formalizing my thoughts helps me put my life into perspective. And, since I'm not married, nor does it look like it will happen anytime soon, I should probably stop procrastinating.
Well, as part of my preparation before deploying to Afghanistan from Alaska, I opened a blogging account. I don't know how many Jim Rhoden's are out there, but while I was debating about the merits of blogging I wasn't going to let someone steal my spot! Again, I waited for another 5 months before posting my first blog entry. (To be honest, not having an Internet connection in Afghanistan probably had more to do with my slow start.) Due to limited bandwidth, this blog won't have many of the pictures, cool sounds, or YouTube clips that many other blogs have. I'll have to make due with what I have. But, now that I've done my necessary testing and prodding, I'm ready to dive into the blogging world!!!
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