I apologize for not giving more details about my recent phase of training sooner, so I'll try to catch everybody up.

I've been at Fort Riley for a little over a week. My crew from Fort Lee arrived via limo (10 person stretch, actually) the evening of February 17th and spent the first 3.5 days at Fort Riley drawing gear and uniforms, and getting paperwork out of the way. Thursday, I officially joined Team 10 of the Multi-National Security Transition Team - Iraq (MNSTC-I, or pronounced "Min sticky"). Since then, I've gotten to know my team and I've done some drivers and convoy training, communications and global positioning training, and wandered around a lot in my body armor with my weapons. I haven't quite figured out how to upload pictures at the right size, so you'll have to harass Mike about doing that for me...

...Which leads me to my next point: my husband. Mike has been my rock through this as I've bounced from post to post and dealt with the uncertainty of tomorrow. We appreciate all your support through this endeavor; we're now 7.5% complete with this separation!

I'm sending Mike some pictures tonight so hopefully he'll upload some relevant ones to my more recent blogs. So, until next time, dear friends and family; I miss you tons!!

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pictures added 2/26/07 2200 hrs.

Marissa in full battle rattle - (click image for full size picture)

This is my actual barracks room here at Ft. Riley

Hello everyone. Mike here. I noticed that Marissa's post are lacking in pictures and I have decided that I need to step up and help her out. Marissa's computer access is somewhat limited right now, but I've been able to talk to her on the phone pretty regularly in the evenings. She's been taking lots of pictures since she arrived at Ft. Riley and she assures me that she'll post them as soon as she can.

So in order to add a little spice to Marissa's side of the blog, I offer these two photos. The first, is just a sign at the entrance to the post at Ft. Riley. The second is an example of the living quarters Marissa has been assigned.

An example of the small room Marissa is currently living out of. The room is private and has a closet, but shares a bathroom with another soldier.

Also, I want to mention a word about registering and "subscribing" to the site here. If you are a regular visitor or just want to keep up-to-date on the latest postings here, I recommend that you click the "Register" link over at the right hand side (toward the bottom) of the page. Fill out a quick form (choosing a login, such as your name, a password and your email address.) The website will send you a verification email to confirm that you are who you say you are and after that is complete, you can 'login' to the site. Logging in will allow you to do two things: First, you will be able to comment on a post without having to always enter your name and email address. Second, it will allow you to "Subscribe" to our blogs and receive automatic emails anytime Marissa or I post new content.

To subscribe, first make sure you have registered and are logged in. Next click on the 'subscribe' link near the bottom of the right sidebar. Check the boxes marked "Mike: Posts" and "Marissa: Posts" and click "update". This will sign you up and ensure that you will receive an email anytime Marissa or I post something new. You will be able to read our posts from your email or it will let you link back to the website if you want to leave a comment. You may always unsubscribe from this feature in the future by logging back in the site, clicking on "subscribe" again and then unchecking the appropriate boxes.

Ok, that's all I have. Marissa will have a laptop in hand (and internet connection) very soon and I hope we'll be hearing from her more regularly. (Well, she's already got a better posting record than me!!!)

-Mike

I got into Fort Riley, KS last night and will be here for awhile. You can contact Mike for my mailing address. Sorry I can't give more details yet but I'm only getting about 15 minutes on the computer every four or five days...

Mike sends me flowers without a reason.

Mike and I had a terrific weekend. We spent some time in Richmond, colonial Williamsburg, and watched the Colts win the Super Bowl! It was the best Valentine's Day present ever, and I'm counting on him to write more about it...

Mike has an internal map and compass; he can navigate easily around any city he's been to only once.

I know I haven't written quite as many details about our training as many of you might have liked, so check out my friend Jason's blog:

http://jasonirrdeployment.blogspot.com/

Jason and I were at our officer basic course and Fort Drum together and now are also going through all the phases of this deployment together, to include our final unit and destination. In many cases, he puts more description into his blogs (probably because he has his own computer with wireless internet and I have to rely on the five minute breaks between classes here in Virginia).

So, support my 10th Mountain Divison brother and read a bit!!