Wherever the Army sends us.

So the title of our Blog is "the Ford's - wherever the Army sent us."  That's my attempt to copy some friends who are the XXXs in YYtown.  Our problem is that our town changes every two to four years.  Let me give you a quick rundown.

Jeni graduated highschool in Seaside, CA (see, she was an Army brat and dad was at Ft. Ord at the time), and went to basic training at Ft. Dix, NJ.  From there, she went to AIT at Ft. Huachuca, AZ.  Then off to Russian linguist training at the Defense Language Institute at Monterrey, CA.  Her first duty post was Ft. Hood, TX.  She was there when the wall fell and had the realization that Russian linguists were no longer in high demand and decided to go "green to gold".  She went back home to the University of Washington (see how that works, dad was at Ft. Lewis, therefore "home" is Washington) and got a commission through ROTC in the Ordnance Corps.  Upon graduation, she went to OBC at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, MD, with a side trip to Huntsville, AL, for missile maintenance, and then off to Ft. Stewart, GA.

I started my adventure at Jacksonville State University.  The ROTC cadre offered me a scholarship and I accepted with two conditions:  I could change my major to Chemical Engineering and I could transfer to the University of Alabama.  Both conditions being satisfied, I ventured off to Tuscaloosa.  Upon graduation in 1995, I headed to OBC at Ft. Sill, OK and then Airborne school at the Benning School for Boys.  From there I went to his permanent duty station at Ft. Stewart, GA.

There the stories come together.  Due to some friends and friends of friends, and some fate, we met and got married at the little chapel in Mentone, AL.  Because we were a year apart in our career timeline (Jeni was senior) and that would cause us to be apart quite often, we decided one should resign.  Jeni, being the future mom, gave up her career for our family but she continued for a few more years in and out of the National Guard.

Since that time, the Army has sent us to some great places we would have never seen any other way.  From Ft. Stewart, we went to Ft. Sill (again for me), then to Pocatello, ID, Aberdeen, MD (again for Jeni), and the Pentagon (Vienna, VA).

Some of the places at least one of us has been able to go:  Dallas, TX, Austin, TX, Carlsbad Caverns, Boise, ID, Pikes Peak, Arches National Park, Salt Lake City, UT, Craters of the Moon National Monument,  Yellowstone National Park, Jackson Hole, WY, Las Vegas, NV and Hoover Dam, Richmond, VA, Yorktown, VA, Lancaster, PA, Philadelphia, PA, Washington, DC, Gettysburg, and many, many more.  Since we've been married, at least one of us has been to something like 37 states and we've literally driven the highways from coast to coast together - From Savannah, GA to Seattle Washington to Dover, DE.  For the NASCAR folks out there, at least one of us has been to at least one race at Charlotte, Pikes Peak, Texas Motor Speedway, and Dover International Speedway.


The Army has its challenges, but it has its blessing, too.  We've met some of the most wonderful people in the world and we have friends that span all the places we've been and then some, because they're moving too.