Brief summary

So here I am at Sarge's apartment, near Ft. Bragg. I took the Delta red-eye flight from SJC last night, and while I had a row all to myself, the sleep was unfortunately not so good, as the seatbelt prevented me from getting in a comfortable position. (At least Delta gives some complimentary snacks--a choice between cookies, cheese crackers, and peanuts.) After making the connection in Atlanta, I ended up sleeping the rest of the morning at the Raleigh-Durham Airport, as I waited for Sarge's parents and brothers and nephew to arrive. Fortunately I did not bring that much with me, so I was able to bunch everything together and lay my head on top of it while sitting in one of the chairs. I almost overslept, but I woke up in time for their arrival.

I don't think I will be able to see much of the historic South while I am here in North Carolina. And one probably can't say too much about what Southerners are like, based on observations made at an airport or on an airplane. Nonetheless... I am struck by how similar Ft. Bragg looks to parts of Front Royal or Watertown, New York. Just a lot of strip malls... What did the area look like 150 years ago?

This afternoon, at the first formation ceremony, I met Sarge's "uncle" and "yimo"--family friends they had made while they were all stationed in Panama (he's Mexican, she's Korean). There were refreshments and food available after the ceremony, but we headed over to a local Chinese buffet for dinner. (The food at the ceremony wasn't too bad, either--the chicken tenders were quite substantial.)

What's important about the first formation ceremony? The graduates get to change their headgear and officially wear the ----- beret for the first time, as members of the regiment.

After dinner we dropped by Sarge's apartment so he could change out of his ACUs. We then headed over to his uncle and yimo's house. Sarge has been telling them about my appreciation for Korean women. They both warned me about Korean women--she even said that "Korean women are mean." Heh. Too bad I won't be able to find a Catholic Southern belle during this trip.

It's been fun spending time with Sarge's family--it's the first time I've met most of them. I met his older brother one time, when he was in Rhode Island for a parachuting competition. I had communicated with his younger brother by e-mail, and spoken to his mom on the phone when Sarge was on deployment in Iraq and afterwards. His nephew can be a typical boy at times, but is a nice kid.

It's good to see that his mom and dad are doing ok--they were having problems earlier, and were even thinking of separation + divorce, but they seem to have been resolved at this point.