Resituated

I have been off of active duty status for a month now.  I’ve reported to my unit in Utah, and attended my first drill.  When I first left DLI I expected to have a massive sense of relief wash over me.  It didn’t happen.   I waited for weeks, expecting any day to wake up and have the reality that it was finally over hit me.  Still nothing…I’ve since discovered that after two years of training, it’s not followed by a wave of instant relaxation, but rather a slow and gradual unwind.  At its end, I have nothing to say that would accurately summarize or describe the experience, although the word “hell” springs to mind.  I am just happy that it’s finally over.

And since then Justin and I have settled in to our new life in Boise, ID.  We love it here.  It’s close to his family, and not terribly far from mine.  We had the misfortune of spending two of our first three weeks here separated again by our respective military obligations, but that’s behind us now. 

Last weekend we took advantage of the time together and drove out to Craters of the Moon National Monument.  Here's a few pictures from the event:

We called this lady the "lunar ranger" because she made some nasty remarks to Justin and I about ruining the landscape by walking on the delicate lava rocks.

This is me about halfway up one of the cones.  I was pretty winded by the time I got to the top, and was starting to feel like I'd really let myself go in the one month since being released from active duty.  Then we came down, and saw on the sign that it's sitting at over 6,000 ft altitude.  I feel better about being a little out of breath now.

This is me at the top of that same cone looking out over the area.

Unfortunately my camera focused on Justin's hand instead of the rocks he was holding, but I was trying to show how they are sparkly.  You can't tell in any of the other pictures but all the ground kind of sparkled in the sun.

This is me standing in front of another big lava field in a different part of the park.

Sign at the front entrance

Just when I thought I was doing really well adjusting back to civilian life I caught myself walking along one of the hikes checking the ridge lines, and glancing back over my shoulder, while discussing with Justin the possibility that the foreign tourists there were actually foreign intelligence operatives.  I saw Justin checking his rear, and scanning around him and finally just announced that we're a. nerds, and b. turns out this whole combat training thing really leaves it's mark.    If it's like this coming out of training, I can't even imagine what it's like after a deployment.  I hope I never have to find out.