He's Back!!

Russell's back from Air Assault school, and you can bet, after 12 days of missing him, that I was waiting at our front door like an excited little puppy at his estimated arrival time! In fact, I stood there for the 20 minutes leading up to the time he said he'd be home...hoping, hoping, hoping he'd get home early!!! :)

I snapped a couple of quick shots as he walked up to the door...all decked out in uniform!

Then, of course, I put the camera away so that I could give him a big ole hug!!! SOOOOOO glad to have my hubby and Rhys' daddy home!

Russell shared with me about his experience at air assault...sounds extreme & challenging, to say the least!! If you're interested, I'll share with you through pictures! Just start scrolling...

(Notice they had to plant their faces IN the sand!! Russell said they had to clean sand out of their ears!! Yuck!!)

Above, this obstacle course resembles a ladder, but the 'steps' get farther and farther apart the higher you climb...talk about brute strength! My arms and upper body go limp just looking at that! Yikes!

Above, the "weaver"...4 x 4's horizontally placed on an A-frame; the soldiers had to climb over one, then under the next, then over, then under, repeating this challenge until the next. Whew...talk about some major core strength! Again, I'd have NO desire to do this.

238 soldiers entered the 12-day course; only 158 graduated. It's not an easy course, for sure. Russell knows that the Lord carried him through those 12 days of exhaustion, including learning new materials and application. The final morning, all soldiers had to awake around midnight, after maybe two hours of sleep, in order to clean up their bunks and prepare for a 12-mile ruck march before graduation! They dressed in full uniform, boots and all, threw their 25-30lb rucks over their shoulders, and they had to march/run it within 3 hours! They started the march/run at 3am, finishing no later than 6am, in order to graduate.

Although I'm proud of Russell for setting his mind and heart to both withstanding and completing this tremendous challenge, he and I praise the LORD for carrying him through it all! WOW! I'm impressed.

Welcome home and great work, my over-achieving husband!! :)