The Big Catchup

Since April 5, a lot has happened. I graduated from the University of South Carolina and commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant into the US Army as an Infantry Officer. Being that my training did not start until September 7, the Army saw it fit to send me to Fort Lewis, WA to help train cadets for the summer. Sophie unfortunately had to stay in Columbia to take summer classes, were she so brilliantly passed with flying colors. While in Fort Lewis I taught and graded cadets on their land navigation, and anxiously waited to get back to the east coast to see Soph. Thankfully, to break up the long summer, Sophie got to come visit for two weeks, were we explored Seattle and Tacoma, visited Mount Rainier, and went for a ride on the Washington Beaches on horseback.

Finally in September, Sophie began her last semester in college, and I reported to Fort Benning to begin training. We got an apartment on Fort Benning with family housing. We painted a few of the walls colors that Soph chose. I have finished BOLC 2 (Basic Officer Leader Course, a basic 7 week course that all Lieutenants go to) and am now three weeks into IBOLC (Infantry school). Sophie is taking her finals, and so far is doing great with them (dispite what she says). She is due to graduate with honors with a degree in French. The day after graduating, the movers are arriving to pack up all of our stuff in Columbia and move it to Fort Benning, where I will anxiously waiting to finally live with my wife.

As for the future, I will be in Infantry school until March 5, 2009. Sophie is looking for a job here is Columbus, GA, hopefully working with kids. I will start Ranger School on March 22 or May 15, after (or before) I will go to Infantry Mechanized Leaders Course, and finally be done at Fort Benning sometime in July. For now, we are slotted to go to Fort Irwin, CA, in the heart of the Mojave Desert, home to the Armys National Training Center, the Premier Training Center of Army forces.

Sophie and I are both very excited about the future, especially the next couple of weeks. Hopefully we will get to see a number of you throughout the Christmas season. We love you all and hope youll drop us an email at:

Ben: bmw2621@comcast.net or benjamin.winchester@us.army.mil
Sophie: schoenbr@mailbox.sc.edu or sophie.winchester@us.army.mil