Ranger School Haircut

Hey everyone, we cut my hair tonight and we thought we would share them with everyone, so maybe yall could get a least a fraction of the amusement out of this as Sophie did. By the way, thanks for the clippers mom and dad.... not.

Im going to miss my hair
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Before Haircut...
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Sophie thought it would funny to cut a mohawk in my hair, i mean, why not add to the humiliation, right?
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Real Funny
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Smoothing out the final touches...
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...After Haircut
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I must be ready for Ranger School, all my happiness is gone (its laying in that pile on the floor)

Our life in the Army

Our time is soon to be coming to a close here at Fort Benning...thankfully. We love southern Georgia, but its time to move on. This time is marked by my recent graduation from Infantry Basic Officer Leader Course (IBOLC), which I started in November. It was fun, I met a lot of great guys, and Sophie, who became really involved with the Family Readiness Group and PWOC met a lot of great friends too.

The last week of IBOLC, I did receive official notification that Sophie and I will be going to Germany. I will be assigned to the 2nd Squadron of the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment. The 2SCR is the oldest Cavalry unit in the Army, they have a lot of history and traditions, and now they field the new Stryker combat vehicles, which will an incredible opportunity for me to be a part of.

Of course, before any of that happens, I an headed to Ranger School. Mostly because a blue doesn't mean much with out that black and gold balancing things out on the other sleeve... Im just kidding. Infantry Lieutenants are lucky to have to opportunity to attend Ranger School as a part of their normal training, when other soldiers throughout the Army have to go through a lot of red tape to get there. It is a school that tests a soldiers ability to lead under stress, with little food and sleep, and physically draining missions being graded to faultless standard. Sophie is about to go crazy with it being the center of my attention and concern, but since when have I not drivin' her crazy! But really, Sophie has been amazing in her support.

As for now, please continue to pray for us and the big changes we're going through and the adventure we continue to travel. And enjoy the few pictures from the graduation and the family visit.

Valentines Day

Hey everyone,

Its, been a while, but we're still here. Not really a whole lot going on. I am almost done with Infantry Basic Offier Leaders Course; Thursday I will go out to the field for our final culmination, which it be complete two weeks from now, and Ill gaduate a week after that on 5 March. As far as I know, I will be starting Ranger School on 22 March.
For Valentines Day, we visited Historic Banning Mills Lodge. It is a beautiful place a little ways outside Atlanta, that overlooks the ruins of a number of historic mills on Snake Creek. The cool thing about this place is they have a tree canopy tour that has rope bridges and ziplines all built up in the tops of the trees. The final zipline is about a half mile long and is one of the largest in the world. It turned out to be a great time, and some of the most fun Soph and I have had together. We got to stay in a room with a jacuzzi and had a great dinner. The next day we decided to head into Atlanta to see the World of Coca-Cola museum, which was way more fun than I thought it would be (stay away from a soda call Beverly or Stoney.)
Thats pretty much it for now. Im off to make Soph and I some Bubble Tea, if you dont know what it is, check it out, or come by and let us make you some. Until then, check out out pics from this weekend at our pics link on the right.

Some Pics

These are just some pics of us on a recent trip to Nashville, our stop at the Jack Daniels Distillery, as well as a little Mountain Biking.

New Family Member

UPDATES!!
So we have had some changes since winter break began. We loved getting to spend time with our families and friends! It was so awesome! So Merry late Christmas and Happy New Year! Well, we got back to a house filled with boxes... and I really am not exaggerating! You would think us newlyweds probably have nothing but ummm wrong, we had so much stuff! I loved getting back here to Fort Benning and working hard to make the home a home! Ben was back to work in training keeping busy and coming home to have lunch with me. He kept me company when he could and I think I even impressed him with how fast I got those boxes out of here! It was my workout :) This past week Ben was in the field doing cool stuff with big guns... he could explain better... Im so proud of him! I love my Ben... I didnt like my Ben being away but I decided to be spontaneous this past week... :) So Monday I chopped my hair off 12 inches! I decided to give it to cancer patients because I was touched by how much a wig can make an impact! So there my hair went! Well, I have been lucky to meet 2 other officers wives Dicie and Darcie who are awesome... We went to the gym... went to dinner... went to animal shelters.... Okay so what you all are waiting for... WE GOT A NEW PUPPY! Ben just got home today with a new baby girl puppy waiting for him, yep what a surprise... his wife with short hair and a new puppy :) She was happy to meet her daddy and become a Winchester today! Her name is Skylee "sky" Winchester. She is 7 weeks old about and about the size of our feet! So small. Sammy Boy is being timid around her, hopefully he will realize that he is about 6 times her size... we love Sammy so much and are happy to have a sister for him! I know Ben loves Sammy, our matchmaker, but this little skylee might have him wrapped around her finger soon! :) Ben is home now for the weekend and we are headed up near Nashville, Tenn. to see Kelly Dues (one of my bridesmaids) and staying at her cousins house. Kelly had a break in nursing school so we get to go see her, her boyfriend David, her friend and two cousins! Our two babies...Sammy and Skylee will be coming too! Its a family vacation. Hopefully Ben gets to rest because they sure are keeping them out in the cold making him work hard. We hopefully can squeeze some mountain biking in and maybe going to the shooting range too, we love doing crazy things together! I hope to find a part time job and just finished updating my resume today! Besides that I will work hard to become a better cook (I really am slowly getting better its so exciting) and take care of the puppies! I love it here at Fort Benning and really like the wives. We had a meeting last night to plan the wives social and plan the days we get to bring our husbands lunch in the field while being in awe of all the cool missions and training they do. Ben loves it which is great. He is great at what he does too! We are both really happy and glad to be in one home! We will try to be better at updating the blog. Ben is a little better at keeping it short as you can tell but I hope you enjoyed keeping up with us! We hope to hear from everyone, email us and write us if you'd like,
Ben and Sophie Winchester
947-D Burr Ave
Fort Benning, GA, 31905
Thank you for being a part of our lives! With love and Ben took some pictures so check them out :) :)

waiting on the movers!

Today we are waiting on the movers! They are getting here any minute and then our home at Fort Benning, GA will be full of boxes and scattered furniture! As soon as the movers get here we are off to Virginia. Sammy boy (our baby, well our awesome dog) is getting nervous that we are leaving him behind but we are taking him.

Finally Together

Finally, after more than 8 months of marriage, Sophie and I are actually getting to live together. On Monday, Sophie graduated, with honors (Cum Laude). She didn't waste any time moving down here (to Fort Benning, GA); the movers came Tuesday, and Sophie was here Wednesday.

On Thursday, Sophie came out to the range were my company was training for a Wives Visit at work, planned by our FRG (Family Readiness Group, in real units they are sort of a support center for unit spouses, here, since Im in a training unit, the FRG trys to talk alot about what Army life is like for a wife, and so forth.) This week we were training with Machine Guns, so Sophie got to shoot an M249 SAW and an M240B. For added fun, the FRG Leader (The Company Commander's wife) wanted the wives to wear all of our gear (Body armor, load-bearing equipment, Helmet, etc) so they could empathize with us (and better understand why we complain so much.) She had a blast, and braught me lunch, and it was a great day.

Now that I am on leave, starting today, we are looking ahead to the Christmas. We will leave as soon as the movers arrive with our stuff, and go to Northern Virginia to spend some time with the family. On the 30th we will be driving down to Charlotte, and on the first down to North Augusta, GA, in an attempt to see as many family and friends as we can. We hope to see all of you, so please give us a call so we can work out when we can see everyone. We Love You all.

The Winchesters