Now, Officially, Lt. Dan.

It is official. As of today at approx 11:00 am, I raised my right hand and swore to defend the Constitution of the United States from enemies both foreign and domestic, and became, fully and legally, and officer in the United States Army.

It was a pretty cool experience. Both rushed and sort of sacred. All of the other direct commissioning officers stood up on the stage and gave the oath together. To say those words "defend the Constitution of the United States" was a really powerful thing for me. I think it is remarkable that the oath is not simply "to defend the United States" but rather the Constitution first, and then secondarily "the nation" of that constitution. So essentially I know work to defend the basic rights of the people of America, as well as defend the people themselves. That is simply awesome.

Besides the oath, today was grueling. Up at 3:30 am, we mustered for role call, then boarded buses to head onto the base. Our hotel is surprisingly far from the base, taking almost half an hour to drive there. I guess everything closer was either booked or too small. It is awesome to watch the other hotel guests try to figure out why there are 300 Army officers walking around. Most look like they think Martial Law has been declared or something. Anyway, I digress. The rest of the day was tedious. One briefing after another about Army paperwork, customs, uniforms, etc. All of it was good and necessary information, but after getting up 3.5 hours before the sun, it was hard to stay awake through.

I sat next to a freshly minted Major, who, like me, is a brand-new ex-civilian. We struck up a conversation, and sort of did everything together that day. We were all trying to put on our game faces, but she seemed to be especially out of sorts, and while I am sure she is a fantastic surgeon, just doesn't seem to have a knack for the military thing. Or at least, seems to have even less of a knack for it than I have. At any rate, she seemed like she could use some help so I kind of shepherded her through things, helped her with her bags when the heat got to be too much for her, etc. Consider it my good turn for the day.

Tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same with the same masochistic start-time, so I am off for the night.

Oh, and for the record, while I was sitting in briefings all day, Dana was driving home. All the way from San Antonio to Denver, in one stab. That is over 900 miles, for those who are counting. More than 14 hours of driving. My wife is a friggin road warrior. I love you, babe.