Fort Donelson

A few weekends ago I took a drive out to the Fort Donelson National Battlefield. It is the site of a civil war battle along the Cumberland River. It was really interesting to drive around and learn about the battle and how decisive of a victory it was for the Union at the time.

It was a three day battle which started on February 13th, 14th, and 15h, 1862. It was a Confederate camp that the Union attacked due to its location as being a vital supply route. The Union was losing the battle for most of the first two days, but won due to some poor decisions from the Confederates generals.

There was cannons set up all over occupying the same positions they were in 148 years ago.

The bottom four photos are all of the battery overlooking the Cumberland river.

This is the valley where the fort was along with a replica of a cabin were the Confederate soldiers lived.

I thought this was interesting. It is a quote from Union General Smith. He said this as he charged towards the retreating Confederates.

After I finished walking around the battlefield, I drove over the the national cemetery. I found it interesting that no Confederate soldier was buried here because they fought against the Untied States. Only Union soldiers were buried here.

This is the Dover Hotel. It was the place where the General Grant met with Confederate General Buckner to discuss the terms of the south's surrender.

It was a very interesting place to visit and I learned a lot. If you’re ever in area its a neat place to check out.

Fort Campbell, My New Home

So as most everyone knows the army recently decided that it needed me at Fort Campbell, KY more then it needed me at Fort Carson, CO. I left Fort Carson and the 1-2 “Gunfighters”at the end of September. I was ready to leave the unit, however I was sad to have to say goodbye to all the good friends I had there. Hopefully some day down the road I’ll see some of them again.

I got to Fort Campbell the second week of October and began the long process of doing all the in-processing you have to do when you move to another duty station. Mostly this involves things like dental and medical exams and making sure all your paper work is correct.

After all that is done I got assigned to my new unit, which is part of the 101st Airborne Division.  This will be my new home for most likely the next three years. I am doing the same thing that I did at Fort Carson, just with new faces and new aircraft.

On another note, most of you may know already that I will be deploying next February. I don’t know any details besides that for now.