One week from tomorrow I will be leaving for Germany!  I am so very fortunate to have a great job that allows me to see the world while carrying out such an important mission.  I have the privilege of talking to service members to make sure they are aware of their VA benefits before they are released from active duty.

This tour will be really different from my previous OMSC tours in Okinawa and United Kingdom. In Germany, I will not be alone, there will be two OMSC's and we will not be living on base.  My fellow OMSC is Ann Alvarez, she is from the Houston VA Regional Office, working out of the San Antonio Office.  Ann is great, we met during our OMSC training in March, we get along great, we are going to be a dynamic duo!  We decided that I will be living in the one bedroom apartment in Seigelbach and Ann will be living in the two bedroom apartment in Kaiserslautern.  Our scheduled is intense the Army will have at least four sometimes five briefings per week.  Not only will we be providing VA assistance in Germany, we will also cover Belgium and the Netherlands.

One of the most wonderful things about Germany, all my family will be coming to visit!  Stephen, Jennifer and Morgan will be arriving June 25th.  Dusty will arrive July 4th, friends Jaime and James West will arrive  July 11th.  Dusty, Jennifer, Morgan, James and Jaime will all leave on July 23rd.  Jonathan will arrive on July 17th and he will stay until July 31st.  Stephen will be leaving on September 4th.  My friends Sylvia and Butch Moore will be arriving around September 6th and stay until the end of the month.  They will be there to experience Ocktoberfest with me!  Hopefully, August will bring my good friend Angie DeGuire and her husband Billy Black.