Well, here is my first post to the newsletter. Hopefully this is something we can all use to post stories from our lives. It is free and if you have a url that hosts pictures, you can post those as well.
The biggest new in our lives is that we should be moving across post to a home with a large downstairs main floor. Brooke injured her back and will be getting a microdiscectomy in August. So, we requested another place to live since we are currently upstairs. The bonus is the new place is incredibly nice. It is actually right next to the house Eisenhower lived in when he was a captain here in the 1920s. The other bonus is it is two doors down from Jane's best friend. We find out tomorrow for certain if we get the house or not. Cross your fingers for us.

We should be here at Fort Benning for one more year. I have 6 months left in command of this Infantry Training Company and then I attend the Captain's Career Course most likely from March to July. Where I go from there I will not know until March 2005. I think the options will be Fort Lewis, WA (25th ID), Fort Drum, NY again (10th Mountain), Hawaii (25th ID), Fort Hood, TX or Fort Carson, CO (4th ID), or Fort Bragg, NC (82nd Airborne). If I have my choice it will be 1. Lewis 2. Bragg 3. Hawaii. Of course all points lead to a year deployment in some place no reasonable people would want to live.

Currently, I have a new class of 222 soldiers. We are in the 2nd week which means a lot of time at the company and very little at home. Brooke is taking it as easy as she can with her back while trying to give the girls an entertaining summer. She is doing a great job.

Hope everyone can take the time to make posts to this and share the news efficiently with all the rest. E-mail me to request the username/password that will let you make posts. mikestinchfield@mac.com

Love, Mike, Brooke, Jane, Sadie, Ellyn