Day 314: Point of Contact

SFC Kevin Lytton turns out to be my readiness NCO at the 174^th. After repeated effort I was finally able to make contact with him and gather information about the unit.

They were stood up early 2008 with a core of veteran soldiers handpicked by Brigadier General Smith. Many of the unit’s soldiers have 25-30 years of outstanding service with multiple deployments under their belt. That alone makes me feel like a small fish in a big pond as I will be a newly promoted E-5 with four years of service. I can expect a climate change from Aviation to Combat Arms going to a Air Defense unit with a motto “If it flies, it dies.” That alone is a feel good motto I can get behind. One of my major complaints of aviation support is that rarely do my efforts every directly affect real combat. The knowledge that my actions directly result in pain and suffering to the enemy makes me happy.

The biggest change was that talking with a human being from the unit cemented the fact that this is really happening. The promotion wasn’t a clerical error to a nonexistent unit. It’s with a real unit with real people. The last time I entertained the idea of holding a legitimate leadership position was in high school, only this time it won’t be crashing down in flames. At least not today.