Updates on Matt

Matt is finally getting to the point that he can work on a daily basis. Up til now he's been restricted by the things he can't do because he has to be certified on this base (things he's previously been taught but has to prove to these specific supervisors I guess). He is qualified to drive a few of the smaller fork lifts, um...oh, he sweeps floors and does inspection counts a lot. And he also accompanies/supervises other teams when they come into his shop.

He is also part of the Fire Extinguisher team. His job is to go through all the fire extinguishers in his shop and in the vehicles that are assigned to his shop and inspect them for pressure, damage, age, etc. If he finds anything amiss then he takes it to the fire department who will either fix or reissue the extinguisher. Matt proudly told me the other day that he converted the entire paperwork system from Excel to Access- which he assures me is much easier for the sort of data that has to be kept for each individual fire extinguisher. He also told me that as of June (after he gets home from his mid-tour) that he'll be in charge of this group. I was super surprised and excited but then he told me that there are only two people in this group and the other guy is going home in May. So of course. But hey, as long as we don't tell other people that, it'll sound good right? Oops, I guess I just told you :)

Matt is also working on his CDCs. I don't remember what it stands for but its a continuation of his training and its dealing with more on-the-job training than what Tech school did. He has to finish these and get a good score on the tests before he is eligible for promotion and I think he is given a year time limit. He said its not incredibly hard but he has to pay attention- of course. These are done all off work time or at least during downtime at work. So its all on his own. If it were me, I'd probably be waiting for the last week to finish it all! Its a good thing Matt is such a go-getter and can focus himself on things like this.

In other news- Matt is going on week 4 of 12 hour shifts. Ugh. He had to work 13 days straight, 12 hour shifts and then he finally got a day off. But then he went right back to work on Monday and so far its being a 6 day week. I'm unsure if he'll have to work Sunday this week. But he is still working 12 hour shifts. He basically gets up in the morning and has time to get ready and eat before work. Then he gets home from work at 730 pm and has time to kick off his shoes before he jumps online to talk to me and when we are done talking at 9ish he goes right to bed. He doesn't have any personal time and its really difficult.

BUT...he has had a chance to get to know several people in his shop. He said he has had some gospel discussions with a few of the other guys there, even his supervisor! Way to go Matt! He said to me that its been really good that he is putting his morals out there for others to know because there have been several other people who have approached him about specifics of his beliefs that they agree with. Matt feels like he is being a support to those other guys who don't follow the popular vote (drinking and other things bachelors enjoy doing).

As of today he has 39 days before he is home for a month. We are both looking forward to being together again. Matt is really excited about being able to relax. I just hope he doesn't get too used to sleeping in! That might be difficult to change once he's back on base again!