Address Change Part 3

Just wanted to let every one know there has been a slight change to my address. I am in a different group than I was when I got here. So to make it easier to get mail out they have you put your specific group in the address. If you have already sent something I will still get it.
The only thing that needs to be changed is HHT needs to change to PRT 7. That goes for the post office address and UPS and Fedex.
Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center
Sgt Jeffrey Porcaro
1/221 PRT 7
P.O. Box 5000Edinburgh, Indiana 46124

Bracelets and Tags on the way!

Hey there guys...just wanted to let everyone know that I placed the order for the bracelets and tags on Thursday. I ordered a couple extra bracelets, so let me know...once they are gone, I will let ya know! The order can take 2 to 3 weeks, so once it arrives, I will place a post and then get the orders shipped out to all of you. Thanks to everyone that got their checks to me...for you other slackers (said with love :)) just put it in the mail whenever you get a chance. I can't wait to get mine and wear it with pride for my husband! There is also a place on the website where you can upload pics of you with your bracelets/tags on...so feel free to upload it at www.herobracelets.org once you get yours!

News from Florida

Hey guys...not much going on here. My birthday week was wonderful...thank you to everyone that thought of me and sent a card or called with a message...you guys are the greatest! I rounded out the week with a birthday dinner with my work folks. On Thursday we all went to La Esperanza, a Mexican restaurant. The food was great and the company was better. Not only did I get to have fried ice cream and flan, but Logan, Crissy's son, made me a birthday picture! Friday I received my birthday gift from my sister and nephews...she is so thoughtful and creative! Eric and Jake made a birthday scrapbook for me, complete with photos and personal drawings from each of them! This made me smile so much and made me miss them even more! I will forever cherish that book.
Saturday I had to work and then met Aunt Rene and Uncle Gray! They flew into Fort Myers on Friday and were supposed to stay at Marco Island for the week. But Florida had a different plan for them! We have been in a drought for about 2 years here and this time of year is really bad for brush fires. Friday, there was a large brush fire that started down Alligator Alley and unfortunately, Marco Island was smokey and not a great place for a vacation. After a change of venue, I met Aunt Rene and Uncle Gray in Clearwater instead! We shared a wonderful day together...it was a wonderful change of pace for me. We were able to enjoy the white sand beaches of Clearwater and took a nice walk. Then we had a wonderful dinner on the water, complete with chocolate lava cake with a candle for my birthday! Uncle Gray had perfect timing and we even got to watch the sun go down over the water...what a perfect way to end a great day with family! Thanks again to Aunt Rene and Uncle Gray for the wonderful day!

Address....

There has been a slight change in my address. If anyone has sent anything I am sure it will still get to me...eventually. If you are going to send something thru the post office:

Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center
Sgt Jeffrey Porcaro
HHT 1/221
P.O. Box 5000
Edinburgh, Indiana 46124

If you are going to send something UPS, FEDEX or DHL

Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center
Sgt Jeffrey Porcaro
HHT 1/221
509C Schoolhouse Road
Edinburgh, Indiana 46124

Not a big change but it should make it easier for stuff to get to me once it does get here. Nothing worse then expecting something and having to wait for it while it gets shuffled around post trying to find you.

Nothing new to share with everyone...should hopefully be finding out some stuff in the next few days, as far as what exactly I will be doing. Thats all for now.
Love from Indiana
Jeff

What a wonderful day!

Not much going on here...mostly lonely and boring without Jeff around! I really didn't want to celebrate my birthday this year...it's no fun without Jeff! But he made sure that I celebrated me...because as he told me, I deserve it! Saturday I went and got a pedicure and manicure with Shayna, one of the girls I work with. We had such a great time and were there for almost two hours...it was absolutely wonderful! It's amazing how pretty nails can make you feel good! After my pamper session, I went shopping to see if I could find anything to treat myself to. Normally, I can't find anything when I am really looking. But I got lucky! After a few hours, I left the mall with two new dresses, a couple of shirts and some sandals to show off my new pedi! After my shopping, I went to the house and got to have a "date" with my husband! Our "dates" are when we get to see each other on webcam and catch up. I have to say that the webcam has been my savior...even if I can't be with Jeff or have him here, at least I get to see his handsome smiling face...it makes things so much better! While I was talking to Jeff, my birthday gift showed up, so he made me open it while he got to watch. I have such a wonderful husband...he ordered me some Vera Bradley sunglasses...because he knew I would never spend the money on myself and since I wear sunglasses everyday, I should be reminded of him every time I put them on!

Sunday was my birthday dinner...Uncle Steve cooked me a steak, Aunt Lisa made cheesy potatoes and garlic bread! To top it off, Aunt Lisa also made me birthday pumpkin pies...which we didn't even get to eat til Monday since we were all so full!!! This was a wonderful way to end off a day laying by the pool. Life is wonderful here in Florida!

Monday was my birthday...the big 2-7! My day started off with my birthday note from Jeff. When he asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I told him for him to call and tell me he loved me and to write me a love letter. The letter came Friday and I had to look at it all weekend long! The first thing I did when the alarm went off was read it...which of course made me cry! I don't know how I got so lucky to find the greatest man in the world to spend my life with. I am so blessed and lucky...I love him so much. When I got to work, I had a card from everyone and some M&Ms waiting for me...they know the way to my heart! The day wasn't too bad considering it was a Monday and I had to be at work at 7am to process extra deposits from the Punta Gorda Block Party. The highlight of my day was receiving a beautiful bunch of flowers from my husband...he sure did outdo himself this year!

Thank you all so much for the wonderful birthday messages, calls and cards...it really helped to make my day special even though it wasn't complete without Jeff here. I am so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends to share my life with...so THANK YOU GUYS!!!

Such a proud Army WIfe...

I just wanted to share these wonderful awards that my husband received while at Camp Shelby...he sent home a box with some things that he didn't need and along with it were the awards that I am sharing with you. Being the proud wife that I am, I had to share them with all of you! The pics aren't that great, but you can get an idea of it!

Jeff received the Army Achievement Medal for "Outstanding meritorious service while at the 2nd Infantry Training Battalion."

This is a beautiful plaque that Jeff received for Excellence in Leadership...too bad they spelled his name wrong! I'm still hanging it up!

Close up of the plaque


This is the Army Achievement Medal...sorry that it's sideways...but I wanted you to see the whole thing.

Closeup of the Army Achievement Medal award. Again, his name is spelled wrong. Gotta love the Army!

Hope that you are all as proud as I am. My husband is a fine soldier and any men that serve with him are lucky!

More from Indiana....

Hey everyone....Jeff here, just wanted to post a few lines and fill you all in on the last day or so. In the last 24 hours my hair has become red and I am someone's step child. Or at least that is how the rest of the guys and I feel. Our unit got here last night and what a mess that was. I was at drivers training, learning about the uparmored humvee, when they got in. After talking to one of my buddies it turns out (or it seems) that no one wants to take responsibility for us or they just have no fricken clue who we are supposed to fall under. What a great start! I am sure all of this will be figured out in the next day or two. Everything is just pretty hectic with these guys getting here and trying to get settled in. On a brighter note I did get my new address and this should be the same address I have untill we deploy.

SGT Porcaro, Jeffrey
Camp Atterbury-1-221 ARS Bldg 101
PO BOX 5000
Edinburgh, IN 46124-5000

Cant really think of anything I need or want at the moment. If I do I will post it on here . On second thought if someone can find me a peanut butter twix that would probably be the greatest thing ever. And I dont need 27 of them, just one or two would be sufficient, just enough to satisfy a craving. If your going to send 27 of anything make it 27 cases of beer. Preferably Coors Light, but at this point I am not going to be very picky. Well I guess that is about all for now. I probably wont have a whole lot of oppertunities to get on here once we start training. But please keep adding messages for me to read. You never know, one of your comments might make me smile after a shitty day, and sometimes that is better then getting some mail. Bye for now. Jeff

Not much to update...

Hey guys, sorry it's been so long since Jeff or I have posted anything. Not much is going on. Jeff is getting ready to meet up with the rest of his unit this weekend...he has been in a "drivers training" class for the Humvees...not much fun as he says.

I am going to place the Deployment bracelet and tag order on Wednesday the 22nd...so please send me your checks if you haven't already...this order is quite large and is going to cost about $600...so help me out and get your money to me!!!

Many of you know my birthday is coming up on Monday...I haven't really been in a birthday kind of mood. I asked Jeff if we could cancel it this year and he said no...that I still have to celebrate. So today I am going for a pedicure and then to the mall to hopefully find some deals. After that, I am meeting Uncle Steve, Aunt Lisa, and their friends Smitty and Dora at Danny's for the Anti-Block party. If you are wondering, Punta Gorda has the annual Block Party this weekend in April. It's food, music and from what I have heard, a lot of drunk folks in downtown Punta Gorda. Needless to say, I have no desire to go...if I did, it would be for comedic value only! Danny's is having the Anti-Block Party...$1 drafts, hot dogs and burgers...who can beat that????? Tomorrow, Steve and Lisa are making my birthday dinner for me...steaks on the grill, cheezy potatoes and instead of a cake, pumpkin pie by request! It should be a good weekend!!!

Hero Deployment Bracelets and Dog Tags

Hey guys...I want to place the order for the Deployment bracelets and tags by Tuesday, April 21st since the orders take about 3 weeks to process and ship. In order to do that, I need anyone interested to either respond to this blog entry with your order of what you want and I also need you guys to send me your check for the order.(To view the website, go to www.herobracelets.com ) So far, I have had quite a response and it looks like the order will be close to $600 so I need everyone to send me your money before hand. If you are wanting to order a bracelet, they will be $12 each and the dog tags will be $13 each. I have decided to get the following engraved on the bracelets
Our Hero, SGT Jeffrey Porcaro
Operation Enduring Freedom, 2009
For the dog tags, I was going to get
Our Hero, SGT Jeffrey Porcaro
OEF Afghanistan 2009
Stay Safe, Stay Strong
If you would like to order something else, please feel free to do so on your own. For the parents, you all wanted the dog tags and yours will say something special on them, so don't worry!
Please respond to me either in an email to shelly613@hotmail.com or respond to this entry. You can send your check to me at
Michele Porcaro
149 Uruguay Drive
Punta Gorda, FL 33983.
Since I live in the state of FL, there is no sales tax added to the shipment, but I will be sending the bracelets to you...if you are in Michigan and see either my mom, my dad, Jeff's mom, or Jeff's dad, I will send a package to the parents and post a blog saying whose goes where. I think you guys can figure that out though! If you don't live in the area, I will be sending them to you directly, so please include a little more in your check for shipping. Thank you all so much for your love and support...I know that Jeff was completely surprised when he found out how many people wanted to get a bracelet or tags. It means so much to both of us. Love to all of you!

More news from Indiana...

I am trying to keep yall as up to date as I can so as I find stuff out I will post it as soon as I can. Well guess what......I found something out. I met with the sergeant major from the unit I will be going with....221 Cav. I will be in the holding company I am in right now for about two more weeks, waiting for the rest of the unit to get here. After they get here we will start training for about two months. We are scheduled to deploy at the end of June and be "In country" by the beginning of July (Happy anniversary Hun). We should be coming back around April of next year. From what I have heard we will be pulling security for different PRT's. A PRT is a Provincial Reconstruction Team, I am not entirely sure what they do. Weather they assist the Afghan people in rebuilding or if they actually do the rebuilding. My best guess is that they assist the people in rebuilding. The teams are made of Army, Navy, Air Force and some civilians from various groups. After finding this out a bunch of us immediately asked about leave. From what the Sergeant Major said we will have a short break in the training cycle a week or so before we deploy somewhere between 4 and ten days. He seemed to think it would be more like four. That is all i know for the time being will post more as I find stuff out. And I will try and start taking more pictures so I can post them on here too.

Newest news...

Hey there everyone...Jeff made it safe to Indiana. The bus left Saturday morning around 7:30 and Jeff called me a little after 11 to say that they made it there. Not much else to report right now...Jeff said they are going to try to get some answers tomorrow and hopefully he will know if he gets to come home or if he gets to have any visitors. Once I know, I will be sure to post any new info, or if Jeff can, he will. Love to everyone!

Hey from Indiana...

Hey everyone Jeff here....just got to Indiana. And imagine how suprised I was to find out they were not expecting us and no one will be around untill monday to let us know what is going on. This seems to be a recuring trend. Also found out some other pretty crappy news. The report date on my orders said April 12th and I am pretty sure today is only the 5th. Seems like the folks at camp shelby didnt want us around anymore and kinda pushed us out the door. From what I have heard around camp Atterbury the unit I am going to is not even here yet. Not sure what is going to happen with us in the mean time. I sure wish the army would get its head out of its ass and figure this all out. From what I understand we are going to be assigned to a holding company for the time being and it sounds like they are pretty cool about giving guys passes. But again I will have to wait till monday to find anything out. Thanks to everyone for the comments it is nice to hear from everyone. Sorry I do not possess the writing skills of my wonderful wife, just something you will have to deal with. I will try my best to keep posting as my schedule permits.

TIme for some smiles...

I thought that I would add some more pics to the blog...most of them are older ones, but they make me smile, so I thought I would share them with you guys!

This is at Murphy and Krissi's wedding in Georgia...isn't my husband absolutely handsome???

This one is from Jekyll Island, GA. Jeff and I went there for vacation and we when we walked down the beach, this is what we found.

I LOVE this one...not only because of the red, white and blue, but because it has 3 of my most favorite men in the whole world! This is Jeff and I with our oldest nephews, Eric and Nicklas at Jeff's party before Boot Camp.

This one just makes me laugh...this was our Halloween costumes this year...we were Tacky Tourists!!! Check out the fanny packs and sandals with socks!

Another one of my favorites, this was taken on mine and Jeff's wedding day...Nicklas and Eric had matching outfits with bowties!