The JimAnna Chronicles

So, our trip over the holidays was part vacation and part work.  However, most importantly, we got to spend it together.  Half of our time was spent up in Germany and the other half in France. For the German portion, we began with a short stop in Munich … one of our favorite German cities. [...]

Also in December, I found out my pending promotion became official.  I was promoted to major. The school honored me by allowing my promotion ceremony to happen in the room of tradition and honor.  It is the most significant and ceremonial room and I was humbled to be permitted to use it. In the French [...]

We began our tour of Normandy appropriately, somberly.  After a visit to the museum in Caen, we hopped on the bus and went out to see the locations in person. This is the La Cambe German military cemetery.  It was a sobering place to begin.  There are over 21,000 men and boys buried here. These [...]

After our brief stop in Champagne, the tour of France with the cadets moved into Paris for its cultural bounty.  Since it was December, the city was all decked out for the holidays. Fortunately for me, Anna and Alexander were able to hop a high speed train and meet me in the city. Au Printemps [...]

So last month, the exchange cadets (US, Canadian, Italian, and Japanese), myself and some French officers spent a couple weeks touring Air Force bases.  It was an amazing opportunity for all of us.  Every day we visited a different base (or two) and had the opportunity to learn and see a ton. As part of [...]