Sunday, March 11, 2012

2012 DENTAC Birthday Ball and some career news about Eric!



It's that time of year again!!! Every March, DENTAC celebrates it's anniversary of "dental activity in the Army." This ball was much smaller than the ones we have attending previously, but I met more very important people at this ball than I ever have! There were multiple Generals in the room including 3 past Chiefs of the Dental Corps, the current Chief, and the current Army Surgeon General.

Here's a picture of our beautiful table! The committee did a wonderful job with all of the decorations and gifts.



Me and my man! Yes, I recycled this dress. Why not?!?!?! No one up here has seen any of my dresses yet! It's hard to believe that the picture of us on the main page of this blog is from the 2005 Birthday Ball we attended at Ft Bragg. That was our first ball, Eric hadn't even been in the military for a year yet, he had already completed his first deployment, and that pretty red dress will probably never fit again! Unless I were to give up all food for Lent...maybe next year ;)

One of the highlights of my evening was getting to sit by my "bestie" all night! Danea and her husband Paul drove up from Ft Bragg to attend this ball. What a great treat for me :)



Eric was the Master of Ceremonies this year, as he has been for previous 2 years at Ft Bragg. You did a great job, babe!


Here is MAJ Ross, a prosthodontist down at Ft Belvoir, and COL Moon who Eric deployed with during his first deployment WAY WAY WAY back in 2004!



In this picture, from left to right...Eric, CPT Villacarlos, MG Wong (Current Chief of the Dental Corps), CPT Ball, and MAJ Boquet.



Here is a picture of Eric and LTG Horoho, the Army Surgeon General. For those of you who are not military, that means she's a 3 star General. She was just appointed to this position in December and became the first ever female Army Surgeon General. SUPER impressive in my opinion. If you are interested in reading her Army Bio, click HERE

Here's where our news about Eric's career comes into play. Sometime this summer, at a time to still be determined, Eric will leave his current position as OIC (Officer in Charge) of the Rader Dental Clinic at Ft Myer and will be working in the Office of the Surgeon General (OTSG) This is an awesome opportunity for him as he continues on his desired career path in the Army. This fellowship is a 2 year staff position that he's had his eye on for a few years. He recently completed all of the prerequisites and tossed his application into the mix. This means, we will be staying here in Fairfax until at least the summer of 2014. The best part...the OTSG office is moving to a building that's only about 5 miles from our house. It will be a REALLY easy commute for Eric, which is crucial in a place that has the kind of traffic NoVA does. He will still be treating patients at Ft Myer at least 1 day a week as well. This is a wonderful opportunity for him, and we can't wait to see where this position will lead us.

The final piece of the night, I received my first coin from a General...and a LTG at that!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

This was an awesome posting, little Kate. What a special night for everyone. We enjoyed the photos so much and the commentaries were spot on.
Love
MOM

Danko Grandparents said...

Thanks for the postings/pictures!Glad u had fun at the BALL! So proud of Eric!!!!
Mom and Dad

Katrina.Letourneau said...

Awesome! The best part is NO MOVING for another few years! Hey...now that he'll only be 5 miles away maybe he'll dust off that bike :p