BB Update

Its been a while since I updated you on BB’s status. She is back in Iraq with her unit after her R&R. She called us recently to tell us that she has been promoted to Specialist 4 (E-4) rank. She is glad about the promotion, and very pleased with it all.

Spec 4, Speedy 4, and other terms provide some insight to the grade – as found in Wikopedia

In deference to the original rating of Specialist 4, the modern day rank of Specialist is also sometimes known as "SpecFour." Slang terms for the rank of Specialist include "E-4 Mafia," indicating a reference to the large number of soldiers of E-4 rank who see their roles as performing the "grunt work" in the army. The Mafia reference is derived from some Specialists who are in positions to do favors for other Army specialists, such as supply administration specialists, but sometimes do not show equal generosity to senior enlisted, officers, or privates. The rank of Specialist is sometimes called a "Sham Shield": E-4s are the most experienced of the lower ranks and have usually figured out how to "sham" out of details. A specialist is sometimes ironically called a "full bird private", a play on "full bird colonel." During the Vietnam era, a Specialist 5 would sometimes refer to himself as a "Private E-5" to indicate that his duties and privileges were not different from what they had been when he was a private.


So now Specialist BB is working the overnight shift Currently 0000hrs to 1400hrs so she doesn’t have much free time. She is settled into new accommodations and has made it her home away from home.

The Army has been good for her, she has matured tremendously but of course she still is my little girl .