And the Winner Is............Mike from Indiana
Posted by The Village Realty People at 7/9/2008 9:00 AM and is filed under Outer Banks Great Vacation Giveaway 
For the second year, Village Realty was happy to co-sponsor the Great Vacation Giveaway in conjunction with the Outer Banks Connection (www.obxconnection.com). There are no strings, nothing to buy to qualify. Just enter on the OBX Connection website. The winner's name was drawn on July 4th and will be staying in one of our beautiful homes in The Currituck Club.
Village Realty pays the owners for the week and we take care of the cleaning, make sure the towels and linens are at the house, make the beds and do all we can to help the winner have a wonderful week. The lucky family will be staying in a soundfront home, one of my personal favorites. The name of the home is 'Panache' and you can Click Here for more information.
Good kharma gets paid forward and the owners of this home discounted the rent by half which helped us, since again, we pay for the week. Kharma is working because the winner, Mike S from Indiana, posted a great story on the OBX Connection Board that he said I could share with you all. Here are his comments:
"Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!
First, I have to say Thank You to Will, to Village Realty and to all of you for your kind words. You have no idea how timely is was to win this vacation at this time, so I have to tell you all a little story. (this will be long, sorry)
Some of you may remember me posting about how long it’s been since our oldest son, Andy, has been to the beach with us. The last time was in June of 2001. That was just weeks before his going into basic training and then air borne school down at Ft. Benning, Georgia. He signed up for the Army National Guard earlier in the year. Ever since then if it wasn’t one thing it was another. If it wasn’t his two week annual training with his guard unit (which always falls in the summer months and never with enough notice) it was his year long deployment in Afghanistan. (which covered up the summers of 04 and 05. This year he couldn’t go because he was signed up for the Army Ranger School down at Ft Benning. He has been there since April 18. If any of you have ever heard anything about ranger training then you know this is absolutely hell on earth. You may even hear soldiers talk about actually preferring to be in combat then going through this school. If any of you are interested, go to youtube and do a search for “Army Ranger Training”. You will find a nine part TV documentary about it.
The training starts with two weeks of “Pre-Ranger”. This is where guys find out real quick if they really have what it takes to be a Ranger. Some drop out on the first day. After that comes the three phases of the school itself, The Benning Phase, The Mountain Phase, and The Florida Phase (or swamp phase). Soldiers get a short leave in between each phase so they can call home. We heard from Andy after pre-ranger. He was doing fine but was already starting to get lean, “ripped” as he called it. We heard from him again at the end of The Benning Phase”. He was still doing Okay and was moving onto The Mountain Phase. He told me that 430 guys started The Benning Phase but only about 230 finished successfully.
During this time his wife, Julie, was planning a short surprise vacation for the three of them. That is, Andy, Julie, and little George. Since it has been so long since he has been to the beach, any beach, she had made arrangements to go from Ranger graduation on July 3 to somewhere down on the gulf coast for about three days.
Well…the end of The Mountain Phase happened to fall on the Friday of our week in Duck. We did not get to hear from Andy but Julie did and the news was not good. He was not successful in The Mountain Phase and was being “recycled”. That is, he had to do that phase over again. (along with many other soldiers) Julie tells us he was really down and especially disappointed because he may have ruined her surprise. (he knew of it but not what it was) Remaining positive, Julie moved the reservations for the condo on the gulf to the end of the next possible graduation, July 25.
So now, another three weeks of silence pass while we hope to hear good news at the end of the phase. The call came on July 4 and once again the news was not good. He was not successful in that phase…again. And neither were 40 of the 45 other guys in Bravo Company. And since you can’t be recycled twice in the same phase he would have to do a “day one restart”. That is, go back and start over at the Benning Phase. They offered that he could stay down there and wait for the next Benning Phase in two weeks during which time he might recover physically. But by this time he was down to 160#s from 190#s on a six foot frame, both knees swollen, and tingling sensations in the fingers on both hands, likely from carrying very heavy ruck sacks for days and miles on end. Obviously two weeks would not be enough time to heal up enough to go through all of this again. So, he elected to come home. (perhaps another time)
To say that he is very depressed and disappointed would be the understatement of the year. To go this far and have to leave without having that Ranger tab on his uniform must be heart breaking. Especially, with two of his best buddies in his guard unit already having their’s. At this point he just wants to get home, get back to a normal life and more importantly to be re-united with his wife and reacquainted with his son, who is nine months old today. Not so fast! The fourth is a four day government holiday so there’s no one down there to “out process” these guys until Tuesday. This is probably just as well. This way Andy could get some food and rest before making the ten hour drive home.
If you know our daughter-in-law then you will never know a kinder, more caring, and more importantly, a more determined individual. Now she had to cancel the condo on the gulf but was already scheming on new vacation ideas for the three of them.
Well….now comes Saturday morning. It’s about ten o’clock or so and I’m still in bed, awake and thinking about getting up. (I’m a night owl) In walks my wife with the cordless phone, “Here, it’s someone from…ah…the obxconnection???” All I could do was stare at her and I think my mouth probably hung open for a few seconds before I said “No Way”. And I think that’s pretty much all I could say for the first few seconds of my conversation with Will. In fact, I’m still not sure I believe it.
I think my wife ran down stairs to get her cell phone to tell Julie who immediately proclaimed it as “Devine Intervention”. We have since talked to Andy several times and this news has really helped to pick up his spirits. We may see him again late Tuesday night but more likely on Wednesday.
So, again, Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!
And George Thanks You!"
It is always nice when good things happen to nice people, and to deserving people and this certainly qualifies. Last year's winner was Maureen and she couldn't have been any nicer or more appreciative and Mike sounds like a genuine person with a caring family who I am positive will enjoy their time here.
It was a nice way to start the week!
Till Next Time
Your OBX Blogger
J
Some of you may remember me posting about how long it’s been since our oldest son, Andy, has been to the beach with us. The last time was in June of 2001. That was just weeks before his going into basic training and then air borne school down at Ft. Benning, Georgia. He signed up for the Army National Guard earlier in the year. Ever since then if it wasn’t one thing it was another. If it wasn’t his two week annual training with his guard unit (which always falls in the summer months and never with enough notice) it was his year long deployment in Afghanistan. (which covered up the summers of 04 and 05. This year he couldn’t go because he was signed up for the Army Ranger School down at Ft Benning. He has been there since April 18. If any of you have ever heard anything about ranger training then you know this is absolutely hell on earth. You may even hear soldiers talk about actually preferring to be in combat then going through this school. If any of you are interested, go to youtube and do a search for “Army Ranger Training”. You will find a nine part TV documentary about it.
The training starts with two weeks of “Pre-Ranger”. This is where guys find out real quick if they really have what it takes to be a Ranger. Some drop out on the first day. After that comes the three phases of the school itself, The Benning Phase, The Mountain Phase, and The Florida Phase (or swamp phase). Soldiers get a short leave in between each phase so they can call home. We heard from Andy after pre-ranger. He was doing fine but was already starting to get lean, “ripped” as he called it. We heard from him again at the end of The Benning Phase”. He was still doing Okay and was moving onto The Mountain Phase. He told me that 430 guys started The Benning Phase but only about 230 finished successfully.
During this time his wife, Julie, was planning a short surprise vacation for the three of them. That is, Andy, Julie, and little George. Since it has been so long since he has been to the beach, any beach, she had made arrangements to go from Ranger graduation on July 3 to somewhere down on the gulf coast for about three days.
Well…the end of The Mountain Phase happened to fall on the Friday of our week in Duck. We did not get to hear from Andy but Julie did and the news was not good. He was not successful in The Mountain Phase and was being “recycled”. That is, he had to do that phase over again. (along with many other soldiers) Julie tells us he was really down and especially disappointed because he may have ruined her surprise. (he knew of it but not what it was) Remaining positive, Julie moved the reservations for the condo on the gulf to the end of the next possible graduation, July 25.
So now, another three weeks of silence pass while we hope to hear good news at the end of the phase. The call came on July 4 and once again the news was not good. He was not successful in that phase…again. And neither were 40 of the 45 other guys in Bravo Company. And since you can’t be recycled twice in the same phase he would have to do a “day one restart”. That is, go back and start over at the Benning Phase. They offered that he could stay down there and wait for the next Benning Phase in two weeks during which time he might recover physically. But by this time he was down to 160#s from 190#s on a six foot frame, both knees swollen, and tingling sensations in the fingers on both hands, likely from carrying very heavy ruck sacks for days and miles on end. Obviously two weeks would not be enough time to heal up enough to go through all of this again. So, he elected to come home. (perhaps another time)
To say that he is very depressed and disappointed would be the understatement of the year. To go this far and have to leave without having that Ranger tab on his uniform must be heart breaking. Especially, with two of his best buddies in his guard unit already having their’s. At this point he just wants to get home, get back to a normal life and more importantly to be re-united with his wife and reacquainted with his son, who is nine months old today. Not so fast! The fourth is a four day government holiday so there’s no one down there to “out process” these guys until Tuesday. This is probably just as well. This way Andy could get some food and rest before making the ten hour drive home.
If you know our daughter-in-law then you will never know a kinder, more caring, and more importantly, a more determined individual. Now she had to cancel the condo on the gulf but was already scheming on new vacation ideas for the three of them.
Well….now comes Saturday morning. It’s about ten o’clock or so and I’m still in bed, awake and thinking about getting up. (I’m a night owl) In walks my wife with the cordless phone, “Here, it’s someone from…ah…the obxconnection???” All I could do was stare at her and I think my mouth probably hung open for a few seconds before I said “No Way”. And I think that’s pretty much all I could say for the first few seconds of my conversation with Will. In fact, I’m still not sure I believe it.
I think my wife ran down stairs to get her cell phone to tell Julie who immediately proclaimed it as “Devine Intervention”. We have since talked to Andy several times and this news has really helped to pick up his spirits. We may see him again late Tuesday night but more likely on Wednesday.
So, again, Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!
And George Thanks You!"
It is always nice when good things happen to nice people, and to deserving people and this certainly qualifies. Last year's winner was Maureen and she couldn't have been any nicer or more appreciative and Mike sounds like a genuine person with a caring family who I am positive will enjoy their time here.
It was a nice way to start the week!
Till Next Time
Your OBX Blogger
J
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