Follow this Blog!

It's about to get interesting, if it wasn't already interesting enough.

The units are back from Annual Training, and the Red Bull soldiers are packing and repacking in preparation for Mobilization Day--the day they are placed under federal, rather than state, control. The actual M-day will vary by unit, but is anticipated to hit on or after July 29. As an organization, we're also shifting and shuffling around, finally configuring into the teams in which we'll live, work and fight for the next 12 months or more.

Time to strap everything down and wire it tight. Including this blog.

Believe it or not, I'm not big on self-promotion. In fact, it kind of runs counter to Sherpa's current literary lifestyle: Let the words speak for themselves. Illuminate and educate on National Guard life through seemingly random acts of story-telling and movie quotation. Focus on the positive, but don't shirk from the negative. Celebrate others, not yourself.

I also realize, however, that every good cause needs a call to action, that only the squeaky wheel gets the juice, and that a good pitchman always asks for the sale.

Second-prize? Second-prize is a set of steak knives.

So, here's the pitch: Whether you've been randomly reading Red Bull Rising for the past couple of months, or have just stubbed your Internet toes on it this morning, I'd like to take this opportunity to invite you to become a regular RBR reader.

And, if you're already a regular reader, I'd like to ask you to recommend this blog to others.

To borrow a phrase from my Infantry brothers, "Follow Me!"

Here's how:

• Visit the Red Bull Rising website regularly. Bookmark it!
• Recommend Red Bull Rising to your friends, family, colleagues, Facebook friends--knowing you as I do, I am certain that your usual list of suspects are all fine and upstanding citizens.
• Use an RSS reader. My RSS weapon of choice is Google Reader.
• Become a "fan" or "like" the Red Bull Rising Facebook page.
• Use the Facebook "Networked Blogs" application and "follow" this blog. Click the widget at right for more info, or click here.
• Use the Google Friend Connect / Blogger "follow" function. Click the widget at right, or click here.

As always, thank you for reading! Thank you for your interest! And, on behalf of the more than 3,000 soldiers of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division, thank you for your prayers and support!

"Attack!"