Today was a great day! I finally got my promotion!

Promotion in the US Army is much more complicated than I am used to. In the Bear Army, it's simple - if you can beat up your squad leader, you become the squad leader. If you can beat up your platoon sergeant, you become the platoon sergeant, and so on. If you can beat up other bears AND do "Powerpoint," you're eligible to be an officer. In the US Army, to get promoted to Sergeant or Staff Sergeant you need to be recommended by your commander, you need to get enough "points" (you get points by shooting your weapon well, earning awards, and things like that), and you usually need to go to a promotion board. Well, I finally met the requirements for BOTH armies, so I was able to get promoted.

We had an informal ceremony with a few members of my squad and some of my human friends from the Brigade. Here is a picture of us standing in formation. Captain Simer has called me "front and center," in front of my squad and my friends Sergeant Schilling and Sergeant 1st Class Pasch. We're standing at attention because Sergeant Major Bell is reading my promotion orders (Sergeant 1st Class Clevenger took all the pictures).

And here is a picture of CPT Simer and SGM Bell pinning my new rank on!

In POLARCOM, it is traditional that after promoting someone, you whack him really hard with your paw. It's just a ritual we have. I had explained this to CPT Simer, so he thought it would be neat to observe that tradition. Here he is whacking me with his paw. He didn't hit me very hard, though.

Unfortunately, I apparently forgot to tell CPT Simer that it is also traditional for me to whack him back...I guess he wasn't ready for that.

I checked on him and he seemed to still be breathing, so he must have been OK. I haven't seen him back at the office yet, though.

After the promotion ceremony, I tried to buy pizza for my squad, but the people at the Tallil Pizza Hut laughed at me when I tried to order "Six large pizzas… one with seals, one with milk-bones, one with eucalyptus, one with grass, one with haggis, and one with anchovies and tuna." Oh, well.

It's great to be recognized with a promotion! I'm also glad for the extra pay. Right now, Milkshake is able to go out onto frozen lakes in Minnesota and whack walleye and northern pike to eat, but when summer comes along we'll really need the extra 2 arctic dollars per month to feed our two new cubs. That doesn't sound like a big increase unless you know that one arctic dollar is enough to buy an entire adult seal (with blubber). Since polar bears can live for days to weeks after eating a single seal, 2 arctic dollars per month is a LOT of money!