Well, now that I'm here, let me catch you up on what's been happening. Obviously I have connectivity, but it's slow. Because the connection speed is at a snail's pace, I'll forgo adding pics until I have faster internet, but I'll put placeholders in brackets (e.g., [CIMG0212.jpg]). Here goes...
05 Jun 2010:
I spent the day fretting, mostly. What did I forget? Do I have enough of this? Do I really need to bring that? Phone calls from friends and family punctuated the day. I regret I was unable to get back to Atlanta to visit family, mostly my mom. She’s really worried about me (probably unnecessary), and I think her seeing me would have helped a bit.
06 Jun 2010, D-Day:
Well, the day has finally arrived. We got up at 0630, and had a leisurely breakfast. I was basically ready to go, so I enjoyed my final cup of joe while sitting in my recliner watching Sports Center. The sun shone brightly in the oft-overcast Dayton sky; a far cry from the tornadic storm that rumbled through about 0430 earlier in the morning. Not that it mattered: mine was a restless sleep induced not by inclement weather, but by all the anticipation. That, and the bone jarring thunder.
Julie, Deuce, and Blue
Julie, Blue, and me
My shtuff!
Before leaving, we went outside to do a final walk of the back 40. We snapped a few pics, then loaded up the Santa Fe with all my shtuff. Just as I was ready to get in the car, I noticed a button (on my fly) had come unsewn. Fortunately, I had a spare uniform, and did a Superman-like quick change. All I lacked was a phone booth. And blue tights. And a big red S on my chest. But otherwise, it was exactly like Superman.
The armory at Wright-Patt
We were the first to arrive at the armory, but Muck showed up soon thereafter. At first, it was unclear if they even had our M-9s, but after a bit of searching, the miscreant handguns were found lurking on top of a nearby file cabinet. Meanwhile, Deuce, who had joined us in the armory, appeared to be salivating at the high concentration of small arms. About then, Spike arrived with the government van (required to transport our weapons to the airport), but Julie wanted to drive separately, so I rode with her and Deuce instead.
At the airport, Muck and I were treated to a contingent of well-wishers from the office. I’m really looking forward to seeing them all again soon.
It turns out family can come to the gate, so Julie and Deuce joined me as we went through security. TSA doesn’t make uniformed military take off their footwear…unless that footwear is steel-toed...which mine is. (Where’s the trust?) Since we hadn’t had lunch, yet, we stopped by Sbarro’s for a slice of pizza. What? No cheese pizza? How about pepperoni? Out of that, too? This is a pizza joint, right? OK, Stromboli it is.
We were at the gate about 30 minutes when the gate agent finally started boarding my flight, so I kissed Julie and hugged Deuce, and got on the plane. The ride was uneventful all the way to San Antonio, but the promised transportation (a bus) was of insufficient size to accommodate us all (approx 25). So, instead of arriving at CAST before 6 pm, we got there after 9 pm. The USO was nice (see pic), but not 3 hours nice! The end result was that we didn’t get to bed until after midnight, for a 0545 wake-up. I’m looking forward to my end of course critique!
Outside the USO at San Antonio airport.
07 Jun 2010—Training Day 1 (TD-1)
Fortunately, despite the SNAFU the day before, today was basically a cakewalk. We were in the classroom all day. The hardest part for some folks (especially those who came from bases in Europe) was just trying to stay awake. I’m not sure why, but I was bright-eyed all day long. I’m sure I’ll come down off the adrenaline rush soon enough.
Camp Bullis is not what I expected. Several of us have commented that we’ve been on Boy Scout campouts that were nowhere near as nice as this. For starters, they recently replaced the Army cots with actual beds (singles, with the plastic still on the mattress). The tents are all air conditioned, and there’s even a thermostat. The showers are hot, and we have the evenings to ourselves (from about 17:30 on). Our chow consists entirely of meals ready to eat (MREs). Spaghetti and meatballs isn’t ordinarily what I would choose for breakfast, but at least it was hot, and tasted close to what I expect spaghetti to taste like.
Dave asleep, and Muck settling in (about midnight at this point)
Our training classroom.
The common use computers (our only connectivity)
Our training classroom from the outside.
Water buffaloes
The (inadequate) bus that brought us from the airport.
The HMMWVs we drove today.
Tent row
My tent (holds 7, but there's just me, Muck, and one other)
All in all, today was pretty good. Now that I’m here, I don’t have to wrestle with the unknown. I just spoke with Julie and Deuce on the phone, then got a Skype call from Dale and Lorri. With today’s technology, being away isn’t so bad. So far. Ask me again in 6 months.
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