Getting the hang of it

It's not such a bad thing, being deployed, that is. After all, a job is a job. As I've said before, it's the ancillary stuff that makes it less than desirable: no hearth and home, dealing with the heat (and the mud, or so I hear), and so on. People come and go so quickly here. Office turnover is an ongoing thing. Just today we had hails and farewells, and we had about 6 of each, all within my short time here.

Of course, I was one of the hails, and my predecessor was one of the farewells. I'll be flying solo in a day or two. I don't know what I don't know, but I'm surrounded by a good crew in my division, so I'm not worried. Most in my division are here for a year, and most have been here for less than 6 months, which helps with continuity. And my peace of mind.

I did a sort of "day in the life" series of photos yesterday. You can see them at this link. They have lots of explanatory notes, and I hope it gives a sense of what it's like here. I don't cover everything that I see...I'll dole that out a little at a time.

Last night, I didn't update the blog because I spent all evening cleaning my CHU. I went to the BX/PX and bought a bunch of cleaning supplies, then went to town on the room. They finally fixed my wall locker, so I put all my clothes away, then scrubbed from ceiling to floor. Now, all I have to do is periodically swiffer and dust, and it should be livable without much effort. Maybe a mid-tour "spring cleaning" will be all I need to do extra. In any case, it's way better than how it was when I moved in.

I have Ric's bike now, so I'll have to get a helmet. Maybe Julie will send me mine. Or I could see if the BX has any. I'll still be tied to the bus schedule until I fix that problem.

Our office leadership (of which I'm a part) went out to get pizza tonight as a going-away dinner for Ric. A good time was had by all, and we were all happy to do our part to alleviate overcrowding in the DFAC (dining facility). I had a slice of pepperoni and a half dozen hot wings. Mmmm.

It's late-thirty. Gotta get up in a few hours. More soon.

Abi out.

J

I have a leftover bottle from a medicated shampoo which I now use for my baby shampoo. It's a 4-ounce bottle and more convenient to carry to the shower than the vat-o-shampoo I brought with me. In order to distinguish the baby shampoo from the medicated, I took a Sharpie and wrote 'J' on it (for Johnson's and Johnson's). Ordinarily, this would just be an innocuous thing, but not for me. I hadn't intended anything when I wrote that one letter, but I'm glad i did. See whenever I send my bride a card, email, or not, I don't address her as 'Julie'; instead, I simply put 'J'. So now, every morning as I collect my toiletries and walk the 87 steps to the shower, I'm reminded of home and the beautiful woman I married, the mother of my child, and future owner of a lake house.

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I didn't take as many picture this week as I thought I would, but click here to see the ones I did take.

Hand me the toothpicks

My mother hates that I like to chew on toothpicks. However, today would have been a good day to have an ample supply of them. My office hosted a conference today. Folks from all around the region came in to hear our spiel. The info was good, but after a full day of "Death by PowerPoint" and a high-carb lunch, my eyes were getting heavy. A couple of toothpicks might have allowed me to prop my eyelids up, but instead I had to stand up at the back of the room just to keep from going into a coma.

We held the conference in Al Faw Palace. I'm new here, so to me it was really cool. Seriously, it was cool. As in not warm. Desert or no, you could hang meat in there. On breaks, I'd go outside and do my best reptile imitation and soak up some heat from the sun. (Did you know there were some monster-sized carp in the pond next to Al Faw Palace? Don't fall in!)

After the day was done, we had a catered dinner on the veranda of one of the bungalows along the pond. We had a 6-man band of Army Soldiers playing guitars and singing songs during dinner (Jimmy Buffet, The Eagles, Johnny Cash...lots of familiar "sing-a-longs"). Afterward, I found out that they were all also deployed, and that their job was to entertain the troops throughout the AOR.  What a gig!

Anyway, the day was a nice respite before I begin my duties in earnest tomorrow. Time to take the reins from Ric. We'll see how it goes.

Settling in

Today was much cooler than normal. If it got above 90 degrees, I'd be surprised. We've had dust storms for a couple of days, so that's absorbed much of the radiant heat.  I stayed indoors almost all of the daylight hours, though, so I could have missed a warm spike.

This morning, I got a pass to sleep in to recover from my jet lag. Boy did I need it. I went to bed at some time after 22:00, and I didn't get up for good until 09:45 (though I did have to wake up for my usual 03:30 dash to the urinal). I missed breakfast, so I took a shower and planned to get lunch at 11:00, only to find out the DFAC (dining facility) doesn't open for lunch until 11:30. So I got a "grab-n-go" sandwich and caught the shuttle bus to the office.

I found out today that we have 7-day work weeks. At first, I was irritated by the prospect of never having a day off for 6 months. Then I contemplated what I would do with free time over here, and decided 'not much'. I also noticed that--since it is very much like any office job I've had in my career--it doesn't feel like I'm deployed when I'm at work, so the 7-day thing seems fine to me now.

We had a late day at work because we're hosting a conference tomorrow, and that's interrupting the usual work on Friday, so we stayed late to cover that base. Dinner @ 20:00, now I'm settling in for the night. Between dinner and now, I re-arranged my furniture to my liking. However, the two wall closets are made of that cheap press board with a veneer finish, and they are both falling apart. Therefore, I can't put my stuff in them until I get the billeting office to repair or replace them. And since it's not a critical request, that could be days. So, I'll be living out of my duffel bag for a while. At least the floor plan suits me, and my Monk-ish nature is somewhat mollified.

Time to check in with Julie, then get some shut-eye.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Man, with a title like that, you'd probably expect me to evoke some Biblical imagery that draws a parallel between the circumstance I find myself in and the End Time. While perhaps an apt allegory may be appropriate, I chose the title merely because I attended a concert here by a band of that name. You may be disappointed, but no more so than I was upon hearing the "music" proffered. I doubt I can describe it accurately, but think of a two-year-old pitching a screaming fit and you'd be close.
Today was my first full day on the job. I suppose this whole deployment thing is doable. In fact, although I learned we work 7 days a week, I think that may be more of a blessing than a curse. I mean, what else is there to do around here? If I had a whole day to ponder how long I had left, it might actually be more of a detriment.

I had one especially interesting highlight today: I found out my buddy and former co-worker (from my time at Randolph AFB) is deployed here in an adjacent camp around BIAP. It was good to talk to an old friend.

As promised in my previous post, here's a link to some pics from Facebook. These are just the rest of the pics from my transit into country. I'll take and post pics in the next few days. Out here.

Here

As I woke up this morning (actually, one of the several times I woke up this morning), I reflected back on just how much effort has gone into getting me here. Where's here? Wow, that's a loaded question. 'Here' is a disheveled CHU (containerized housing unit) at Camp Victory, Baghdad, Iraq. 'Here' is a God-forsaken desert that never lets you forget that fact. 'Here' is day one of a new experience for which I'm both excited and a little apprehensive. 'Here' is the twilight of my Air Force career as I hope the sum of my experiences will add up to a positive contribution to the fight.  'Here' is thousands of miles from everyone and everything I know and love.

The transit to here has been both quick and easy, and long and arduous. In concrete terms, the actual transit from San Antonio to Baghdad went extremely smoothly. We left SAT late on 18 Jun, and by noon on 22 Jun, I was standing on the runway at Baghdad International Airport (BIAP) breathing in the hot, dusty air of Iraq. Those 3.5 days are a blur, caused mostly by sleep deprivation, but everything seemed to line up just right, and I got here just about as quickly as is possible. On the other hand, I was tasked for this deployment on 14 April (which is a little bit short notice) and a ton of work went into getting me ready to ship out, as my previous posts to this blog will attest.

In more abstract terms, it took me over a quarter century to find myself situated to take this bullet (a poor choice of words?). I've wanted to deploy...to support the warfighter in a more direct way than my career has afforded me so far...for perhaps a decade now. From my brief observation yesterday, I expect the day-to-day nature of my job will be not dissimilar from any stateside staff job. Yet, at it's core, it is imminently different, and that sole fact is what compels me.

--

I finally slept last night. At Al Udeid, I slept a total of 1.5 hours, so by the time I went to sleep last night, that 1.5 hours was all I had in over 43 hours. Really, if you include the sparse sleep I got on the Norfolk-Leipzig-Doha flight, I probably got no more than 8 hour sleep since I woke up in Norfolk on the 18th. Now, showered and rested, I'm ready to take on my first full day on the job.

So, here I go!

--

P.S. I'm now inclined to post most of my photos via Facebook. I'm bandwidth limited on my internet here, so FB will help me conserve some of that. Also, it's easier to upload there. What I will do, though, is post on this blog the public link to pictures for non-FB users to access them. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Hell's annex

I'm guessing that Hell is full. It must be, because what other need could there be for this much heat in another place if not to torture the poor souls who find themselves in it? The only potable water here is in plastic bottles, available just about everywhere on base to keep people from passing out. I've only been here 9 hours and I've already had over a half gallon. But, I digress. You (no doubt) would rather hear about my experiences this past day, so allow me to oblige.

We last left our hero as he sat at the Navy Air Terminal in Norfolk, so let's pick up from there. The plane boarded and departed on time at o'dark thirty. We were on a North American Airlines 767, and only about 90 passengers. That meant we each had a row of 2 or 3 seats to ourselves. I chose a middle seat up front, so I had lots of room to stretch out.

We had a short layover in Leipzig Germany to change aircrew and flight crew. I spent 4 Euros to pay for wifi to call home on Skype. Then we loaded back on the plane and off we went again. We landed just 45 minutes after midnight in Qatar. Had we landed before midnight, I would have gotten credit for one more day in the AOR, which might have helped get me home before Christmas. I still might, but at this point, it's too early to start thinking about coming home.

Once we landed, we immediately started processing into the AOR. We got our chem gear, and got a bunch of video briefings. They grouped us by final downrange destination, and selected the highest ranking person in each group to be the Troop Commander (TC). For my group, I ended up being the TC for 14 others, which means I'm responsible for ensuring they all get the info they need, and get on the plane when they're supposed to. (I'm not seeing the upside to being the TC.) After that, we checked in at billeting, got our linens and went to the tent (yes, another tent). This time, we had 32 bunk beds. Since we are transient (not stationed here, or TDY here), we don't rate getting separate rooms. I felt like I was in a hostel.

By the time we got through all processing, it was nearly 0530, so I found a wifi spot (at The Bra) and called Julie. I eventually got over to the chow hall and found a good number of our crew already there. Pretty good spread, I must say. I recommend the omelets.

Now, I'm just hanging out in the learning center (read: library) wondering what in the Hell I'm going to do to bide my time. I'm trying to adjust my internal clock, but I'm not sure I can stay awake all the way until 8 p.m. when I find out if we're leaving tomorrow. I think I might get some rack time before dinner, then see what happens from there.

Sorry, no pics...the connection's too slow. I'll post some when I can...if my camera doesn't melt first.

Relaxing in Norfolk

I slept in this morning until 0930. Haven't done that in a while. I enjoyed having absolutely nowhere to go and nothing to do, at least for one day...but it would get old quickly.

All I really did was eat brunch around 1030, lunch at 1400, then supper around 1800. In between, I spent a lot of time watching TV, Facebooking, and catching up on this blog. BTW, for supper, two of my travel partners and I (R-B and Will) ate at Hooters. When we mentioned we were headed to Iraq, our waitress got all the girls to sign the latest issue of the Hooters magazine, plus we got a free dessert.

Now, I'm sitting in the Navy/AMC Air Terminal waiting on our flight out. Not much else to tell. Here are some pics from the day...

Now, off to foreign lands and faraway places. Later.

San Antonio-Atlanta-Norfolk

Even though our flight didn't leave until 13:00, I got up early to make sure I had plenty of time to get everything done. I didn't have a car, so I had to walk over to the armory to pick up my weapon. I had scheduled 08:30 for pickup, but by the time Will and I got there, they were doing their shift change. So, we finally walked out at 09:00. We had a quick breakfast at the Shoppette (orange juice, banana, and danish), then called a cab to take us to the airport.

The van came on time, but he had another pickup at Lackland Annex (formerly Medina Annex), which is where I went through Officer Training School.  It's a different place these days. The school house and the dorms are still there, but the billeting buildings (former OTS dorms) were all bulldozed and a new billeting built across the street. We saw some pararescue trainees undergoing a team building exercise: there were about 25 of them carrying a large, apparently heavy, iron bar (say 30 feet long). As difficult as CAST may have been, I know it doesn't hold a candle to pararescue training. God bless the PJs.

The flight to Norfolk was uneventful. Along the way, in all three airports (SAT, ATL, and ORF), folks would come up to me and thank me for my service. I try to be as gracious as I can, but I don't like the spotlight on me. The guys and gals facing live fire are the ones who deserve the most recognition. Still, I understand that it's me whose standing there, and it's great to know people haven't become inured to the war effort.
Now, the "thank yous" are one thing; but that's not where it ended. First, when we boarded the plane in SAT, the flight attendant came back and said we (Will and I) could sit in first class. I didn't mind where I was sitting, but, again, I didn't want to step on anyone's expression of thanks. Then, in Atlanta, we were at TGI Fridays eating supper when a guy came by, slapped a $20 bill on the table, and said, "Beer's on me, fellas!" He was gone before I could open my mouth to say thanks. It didn't stop there. Later the waitress came by and told us someone had paid for our meals. I never figured out who did so, but the waitress had also handed us a note on a napkin which read, "Thank you for all you do! God bless you!"

We got to Norfolk Airport on time, then had to get a taxi over to the Navy Air Terminal to check in. It was pretty quick, but it was getting late and I was tired. We hired another taxi to take us to billeting and (knowing that billeting was booked solid) on to our hotel. Then things got weird. The taxi driver was supposed to pick up a Korean guy from the airport after he dropped us off, but while we were driving to the hotel, he learned the guy's plane landed 40 minutes early. The driver asked if he could stop by the Norfolk Airport to pick up "Mr. Wu."  We agreed, but it slowed us down by about 20 minutes. On the flip side, he cut the taxpayers a break on the fare.

We ended up at the Norfolk Sheraton on Waterside. Very nice, and we got the government rate. All in all, it was a long day, and I was glad to lay my head down on the pillow.

CAST TD-10: I R A Grad-G-8

We began the day with final turn-in of any issued equipment (sleeping bags, M-4 magazines, and such). After that, we cleaned the paint ball guns and their magazines. The latter proved to be a time-consuming task because we had to disassemble each one, and re-assembly was not a trivial effort. It took 20 of us over an hour to get it all done.

After that, we had a final briefing in the classroom, which ended by 11:00. At that point, we went straight into the graduation ceremony. Sorry, no Pomp and Circumstance, and no goofy square hats and tassels.

My official AETC training certificate.

Muck [top photo] and I [bottom photo] getting our certificates.

Tent O residents

(L to R: Dave, Muck, and Abi)

From there, we cleaned out our tents and staged our luggage for loading on the buses at 12:30. We left before 13:00, half to the airport for flights, the rest of us over to Lackland for billeting.

Once at Lackland, we checked our weapons it to the armory, then checked in to billeting. Not to be too indelicate, but it was a real pleasure to make use of a flush toilet for a change! Only one other person, Will, had the same itinerary as I did, so he and I paired up and went to lunch (not an MRE, another welcome change), then to the BX to get a haircut and pick up a few odds and ends for our transit to the AOR.

After dinner--our second meal at Smokey Joe's barbeque shack--I went back to my room to re-arrange how my bags were packed. I had to do that because I was sending some of my unneeded stuff back to Dayton. Fortunately, Muck's wife drove down to San Antonio, and had some spare room in the car for my suitcase. I was able to offload about 25 pounds and one bag, which will make transit to the AOR much easier. Note to self: Don't pack so much shtuff when you deploy.

CAST TD-9: Nice BOD!

Well, except for one permanently stained uniform and a slightly sore knee (I'll explain directly), I came through Combat Airman Skills Training relatively unscathed. Today was marked again by high heat and humidity, which forced CADRE to make us remove our battle rattle. Good for us, because our exercise today was the Box Of Death [insert sinister music here]. The BOD is little more than an 8-foot by 8-foot (by 4-foot tall) box wherein 10 of us played the enemy while four teams, in four scenarios, were instructed to perform medical care under fire. After each scenario, we switched places. There were a total of 7 teams: 4 performing CUF, 2 playing the enemy, and one resting. It was actually kinda fun, but looking back at the beginning of CAST, I'm confident we would have been clueless.

Both the care givers and the enemy were armed with paint ball guns, and if I haven't already said, you don't want to get hit by one, 'cause it stings, and leaves a welt. Most of us got tagged a few times (I got it in the neck, back, ankle, knee, and calf). One problem was that at any distance over about 25 yards, the paint balls curved precipitously. Not that it mattered, most weren't aiming very much, and we all looked like Rambo shooting from the hip. OK, maybe that was just me. Another problem was that the guns were prone to misfire, presumably because of the ammo they used before they switched to a wax and chalk round. Whatever it was before, it made it very frustrating because it's loads of fun to raise welts on your friends, and I was repeatedly denied that small pleasure.

The best aspect of this day is that we turned in our M-4s this morning, so we are now unencumbered as we traverse the camp. Once we get in country, we'll all be required to carry our duty weapon, but mine is an M-9 (hand gun), so it'll be in a holster, leaving me hands-free.

The big talk of the past two days has been the destruction of Touchdown Jesus by lightning. Well, that and the discovery of a rattlesnake outside Tent Q. It was the snakes misfortune to be discovered because today the staff relieved him of his venom-delivery apparatus, along with the rest of his head.

Double feature tonight: Spy Game and Sherlock Holmes. I've seen both, so it gives me an opportunity to catch up on email and Facebook, and get my laundry all done. All that's left to do is pack and be ready to load the bus after lunch tomorrow. Short day tomorrow, but still an 0530 wakeup.

CAST TD-8: Pizza, Pizza

I once heard it said that the light at the end of the tunnel is really an oncoming train. That's about how I feel right now.  I think the reality of leaving behind my whole world for half a year just set in today. My trepidation has never been about the deployment in and of itself. I'm happy to serve in whatever capacity and in whatever location that's required. But up til now, I've probably taken a lot for granted. One way that this CAST training has helped me is to draw from those who've been through this all before. I've heard a lot of stories of families left behind, children of varying ages, homes around the country, home station missions impacted. So much diversity represented by 36 individuals, but one overriding commonality: we know what each other is experiencing, whether for the first time or again (or even yet again).

I've griped about not having my itinerary for the last 10 days or so. Well, it finally came today. I think it's what provided the dose of reality. See, I really don't get a break before flying off into the sunrise. I graduate CAST on Thursday, fly to Norfolk VA on Fri, then depart for the AOR at 2 a.m. on Sunday morning. Then I'm there. I'll land in Qatar around 2 a.m. on Monday, 21 Jun. I'm supposed to be in Iraq on 24 Jun, but who knows. Many folks get stuck in Qatar as higher-priority personnel rotate in and out. I just hope I get there by the 24th so I have as much overlap with my predecessor as possible, perhaps up to 12 days...that'd be good.

Today was pretty intense, as far as the training went. We put all the pieces together in one big exercise. We drove on a faux mission to deliver goods to two drop points. All the while, we were getting hit by IEDs, helping injured personnel, taking small arms fire, and (after being dismounted due to an IED) trekking overland to finally arrive back at home base.

Our class was divided into groups, called "chalks," to allow the instructors to view all of our movements. We were Chalk Bravo, which was a convoy of three vehicles (I was vehicle commander of the third vehicle). In the after action briefing, we learned that everything Chalk Alpha did correctly, Bravo screwed up.Suffice to say, this is a training environment, and we were indeed trained. Physically, this was as tough a day as we've seen, and the heat was as oppressive as ever.

As a reward for all our hard work, we were granted permission to order pizza and soda. I know I'll be in the hurt locker tomorrow, but by God, I enjoyed my slices. We saw a most enjoyable, politically incorrect, thoroughly offensive, way cool guy movie, The Hangover. Uproariously funny. We were all in stitches and the comic relief was just what the doctor ordered.

CAST TD-7: MOUT up

It's getting late, so short post tonight. Today we learned about Military Operations in Urbanized Terrain (MOUT), which was actually more fun than I had expected. Classroom time was short this morning, then outside while it was still relatively cool, though it heated up pretty quickly. Our learning objective today was how to traverse an urban environment on foot, and, if fired upon, break contact and seek cover. The really fun part was that we were armed with paint guns--as were the instructors/enemy--so it was basically a big paint ball fight. When I get home, I'll have to teach Deuce a lesson or two! Here are a few pics from the day.

Tomorrow we put it all together in one big exercise scenario where we're in a convoy, take fire, have injuries (fake, of course), and have to land navigate to a point of egress. Or something like that.

CAST TD-6: Risky Business

Well, here I sit, at long last, in the food court at the Lackland AFB Base Exchange. Obviously, I decided to leave Camp Bullis for some much-needed normalcy, regardless how quickly the time may pass. It's 12:45 now, and we have to be loaded up on the bus in two hours. But I'm not complaining. However, before I delve too deeply into my thoughts for today, I must recount the adventures of yesterday.

The day started off as most others: with classroom training. We broke for lunch around 11:15, but only got 30 minutes because we had taken long breaks (2 x 20 minutes), and had to be loaded on the bus for transport to the HMMWV Emergency Action Trainer (HEAT) and Land Navigation. HEAT was essentially a HMMWV-on-a-stick (sorta like a pig over a spit) which simulates rollovers and helps you learn how to egress the vehicle when it's upside down or on its side. HEAT wasn't terribly difficult, but at one point I released my seat belt before I adequately supported my head, so I got a bit of a stinger in my neck. I'm OK today, though.

Then came Land Navigation. There was nothing difficult about the techniques presented, but the oppressive heat in South Texas combined with the weight of the battle rattle made for difficult transit through thick bramble. Again, I have tons of respect for those who do that stuff for a living (and in the service of our Great Land). I thought I might pass out.

I had hoped the day would've ended early (say 16:00 or so), so we'd have a bit of time to relax and get some laundry done before our day off. Instead, it was almost 18:00 by the time we were released by our class leader and finished our chores (e.g., sweep floors, empty garbage, distribute MREs, etc.). Since I had to watch the movie (Dark Knight, with Heath Ledger), I didn't have time for anything but a shower before bed. I guess I'll do laundry tonight.

Today, though, is a welcome respite from the grind of CAST. As I said, I'm in the Lackland BX. If you don't already know, Lackland is where all the Basic Trainees are, so I can't walk from A to B without some pinger standing at attention and saying "Hello, sir." (Pinger is a pejorative term to describe a basic trainee whose crew cut is starting to grow out, so it "pings" up on the top.) I don't recall being told to brace for officers in the BX when I was a pinger, so this must be something new.

I've had my first soft drink in a week (Cherry Coke, thank you very much!) along with a slice of pizza from the ubiquitous Anthony's. I probably should be hydrating for the four grueling TDs ahead of us. But, as we learned from the sage Joel Goodson, sometimes you have to say, "WTF."

CAST TD-5: 10-4, good buddy, east-bound and down

Since we’ve been here, I hadn’t had a gung ho attitude about any of the exercises until today. We learned about Mounted Operations. Or, “What to do if your convoy is hit by an IED”.  Of course, when you think about the reality of what we’re doing, ‘fun’ isn’t the word I’d use. I guess it’d be better to say that today’s exercise held my attention the best, and the hours went by quickly. I can’t think of a scenario where I’ll ever be in a convoy while I’m in Baghdad; still, it’s probably better to at least be familiar with the basics should I ever need them.

The really great part of today was the brevity thereof. We were done by 1530, which is a first. A lot of us just sat around and BS’ed, some washed clothes, some had a siesta, and those who fired at the “enemy” today (using blank rounds, of course, which are extra dirty), cleaned their weapons. In the scenarios we went through, I never had occasion to shoot, so I escaped that chore. I’m either slow, or overly meticulous (probably both), which means it takes me about 30 minutes to break down, clean, and re-assemble the M-4. Nevertheless, I find it strangely cathartic and rather satisfying to clean a weapon.

Here, again, is my daily gripe/whine that I still don’t have any travel plans. I’m now among a dwindling few who don’t. Now that Friday has come and gone, I guess my frustration must continue through the weekend.

I’m really hoping that it doesn’t rain tomorrow (or more specifically, doesn’t lightning) because we’re currently keeping on schedule with the course. If that continues through tomorrow, then we have the entire Sunday off. Our options are limited, though: either stay here, or go to Lackland. I’m vacillating on which I’ll do. If I stay here, I can relax more readily because I can retreat to my tent if I so choose, and I can get some washing done with fewer folks competing for the washing machines (yes, we have washing machines in our simulated war camp). If I go to Lackland, then I can go to the BX and buy a charger for my cell phone. (You may ask, “What idiot would forget to bring his phone charger when he’s deploying?” Well, that’d be me.) The downside is I’d have to find something to do for 7-8 hours, yet without a car or anywhere to just sit and relax. I thought about wearing my uniform over there and terrorizing the basic trainees (“Hey, give me a 341!”), but that would only kill about an hour before I’d tire of it. I guess I’ll decide tomorrow night after I see what the majority of folks are doing.

More fun tomorrow: Land navigation and…uh…mmm… I dunno. I guess I should have been paying closer attention. Time to call the Mrs. and then hit the hay.

CAST TD-4: Gatorade never tasted so good

We’re all going to sleep well tonight. It was over 90 today, with high humidity. Situation normal for San Antonio, but not at all comfortable when wearing full battle rattle and doing SMUT (we’ll get to that in a minute). We had several folks fall out because they were overcome by the heat. Fortunately, none were seriously ill. Many of us are motivated to ‘play through the pain’ because to get dropped from this course probably means you’re not deploying. A lot of pride is on the line. Don’t get me wrong, we don’t have any heroes here, just folks who want to get downrange so they can do their share, yours truly included.

All right, now SMUT. No, not smut. SMUT. As in SMall Unit Tactics. Think of any army movie you’ve ever seen where a squad of 10-20 personnel are traversing through potentially hostile territory, trying to reach an objective without getting shot. That’s SMUT. Hand signals, combat care of wounded, fire fights, ducking for cover, all included. On the silver screen, it looks cool and sorta fun. Maybe so, but it’s also physically taxing. The bottom line for me is that I have a whole lot of respect for our Army and Marine brethren who do this stuff for a living.

I talked to Julie tonight. It still doesn’t seem like I’m really gone for 7 months. I’m already imagining what my homecoming will be like.

Seven more days to go to graduation (and seven more days of heat), but after that, I wish I knew. I still don’t have my itinerary, and that’s starting to irritate me. I’ll call my UDM on Friday if nothing breaks loose in the morning.

Speaking of morning, it’ll be here soon, and I still have to shower before I hit the rack. G’night.

CAST TD-3: What a drag

Today we were introduced to Care Under Fire. Everything you learned in Self-Aid and Buddy Care: forget it. OK, maybe not all of it. In a nutshell we learned that you don't stop fighting just because someone is wounded. And when you do render aid, the menu of care options is very short. Of course, in order to do anything, you need to get the casualty to cover, and dragging seems to be the most expedient method. So that's what we practiced...dragging. One man drag, two man drag, low crawl drag. We had big people dragging little people, little people trying to drag big people, big people dra....you get the idea. And to make it all more fun, we were doing all this dragging on gravel. Thank goodness for knee pads!

We have a somewhat small class, and I think it's better that way. Like any training environment, the class members can make it or break it. So far, we all seem to be getting along, and I've enjoyed the mixture of officer and enlisted, junior and senior, with a wide variety of career fields represented. For me--and probably for others as well--I've really appreciated the insights I've gotten from those here who've deployed before. It helps to kinda know what to expect.

One other topic of conversation keeps recurring...when are we all leaving. Seems a lot of us are having to wait a while for transportation to the AOR. I still don't have my itinerary, so I don't even know which city I'll be waiting in, much less for how long. In the end, I guess it doesn't matter that much, but I'd rather stay here in San Antonio rather than fly somewhere else to wait. At least if I stay here I can go to the best hamburger joint in the world, Chester's.Wild horses couldn't drag me away!

CAST Training Day (TD) 2: Small arms and big vests

Today we performed live fire at the range with our M-4s. We shot 170 rounds at pop-up targets at ranges 50 yards, 200 yards, and 300 yards. It’s not as easy as it looks, especially when loaded down with 40 pounds of battle rattle. In my case, I was doubly-damned since my Kevlar vest (with plates) was a size too big (I had a size 'large,' but should have had a 'medium'). As a result, the loose fit meant that weight was all on my shoulders, rather than being distributed across my entire torso (as designed). Needless to say, I’m tired. At least, at the end of the day, I was able to turn in the large and procure a medium in its place.

The best aspect of the day was the weather. We’ve been expecting rain, and it finally came. But never when we were outside. However, the overcast sky kept temps way down for south Texas in June…a welcome surprise. Storms are predicted for the rest of the week, so I guess it’s only a matter of time before we get drenched. The way I look at it is: (a) I won’t melt; (b) my clothes are washable, and (c) better to be drenched by rain than by sweat!

So far, everyone here (there’s ~36 of us) seems to be enjoying the course. Since we have evenings off, and there’s a DVD player in the classroom, several of us are gathered right now to watch movies. Not too bad as camping goes. Off to bed now for another 0500 wakeup.

In San Antonio at last

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.