Disaster Relief

No doubt you've heard about the massive Tsunami that has smashed into numerous countries overseas. (If not click here.) I've made a donation and I'm sure anything you can give, big or small, would be of great help. A friend recommended https://www.americares.org for donations, and it only takes about 2 minutes to do.

I was thinking about how many people have offered to send me care packages over the last month and I'd like to request that instead of doing that maybe you could make a small donation to the link posted above.

Back in the Frigid North

After a long day of flying and the insanity that goes along with waiting in line with over a thousand other people for over 2.5 hours I made it home. I was greeted with -17 degree weather, but to be honest I was so excited to be staying in a warm house instead of tent that I'll take the -17 with a big grin.

I'm going to keep this short but I'm planning on fleshing out a few posts that I didn't have time to put together before, so look for those soon.

Also I was sent this video with some great photographs in it that I wanted to pass along.

Click here for the video.

Fort Bliss Arrival

I blame it on my own ignorance but I was totally unaware of what El Paso would be like. Inbetween dosing off on the plane I peered out the window and was greeted by a desert and lines of mountains. It reminded me a lot of my trip to Tucson over 6 years ago.

After jumping off the plane and chatting with a group of Red Cross workers fresh from Kuwait I stepped into the open air to a perfect evening. This was a nice change from Missouri, and I was excited for a bit of warmer weather. The night was deceiving though, as the last two days have been cold, and the wind bitter and sharp. It dips down to nearly 30 at night and hasn't pushed must past 50 during the day but the incredible view makes up for it.

Our accomadations haven't helped things along either. Last night the heater broke in our gigantic tent, sending chills through my toes up to my nose. Taking a shower when it's 55 inside and there is an incredible draft has gotten me sick for the third time on my trip. We're all a bit frustrated but overall I'm happier here than in Missouri.

The tent I mentioned may need explaining too. It's more like living in a gymnasium, with the hard floors and high ceiling. I'd estimate there are four of these tents with over 200 bunk beds. I'm going to pick up a camera so pictures should follow soon.

As of right now we've been told we'll get leave from the 20th of December until the 2nd of January. I should know later this week on how final it is when the paperwork goes through, but it sounded like a sure thing. It's common for plans to change in the Army though.

I'm off for some chow, mmm army food.

Change of Plans

I received new orders today and I wont be attached to the 467th Engineering battalion at Fort Benning Georgia. Instead I'm headed to Fort Bliss, Texas to meet up with the 29th Infantry Brigade, and the 277th Engineering Company which are all part of the Hawaii National Guard. I'm assuming things could and will change numerous times so I'm treating this all as a posibility until I get some sort of finalized answer.

I'm running incredibly low on time but I did manage to find out that they're set to go to Iraq in February and should be at a base in Balad, which is North of Iraq I believe. I also read that they should get a two week pass on December 20th, but I'm not sure if that applies to me or not.

Here's one article I found outlying a few things.

http://starbulletin.com/2004/10/03/news/story9.html

Well I'm off tomorrow morning for Texas, I'll try to get online there and flesh out everything I've learned when I arrive.

News on possible unit and job

I've found some more information on what I might be doing when I leave the states. Looks like we'll be hunting the infamous IED (Improvised Explosive Devices) that you hear about so much in the news. Sobering information for me, there's no doubt about that.

(Note: I've posted the article here, but there's a link at the bottom with some irritating sign up form if you want to go to the main site which is www.comercialappeal.com)

"Reserves to hunt explosives in Iraq

The main mission for Memphis-area soldiers in an Army Reserve battalion called to active duty on Wednesday will be finding explosive devices that cause casualties in Iraq.

Roughly 200 area reservists in the 467th Engineer Battalion are readying to leave for Fort Benning, Ga., for training before heading to Kuwait and then Iraq. In Army jargon, the soldiers will be "conducting area damage control" and "anti-terrorism/force protection operations," a news release said.

"Hunting for IEDs, that's layman's terms," said Maj. Robert Ott, battalion executive officer. IEDs are "improvised explosive devices" used to attack American military vehicles and other targets in Iraq.

Companies of the 467th are based at Naval Support Activity Mid-South in Millington. They moved to the military base in 2003 after a July storm ruined their former decades-old quarters in Memphis at 2562 Avery."




Link to actual article (requires ridiculous registration)

Thoughts on 60 Minutes piece

For those of you that caught the 60 Minutes show, you probably saw me, yet you didn't see me. My fraction of a second of fame will only show in slow motion I'd guess. Too bad, those gigantic glasses are damn flattering.

As for how I feel they presented things, it was a bit skewed. They definatly picked a wide variety of people to interview but who made the final cut were some of the more extreme cases. For instance I can guarantee you that the majority of people walking around Fort Jackson are not 55 years old, and under five feet tall. They are also not all mothers of three young children, though many do have children. I'm sure some of you noticed the big guy who got a lot of screen time, and I can assure you that while many of us are not in the best shape we are fit enough to do what needs to be done.

At the same time, it is important to note that it is disrupting a lot of people's lives, and the way some people are called up is asurd. I think they drove that home in their section about the people who aren't reporting. In any event I'll have to watch it when I get home and make a final judgement about it.

Please feel free to post your thoughts about it here.

Arriving at Fort Lost in the Woods...

...otherwise known as Fort Leonard Wood. It's affectionate knickname is glaringly accurate. Welcome back, ahhhh.

Now that my dramatic yelp has subsided I'm feeling a weird mix of nostalgia and repulsion that only a trip back to your basic training site can accomplish.

Let me take a few steps back to Friday before I go into good old Missouri. The orders came in fast and within an hour of waking up I was told it was time to leave. There were some heavy goodbyes mixed in with a bit of tears as what was left of our company made their final farewell. I'm amazed at how close everyone became within 17 days. I've never been involved with a group that stuck so closely together in the military, let alone the civilian world. Numerous times I saw higher enlisted soldiers vehemently sticking up for the lower ranks and protecting some of the more disorganized people.

Once the farewells were finished I was put on a bus with 6 other people from my platoon and carted to the airport. I was angry to find out that Northwest airlines was charging my friends an unbelievable 80 dollars for having an extra bag with them. No one warned us of this and two of the guys didn't have enough money to make the payment. I encourage everyone to boycott Northwest for their absurd fees, and completely unprofessional and rude staff they have.

At this point our female Major stepped in and tried to get the fee waived, with no luck. She then offered to pay for the two guys who couldn't. Yet again I was surprised and impressed by the group of people I was with, especially the Major. She was actually set to go home because she has Asthma, but requested that it be waived so she could serve. It's hard not to admire that type of dedication and fortitude.

After this we were off through security, where I was fortunate to get one of those ridiculous random screenings they love to dish out. Thoroughly felt up, we headed for the food court and said our final farewells.

In typical Army fashion, I took the most complicated route to get to my final destination. From South Carolina I went to Chicago, had a three hour layover, then went to St. Louis and had an hour layover, then flew into Fort Leonard Wood. The Chicago airport was impressive, sort of a mix between an upscale shopping mall and a museum. One part had a life size replica of a Brontosaurus, while another one had a huge corridor with a collection of pastel panels that would light up as you walked by.

The last plane I took into Fort Leonard Wood was by far the smallest I've ever been on. When we landed it felt like it was going to do a roll. Never was I more happy to be on the ground, though Missouri certainly wasn't my first choice.

Preparing to Leave South Carolina

Just a quick note that I may be leaving early tomorrow morning for Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. If this is the case then it may be a few days or longer before I get to post again or write emails as I'm unsure of the internet access of where I'm headed.

Last week overview

Well today we officially finished all of the training we're scheduled to do at Fort Jackson. Here's a brief overview of all that has happened in the past few days.


Monday - Today they carted us out to the Zeroing range where we adjusted our M-16 rifles to fire as straight as possible. Basically you get 4 magazines with 3 rounds in each one, and you fire three shots per round at a paper target 25 meters away. Assuming your breathing or pulling of the trigger doesn't throw it off, you should have a tight shot group where the bullet holes are no more than 4 centimeters apart.

While we were getting ready to shoot, the crew from 60 Minutes showed up and had two camera men as well as about a six man entourage running around. It was interesting how they had total freedom to move in a live fire range, where normally no one would be allowed to do such things except for the range cadre. They were given kevlar helmets and it was comical to see them propped on top of their heads and other gear.

The cameramen were bold and shoved their cameras only inches away from people even while they were shooting. I guess I never realized how they got certain angles until you see it done, but it was awkward and invasive at times. One soldier to my right stood their without moving while they held the camera to his face for at least two minutes. I don't think I was in too many shots but they did pan by me several times from a few feet away. Whether this will be used or cut for the final edit I have no clue, but if you do see me I'll be wearing the notoriously stylish gigantic army issue brown impact resistent glasses. Rest assured I only wear these when I have to.

After we finished firing, the 60 Minutes crew interviewed a few soldiers. I'm not totally sure what was said or asked. I'll reserve my opinion for when I've seen the show, but it's obvious to many of us that they were looking for whatever negatives they could find.

Once this was finished and some soggy ham subs consumed we headed for the qualification range. When you arrive out there you're given 2 magazines with 20 rounds in each. You're then sent to prepare to fire at green pop up targets ranging from 25 to 300 meters. The first 20 are shot from inside a fox hole with sandbags to support your weapon. The second 20 are shot while lying on the ground in an unsupported position.

By far this was the toughest range I had ever shot at, though I've only shot at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri and Fort Drum in New York a few times. We were also using older ammunition which acted strange to me. The rounds would fly incredibly high when aiming at targets around 150 meters. This caused us to have to shoot almost into the dirt below a target to get a hit. I only struck 25 out of 40 but it was good enough to qualify. Overall I was dissapointed as I had qualified expert the last time I went out with a 36 of 40, but the entire company qualified so it was a good day.


Tuesday - Since everyone had made the cut the day before we got the morning to rest. Most of us spent it snoring in the barracks. Later in the afternoon we headed out to a nighfire range. We were tasked with hitting 25 meter targets with our gas mask on, and then shooting with the mask off at night while trying to hit 50 meter targets.

I'd forgotten how weird it was to shoot with a mask on. You have to tilt the M-16 forty-five degrees to the left just so you can see through the rear sight post.

In between the mask and night fire we were served chow in the field from the usual scratched green containers. A few guys made comments about how you forget about how nice it is to be able to have simple comforts. Another person made the comment that soone enough we'd probably look back and wish we could be eating out in the woods of South Carolina. We finished the night fire exercise with tracers flickering against large sand berms.


Wednesday - This was by far the most interesting day of training, but I'm going to have to wait to explain it more in depth as I'm running out of time today. We spent most of the day driving in and hopping out of vehicles learning about Convoy Operations. More on this later.

Thursday - Today we received a day off from PT (Physical Training) which meant we could sleep in until about 6:00am. After breakfast we went off to clean weapons. A couple hours of that and we were officially released from training. Right now I'm getting ready to sort out my gear, and then whats left of our company is going to go out for some good food and... adult beverages of course.