A Weekend Off

Having completed the laundry list of tasks and briefings we were given the weekend off. I took off just as soon as I could and flew Air Tran airlines to Detroit to meet Emily for the weekend. This was total bonus time as I did not expect to get any time off once I left on 01 August. Yeah last minute tickets are a little pricey, but how do you put a price on time? Hell I'd have probably paid 2x as much. I mean really, I'm going to war. As is always the case with Emily we had a lot planned for a few short days but I knew it would be fun.

Before I go into the weekend I have to give AirTran their props. I had a great flight with them and would recommend flying with them if you can. I am not sure if it is a corporate policy or what, but they bumped me up to 1st Class on the way to Detroit and put me in an Exit row on the way back to Atlanta. Both times the agent thanked me for my service and told me that the bumbs were a small way of saying thank you.

The weekend was great. It was so wonderful to see Emily and her family and friends in Michigan. The wedding reception was an absolute blast. By the time we left my teamate and I retired as the undisputed, undeafeted Beer Pong champion of Dewitt, MI! Yep, Beer Pong at a reception. In fact we beat Emily and her dad. I have to say that was the toughest game, Mr. Pasch can bounce a mean pong ball. By the time it was over there were three tables going at once. Music kickin in the background, man if I get married again that's the way I wanna do it ;) (Emily, I know that shit ain't never gonna happen).

Sunday we went down to a BBQ with a few of Emily's college friends. It was a good time, but alas my rein as Beer Pong champ came to a horrifying, brutal end. These guys are real pros. I took a good smokin, which resulted in consuming a fair amount of the beloved beer. Anyhow, we had a great time. It was really a good idea to spend the last weekend with some distraction. I have to say a huge THANK YOU to Brian and Kelli. They are two of Emily's closest friends and have become good friends to me as well. They have both welcomed me into their circle, opened their home on several occasions and have given us amazing support during this deployment. Kelli even stayed up to do some laundry for me so Emily and I could spend some time alone together. Then she got up at 0400 to drive us to the airport! Thanks guys.

Pre-Deployment Fun in the Sun

If war is hell, pre-deployment is a decent stand in for purgatory! Our days consist mostly of waiting in line to get to the next processing station. When we are not waiting in line we are sitting in another briefing. No lie, we have heard 23 separate briefings. These have ranged from Cultural Awareness -don't shake with the left hand or show the soles of your feet, through the Chaplain –it's normal to be scared, your family misses you don't shut them out, to Finance –here's what you're going to get paid. That's not to say that there are not literally hundreds of people working to make the process of getting to the Area of Operations (A.O.R.) as efficient and painless as possible. The process is just an inherently difficult and time-consuming process. Did I mention it is over a 100 here before 1100 a.m.?

Consider what has to happen in the case of the average Reservist (a soldier who normally has a civilian job and has been mobilized in support of the current operation). This Soldier has to go from civilian to a full time, fully trained, processed and equipped Soldier operating in a foreign country where people are trying to kill him/her in a matter of a few weeks. In the case of the group I am with, about two weeks. These Soldiers have all the technical training they need such as driving trucks, managing logistics, flying aircraft; whatever their "job" is in the Army. Most have some of the tactical training such as reacting to an ambush, calling in a MEDEVAC, occupying a check point; typically what people think "war" is. However, they are not part of the active duty force. They have not had the benefit of Army medical and dental care and may not have been able to afford that same quality of care on their own. In those cases they may need some work. Reserve soldiers are not in the pay system to receive all the entitlements active duty soldiers do and they may not be aware of them. The Reservists family starts receiving medical care and other benefits once their Soldier comes on active duty, that is another system altogether. This and a myriad of other systems, process, training, information and most of all, paperwork must get done, and done right.

Now, imagine me coming along. Though in the Reserve's I am on active duty and have been for 12 years. I have deployed several times, once to Kuwait, which is where I am going to now. I am in the pay system. I have had all the training. My forms are filled out, and in the system. You get the point. It's frustrating, but it is necessary and I understand that. So that is basically what we have just completed. We should almost all be on "the same sheet of music" administratively by the end of today. The fun stuff starts tomorrow. I didn't do much blogging for a few reasons:

· Internet access is very limited and lots of other Soldiers needed the computers to do training or deal with issues so they could get out of here.

· It was boring the hell out of me and I didn't think it would make interesting reading

· It was boring the hell out of me and I didn't want to relive it by remembering it and writing it down.

· It was boring the hell out of me and the last thing I wanted to do was sit down and write.

· Did I mention I was bored. Oh yeah, fairly frustrated too.

I should give a big "Shout Out" to all those of you that pay your taxes. You can not believe the stuff they give you when you go to war! When I was a Private here at Ft Benning, one of my Drill Sergeant's was telling us all about going to war. He had been in the Gulf War and was relating the "war stories". I remember somebody talking about the equipment we were training with and how worn it was. Our Drill Sergeant just responded "…don't worry about that shit. You go to war and BAM new shit starts droppin out of the sky. BAM, brand new M-16. Still in the plastic. Poof! New uniforms. Don't worry Private. You go to war, you'll get all the shit you need." He was right. I have three duffle bags full of mostly brand new stuff. Uniforms, body armor, Gerber multi-tool, Chemical protective masks, boots, literally everything except underwear and 90% of it was in plastic, just like my Drill Sergeant said it would be.

So, tomorrow the fun starts and Thursday we get to go to the range and fire our weapons. We will do some training that will enable us to handle most situations we can expect in Theatre (Doctrinal term for the area of the war fight). The Army is continuously updating this training. As the enemy develops new Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (T.T.P's) we develop countermeasures. This is a radical change to how the Army has historically done training. Technology surely has enabled us to get better and clearer information from theatre, and we can get it almost real time. More importantly Army leaders have realized the dynamic nature of our enemy and have put processes in place to deal with it. In this area we are truly doing what we do best as soldiers –adapt and overcome.

T-36 hours and counting

I have about a day and a half until I leave Pennsylvania and begin the process of deploying. It has been a tremendous couple of weeks. I am just about ready to go, and I have to tell you that I could never have gotten here without the help and support of family and friends. First among those is my girlfriend Emily. She has been a rock to hold on to, and sometimes a a heavy current to push me to accomplish my goals.

The house is ready to sell, bags are packed, homework is almost all done. My parents, stopped by for the weekend to spend a little time. We had a great visit just hanging around. We celebrated my parents 41st anniversary by going to Niko's in Lebanon. Niko's is a fantastic restaurant with outstanding food. The only downfall was the service. Not terrible just very slow. It gave us all a chance to relax and enjoy ourselves, so no big deal.

I have to say that I think the next day or so is going to be the worst. As excited as I am to go on this deployment it is really going to be tuff leaving Emily. We have had such a great summer together and I just want it to keep going. We both agree though that this is as good a time as any to get deployed. Law School keeps Emily pretty busy and this way she will be able to focus all her energy into her studying and work.

The next few days will be pretty busy. I leave for Ft McPherson, GA this week. I'll be there in-processing for a few days and then I will go to Ft Benning, GA for some pre-deployment training. Ft Benning is the home of the Infantry. It is ironic that I got my start in the Army when I reported for Infantry Basic Training in August of 1992. Odd, it will be 15 years, almost to the day when I report there for my pre-deployment training. This is not my first time back to Ft. Benning as it is also home to the United States Army Airborne School. The only place in the world the U.S. Military teaches normally intelligent, rational people to jump out of a perfectly good airplane! I highly recommend it.

I will stay there for about a week and then return to Ft McPherson. Once there I will integrate with my new unit. I will be assigned to the legendary Third United States Army, or 3d Army for short. This organization was once commanded by GEN George S. Patton Jr. during WW II. It is a very large organization and is responsible for a very large portion of the War on Terror. I am proud to have been selected to be a part of such a storied organization.

I can't say for sure what will become of me after that. I have been told that most likely I will deploy to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. I am not going to speculate on when I will be where ever it is I am going. I am pretty sure though I won't be able to attend any Labor Day BBQ's!

My First Time

OK. Go easy on me. This is my first post on my first blog.

I started this blog because I am deploying to the Middle-East in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. I wanted an easy, efficient, effective way to update a bunch of people at once. I surmise by the massive number of blogs that this is not an original idea. Time will tell if it was a good one.

A couple of things before I get started.:

1. This blog represents my own personal thoughts. The thoughts and ideas presented here do not in any way represent military or Army wide thought.
   
2. I am a Soldier, I fight where I am told and I win where I fight. I volunteered for this profession and for this deployment, knowing full well the hazards of both. DO NOT expect to find in theses pages condemnation, praise, criticism, or support for political efforts for which I have been sent to execute. There are plenty of other outlets for that.
3. I Love my God, my Family and my Country. I will fight for all three, in that order. I will defend them each, but I will not waste my limited time defending my Love for them to you.
   
4. If you are some scum sucking terrorist or sympathizer looking for intel in an effort to support a cowardly assault on us, read on and check back often. This will give us maximum opportunity to find you, and find you we will.

If you are still with me I ask your indulgence for the remainder of this literary effort. I intend these pages to be riddled with menu's of what I ate, things I saw, the high temp for the day, what my quarters look like, who my commrades are and every other mundane detail of life. It is my hope that through this blog my family and friends can remain connected to me and I to them. I do not expect to return home unchanged, nor do I expect things at home to remain static in anticpation of my return. I expect much will be different, and much better.