So I realize that it has been a while since I have written but sooo much has happened and I have been so busy with my new unit that I have hardly had time to breath! Things still have not died down but I hope to keep you all informed of whats going on in my life.
On the 20th of November I finally graduated from all the training I had been doing for the previous 3 months so I am officially done with that!!! After graduation, I reported to my new unit to get things arranged/situated there for when I came back from taking leave. I took leave for Turkey Day and most of you were in MN when I visited and it was great to see each and every one of you. I do wish I had more time I could have spent there but was happy to be there while I could. I do have some news about Christmas this year, I will not be coming out to MN for xmas this year for various reasons. The first is that I flew to MN a few times last month and am a little sparce on money right now. Also, if I were to come out I would have to travel back to VA on Christmas day. Sorry for that news but it looks like I will be spending my holiday in VA.
As for my job, I am learning quickly what is expected of me and how to get things done. Its still early but I am a fast learner and my commander is helpful in assisting me when I have questions. I spend a lot of time in the office dealing with problemed soldiers, drug and alcohol abuse are common, we have already had an accident with one vehicle carrying a large container....their ground guide wasn't paying attention and they took out a powerline....no big deal. ahhaahah right. But things are going alright, I enjoy working with all my NCOs and my soliders so thats great. I'm not really sure what to tell you all about what I do exactly but to keep it simple, I basically run my unit how I want to, I have a lot of freedom when it comes to training. I will be running a range for the Batallion in January, I run and maintain the motorpool.....I dont know, does any of this make any sense to you all? Theres a lot I do but its hard to break it down. Basically I do lots and lots of paperwork to try and make the unit run smoothly. Anyway, I apologize if this email is jumbled but thats basically how I am feeling right now with everything so lets hope that some day things will tone down a bit so I can get my thoughts organized. Well I hope all is well, please be safe this christmas!
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Friday, August 24, 2007
Change of Plans
There is some information which I have just recieved a few hours ago that is going to alter my plans here in Virginia. Originally I was to be stationed in Fort Story, VA which is in the Virginia Beach area. I had planned on purchasing a house out there and this past monday and tuesday I went house shopping to get an idea what I will be looking at and getting a feel for the market. Well, as of 3pm my orders were changed. I will no longer be stationed at Fort Story but Fort Eustis which is still in Virginia. The reason? Second Leutenents are constantly moved around to wherever the Army needs them. What this means for me is that after living this last week in a hotel paid for by the military due to inadequate housing on post, I am being forced out no later than this Wednesday and required to find my own housing.
So I have Saturday and Sunday to find an apartment and move in before the training week starts. But thats not all. The reason I was moved into this new unit was to give others who have served tours overseas a well deserved break...this means I will be deployed within the next 6 months somewhere over in the Middle East. Where exactly they don't know as the war can develop in many different ways. As of right now, I will be deploying in March. So thats it, my orders got changed just today and it hit home, I always knew I would head over just never knew when. This change of orders just makes it all the more real. As far as time to visit family before leaving, I am not sure what will be available to me and cannot guarentee anything at this point.
Well I have to get to bed, got a long day of apartment shopping ahead of me.
So I have Saturday and Sunday to find an apartment and move in before the training week starts. But thats not all. The reason I was moved into this new unit was to give others who have served tours overseas a well deserved break...this means I will be deployed within the next 6 months somewhere over in the Middle East. Where exactly they don't know as the war can develop in many different ways. As of right now, I will be deploying in March. So thats it, my orders got changed just today and it hit home, I always knew I would head over just never knew when. This change of orders just makes it all the more real. As far as time to visit family before leaving, I am not sure what will be available to me and cannot guarentee anything at this point.
Well I have to get to bed, got a long day of apartment shopping ahead of me.
Monday, August 20, 2007
East Bound
I have finished my training in Fort Sill, OK after 7 weeks in blistering heat. Friday was graduation and right after, i began my drive to Fort Knox, KY. For some of you who may remember, I trained at Fort Knox back in 2002 for basic training. I went there for 2 reasons, it was on my way to VA and a good friend of mine is training there as an officer. It took me about 14 hours to drive there without stopping and I spent saturday hanging out with James. Saturday night I left for Virginia and after another 11 hours of driving, arrived at Fort Eustis, VA where i will be spending the next 3 months training. They have put me up in a hotel just off post free or charge, a comfort inn, pretty nice.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Hurry Up and Wait
I reported to Fort Sill, OK on the 1st of July and have been going non-stop since. I have completed my two weeks here in Oklahoma and it has been one for the ages! Just kidding. Actually it was pretty boring, just a whole lot of waiting in lines to get only a small amount of things done. Basically the first week consisted of medical, dental, eye exam (passed by with flying colors), finance, 7 hours of briefs in one day on STDs, sexual harassment, equal opportunity, red cross, and then standing in more lines. We did get the 4th off so myself and a few other LTs here went out into the city of Lawton, found a church parking lot and watched about a dozen fireworks shows panoramic style. My guess is there are no laws, or very few of them, that keep rather good fireworks from civilians so these shows we saw were not put on by the city but by locals out of their backyard. Pretty impressive. The real fun doesn?t start until next week but this upcoming week gives us a small taste of what to expect.
We had our Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) in which I got a 289 out of a possible 300, way above the platoon average of 272, Combatives (grappling, sparring, self-defense ect), a whole lot of classes on odd things and more lines. The classes were of a wide variety. The first was on Close Combat Optics or CCOs. CCOs are an internal reflexive laser system that mounts on top of a weapon but what is unique about this system is that the laser is only visible to the shooter. As I stated, it is an internal laser. It may not be very clear to everyone what that means so to break it down, imagine a weatherman standing in front of a blue/green screen. That weatherman is the laser's dot. You can put anything behind the weatherman on the screen and the density and image of the weatherman does not change. With that in mind, the laser inside of the CCOs does not get dimmer/weaker as you point at something farther and farther away but remains constant. This is because the laser never leaves the optical sight, what you see through the scope can change (close or near target views) but like the weatherman never moves from his post, the dot never moves. Does that make sense to everyone? It's a really cool gaget that is designed to turn the army into a point and shoot because wherever that dot is, the bullet will hit.
We also received instructions on Night Vision Goggles or NVGs. These are what we put on our helmets that can flip up or down when you need them and give you the ability to see at night by filtering what light is in the area and intensifying it in a green shaded image. There are two different types, one that covers both eyes and another that covers just one. In my opinion, I don't really like NVGs because they actually ruin your true God given night vision. The intense green light takes away from you ability to distinguish different shades of dark when you are walking around in the woods. I'm not a fan of loosing my vision again.
Next was a class on how to properly sight the bore of your rifle and our CCOs so that the laser of the CCOs were perfectly in-line with the muzzle of the weapon. Basically that laser inside the CCOs is no good to you if it is not lined up with were the bullet comes out causing you to miss your target even though you aimed the laser at it. Other than that, we have just been going over the basics for shooting our weapons, breathing, trigger squeeze, aiming, and relaxing, all of which can change the direction of your shot by just enough to cause a miss.
Due to a $1000 projector gone missing our entire barracks housing approximately 200 LTs was searched this week from top to bottom. Every nook and cranny, every wall locker was taken apart, every car was searched. It took half of the day and it never turned up. Combatives is over now and my body is thankful. Being sore has found a new meaning in my vocabulary. This weekend is all about getting things done, errands and whatnot. I got paid yesterday, very exciting!
We had our Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) in which I got a 289 out of a possible 300, way above the platoon average of 272, Combatives (grappling, sparring, self-defense ect), a whole lot of classes on odd things and more lines. The classes were of a wide variety. The first was on Close Combat Optics or CCOs. CCOs are an internal reflexive laser system that mounts on top of a weapon but what is unique about this system is that the laser is only visible to the shooter. As I stated, it is an internal laser. It may not be very clear to everyone what that means so to break it down, imagine a weatherman standing in front of a blue/green screen. That weatherman is the laser's dot. You can put anything behind the weatherman on the screen and the density and image of the weatherman does not change. With that in mind, the laser inside of the CCOs does not get dimmer/weaker as you point at something farther and farther away but remains constant. This is because the laser never leaves the optical sight, what you see through the scope can change (close or near target views) but like the weatherman never moves from his post, the dot never moves. Does that make sense to everyone? It's a really cool gaget that is designed to turn the army into a point and shoot because wherever that dot is, the bullet will hit.
We also received instructions on Night Vision Goggles or NVGs. These are what we put on our helmets that can flip up or down when you need them and give you the ability to see at night by filtering what light is in the area and intensifying it in a green shaded image. There are two different types, one that covers both eyes and another that covers just one. In my opinion, I don't really like NVGs because they actually ruin your true God given night vision. The intense green light takes away from you ability to distinguish different shades of dark when you are walking around in the woods. I'm not a fan of loosing my vision again.
Next was a class on how to properly sight the bore of your rifle and our CCOs so that the laser of the CCOs were perfectly in-line with the muzzle of the weapon. Basically that laser inside the CCOs is no good to you if it is not lined up with were the bullet comes out causing you to miss your target even though you aimed the laser at it. Other than that, we have just been going over the basics for shooting our weapons, breathing, trigger squeeze, aiming, and relaxing, all of which can change the direction of your shot by just enough to cause a miss.
Due to a $1000 projector gone missing our entire barracks housing approximately 200 LTs was searched this week from top to bottom. Every nook and cranny, every wall locker was taken apart, every car was searched. It took half of the day and it never turned up. Combatives is over now and my body is thankful. Being sore has found a new meaning in my vocabulary. This weekend is all about getting things done, errands and whatnot. I got paid yesterday, very exciting!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
