Tuesday, June 12, 2012

A Day of Frustration - (Germany) Day 169

This morning's PT was muscle failure in the gym. Those of us on profile did whatever exercises we could, and I can say that I was able to get a decent workout. Lots of squats and lunges, I'm sure my legs will be sore tomorrow!

This morning I didn't head to work, instead I headed to my basic motorcycle riding course. This course is required before I can get my motorcycle license here in Germany. I found where the class was located easy enough at the army airfield, and started talking to the contractor that runs the class. After a bit of conversation I found out that I could not take the class because I do not have a temporary motorcycle license yet. I was so pissed off I couldn't even see straight. I have been trying to schedule this class which is offered once a month for a few months now, but there is always something going on at work to make it so I can't go. This was the month..finally. I was told that I needed to attend this class and then take the completion certificate to the licensing office on post to get my motorcycle endorsement. We went in the office and made a call to the licensing office and they backed up the contractor and said I have to get the temporary license first. Now realize that I would have been driving their motorcycle on a closed course (the airfield) without going on any roads. Why do I need any license at all? The civilian working in the office agreed with me and said he's going to work to change that, but it doesn't do me any good at the moment. The contractor said he thinks the army doesn't like motorcycle riders and they try to put up as many road blocks as possible.

I headed to the licensing office and found out that I have to take one of their motorcycle safety courses and pass a written test before I can get my temporary license…and the kicker…they only offer the course once a month. It turns out that I can't attend this month's course on the 21st because of a work conflict (of course). So I was told to call in July to see when they are going to have that class. I was steaming mad at this point…I headed back home and changed into my uniform, then headed to work.

Once at work I submitted all the paperwork that is needed to go on pass. I've mentioned this earlier, just a bunch of red tape to get through in order to go on pass. I then took my lunch in my car…listened to some music, read my book and took a nap. Once back at work (and still in a bad mood), I found out that since on one of my passes I plan to drive, that I have to submit a trip plan. WTF? I'm not a 16 year old who has no clue how to drive around. It just seems that the army wants to play big brother a bit too much. Why do they need to know all this information? I'm a grown ass man and can take care of myself. If I want to go somewhere just let me tell you where I'm going and know that I'll have my cell phone on me. None of this extra paperwork solves any real issues.

So I have to go online to fill out this trip evaluation form and I'm getting more pissed off at each question that is asked. What time are you leaving? What kind of vehicle are you driving? A car…how many doors does it have? 4. What size of four door car is it that you drive? WTF? At this point I just want to punch the computer. How old are you? What sex are you? Shouldn't all this information be in your giant database? Shouldn't this all be on file when I log in? Will you be wearing a seatbelt? How long do you plan to sleep before your trip? Will you be drinking alcohol before your trip? I am going to go postal and just start destroying everything! I hate all the babysitting that is done in the army. Oh yes…later on this week we'll have to have our cars inspected by an NCO because I guess they can't trust us to check our own cars. Today it just all came to a head and I let it get to me. I used to think that when I get out of the army that I would want to work at a government job, but now I'm thinking I want to get as far away from this stupidity as possible.

As far as work goes, we received a box full of ComSec crap. Old paper based material that we will never give to anyone and it will sit in our safe until it's expiration date comes up, then we will destroy it. Since we had to put it in the safe, we had to take a full inventory of the safe because it was opened. Wouldn't you know that on the very first item I put a check mark on the wrong date…so after inventory was complete I had to type up a memorandum for record stating that this particular box was an accident. Paperwork is very important for ComSec and everything has to be perfect. It just wasn't my day.

I headed home and was going to relax, but I had to get together a vest, canteen, canteen cover and my beret to bring in tomorrow. Unfortunately I could not find my beret. Just the perfect end to a crappy day.

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