Sunday, June 3, 2012

Days of Excellence - (Germany) Day 158

This morning we did not have PT, instead we had a formation at 0630 and headed back up to Landstuhl once again. We had three vans going up and I was asked to drive one of them. I said I've never driven there and do not know the way, so I need someone who can provide directions to be my navigator. "No Problem!' I was told and they told our new sergeant "SGT V" to ride with me. Funny thing is, he's only driven there once.

We took off and all our passengers were asleep within minutes of leaving post. I was following one of our other vans…that is until he sped through a yellow light and left me in the dust. So here we were with a driver that has never driven there and a navigator who has only been there once. We headed off and right away got lost. We ended up in the middle of the nearby city of Mannheim. SGT V called and got some directions, we turned around and got on the correct autobahn…but heading in the wrong direction. Usually I stress out and get drivers anxiety, but I didn't really care if or when we made it to our destination. I just followed the directions I was given, and I wasn't going to speed in a TMP and risk getting a ticket. Some guys drive like crazy when they get on the autobahn in the TMPs, but not me…especially when I'm not too excited about our destination.

We finally made it to Landstuhl about a half hour after everyone else. We left in plenty of time though, so we weren't even close to being late. We started the "Days of Excellence" which is a monthly event our battalion has to give training and hand out awards. The event wasn't planned very well because there was a helicopter which seemed to be hovering over the warehouse we were in. Even with a microphone and speakers it was hard to hear at some points.

Our training involved EO (equal opportunity) training. When the speaker mentioned that churches used to put blacks in a negative light and now they are doing the same with the gay community, I thought a fight might break out. The next session was on suicide prevention. I've had to go through so many of these, they start making me think of committing suicide…just kidding, but I do start to lose my mind after a while.

We had some announcements, then a number of awards. SPC JayZ got his good conduct award. This is given to anyone that has served for 3 years without getting into trouble. SPC Whirlwind got his PCS award an army achievement medal and SPC Mac in our maintenance office got a certificate of achievement for breaking the landnav course record with McLovin back in the FTX we all had together a while ago.

We then had a sensing session with our new first sergeant. All the E-4s and below went into a conference room with him. He was frank and just wanted to know how everyone feels about the company, their office, their bosses…and everything else. It was a pretty good session, it gave everyone a chance to vent and it let us get to know our first sergeant a little.

We headed out about 1530 and got back to the office around 1630. Today was the first day of the audit. They had left already, but we had some stuff we had to do. I had to verify my customers all had the correct paperwork for keys checked out to them. We ended up staying at work until 1815 or so. A long day, but it is Friday!

I didn't do much at night except hang out with my wife and relax. We have some plans this weekend and just wanted to take it easy tonight.

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