In the staff duty bathroom...the 43rd Signal Battalion
takes safety 1st!
Saturday: As I've mentioned before I put on my uniform and get ready for work each morning feeling demotivated and perhaps even a little depressed. I did so this morning and felt it twice as bad, because I have staff duty on a Saturday. This is the worst day to have staff duty because it totally ruins your weekend. In fact because you work all day Saturday, then 9 hours on Sunday, you end up working 12 days straight. When I'm at work each day, I'm usually counting down the days until the weekend comes…but not this week.
I headed in to staff duty a little before 0900 and started my shift with an NCO from our shop. Luckily I had the latest UFC (153) on my portable hard drive, so I spent the morning watching that. Not only were there some great fights, but it also took up the entire morning until lunch time…so time went by pretty quick. The NCO I am working with (SGT T), told me I could take my lunch break from 1300 to 1600. I headed home and had lunch with my wife and watched a couple shows. The break was nice and I enjoyed the time at home.
Back at staff duty I did the usual alternating between, reading my book, surfing the web, and listening to music. The phone doesn't ring, we just sit here trying to pass the time. It's a total waste of my life that I will never get back.
I was given my dinner break at 2000 until 2230. I headed home and spent some more time with my wife. I'm thankful that I do at least get these couple of breaks. I headed back and then decided to watch "Disturbia", a great thriller movie. Once that had finished I listened to music in my chair and kind of zoned out. I wasn't quite asleep, but not quite awake. I did this for a while until SGT T got up and went to the other room saying he had to take a nap. Now I have to make sure I stay awake. I may trade places with him when he comes back.
There has been talk of our future slots when Heidelberg closes. There are a number of slots for the ComSec vault in Wiesbaden for sure, but I haven't heard much else. The flow of information hasn't been very forthcoming, the only reason I've heard what I've heard is because I happened to be in the vault while the platoon sergeant and our CAM where talking about it. Some people will have the option for curtailment (leaving back to the states early). I still have a lot I want to see while I'm here in Europe, so I am hoping I don't have to head back. I try and go over all the scenarios in my head…Wiesbaden, Landstuhl, or the states, but it's kind of pointless until it actually happens. So much can change at the last minute in the army. I even thought for a minute about reenlisting when my time came if I could get Hawaii, but then I came to my senses and slapped myself. I'll be getting out when my contract is up and become a civilian once again…back to the normal life (and common sense).
Sunday: This morning started with me still at staff duty. Staff duty lasted until 0900 in the morning, and I spent that time wondering why oh why do we have to do this stupid crap. Why not issue a "staff duty" cell phone to an NCO and rotate it around? No…I sat in my chair, reading my book and surfing the web for a bit, but spent most of the morning listening to music and drifting off in and out of sleep. An office chair isn't the most comfortable chair to sleep in, but when you're that tired, you'll pretty much fall asleep anywhere. About 0800, I went around and checked out all the garbage cans around the office. Our relief arrived around 0845 and I took out the garbage, then was able to leave. I headed home and passed out.
The rest of the day was spent trying to recover from the bad night's sleep. I guess I wasn't built to sleep in a chair. My body was sore, my head was sore, and I just felt plain crappy all day. My wife and I took it easy and just hung out all day long together. I absolutely hate staff duty on a Saturday…what a waste of a weekend!
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