RSO and Some Redundant Clearing (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 297

I headed to morning formation in ACUs because I’m out-processing of course. Even though it’s spring, it’s still freakin’ cold outside. In fact after formation when I headed back to my car the thermostat stated it was 32 degrees out…officially freezing! I hung out in my car for a bit with the blanket on me listening to the radio and eating my breakfast. I headed to the SFAC at 0730 when it opened up. I checked my email and printed out the mandatory education ETS briefing certificate I sent to myself yesterday.

I drove to Waller Hall and visited the RSO (Retirement Services Office). I tell you they really have a racket going on with the SBP (Survivor’s Benefit Program). Not that it’s a bad program, it’s not. It will allow your spouse to receive a portion of your retirement paycheck after your death. The problem I have with it is that if you want to do anything other than 100% they make you jump through a lot of hoops to get it done. If you don’t get everything done in time, the 100% kicks in automatically and it can’t be changed for 2 years. I decided I wanted a different amount, I wanted what’s called the “Threshold Amount”, which my wife and I thought was a good compromise between monthly premiums and the monthly annuities (payouts). From the paperwork and what I understand, the premiums are $19.18 a month and the payout would be $422 a month. It’s not a lot, but it is something. The monthly premiums seem to really increase quite quickly the higher you go. Because I was choosing an option other than 100%, my wife had to come in and sign paperwork as well. Luckily she is only working a half day today, so I called her and asked if she wanted to come in and hang with me for a bit.

While she was on her way, I headed to the education center to out-process. I was a little worried because I’m actually still using tuition assistance and I haven’t finished my last two classes yet. It states on the clearing paperwork that any outstanding tuition assistance debts must be resolved. I was hoping that I would not have to wait until May 6th when my classes are officially over. That would really put a damper in my future plans. As luck would have it, they were more interested in the mandatory education ETS briefing certificate, which I quickly provided them. They signed and stamped my clearing paperwork…Woohoo!!

I drove to the SFAC and had to clear ACAP…again. It’s on both the battalion clearing paperwork and the installation clearing paperwork. It’s like the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing! Why am I clearing from the same place twice? I made my way up to the company headquarters and met up with my squad leader to sign more paperwork. He also went over my clearing paperwork and let me know where everything is located. I head over to Madigan hospital and clear medical records…again. I then went to the medical clinic, then the dental clinic and cleared both of those locations.

I drove back to Waller Hall and met up with my wife now that she arrived. We hang out for a bit and had a coffee at the Starbucks located inside Waller Hall. We then went to the RSO where my wife had to sign the form and get it notarized. We must have been in there for a half hour just to sign a stupid form. At least it’s done now, one more thing I don’t have to worry about. My wife left and I went to the ACS office in Waller Hall and had them sign and stamp my clearing paperwork. The last place left that I could do today in Waller Hall was the vehicle licensing. I went there, took a number, waited, then finally took my clearing papers up where they were signed and stamped. Now I’m done with almost everything.

I drove home and ate lunch. I then did schoolwork for a while, then took some time to continue the job search. Even though I have an offer, I’m still going to keep my eyes open just in case.

Pre-VA Appt - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 276

I headed to morning formation which was at 0745 in ACUs. I’m guessing because of daylight savings time we had a late formation with no PT scheduled. We did accountability and then dismissed. I headed to the SFAC and checked my email. I then headed to see my ACAP representative and let him know that I’m now in TransProc. He then printed out some paperwork and gave it to me. This paperwork shows that I’ve completed all the required ACAP steps. I then went up and saw my NCM. I let her know I’m now in TransProc as well. I didn’t need any refills or anything so the appointment went pretty quick.

At 0900 I had an appointment with a VA representative in our company headquarters. She gave me some paperwork and said once I get my dates to check back in with her. She will coordinate with the VA and get my first appointment scheduled when I’m out of the army. I drove home and took some pain meds. Pain has been a constant today and just continued to grow. Most days I just deal with it, but not today. I worked on schoolwork, which was a frustration in itself and the stressed involved is probably not helping my pain management. I get a lot out of classes when attending in person, but when taking a class online it can be extremely difficult when everything is not fully understood. This is my problem with my Business Financial Management class. There is a lot of new information that I’m having a hard time comprehending. The questions I have to answer are extremely difficult and it’s frustrating to say the least.

Pain Clinic - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 213

The True Freedom church right next door to Excitement adult video. 

Not sure if the church wants members to have true freedom and 

partake in the adult video, or if they are there to save Excitement's customers??

This morning I headed to the morning formation held at Keeler gym on Ft. Lewis in my ACUs, I had a 0800 appointment with my NCM. We had our formation, then they told everyone to head inside the gym. Once inside in one big formation, they had all people with appointments fall out to the rear. I fell out and waited for the first sergeant who came and asked each one of us when our appointment was. Once I said 0800 and she moved on, I headed out.

I drove to the WTB parking lot, ate my breakfast, then grabbed my blanket and took a nap. I headed up for my NCM appointment, but when I arrived at her office door it was shut. I went back out to the waiting room and called her number. Nobody answered, so I left a message saying I was there and would hang out for another 15 minutes or so. Once 15 minutes were up, I went to the SFAC and checked my army email.

At 0900 I had an appointment at the pain clinic. This appointment was with one of the doctors. I gave him an overview of my symptoms and a little history. He then explained a little more of what they do here. A lot of it is based on eastern medicine and ideologies. He has a very optimistic outlook and thinks they will be able to help me out a lot. This made me a little optimistic as well, I’m so tired of being in pain almost every single day…it can really make life suck! He said there was an opening with an acupuncturist tomorrow and had me make an appointment for that and also put me on the list for their program, which will eventually develop a personalized plan for me involving all the other areas such as chiropractic and massage therapy. I’m actually a little surprised the army is offering these alternative solutions, but I’m very grateful to have the opportunity to give them a try.

I then headed to my next appointment which was an ACAP follow-up. I found out they keep changing the requirements, so now I have a little homework that I need to do before I see him again in three months. It’s not a lot really, but I have to fill out a number of sections in their workbook and also show proof of a job that I’ve applied for and also have to show that I have three references.

I then headed to the WTB bathroom and changed into my civilian clothes. I drove to my best friends new restaurant that he’s running to check it out. We had lunch together and we hung out for a while. After that I drove up to Sultan and hung out with my kiddos after they got out of school until my daughter’s basketball game. It was a lot of fun to watch her play and win, but I didn’t get home until after 2200…then I had to do my schoolwork.

Busy Day - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 124

This morning I headed to formation in ACUs as has been my way lately. I planned on going to the dentist, I didn't actually have an appointment, but they allow walk-ins from 0700-0800 for WTB folks. Once formation was over, I headed to my car and picked up my dental records that I brought with me from Germany. I also had to bring a copy of my orders. Why I need a copy of my orders I'm not too sure. I guess they want to verify that I am indeed assigned to the WTB.

I arrived at the dentist and stood in a short line for a bit. Once at the desk I handed over all my paperwork and they told me to have a seat. At least they had a TV in the waiting room, I ended up hanging out in there for about 15 minutes. A lady came out and brought me back to get X-Rays, then sent me back to the waiting room. After another 10 minutes or so, I was called back to see the actual dentist. No cavities! I just have to schedule a cleaning appointment now. I did that on my way out and then headed to my car.

Once in my car, I ate my breakfast and listened to music for a while. At 0845 I had a follow-up appointment with my physical therapist. I let him know that I think the traction has been helping. I usually feel pretty good after the traction, and I haven't been taking as much pain medication as before. I'm not out of total pain for sure, but I am feeling better.

I then went immediately to another traction appointment, then headed to the pharmacy to pickup a refill for a medication that I called in. After that headed to an area next to the pharmacy where they are giving out flu shots. I fill out all the required paperwork and then wait a few minutes. They give me an actual shot in the arm and then give me some verification paperwork. Everyone is required to get the flu shot, so I take the paperwork to my squad leader to file and mark that I've had my shot. In the normal world I don't think I would get the flu shot, I will just rely on my good ol' immune system to fight off anything that comes my way. I don't see how filling us with a bunch of crap that will protect us against old flu viruses is going to help with new ones that are coming out…but I don't get that choice. (Don't take this as a stance against normal vaccinations, I do think those are necessary)

I check my army email at the SFAC and then grab a sandwich to eat at the shopette. I almost forgot that I have an ACAP appointment later on this afternoon. I drive over to North Ft. Lewis and arrive at an ancient building that is now serving as their ACAP office. The class is on social networking and LinkedIn. The class was actually interesting and a bit longer than I thought it was going to be. It started at 1300 and ended a little before 1500. The teacher had us all do a Google search for our names and see what comes up. This is something potential employers can and will do. We also went over the privacy settings in Facebook and then dove into LinkedIn. I had a LinkedIn account, but wasn't an active user of the site. After the class I will be updating mine and connecting with a lot more people. LinkedIn has a lot to offer the professional who is looking for employment.

I started to head home and received a text requiring 100% participation for a battalion formation. It's going to be the 4-day weekend safety brief. I don't need to hear any of that crap. I have my school as an excuse to not attend evening formation, so I just keep driving home and ignore it. Just another reason I can't wait to get back into the civilian workforce…I don't need a safety briefing every weekend as a grown man.

NCM & ACAP - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 114

This morning I headed into the main building at WTB where we have our formations in front of as I usually do each morning. As I sit inside the news is playing and I dink around on my iPhone until it's actually time to head out to the actual formation. This morning it was pouring down rain, and surprisingly they had some common sense and decided to have the formation inside. I was in ACUs, I have an appointment at 0900, but I would have told them 0830 if anyone asked.

After formation I headed to my car as usual. My morning routines here at the WTB are getting to be pretty boring. I eat my breakfast and listen to music, then take a nap until it's time for my appointment. I head into the SFAC and check my army email, then I headed up to my weekly NCM appointment. I didn't have anything new to tell her and she didn't have anything new for me so the appointment didn't last too long. These weekly NCM appointments are basically so the nurse case manager can look the soldier in the eyes at least once a week.

I headed down to the SFAC again and waited there until 1100 playing around on my iPhone. What did we do before smart phones to pass the time? I had an ACAP follow up appointment with my counselor at 1100. He asked how everything was going and if I needed anything from him. He signed me up for a LinkedIn class and then sent me on my way.

At this point I went home and did schoolwork. When my wife came home we went to the YMCA and worked out. It feels nice to get in the gym again…away from the army.

No Hat - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 108

I headed to morning formation as usual. I leave my house at 0445 for the 0630 formation at Ft. Lewis. I only takes me an hour to drive, but I give myself much more time just in case there is bad traffic or any other unseen delays. In order to leave my house at 0445, I get up at 0420. Most of the time I'm on complete and total auto-pilot that early in the morning. I've done many things like forget to shave and forget my lunch. I guess my brain just doesn't work that well that early. This morning proved to be one of those days…I realized when I was getting ready to get out of my car and head to the morning formation, that I forgot my hat. I'm in ACUs and we are not allowed to walk around outside without a hat…that is not a complete uniform. Oh Crap!

So I just stayed in my car, my squad leader will assume I'm at my internship with the navy because it's a Tuesday. I didn't want to text him and lie, so I just didn't do anything and let him assume. I really can't believe I forgot my hat! So I eat breakfast and then take a nap in my car. I then keep an eye out for people and make a strategic escape from my car to the hospital, luckily I didn't run into any NCOs on the way. I don't feel like getting chewed out for being out of uniform.

I get a text from my squad leader stating we have 100% flu shots at 0900…I ignore, I'll text him later, I'm not going to show up out of uniform. I head to physical therapy at the hospital for traction on my neck. I have a headache before and the traction along with the heat seem to help temporarily. It doesn't take long before my headache returns and it gets worse as the day progresses. I'm not sure if it's coincidence or if the traction made it worse.

I head back to my car, walking fast trying to avoid any NCOs…or any soldiers for that matter. I head to the SFAC and use their computers to check my army email. I then head to the ACAP office (in the same building) and speak with the navy HR folks. I had an appointment to see them while they were in today. They gave me the ins and outs of getting a job as a civilian working for the navy. It was pretty much the same as the federal resume class I have already attended. I may have been a little preoccupied as well because I was still pissed at myself for forgetting my hat.

After the appointment I head home and do schoolwork, but by this time my head is killing me. I try one of the new medications the neurologist prescribed me and much to my surprise, it gets rid of my headache completely after about an hour. This is good news! The medication is called "Maxalt" and is for migraines. My normal headaches aren't migraines, but they can trigger migraines. I was just about to take some Percocet, which would have helped, but doesn't get rid of my pain totally.

When my wife got home we headed off to the YMCA to get a good workout in. I'm enjoying working out at the YMCA. They have some great equipment and I am totally out of the army environment. I think this was a good decision, I can get a good workout in a better atmosphere and a better mood.

Federal Resume Writing - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 101

I sent a text to my squad leader a little after 0600 reminding him I'll be doing the navy internship. I then go back to sleep. I had told the navy yesterday that I wouldn't be able to come in because I have an appointment today, which I do but it's not until 1300. It just didn't make sense for me to go to either place so early, so I took a nap and then got up about 0800. I did my schoolwork for the day and then got myself ready.

I headed off about 1115 and headed to Ft. Lewis. I had to attend a "Federal Resume Writing" class. When I arrived to the classroom it turned out that I was the only one there. After the class started there was one more guy who joined late. The class went over how to tailor your resume for specific federal jobs. Unlike civilian resumes, federal resumes should be a lot longer and fairly detailed. We went over how to use the USAJobs website (searching for jobs and uploading resumes). I was then signed up to speak with the navy HR folks who will be coming in next week.

I headed home about 1500 and did some more schoolwork until my wife came home. We then headed to the local YMCA and worked out. I don't have anything against working out, in fact I have always been an athlete growing up and have hit the gym quite a bit in my adult life. It's working out with the army that I really don't care about. I have been slacking pretty much since I left Korea. While in Korea, I hit the gym everyday after work. It was a little easier because I was a geographical bachelor. It kept me busy and helped the day pass quicker..it also kept me in great shape. After I left Korea and headed to Germany I can say my disappointment in the army grew more and more. I was already pretty disappointed that I didn't do any I.T. work while I was in Korea and then when I actually went to a signal company, I found out that I wouldn't be doing any I.T. work there either. It wasn't just that, but a lot of things about the army that just pissed me off more and more it every day. It just really didn't make much sense to me how the army did pretty much everything. There was no common sense at all. It got to the point where I had no desire to do anything with the army, and that included working out. I gave everything the bare minimum. I can see now that it has actually started to affect my health from my last appointment. I've gained a bit of weight and I've been slowly just getting out of shape. Now my wife and I will be heading back to the YMCA on a regular basis at nights. I can workout for myself now and not have to worry about the army at all…these workouts will be for me and me alone. I really don't plan to do anymore PT with the army at all if I can help it.

ACAP - WA State Resume - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 89

This morning's formation was at 0840 in ACUs at the Evergreen theatre on post for a town hall. I left right after formation and headed to an ACAP appointment, which is good…usually the town halls are pretty boring stuff. My ACAP appointment wasn't until 1000, but this was a new place I was heading to and I also had to make sure to be there early.

The ACAP class was for getting a job working for the state of Washington. Working for the state would probably not be a bad gig. The instructor went over similar stuff as the other ACAP classes (de-militarize your resume). He also showed everyone a bunch of different websites to check out. Probably the best thing out of the class though was getting the teacher's contact info. He actually works for the state and said he would help out anyone that wants to get a job. He even proposed going out and getting coffee to talk over everything and answer any questions.

The class ended around noon and I headed home to eat lunch and do my schoolwork. Right in the middle of my schoolwork my NCM called and gave me the date for my PHA appointment. She also let me know I have to go to the hospital lab and get some blood work done before my PHA appointment which is next Friday. I'll take care of that tomorrow, now it's back to schoolwork.

ACAP Counseling - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 76

This morning I headed to formation in my ACUs, not really because I had an appointment at 0830 or before, but because I felt like it. I told the NCO checking that I had an ACAP appointment…which I did, so it wasn't exactly a lie…it was just at 0900. I then headed to my car and ate breakfast, then took a nap. When I woke up I was had to give the guy in the car next to me a jump before I headed to my appointment.

This ACAP appointment was basically just checking in with my counselor and making sure everything was on track. We scheduled the state and federal resume writing classes, then I took off. I headed home for the day and did my schoolwork. Not a whole lot to write about today.

ACAP All Day Part III - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 69

A photo I took of The monument to the "Steadfast and Loyal Infantryman

of the Famous Fourth" located on Ft. Lewis.

This morning as I was getting ready, I received a text from my squad leader letting me know that formation has been changed to 0800. I texted him back letting him know I wouldn't be there because of ACAP. I was able to take my time getting ready because of this. It was nice because I didn't shave and I just threw on some civilian clothes and then headed in.

At ACAP today we went over the resume some more and then focused on the cover letter and interview. We broke for lunch, which I had in my car while listening to music. When we arrived back to the classroom we had to gather in groups of 4 to 5 people. We then did a mock panel interview session with each other. We had various questions that we could ask, and we just took turns with one person being the interviewee, while everyone else asked a question.

During the class I received a text from my squad leader telling me I have to do staff duty Sunday night to Monday morning. WTF? I texted him back letting him know that I had an appointment Monday morning, but he responded stating there was nobody else and I had to cover the shift. By this time I was pretty pissed off. Mainly because I had plans Sunday night to celebrate my birthday, but now I'll end up turning 40 while at the staff duty desk. Not how I imagined crossing this milestone for sure. I don't know why I found out last second, and I'm sure there was someone else available from our entire company…but not much I can do about it except be pissed off.

I wasn't even able to concentrate for the rest of the ACAP class, all I could think about was how much I hate the army. I really can't wait to go back to a normal life and a normal freakin' job. I drove home angry, which is never a good thing…everyone and everything was pissing me off. I had road rage to the extreme. Normally I'm a pretty calm and collected guy, but getting screwed like this just really rubbed me the wrong way.

ACAP All Day Part II - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 68

This morning everyone came to formation in ACUs. We stood in formation and waited…and waited…and waited some more. Finally our first sergeant came and we did our accountability. Everyone else would get into trouble for being late to a formation, but when you're the first sergeant those rules don't apply. It also inflates their head and their big egos when everyone has to wait on them.

Everyone was in ACUs because we had to do a PMI (Primary Maintenance Inspection). This inspection consisted only of showing our dog tags (ID Tags) and our ID card. We all headed up to the bravo company headquarters and stood in alphabetical order. Luckily those of us with 0830 appointments and earlier were able to move to the front of the line. I headed to the front and showed both items, was marked off the list and then I left.

I headed to north Ft. Lewis where I parked and ate breakfast in my car. Day 2 of our all day ACAP class had us start checking out some various web sites. We then went over the resume, breaking it down into sections. We went over the header, the objective, and the experience sections. We discussed "Wordsmithing" which is basically tweaking statements and phrases to sound a lot better. We went over action statements, basically in the experience section of a resume, the user should use an action statement instead of just listing their job description. This will leave a better impact on the person reading the resume.

We then had to pair up with others and give a 30 second "commercial" about ourselves. This was basically practicing for the interview process when the hiring manager asks you "tell me a little about yourself". We rotated through about 5 different people doing this process. After that we were dismissed for lunch. I headed to my usual spot…my car and the radio.

When we arrived back from lunch we did a lot more resume talk, going over the education portion and any other miscellaneous items. I had the instructor take a look at my resume and got some valuable feedback. We were dismissed a little after 1630.

ACAP All Day - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 67

This morning's formation we were all told to wear summer PTs with the jacket and everyone seemed to get the message…except our 1st sergeant. As soon as she came out, she told everyone to remove their jackets. I gotta say this army stuff is getting pretty old. I hate dealing with big egos and no common sense. I just have to remind myself that my time is short…my time is short.

After accountability, we were told that there was 100% weigh in this morning. I then hear a chief warrant officer behind our formation say "I'm not fucking doing that", then he proceeded to walk off. I guess when you're a chief, the rules don't apply. We all headed up to the bravo company offices and luckily those of us with appointments were allowed to go first. I headed up to the front of the line because I'm starting the 3 day mandatory ACAP classes, and they start at 0800. I find out I'm actually 4 pounds overweight, so I have to get taped to measure my body fat percentage. I pass pretty easily. I've always been heavier than I look since high school. I always wanted to be able to dunk the basketball, so I worked out quite a bit on my legs all the time. Muscle mass is quite a bit heavier than fat…although I have been noticing my stomach starting to grow a bit. I think my metabolism is starting to slow down a bit…I may have to slow down on the ice cream consumption.

I headed to the gym and changed into civilian clothes. We are allowed to wear civilian clothes for the ACAP classes, which is nice and a lot more comfortable. I drive over to north Ft. Lewis and then ate breakfast in my car before heading up to the classroom.

Today's focus for the ACAP class was basically emphasizing the use of "military talk" when speaking with employers. Those people transitioning out need to remember how to speak "civilian" both in person and on their resume. This will not be too hard for me, because I was a civilian a lot longer than I was in the military. In fact I never really acclimated to using very much military jargon. I felt that most of the time I was just a civilian in an army uniform. A lot of folks though have had the military as a large part of their professional life and it's going to take time to learn the translation from military language to normal civilian language.

We had an hour break for lunch, I headed to my car and ate while listening to the radio. When we arrived back in class it was a lot of the same talk about civilian language. The latter part of the day involved how to translate your MOS into positive wording for a resume. Instead of saying "I drive tanks", one might say they were in charge of operating a multimillion dollar piece of equipment for example. We were given a few informational websites to check out and then dismissed at about 1630 for the day.

Shot in the Butt - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 51

PT this morning was pretty intense, especially compared to what we usually end up doing. The NCO focused mainly on our upper body doing things like overhead arm claps, push-ups against a wall, and sitting down doing the military press with a partner giving slight resistance. What made it such an intense workout was the sheer number of repetitions we did…I'm going to be sore for a while after today.

I did the usual and had breakfast in my car and then headed to the gym to change. I made the mistake of arriving at the gym during rush hour and it was a total sausage fest! There were naked dudes everywhere, I'm going to have to adjust my time and arrive a bit later from now on.

I headed to the SFAC to take an ACAP class. It turned out there were only two of us in the class, so it went by pretty quick. It was basically an overview of the ACAP process and giving us a bunch of websites to view. This class is supposed to be the first one you attend, but I had to reschedule this one earlier because of conflicting appointments.

After the class I went out to my car for some rest…listened to the radio and maybe even nodded off for a few minutes here and there. I headed back into the SFAC and ate my lunch. I ended up just staying in the SFAC using one of their tables and their WiFi with my laptop.

Finally I had an appointment with my PCM. We went over my issues as usual and I asked for something quite a bit stronger than my current pain killer to deal with the times I get major headaches. She prescribed me some Percocet, which should do the trick. Since I actually had a moderate headache she had the nurse give me an injection in my butt. I forget what the actual name of the injection was, but it was described to me as a dose of "Super Motrin". Because Motrin hasn't done much for me in the past, I wasn't expecting much from this at all. It turned out that it actually did help relieve my headache pain. In fact my head didn't hurt at all for about 6 hours! Usually I can feel the pain in my neck and head every time I take a step, even when I don't have a full on headache. With this shot, I felt normal for the first time in a long time…at least for 6 hours.

I waited around for evening formation at 1600, which ended up being an informal gathering where we were told there is nothing to report. I then headed home.

Edit: I did finally look back at my medical records and found out the shot was Toradol. I have since requested shots from my civilian doctor and it helps a lot with the pain

Slow Finance Day - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 45

Today it was just one of those days. I think I took a muscle relaxer a little too late last night and was still quite a bit drowsy when I woke up. I was pretty much on autopilot the entire morning. When I arrived for the morning formation, there was nobody there. After texting my squad leader I realized the formation was at the gym. He did tell me during my initial counseling that on Tuesdays the formations were at the gym. I thought that he said "some" Tuesdays and not "every" Tuesday. I had an ACAP class anyway, so I wasn't going to do any PT…he said no big deal and to go ahead and take care of my ACAP class.

I arrived at the class which was located in the same room as yesterday. I realized that while on "auto-pilot" this morning I totally forgot my lunch bag…which also had my breakfast items in it. That sucks! I ended up purchasing a pastry from the vending machine and it was actually pretty tasty! I did remember to bring my coffee, which is a must have! I made my way to the classroom and then sat through a very boring finance class. The class was basically on how to budget along with maintaining your credit and such. This is very basic stuff, which I've been doing since I was a teenager. I think if you're over 30 and you have a credit score over 700, you should be able to get this class waived. What a waste of time. I had to fight nodding off the entire time. The good news was that I was in civilian clothes, so at least I was comfortable.

I headed downstairs at lunch time and had lunch at their mini-subway shop. (again because I forgot my lunch). I then headed to the SFAC and checked my army email…still no word on my household goods. After that I headed to the library for the rest of the day and did my schoolwork, then played around on the internet passing time. When it came time to change out of my civilian clothes so I could head to the end of day formation, I realized that I forgot my hat (patrol cap) back at the house. I can't wear ACUs outside without a hat, so this pretty much screwed me. I headed to the end of day formation in my civilian clothes and just hung out behind where we form up. It turned out that they didn't even form up, the NCO just had everyone gather around him while he stated that he had nothing for us.

What a day…I need to make sure and remember to take my muscle relaxers a bit earlier from now on…when I do actually take them.

ACAP - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 44

Ft. Lewis and North Ft. Lewis are divided between Interstate 5

I headed to morning formation in PTs, but didn't actually do PT…I had an appointment. After formation I headed to the gym and changed into civilian clothes. I then headed to North Ft. Lewis to the education center for my ACAP (Army Career and Alumni Program) VA Benefits I & II briefs. ACAP is a program every soldier that is leaving the army is required to do. It includes a number of briefs, I split mine into a variety of days to help pass the time I guess. This first day had a class from 0800 to 1200 then from 1300 to 1530. The topics were VA benefits available to us after we get out of the army. It was full of good information.

I found out at lunch time that North Ft. Lewis is pretty crazy. I was going to hit the Burger King at lunch, but there was no parking available at all and the drive through line was ridiculous. I ended up just going back to my parking spot and going to the "mini-subway" located in the education center building. Even though the line was long, they did a pretty good job of keeping it moving.

After the second brief I just headed home. I suppose I could have made it to the evening formation, but why? My squad leader already knew I was at ACAP today and the evening formation usually never has any useful information anyway.

ACAP & In-Processing - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 32

My drive home back into Bremerton...a big navy town. 

Always a pretty amazing site to see these huge aircraft carriers

This morning I headed to morning formation in ACUs and after formation my name was called along with a few others. At first I thought "oh great…another pee test". It turns out that it wasn't for a pee test, but was just to inform me that I would be moving to Bravo company next week. I had actually started to wonder about this because I had heard that people were only in HHC company for a month before being transferred. This is already day 32.

I headed back to my car and ate breakfast, then headed to an ACAP (Army Career and Alumni Program) appointment. ACAP is the process every soldier has to go through before they get out of the army now. It is mainly to provide the soldier with all the resources he needs before separating from the army. This meeting was just to register me for all the required classes that I need to finish in order to complete the program.

The squad leader that talked to me this morning then gave me a call. He asked me to come to his office and bring all my in-processing paperwork. I headed up there and showed him what I had so far. He has been the only squad leader working for the last couple weeks because the others have been on leave. So he was tasked with getting my packet ready to transfer to Bravo company. I wish I would have had this squad leader the entire time because he was extremely helpful. He had a list of notes for every place that a new soldier needs to do for each in-processing station. All the ones I had remaining were ones that I wasn't sure where to go and I was waiting for my squad leader to come back. I took his notes and then headed off to finish my in-processing.

The first place was the security office and even with the extra help and instructions, I still spent quite a while trying to find their actual office. The building number is not marked and when I finally asked someone for help, they brought me into another building that is connected via several hallways to the building I was looking for. I finished in-processing there and one other place before taking my lunch break in the SFAC.

The rest of the day was spent running around trying to finish up my in-processing. I was able to get almost everything done. I did make it to every place, but some of the folks where out of the office. I'll try them again tomorrow. If I would have had these helpful instructions when I started, I would have finished up a long time ago.