Prayer Breakfast - (Germany) Day 512

The chaplain up front doing his thing at the prayer breakfast in Landstuhl

This morning was an early one. I headed over to the chaplain's house by 0430 in the morning. I had told him earlier that even though I would be clearing, that I would help him out with this last prayer breakfast. We drove up to Landstuhl which is about an hour away. On our drive there the chaplain asked me to pull over at the next rest area…a minute later he said take the next exit and just pull over! He had to go pee and it was an emergency. So I pull over and the chaplain takes a few steps off the road and relieves himself…lol. We get back on the road and arrive at our destination then headed to the 181 company conference room. Eventually the 102nd Signal Battalion chaplain and CSM arrived as well. This will be the chaplain that takes over once our 43rd Signal Battalion chaplain leaves and the 43rd Signal Battalion shuts down.

The breakfast spread was pretty amazing because of one particular female specialist from 181 in Landstuhl. She brought in all kinds of stuff to eat including breakfast burritos and some type of egg dish. There were some pastries as well and of course coffee and juice. I stayed in the back most of the time taking photos for the chaplain and helping out whenever needed.

After we finished the breakfast we headed out, I was able to grab a muffin and scarf it down before we left…not quite the breakfast I imagined, but at least it was something. On the way back the chaplain wanted to stop in Mannheim at one of the posts to ask some questions about his car. He's looking to sell it before he leaves and needed to find out some information. We ship all our cars from this post in Mannheim, so I'll be making a trip there in the near future. The chaplain wanted to get his car washed and inspected (the inspection is a requirement in order to sell). He was going to have me stay with him all day, but I let him know I still needed to continue to out-process. So he took me back home and then headed back to Mannheim. Because it was close to lunch time by now, I decided to eat some lunch and take a nap. I then downloaded all the prayer breakfast pictures I took and emailed them to my work address so I could forward them to the chaplain later on.

I headed into the out-processing center and finished up my last remaining office there which happened to be the passport office. I'm not sure why we have to out-process there. I sat down handed him my clearing paper, he signed it and I took off. I then headed to the ComSec office where I sent the prayer breakfast photos to the chaplain and also uploaded them to the 181 Facebook page. I call it a page, but it's really a closed group. I checked my email, talked with my boss for a bit…then headed out. I was able to find the S-4 NCO and he signed most of my paperwork, but needed some confirmation from our company headquarters that I don't have any gear checked out. So I had to go back to the ComSec office and send an email requesting this. I think there will be a lot of this type of stuff as I'm trying to tie up all the loose ends.

I headed to the hospital to knock out the clearing paperwork there. The problem is that with the closing of the post, everything is consolidating and nothing is where it should be. Some offices on my clearing paperwork state they are on the 4th floor of the hospital, but they have removed everything from the fourth floor! I ended up on the 2nd floor looking for a behavior health office, when I walked in there was no receptionist. Shrek was playing in the waiting room, but there was nobody there…it was like an abandoned clinic. I wandered around the hallways peering into empty offices and passing by some offices that stated "In Session". Finally a gentleman came out of an office and I asked him if he could out-process me. He said the CPT that usually does that is gone…then gently knocked on an office door that was "in session". The lady who answered told the gentleman to sign my paperwork if I had never been to behavior health before…I told him I hadn't, he signed it.

I then headed to the first floor to the family practice center is. The receptionist there took my paperwork and signed off on everything else except one office called social welfare or something. She told me it was upstairs. I headed back up to the place I just came from and after seeing nobody there, decided to sit down and watch Shrek for a while. A CPT came in who was also out-processing. I told her that everyone was in their offices with "in session" signs on their doors…and the rest where empty. She said she actually works in the hospital and since they signed my behavior health already, she would just sign my social welfare. I don't really see the point of having to do all this out-processing. I never had to show an ID card. The people never looked anything up in a computer or any records, they all just took my paperwork and signed it. It's just a big waste of time!

I headed home and took a nap…getting up so early left me drained. 

Prayer Breakfast - (Germany) Day 439

The guest speaker at this morning's prayer breakfast

This morning I didn't have PT, instead I helped out the chaplain with a prayer breakfast at 0630. The event was held at the hospital DFAC in a side room. I brought the bulletins and other paperwork…along with my camera to snap some photos. The event went fine, except there was no coffee available at the DFAC, how can you have a breakfast event without coffee. It turns out that by the time we left, they had the coffee machine working…go figure.

I headed home and ate my normal breakfast (cereal and yogurt) along with some freshly brewed Kona Coffee that my wife made. I then headed back into my office and took a nap after checking email. I then did a little studying for my apple re-certification before lunch. I met up with my wife for lunch at the food court and then headed back to work. I almost crashed my car on the way back because I saw a little midget with a long beard…he looked just like one of the 7 dwarves! I was trying to get my phone out to snap a picture while driving…not a good idea. Luckily I didn't crash, but I also didn't get a picture either.

Back in the office I gathered the paintball flyers and went around taking down the prayer breakfast flyers and replacing them with paintball flyers. Besides the prayer breakfast early this morning, that was the only thing I really did all day. The rest of the day was spent surfing the internet or playing games on my phone. I think most of the days are going to be like this until I leave this place. I start my next class in a couple of days, so that should help pass the time. I feel all the time that joining the army has been just a huge waste of time professionally.

The singer for this morning's prayer breakfast

 

The chaplain gave the singer an award during the prayer breakfast

Prayer & Paintball - (Germany) Day 422

The chaplain starting off the prayer breakfast

This morning I didn't go to PT, instead I headed into my office to get ready for the prayer breakfast. The chaplain and I gathered the paperwork and headed over to the German Cantina on post. There was a side room reserved for us and I setup each of the bulletins in front of each chair, then waited. The chaplain offered to purchase me breakfast, but I had already had some at home…I didn't know exactly how much time I would  have to eat, but I did grab some coffee and orange juice. When the prayer breakfast actually started only 3 people actually showed up, not counting the two chaplains, the singer and myself. I guess I didn't need to have so many bulletins printed off! The event still was nice, the singer played his guitar and sang a few songs. The guest chaplain gave a little speech about personal courage, then our chaplain said a prayer. I used my camera to take a few snapshots during the event for the chaplain, then we packed up and headed out.

I headed home, hung out with my wife for a bit then took her to work. I went back to my office and did the usual administrative type stuff until about 1100. Now it was time for the Adventures with the UMT Paintball event. We had reserved the paintball field for the soldiers to use and play paintball on from noon until 1600. We arrived along with a TMP full of soldiers from Landstuhl. Unfortunately the place said it was too cold to use their compressor to fill the guns, so we had to cancel the event. It was snowing and well below freezing, so I guess it was probably for the best. Our platoon sergeant said everyone could go to Patton gym and play basketball as a consolation. We headed over and I shot around with everyone. It felt awesome to play around again, I was in the groove nailing 3's from all over. Everyone decided to play a game called "bump", which is basically a shooting game. Two people start at the three point line and shoot, the object is to make your shot in before the person in front of you to knock them out of the game. If you miss, you can chase down your ball and still try and get it in before the other person. As soon as you make it, you throw the ball to the next person in line. This process keeps going and going until one person wins. We played a number of games and I was able to win a good majority of them, it was a ton of fun. It really made me miss playing basketball all the time.

I then went back to my office and ended up doing my schoolwork. At about 1600 I heard the HHD company was having their safety brief and then getting released for the day. The chaplain never came in, so I decided to just leave as well. My wife was at work, but still feeling pretty sick and wanted to be picked up…no problem. Not too long after I got home, I started feeling the affects of playing basketball today. I thought just shooting around wouldn't be a big deal, but I was wrong. I guess the "jumping" part of the "jump shot" really got me. My back hurt, my knee was throbbing and my head was killing me. It was one of those times I wish they prescribed me some heavy pain killers. Instead all I could take was some Excedrin, some muscle relaxer, and some scotch. I learned my lesson and I will not being doing anything like that again!

The singer offering up a little entertainment during the prayer breakfast