Intel 35 Day 10 (Final) - (Germany) Day 269

This morning was a little different than previous mornings, since it is our last day here in the hotel, I had to gather up all my crap and load the car. We ate breakfast and thanked the owners for their great service and wonderful food. We headed off to pick up our classmates on the way to class. The car was pretty full with four people and all our luggage.

We headed into class and were given the instructions for the final exam. There will be no talking or taking breaks at the same time. We then started at 0830 with a time limit of 6 hours to finish, we also were told that there was a mandatory lunch at noon until 1300 if we were still there. The test was actually easier than the master scenario that we did the previous two days leading up to the test. We basically setup more accounts and did some more with various accounting procedures. We did work with others in the class as other accounts, so at times we had to send stuff via floppy disk and wait for stuff from them. This was only an issue once because one of the students in class was very slow, double checking and triple checking every single mouse click. I ended up taking a small nap during the test while waiting on some material from her.

We all finished the test before lunch time and the instructors graded each of ours one at a time. We needed a 75% to pass the test and I received a 91%. I made a couple of typos and also made a stupid mistake while on autopilot at the end of the test. No worries though, I passed and made it through both courses now. Because of this, I was awarded "The Creed of the ComSec Custodian". A funny take on the various army creeds, but applied to the ComSec world.

We headed out and ate lunch at the food court before heading home. Unfortunately the way home was full of frustration. The autobahn we were traveling was closed, so we were rerouted along a detour. The traffic was horrible and we decided to have the GPS calculate an alternative route. We took the alternative route, but ended up hitting quite a bit of traffic off and on. Traffic backups on the autobahn are called a "Stau" and this term is used by both Germans and Americans here. The autobahn is awesome when you can drive at whatever speed you want, but when you run into a stau, it can suck big time. We found plenty of staus along our way home and instead of getting home at our original ETA of 1605, we arrived at 1930. It sucked, but it was nice finally getting home and seeing my wife again. Hopefully I won't have any training, or any more TDY assignments that take me away again for a while.

Intel 35 Day 9 - (Germany) Day 268

Another normal morning at the hotel and then off to class after picking up our classmates along the way. This morning we all headed into class and continued working on our "master scenario" exercise. Unlike previous classes where we chit chat about the news, today we just sat down and got to business. The process isn't that hard as long as you follow the workbook and do each step in order.

We were forced to take a break at 0900 for a "Suicide Stand Down". I guess soldiers at least all over Europe are required to attend more suicide training because of all the suicides that keep happening in the army. Now don't get me wrong, it sucks that soldiers are committing suicide at abnormally high rates, but we have been having this training shoved down our throats it seems every other month at least. Obviously this forced training is not helping, in fact maybe it makes people think about suicide more than they usually would. I'm not sure what the answer is, but the army's solution to everything is forcing more training. As you should already know, army training drives me nuts. Not much I can do though because it's required, so I sat through the class like a good soldier and signed the attendance form, so they could "check the box" and say more training was done.

We headed back and continued with the master scenario exercise until lunch. I was almost finished, but lunch was mandatory. We all left to the DFAC and then did some wandering around the PX for a bit before heading back to class. I then finished up in a few minutes and had to wait in the break room until everything was graded. I did make a couple small mistakes that I had to fix, but nothing major. Really just a couple typos, but they still would have been a few points deducted if this were the final. I'll have to double check my work tomorrow to make sure I don't make any silly mistakes like that again.

By 1500 everyone was done and we could leave. We headed to the hotel where I read and took a nap. Dinner was amazing as usual and we were also each given a large dessert menu and told to pick one since it's our last night here. I chose one that consisted of hot raspberries over vanilla ice cream….mmmm. The owners here are awesome! We ended up doing our pre-check out, so tomorrow morning we can eat breakfast and then just leave.

I'm going to miss this place, but it will be nice to get home to my wife once again. We already have plans for this weekend and next weekend as well.

Intel 35 Day 8 - (Germany) Day 267

A photo I snapped of Grafenwoehr's iconic water tower landmark,

it features a large water tank, as well as a conference and training room. 

This morning was pretty much the same routine as yesterday, eating breakfast at the hotel and picking up the other two that are in our class. We went through the last of the actual material today (blocks of instruction along with our hands on exercise). We then went through the process of initializing our systems back to the starting point. All that work we have done with each practical exercise building on the system, all wiped out in a couple of keystrokes! We then were briefed on our master exercise. This exercise is huge, we will be given a total of 8 hours to finish it. It basically has us start up the system from scratch once again and do everything we've done in the last week and a half all at once. We can ask for help during the exercise and we have to make sure everything is done correctly because the final exam is done based on all the groundwork that the exercise lays out.

We left for lunch and headed to the Grafenwoehr PX. We ate at the food court and SGT Mex went looking for some shoes, but came out empty handed. He was hoping to find something here that our PX in Heidelberg doesn't have. We headed back to class and actually started the master exercise. We all were well ahead of schedule, so the instructor told us to stop when we reached a certain step. At this step we backed up the systems, then shutdown and left for the day. It turned out we ended up leaving at about 1430, which was pretty cool.

Back at the hotel I took a nap, read my book, and then ate way too much dinner. I have to start slowing down and eating less, but all the food they cook here is so good. In addition to the dinner, I've been having a pretty large beer with every meal. I figured hey, I'm staying out on the economy…I might as well live like a German. We only get one free drink per meal. Every drink is in a small glass, unless you order a beer. The beer is served in a large glass, so there is no need for a refill. (On a side note: the water in the mini bar in each room costs as much as the beer). The dinner conversation included some new words that I now have in my army vocabulary: "Dependopotamus" - This is the spouse of a soldier that sits home all day, eats and gets fat. Then there are "Dependabrats" - These are the screaming kids you see in the commissary of a soldier…funny stuff.

The rest of the night consisted of schoolwork, reading and video chatting with my wife. I have one more full night here at this lovely hotel…then it's back to reality :(

Intel 35 Day 7 - (Germany) Day 266

Had my normal routine in the morning with breakfast at the hotel and then heading into class. This morning we picked up the other two in our class at their hotel. They were renting a car for the last week, but had to return it after the weekend.

Class this morning went on as usual. We go over a block of instructions and then do a hands on practical exercise. It seems the more we get into this class without slowing down, the less I actually understand. I can still get through all the hands on portion because it's easy enough to find the keywords and also look through our slide book to find the step-by-step instructions. I will definitely need some time on our system back in the office in order to feel comfortable working on it and really understand what and why I'm doing what I'm doing. There is just a lot of information that we need to go through for the class, I'm sure in our account we only use a portion of it though…we'll see I guess when I get back.

Lunch today was going to be at the DFAC, but when we arrived, the lines were out the doors. Normally we would have stayed and just waited it out, but today I had to also head to the library. My boss sent me a message last night stating that I had to log onto a computer with a CAC reader and electronically sign some DTS paperwork for my last trip out here. I guess they are still trying to work on paying me for that one. So we ate lunch at Burger King and headed over to the library to get that taken care of.

We were released from class a little before 1600 and headed back to the hotel after dropping our classmates off. I read some and then just listened to music and relaxed on the bed for a while. I think I was in and out of consciousness for about an hour just listening to music and taking it easy.

I then headed out to the dining area and ate dinner with SGT Mex and the other soldier here. Dinner was great as always. I then finished watching a movie on my computer and video chatted with my wife for a bit.

Intel 35 Day 6 - (Germany) Day 265

Back in the routine today with breakfast in the morning and then off to class. The class has been moving along, I can't say that I understand everything though. In fact at times we'll go over a block of instruction and then do the practical exercise, I'll just follow through step by step in the book not exactly sure what is going on or why. I think a lot of this will make more sense when I get back to the office and see what exactly we do and why.

Lunch was at the DFAC as usual, except that SGT Mex didn't come. He had to run to the commissary, but I didn't want to spend any money…so it was just the DFAC for me. I ate my food and then just played games on my iPhone until it was time to head back to class. The evening portion of the class was similar to the morning, except we had a very long practical exercise. I like having the hands on, but I'm feeling lost at times wondering exactly what I'm doing. I'm hoping the final test is pretty straight forward.

We were released at about 1630 and headed back to the hotel. I read a little and then took a short nap before dinner. During dinner the other soldier staying here with us found out his house had been robbed. He's stationed up in Belgium and he got a call from his first sergeant telling him that everything is gone! Someone must have pulled up a moving truck. He was understandably pretty pissed off and there's not a whole lot he can do about any of it since he's down here until the end of the week. After dinner I did my schoolwork. Not a whole lot to report today…my stomach is full of good German food and I'm ready to relax for the rest of the night.

Overheard Quote: "My piss smells like bacon" (SGT Mex describing how he can tell he needs to start drinking more water.

Weekend Wrap-Up (Regensburg) - (Germany) Day 263 & 264

Me standing in front of the Walhalla Temple near Regensburg

Saturday: This morning we woke up and had breakfast a little later than usual since it is the weekend…everyone agreed on 0900. After that my wife and I got ready and then headed off to a city called Regensburg. The owner of the hotel suggested it as a place to see, so we took his word for it and headed off. The drive was about an hour and after a little bit of research on the web, we had some sites we wanted to check out and were on our way.

When we arrived, we ended up parking in a parking garage almost in the center of town. We came up and started walking around downtown to find a maze of small alleyways filled with various shops. One could spend days here just going from shop to shop checking out the various things to buy. We were not here for a shopping spree, we were here as tourists ready to see the sites…but there was a major situation arising…I had to pee pretty badly. I found the tourist information center and promptly asked them where the nearest bathroom was. Once that was taken care of, I was able to think clearly and we started enjoying the sites.

We checked out the Regensburg Cathedral which has two large towers that dominate the skyline. The inside is impressive as well, and there are tombs of past bishops which I was surprised to see. After that we headed out and found a restaurant to have lunch at outside. This is one of the things I love about the European towns that we visit, on a nice day one can sit outside at the many tables and grab a bite to eat. It's enjoyable to people watch and take in the fresh air.

With full stomachs we headed to check out the The remains of the East Tower of Porta Praetoria from Ancient Roman times. It always amazes me when I check out ancient ruins and think back at how long ago they were built. We headed across the stone bridge which was finished in 1146! This ancient bridge was very important back in the day and was used by the knights of the crusades on their way to the holy land.

We spent more time just checking out the city before heading out for a short drive to Walhalla Temple. This huge building is full of famous and historical German figures and is modeled after the Parthenon in Athens. We did have to pay for parking (2 Euro) and then pay for entrance (3 Euro), but it was very impressive. Inside it is full of busts in the likeness of the historical figures and outside it is just massive, with the columns and the large steps.

We headed back to the hotel after that and had another great meal by the owner here. I think the coolest thing about this trip is that we would have never even thought of it unless it was recommended by the owners. I'm glad we were able to make it there and enjoy a city we would have missed otherwise.

Sunday: We had breakfast again at 0900, then headed off to the Grafenwoehr post. I had to do laundry (one of the only downfalls of this hotel is the lack of a washer and dryer). While I did my laundry, my wife shopped at the PX, which is fairly large compared to ours in Heidelberg. We then planned to eat lunch at a wonderful Chinese place called "Tea Garden" off post, but when we arrived we found it closed. They are closed for a month while they go on vacation. This is something you don't see much of in the states. A business usually doesn't just take a month off so they can go on vacation. They have a different outlook on money I guess, and they put more emphases on their own quality of life. I guess this isn't a bad thing, except for the fact that my wife and I wanted some good Chinese food.

We ended up headed back to the food court on post for lunch, then went back to our hotel for a nap. My wife left at about 1500 to head back home and I did schoolwork and then read for a while before eating another wonderful dinner here at the hotel. I'm afraid to get on the scale when I get back home!

Pictures of our day trip...check out the slideshow below or go to the album on my flickr:

Created with flickr slideshow.

Intel 35 Day 5 - (Germany) Day 262

Had the usual morning breakfast in the dining area of the hotel. One of the nice things about each morning is that the three of us that are staying here, all sit at one table and have some morning conversation while we eat breakfast. It kind of starts the day out right, a nice breakfast with some fellow students who like to talk about anything and everything.

Class today was similar to the previous days. Today we focused on transferring encryption keys we made to devices called SKL (Simple Key Loader), which is the device similar to an oversized palm pilot. We also loaded the audit logs from the device to the machine. As with the other classes we would get a block of instruction and then do a practical exercise giving us some hands on experience.

At lunch we ate at the DFAC and then headed off to try and find the health clinic on this post. Evidently it's an emergency that I get my flu shot now. I guess the rest of the office received theirs and it was actually marked down in their MedPros, so now I need to get mine done. We finally found the place, but found out they only do flu shots on Mondays. I told them it was an emergency…LOL, then told them I'd be back on Monday.

We got out of class at 1500 which was pretty cool…a nice way to start our weekend. We came back to the hotel and I did my schoolwork before doing a little reading. By about 1800 my wife had arrived. We ate dinner in the dining area with SGT Mex and the other student here. My wife finally got to experience some of the wonderful food the owner makes here. I'm guessing I'll probably gain about 10 pounds in these two weeks I'm here.

We were planning on heading to Munich this weekend, but after the owner came out and suggested we check out Regensburg (which is only an hour away) we decided to take his advice.

Intel 35 Day 4 - (Germany) Day 261

Had my usual morning breakfast at the hotel before heading to class. We started class after our usual morning news brief. This is where the instructor hangs out in the front of class and we discuss the daily news. They say we can discuss anything except politics and religion…LOL. They would prefer security related news, but everything is fair game. Today it was mostly about the attacks on the US Embassies in the middle east. These places also have ComSec material, we were wondering at what point they might have actually started their destruction process (destroying all the ComSec classified & top secret  materials while the embassy is under attack)

Class went by pretty quickly, as usual we listened to a block of instruction and then did some hands on with a practical exercise on our system. We generated electronic encryption keys on each of our systems by the end of the day.

The day also included a number of breaks where discussions would arise and the one I hear most often is the difference between tactical vs. strategic units in the army (tactical units deploy and strategic units do not). I'm told that if I were in a tactical unit, then there would be no doubt that I would be actually doing my job (Information Technology Specialist). On top of that I hear from everyone that the environment in a tactical unit is much different than that of a strategic unit. The idea I keep hearing is that since a strategic unit doesn't deploy, they hang around worrying about stupid stuff all the time. A tactical unit on the other hand has more money to spend and just gets things done…they don't do the stupid crap all the time. How much of this is true, I don't know…since I've never experienced the tactical side. It seems to be the common theme I hear from everyone though. I think my whole experience, thoughts and feelings I have about the army would be different if I had been in a tactical unit.

Once class was out we headed back to the hotel where I started watching the Apple special presentation on the new iPhone 5. I have to keep up with the tech news even while I'm away! I then had dinner in the dining area with the other two soldiers here. The cool thing about staying in such a small hotel out with the locals, is the ability to interact with them. One of the owners of the hotel came out and chatted with us for about an hour.

I then video chatted with my wife for a while before heading to bed for the night. Looking forward to the weekend coming soon, my wife will be coming up and we'll be doing some site seeing.

Weekend Wrap-Up (Dürkheim Wine Festival) - (Germany) Day 256 & 257

A view of the wine tents from high above on the ferris wheel

Saturday: This morning we slept in a little and did the usual Saturday morning things such as a bit of cleaning and laundry. We then decided to check out the Dürkheim Wine Festival also known as Dürkheim's Wurstmarkt. SPC Mac told me about this even and said it was a lot of fun. We wanted to get out and do something because today was the only real day I'd be home for the weekend. Dürkheim is not too far away, so after setting our course in the GPS, we took off for about a 40 minute drive.

We arrived in Dürkheim and not knowing exactly where to go, we didn't have to look long. We headed towards the city center and ran smack into the festival. To my surprise it was much larger than I was expecting. I thought there would be a number of booths with various wines to sample and perhaps some booths with food as well. It turns out there is a lot of wine, but it's not really sampling that you do. Instead you order a full glass (large or extra large) and can either sit in a tent and drink, or walk around the festival and drink. When the glasses are returned, you receive your deposit back. Not only does the festival have a large number of drinking tents with wines from various vineyards all over, but it also has a carnival feel to it. There are a number of carnival rides and games. There are also a number of vendors selling their merchandise…everything from scarves to jewelry.

It was hot, but a lot of fun. It was pretty cool to sit down with a glass of wine and just people watch for a while. Next time we go I'm sure we'll bring a lot more money so my wife can do a little more shopping…LOL.

A view with my wife looking back as we were

walking around the Dürkheim Wine Festival

A view of some of the vineyards from the top of the ferris wheel

Sunday: I had to wake up at 0630 to get ready and leave with SGT Mex for our Intel 35 class. We made the drive to Rose Barracks in Vilseck and had lunch in the food court. We then made our way to the student orientation and filled out the required paperwork. I was hoping to get in the same hotel on post because the experience wasn't bad and I was within walking distance to everything, but the hotel was full and they sent us to a hotel off post. The government contracts with a number of hotels off post to house the incoming students and feed them breakfast and dinner. We ended up getting sent to a small hotel (really a bed & breakfast) called "Cafe & Pension Ringer", which turned out to be a very nice little hotel out in the middle of nowhere, but only about 5 minutes from post.

The hotel has internet, which was my biggest concern and the folks running it seem very nice. We took off after unloading all our luggage and headed to the Grafenwoer post to check out the PX and grab a few supplies. We headed back to the hotel where I promptly took a nap, then woke up for dinner…which was awesome. All my fears are gone and I can say that I'm excited to be staying in this hotel off post, in fact I think I may like it better than the hotel on post. Not only do I have the necessities, I get much better food than the DFAC and I get to interact with the locals a bit more. Hopefully I'll be able to get into the class because we are both still on stand-by status because for whatever reason neither of us have been officially signed up for the class yet. Everyone has known we both need to go to this class, yet we never were signed up. This means just like my last class here, we have to show up and see if we can get in.

The night consisted of dinner and lots of conversation with SGT Mex, schoolwork, then Skyping with my wife. I'm turning in for the evening…we'll see what tomorrow brings.

A photo of my room at the hotel I'll be calling home for the next two weeks

Johnny Walker - (Germany) Day 238

Eating DFAC food once again...at least they have chocolate milk!

This morning I woke up and was ready to go by 0630 so I could take advantage of the continental breakfast offered here at army lodging where I'm staying. I can get breakfast at the DFAC, but I didn't want to walk all the way there when I have the basics available to me here.

Next stop was student processing desk to see if I will be able to attend class since I'm on the stand-by status. Once I arrived the sergeant behind the desk just told me to go to the classroom at 0800 and find out from the teacher if I'll be able to attend class. I'm used to this now being in the army…go here…go there…no go here.

I arrived at the class and the teacher called each person on his list in one by one. He made sure they all had the proper paperwork and then had them sign in. For those that didn't have everything they needed it wasn't a big problem, they were just told to get it asap. I then checked in and found that the class was pretty small, so I would indeed be able to attend…I wasn't too excited, but I guess on the bright side I don't have to pay for my hotel room and then try and fight to get reimbursed by my unit. I had all my paperwork except for a memorandum stating my security clearance. Not a big deal, I was able to text my boss and ask him to email it to the instructor. While I was texting my boss I had to ask him to also call and cancel my motorcycle class….grrrrr.

Class started with the basics, introductions and a description of what the class will entail. We then were given all the paperwork required to maintain a safe. We also each had a three ring binder that was our "training safe". So we had to fill out the paperwork (combination, inventory, open & close, as well as an end of day checklist). So now we have to fill everything out as if we're opening a safe each day…pretty funny.

We then went through some basic slides and watched a couple movies. One of the movies was pretty interesting. It was about one of the most damaging spy cases ever uncovered. A guy named John Walker along with help from a friend and family sold the KGB massive amounts of secret and top secret data. His case actually changed they way we do ComSec now and is the reason everything is much more secure. What's crazy is that he would have never been caught except that he divorced his wife and she was pissed off at him and turned him in. (Here's the Wikipedia Page pretty crazy stuff!)

The class then went on and on and I did my best to stay awake. I hate ComSec and still a little pissed that I even got stuck doing this job. Whoever decided ComSec should be a 25B job should be tortured and slowly killed…it has to be the farthest thing from what I envisioned when I signed up for the army. In class we just went over reference manuals, documentation, and a bunch of other places to look up obscure crap I have no desire to know. I hate this…I hate this with a passion.

I had lunch at the DFAC and it reminded me of my time in AIT. This is sort of like AIT, but without the stupid formations and room checks…in fact I have a maid come clean my room and make my bed each day!

The rest of the day consisted of more suck in class. I did find out that they do not give certificates out for E-4 and below in this class. That is pretty funny because I'll finish the class and come back with no certificate…I wonder what my unit will think. They did say once a person gets promoted to E-5 they can call and have their grades uploaded so they can get a certificate. I don't ever plan on making E-5, so it looks like I'll be attending this class and have nothing to show for it…but I could really care less. I'm in a bad mood…I've been in a bad mood for a while now…and I've also still been experiencing major pain in the back of my neck and head. So on top of everything I'm still in pain all day long and my headache medicine and the muscle relaxers are not doing anything to help.

We were also given a massive amount of homework to do. So much so that I had no time to watch a movie tonight. I had planned on watching a movie each night at least for some entertainment. Instead I've been plowing through huge manuals looking for answers to questions that are hard to find. In other news I'm hearing from my friends that the "Men In Black"...well in this case it's the "Woman in Black" is interviewing everyone (to see if I'm a drug addicted closet terrorist/extremist) in order to get my clearance. I'm going to video chat with my wife for a bit before hitting the sack and starting all over tomorrow.

Weekend Wrap-Up - (Germany) Day 236 & 237

The joys of rest areas on the Autobahn...some have bathrooms and some have the woods

(My boss during one of our stops on the way to Vilseck)

Saturday: Today pretty much sucked all around only because I felt like crap. I went to bed with a headache last night and woke up with a major headache in the morning. I didn't have any plans, so I just stayed home and tried to take it easy. I'm not exactly sure what brought the headache on, usually I'll get these bad headaches after I've done something to my upper back like wear my body armor or run (the impact from the running)…but I didn't do anything physical that would cause this. The only thing I can think of is that it must be brought on by stress. I mentioned a few posts ago about this training that I have been told I have to attend. It has stressed me out a lot because it's just ruined all my plans. Plans we've already bought tickets for! I'm not sure if that is what is causing it or what, but it seemed like no amount of aspirin or even my muscle relaxers would do anything to help it. I stopped taking aspirin after a while for fear that I might end up with a hole in my stomach if I keep taking them. Being in pain sucks, and it's really taking away from my quality of life. There were times when my kids were here and I wasn't able to play with them like I would have liked to because I was just in too much pain. I wasn't like this before I joined the army, I just hope I can find some solution…I hate it.

The only thing I was able to do for the day was get my bag packed for the training and do some laundry…other than that I either sat or laid down. My wife (bless her heart) took care of me and made a nice steak dinner and we had some cake and ice cream since I'll be leaving Sunday.

Sunday: Happy Birthday to me. I got to spend my birthday getting up at 0620 and leaving the house at 0645 picked up by my boss and our platoon sergeant. I then headed to the office to get some paperwork before we all headed off to Vilseck Germany, which is about a 4 hour drive. I just sat in the back seat listening to my boss and the drill sergeant (our platoon sergeant) talk…some of it interesting…some of it boring. I still had a pretty severe headache, but not quite as bad as yesterday, I tried to lean my head back and rest.

When we arrived at the base, we headed to the food court for lunch. After that we headed to go get me registered. I filled out some paperwork and was told I will be staying at the army lodging on post since I will not have a car. I was told we would find out today if I would be able to make it into the class because officially I'm on "stand-by", but their computers were down…so I have to wait until tomorrow. I was also told that if I don't get into class, then I will have to pay for my night's stay in the hotel and get reimbursed by my unit. That's just great! Not only do I have to wait until tomorrow before I find out if I'm even in the class, but if I'm not I have to pay for my room. I know getting the money back from my unit will be a long involved process and if I do ever see it, it will be way down the road.

The only good thing about my room is that it does have free internet. So I was able to do my schoolwork and then catch up with everyone on Facebook as well as video chat with my wife. If I do end up staying here, I should be able to focus on my schoolwork and watch a lot of movies…LOL. Right now though I'm in pain and I'm a little pissed off. Let's hope that tomorrow brings the good news that I will not be able to attend this class because it's full. I will then be able to attend my motorcycle course and see England. I'm crossing my fingers!