Lotta Driving - (Germany) Day 449

This morning I didn't go to PT, instead I picked up the chaplain in the TMP in front of his house. We headed off to Wiesbaden where the chaplain did his UMT training and I headed to the food court to do schoolwork. I stayed in there until 1000 when the library opened up. By that time I had my schoolwork done, so I headed to the library and played around on my iPad using the free WiFi. I headed back to the food court once again for lunch and then met the chaplain at the TMP at 1300.

We then headed to Landstuhl where the chaplain went in and chatted with the soldiers. While he did his thing, I just stayed in the TMP and took a nap while listening to the radio. We headed out at about 1600 for home.

Burning the Midnight Oil - (Germany) Day 428

Campbell Barracks from the air. The buildings behind the building on

the far side of the parade field is where the S1 & S3 shops

are located...where the stupidity that is staff duty is located. 

This morning we had PT at Patton Barracks gym, the normal folks did circuit training and the profiles headed into the gym. I did some cardio on the stationary bike next to SPC Mac. Instead of listening to music the whole time, we just chatted about anything and everything…we both hate this place. Well we both love Heidelberg and Germany, we just hate the unit we're in.

I headed into my office and after doing a quick email check, I grabbed the keys to the TMP and went outside to find it. It wasn't parked in it's normal spot, so I was walking around the entire post clicking the unlock button on the keychain and looking for lights to flash. I finally found it half-way across the post, then jumped in and prepped it for our upcoming trip (cleaned up, filled out the paperwork, setup my GPS, and filled up the gas tank). I then waited for the chaplain and we left at 1030 for Wiesbaden.

Once in Wiesbaden I ate lunch in the food court, then found a barber shop. After getting my hair cut there, I may just plan my haircuts around our trips to Wiesbaden. There were 3 people cutting hair and there was not that much of a wait. The lady cutting my hair shaved it bald, then rubbed some lotion onto my head. This haircut was second only to all my haircuts in Korea where each cut ends in a nice little shoulder and arm massage.

By the time I was finished, I waited in the TMP and played a couple games before the chaplain was finished and came out. We left at a little after 1400. When we got back I did some admin stuff for the chaplain (mostly emails). I then headed over to our S1 shop at 1600 for staff duty.

My staff duty shift was with an NCO I haven't yet done staff duty with. The night went fine with me either playing games on my phone, reading Mac Life on my iPad, or listening to Tales from the Spacepod. At 2200 the NCO says "I'm going to take a little nap", then proceeds to grab a big comforter from his truck. He comes back in and sets up a makeshift bed in the middle of S1. The guy slept from 2200 until 0400. I was more than a little pissed. I would have liked to sleep to, but this guy didn't care. One of the many reasons I hate this place. At 0500 I took all the trash out…the janitorial duties of staff duty, cleaning up after the S1 and S3 shops. I didn't vacuum and I didn't replace any of the liners in the trash cans…only because I couldn't find any. I really didn't give a crap at this point. I just couldn't wait to leave.

The only good thing about having staff duty today was that I didn't have to participate in the "Fit To Lead" event the next day. This started off with a battalion run, and then a bunch of events in the gym all day long including a weigh in. I'm not sure what all was involved, I don't really care because I have recovery the rest of the day…I'm going home and falling asleep.

A Day in Wiesbaden - (Germany) Day 386

This morning I got up a little earlier than usual and readied myself for the day. I then got the TMP ready to go, because it snowed yesterday and last night it was covered with snow. I started it up then started the process of brushing off all the snow that had accumulated over the entire van. I then headed to the shoppette parking lot where I waited (with the van running) for the chaplain. It was freakin' cold outside, so it took a while for the thing to get warm. After about 10 minutes of waiting, the chaplain showed up and we were off to Wiesbaden. The chaplain has some training there and I'm his driver. The drive is a little under an hour usually, but with all the snow and the road conditions it took a bit longer…but not too bad.

Once we arrived I stayed in the van reading my school textbook while he attended his training. About two hours after it started a sergeant came out and I helped him move all the boxes of books from my van to his car. With the closing of Heidelberg we are transferring material. I ate lunch at the food court and ended up staying in there for a while reading from my textbook and then playing around on my iPad. Once it became a little too loud I ended up heading to the library on post. A nice surprise at the library…free wifi! So I was able to sit on a big leather couch and play around on my iPad for a few hours.

We ended up heading back a little after 1500. I could handle more days like this…just hanging out in the library and getting all my schoolwork done. When I got back, I had to head over to the ComSec office to sign my 4-Day counseling stating that I will not get into trouble over the weekend. I also had to get my POV inspection done. All the stuff that used to drive me nuts, but I just laugh at it now. The company XO was there and on his way out he asked me if I had found a job yet. I said "no"…I wonder if he knows something I don't. I don't really care anymore. I'm off for the weekend!!!

Dragon Warriors & The Drawbacks of Being Tall - (Germany) Day 179

A view of the units in the staging area about 15 minutes

before forming up to march on the field.

This morning we did not have PT once again, instead we had a mandatory 100% weigh in for the company. We had to form up at 0600 in our summer PTs, then wait in line to get on the scale. They base the standards on how tall you are, how old you are and how heavy you are. I came in at 203…my max is 205. For those that didn't make it, they had to get measured by tape to calculate their body fat. If they end up being overweight, then they go on the special population program (also known as the "fat boy" program). People on this get weighed more often and have to attend an extra PT session after work. Usually we're given a bit more time to prepare and I don't eat ice cream for a while when I know we have one coming up!

After, we all stayed around the office. I changed into my ACUs and picked up some breakfast at the bakery in the food court. We actually had a couple hours before we had to go to the armory to pick up our rifles for the ceremony, so I just surfed the internet. It turned out good though, because I found out our platoon sergeant is on leave. I had to resend all the command sponsorship paperwork to our NCOIC.

We picked up our rifles and then waited some more for the bus to come and pick us up for the hour and a half ride to Wiesbaden. I was a little better prepared this time, I brought my headphones and was able to listen to music on the trip. Once we arrived we were released for lunch.

We finally formed up at a little after 1300. Being one of the taller guys I have to be in the front of the formation. This is not a good thing because everyone's eyes are on you, so you have to do everything perfect. The change of command ceremony took place for our brigade commander. The ceremony was uneventful…lots of standing around with a sparse crowd of family members and friends in attendance. Lots of speeches that were a bit too long, then it finally ended.

It wasn't exactly over for us though, we had to board the bus and head over to a gymnasium. Forgetting how tall I am, or how short the ceiling was in the bus…I slammed my head into it. It was hard enough to start bleeding…luckily I had a paper towel that I just held on my head for a while. I hate it when that happens! Once in the gym we waited for a while, then the new brigade commander came in and we had a town hall session. He had a bit of a speech, then asked if anyone in the crowd had any questions for him…..crickets…..of course late on a Friday nobody is going to have any questions, everyone just wants to leave and go home to start their weekend. He then went on and closed out on his speech.

We then boarded the bus and headed back home. Once we arrived at about 1800, we had to head to the armory to unload all the rifles. We were then finally released for the weekend. After a long week I'm really looking forward to a bit of relaxing. My boss gave me a ride home and I hung out with my wife for dinner and a movie in our living room.

A Day of Practice - (Germany) Day 178

A view from where I was sitting before we started forming up.

You can see the uniform we had to wear for the ceremony complete with beret and rifle.

This morning we did not have PT, but we did have to get up very early as I mentioned yesterday. I was picked up at 0420 by my boss and we headed into work to be in the 0445 formation, but since it's the army we had to be there 10 minutes early of course. We then drew our rifles from the armory. We then had about a 10 minute window where I was able to go in the office and send off my first round of paperwork for my daughter's command sponsorship. I know there will probably be many more rounds, but I'm glad to get it actually started.

We formed up again about 0545 and waited for the bus to pick us up. We headed to Wiesbaden where the ceremony is going to take place. I'm not sure how long the ride was (about an hour or so I think), but I fell asleep pretty quick and woke up right as we were about to enter the base. Once in, we were released for breakfast in the DFAC. Their DFAC was OK, and we had plenty of time to eat (a little over an hour) so there was no rush.

Once finished we boarded the bus again and were taken to the field where the ceremony is going to take place. At that point we did nothing for a while except stand, sit, or smoke. Well I didn't smoke, but I did take a nice seat on the ground and waited. We formed up and waited some more, until finally we marched over to the field.

Once in the field we stood around in our formations for a while before finally getting started with the rehearsal. I was surprised that in addition to our battalion, there were companies and battalions from Stuttgart, Wiesbaden, Belgium, and even Italy. I'm not sure who picked the uniform for the ceremony, but they should be knocked upside the head. We wore ACUs with a rifle, beret, and our flack vest with canteen. It made me remember why I hate the beret so much. Standing around all day in the heat with a wool hat on your head just sucks. To me having the rifle doesn't make much sense either…all we did was sling it over our shoulder for the entire ceremony.

The practice consisted of mostly standing in formation. We would watch some signal flags get waved around at certain points which told us when to be at attention, parade rest or present arms (salute). We also marched around the field a couple times. We did all this over and over and over again. The soldiers had everything down pretty quick, it's the officers that kept messing up and thus making everyone do the ceremony over again.

I have to say the day pretty much sucked. Standing at either attention or parade rest is not much fun when you have to do it for long periods of time. When at these positions the only thing you're allowed to move is your eyes. It got hot and I think a lot of people got sunburned. In fact the first sergeant told one guy he looked like a "cherry popsicle". We did get a break for lunch, but then had to come back and do it again and again…over and over until we were finally released at about 1700. We weren't done yet though…a long bus ride back, a visit to the armory to turn in our weapons, then a ride back home from my boss. All so we can do it again tomorrow. I guess I should be thankful that we only have a 0600 formation tomorrow morning.

As for the night…when I got home, I showered and then just plopped on the couch and relaxed…trying to mentally prepare for tomorrow.