Household Goods - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 59

I had already mentioned to my squad leader that I would not be in today, but I sent him a reminder at 0620 letting him know my household goods were being delivered. I got up shortly after and got ready for the day. I moved all our cars out of the way and straightened up the house. The semi came at 1000 and had a hard time making it's way up our driveway because of the steep incline. They were finally able to get it done and started unloading. My wife stayed home as well and acted like a traffic director. She basically stood inside the doorway and as each load came in, she would tell them where to stick it.

They finished up pretty quickly and my wife and I started the long process of trying to unpack. I made sure our entertainment center and home computer were all setup. My kids have been dying to catch up on some shows and we have had no TV. We decided to only get internet, we'll use our AppleTV and DVD player for all of our entertainment purposes. The AppleTV has Hulu, Netflix, ESPN, HBO and more already available with it. I have an extensive library already of shows and movies available for streaming, so I think we're good to go.

By the end of the day I headed to bed sore and worn out. The house is still full of boxes, but we do have the entertainment system working and the computer is up and running!

Town Hall - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 54

This morning we had our formation at Evergreen Theatre on Ft. Lewis at 0845. We had the monthly town hall meeting that the battalion is required to attend. The town hall event included some awards, upcoming events, the vet center, and habitat for humanity. I sat through it drinking my coffee and waiting patiently. It would be interesting volunteering with the habitat for humanity program, but I wouldn't want to do it as part of the army.

After the town hall, I headed to the SFAC to check my email and found out AKO was down. So I headed to the PX and played some games on my iPhone until it was time to eat. I headed into the PX food court and had a little Chinese food. I then headed to the library where I settled in and did my schoolwork until evening formation.

At our evening formation we were told there was battalion PT tomorrow. There were a number of events that each company would be competing in. After I arrived at my house, I checked my personal email and found out that my household goods will be delivered on Tuesday, that is the earliest available date for delivery. I will keep that day clear on my calendar.

Where is My Crap? - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 52

This morning we had formation at Keeler Gym. I showed up in ACUs because I had an Occupational Therapy appointment at 0730. This was the first time I had gone to Keeler gym, it's a good thing I gave myself plenty of time because the main road leading to the gym is under construction. I had to follow detour signs all around until I finally found the place.

After formation I headed to my Occupational Therapy appointment which was in the WTB complex. This appointment was just to get the paperwork started for my MOU. This will allow me to keep taking college classes (and hopefully be able to miss evening formations from now on). It will also allow me to work in an internship. I'm looking at a systems technician job in my hometown of Bremerton working at the naval shipyard. How ironic would it be if the first time I actually do an I.T. job while in the army ends up actually working with the navy? Anyways that process only took about 15 minutes. I just had to fill out some paperwork and then chat with the worker for a bit. She will now take all my paperwork to get it signed by the powers that be.

I then headed straight to the transportation office. When I checked online to see where my household goods shipment from Germany was, all it stated was the required delivery date is July 29th. That was yesterday and I haven't heard a thing yet. When I arrived at transportation, they just gave me a customer service number to call. When I called all the guy could tell me was that my household goods were still in transit. No estimated time or anything. All he said was "we've had a lot of shipments running late". I asked him what happens when a shipment doesn't arrive by the "required delivery date"? There was a long pause, then he just repeated "we've had a lot of shipments running late". I guess "required delivery date" doesn't really mean that much when it's the government.

The whole transportation issue put me in a bad mood for the rest of the day. We've been living in an empty house for a while now. All we have is a mattress, a coffee maker, and some outside furniture. We eat dinner at my in-laws every night because we have nothing to make food with. Of course it's nice to see the in-laws and we buy groceries for them, but it would be nice to be independent soon. I then read online about a bunch of different people's horror stories with their household goods…that didn't help with my bad mood.

I went out to my car and took a nap, then headed to the library and did schoolwork. I made my way back to the SFAC to eat my lunch, then back to the library for more schoolwork. I had a lot of work due this week. It would be nice if I could actually do the schoolwork at home during the day. The library isn't the optimal place to accomplish this. Every time I need to use the bathroom, I have to pack up all my stuff and take it with me. I can't trust leaving my laptop unattended. It also seems that there is an abnormal amount of kids that are in the library at certain times, which can make concentrating difficult. At least it does have free WiFi and tables where I can actually do my studying. I'll take it for now.

I headed to the end of day formation at 1600 where nothing was put out and we were dismissed.

Household Goods Arrival - (Germany) Day 44

The conveyor belt hooked up to our 3rd story window for fast easy delivery of all our stuff

This morning I had to wake up at 0615 to call my platoon sergeant and check in. I didn't have to go to PT, but I did have to wake up to make the call. I have the entire day off because my household goods are scheduled to arrive. I ended up just staying up and brewing some coffee, then started passing the time wondering when the movers where going to arrive. They told us they would be here between 0800 and 1700…nice. We also scheduled the pickup of our loaner furniture as well today and they said they would be here between 0800 and 1200.

At about 0830 both our household goods arrived and the guys came to pick up our loaner furniture. It couldn't have worked out better because while the household goods movers were setting up, the other guys came up and removed our loaner furniture. The household goods movers had a type of conveyor belt they were able to connect to our 3rd story window. They were then able to load everything on the lift and send it straight to the window…no stair climbing involved. In fact they had it all hooked up in time for the guys taking out our loaner furniture to send the last item (our couch) down.

The movers then started in earnest sending up three or four boxes at a time. As they would arrive a guy at the top would unload them through the window and then ask where which room we wanted everything in. My wife and I helped just because it felt strange just standing there giving orders on where to go. Once everything was up, they unloaded my motorcycle and then took off. We spent the rest of the day unpacking. It's crazy how much stuff we have! Once we get everything out of the boxes, we have to give them a call and they will come pick up all the boxes and shipping paper.

The day was long and I'm pretty worn out. I would say we were able to unpack about 85% of everything. I have to go to the range tomorrow, so I have to prepare a little getting all my gear ready. I'm sure after I get back home from work tomorrow, it will be more unpacking and trying to organize. It's so nice to have our own stuff finally. This place is going to seem more like home now.