Weekend Wrap-Up - (Germany) Days 102 - 105

My wife posing in front of the Liederbacher Hof. A small hotel (bed & breakfast)

in the small town of Liederbach near Frankfurt

Friday: Today was pretty uneventful. It was nice not getting up early, I just woke up with my wife and gave her a ride to work. I had the day off, but unfortunately she doesn't get a four day weekend this weekend. I spent the day putting together our guest bed and doing housework such as laundry and dishes. Not very exciting stuff. I was still a little sore and my head was still somewhat fragile. It's crazy that my miracle drug (Excedrin) has been off the shelves for a while now because of a voluntary recall. There is no sign of it coming back and I've blown through my supply. My mom had a big bottle and shipped me more, but that supply is about gone as well. I can't believe the company hasn't been able to get their act together and replenish the supply. Excedrin seems to be one of the only pain relievers that can get rid of my headaches.

Saturday: We left to a small town near Frankfurt called Liederbach. I stayed in this town for the summer about 21 years ago. I had a friend I met through an exchange program a couple years earlier that I stayed with. My friend Ingo came and stayed with me and my parents a year before. Now after 21 years I planned to visit him once again. Ingo had a very unique laugh, one that would make me start laughing every time I heard it. He also was a drunk even by German standards…back when he was a teenager. So I figured we would be doing some drinking while we where visiting.

Ingo now is the owner/operator of the Liederbacher Hof, a small hotel located near his home. He took over the business from his parents and gave us a deal to stay there one night. I would say it's more like a bed and breakfast than a hotel. Ingo does everything from running the front desk to cooking breakfast. If you're interested in staying in a unique small quiet hotel with a nice host within minutes of Frankfurt I would recommend his place.

The biggest shock was that Ingo doesn't drink anymore..in fact he hasn't drank in over 10 years! I guess he lost his license twice and after the second time, he decided to give up beer. It was a huge surprise, but I'm glad he has made the choice to better his life. We visited for a while, then my wife and I headed over to the Main Taunes Zentrum, which is a shopping mall nearby. We passed the time until my friend was able to go out for dinner. We had a great dinner at a small Italian restaurant about a block away. The food was great and catching up with my old friend was a lot of fun. It's still amazing to me that it's been over 21 years! The city looked familiar, but to be honest I couldn't remember hardly anything there. Either the decades that have past, or the fact that I drank a lot when I was there before, may have contributed to my fuzzy memory…or I'm just getting old.

Sunday: We had breakfast at the hotel cooked by my friend, then we headed back home. Once home we watched our TV shows and took it easy for the rest of the day. There isn't too mention about the rest of the day. I spent some time studying for my Apple re-certification, but other than that it was just TV shows and hanging out with my wife.

Monday: Woke up with my wife this morning and saw her off to work. The day consisted of laundry and studying for my Apple re-certification. Not too exciting, but it was a nice relaxing day before I have to return to work tomorrow.

Playing Army Man Again - (Germany) Day 101

Two groups getting ready to kick down the door and 

clear a house during our training in Mannheim

This morning we did not have PT. Instead we had to form up early (0630) at the armory to get our weapons issued to us. We have training scheduled for our Thursday sergeant's time training and today is a special one. We are heading out to Mannheim and meeting up with some other platoons from our company that are located in Mannheim, and there are even some from Landstuhl making the trip down.

Our platoons here in Heidelberg took 3 TMP vans to Mannheim which is about a half hour to 45 minutes away. Once we arrived we headed to the DFAC right away and everyone had breakfast before heading out. The DFAC food was typical DFAC food, we got enough to fill us..but the quality left something to be desired.

We then went to the field and broke up into three even groups to start our training. I have to say this is the kind of stuff I really don't like about the army. The motto is that "Everyone is a soldier first", but I sometimes think they use this as a blanket excuse to just do infantry training. We have to have some sort of training every Thursday and because there is already so much infantry training all laid out and ready to go, they just go with it. It's useless training for me and I really hate it. I really wish they would do some geeky computer training! You may think that it's funny that I'm in the army and don't like to run around in the bushes playing army man. I think of myself more like a guy with talent and experience in a professional field. I left my profession to serve my country for one tour of duty. In doing this I made sure to get my particular field selected for my job and planned on contributing during my service. My specialty is computers…Information Technology. I'm experienced, I'm certified, I graduated at the top of my AIT class, yet I still have yet to do my job in a full time capacity…instead I get a glimpse of my profession every now and then, but that is it. Think of a talented surgeon that wants to give back to his country and joins the army as an army surgeon, but instead of working in a hospital they have him kicking in doors and running around the woods. They have him doing this not as a combat medic, but just as a soldier learning infantry. This is how I feel every time I go to the field…in fact every time I attend any army training each Thursday. Also we just found out today that there are no appointments allowed on Thursdays anymore…just in case someone wanted to use one to get out of this "awesome" training we have. This was put out by our battalion commander.

The training is given by our NCOs and I'm not upset at them…at all. They are most times not even told what they will be teaching until the last second…sometimes the day before. Another crappy thing the army does which hurts not only the teacher, but also the students. In our training sessions today we had the NCOs reading line by line from sheets of paper printed from the internet telling us how to run around the woods and play army man…well enough ranting here is how the day went:

Our first group we had to form up in a platoon wedge formation and start walking through the woods. We were told the entire days training should end at 1100…so we got started right away. This basically involves 2 teams each with a point man and the rest of the team at a roughly 45 degree angle walking…kind of a similar formation you would see a flock of birds flying…except spread out a little farther apart. Our training was on how to react to fire. So if we happened to be patrolling the woods and were fired upon, what should we do? We walked through the correct procedure a few times. They made me squad leader at one point, which is another thing I really hate. I have no desire to ever lead a group of troops through the woods or any other kind of infantry movements. It's not "good training" for me, because it's something that will NEVER happen.

After that we went to the next station which was how to hold your weapon in close quarters and also when the enemy is within 25 to 50 meters. This class was pretty simple and not very time consuming. After a few demonstrations we all practiced and then would practice turning left or right with the weapon ready.

Next was the mount training. This tactic involves lining up outside a door and then kicking in the door and clearing a room. We then did more advance scenarios such as the entire house with two teams.

Once finished we found out we then had to each do a larger scenario that took everything we learned and put it all together. My group volunteered to go first while another group would watch and the last group would be the enemy (with their ACU tops on inside-out so we could tell). Someone had the great idea to make me and another PFC the squad leaders of the group. WTF? We have a number of NCOs in our group who sit around in an office environment and only get to lead in a supervisory role. These should be the guys jumping at the chance to now lead in a tactical exercise, this should be their chance to shine as leaders and practice something they do not get to use. Nope me and another PFC got the job. Needless to say we all died many times before even getting to the village to clear the houses. Luckily we were able to get resurrected each time, so we could clear the houses. We cleared the first house fine, but everyone died in the second house.

Now I was about to rest a bit as the next group went, but they needed two extra people and wouldn't you know it…I was one of the ones chosen. FML! We went through the scenario again and I was finally able to rest after we finished while the last group went. The training took way longer than anyone thought it would have…we left at almost 1500. Without lunch there were plenty of people getting cranky. My neck, shoulders and lower back were extremely sore from wearing my body armor all day long. I can handle it for short periods of time, but it really messed me up today.

We headed back to the armory to turn in our weapons. We then had to turn back in one of the TMP vans. I drove the van there and SPC Mac brought me back to the office. By this time it was almost 1700. Everyone gathered in the office and we received our safety brief from our NCOIC. After that we were released for the 4 day weekend! I went home took a hot shower and had my wife rub icy/hot on my shoulders, then proceeded to take pain medication…I only wish I had some prescription strength medication.

It's All in the Details - (Germany) Day 100

This morning for PT we did a run off post in civilian clothes. It was about 3.2 miles and by the end of it I was dripping with sweat. It was a good run and I'm sure I'll be feeling it for the next few days.

Once at work we were told that we were going to have a meeting with everyone, so everyone kind of waited around for a half hour or so until our NCOIC came out and started the meeting. Our NCOIC went over all the issues that were uncovered in the last couple of mini audits that have been going on. We are good right now and we have to stay that way until the major audit comes this June. The audit is done by the highest level back in the states. They will be coming out and going through everything with a fine tooth comb. We have to keep up on our customer's records and anyone that has anything due anytime between now and the audit, has to make sure it's taken care of. A lot of the work is just making sure every detail is taken care of. Once this audit is done, our NCOIC will be on cruise control and will PCS soon after that, so this is her last big thing before she leaves and she doesn't want any issues.

This translates to: we may be very busy until after the audit is finished. The meeting lasted until lunch time. I took my sack lunch to the food court as usual and spent my break there. Once finished I headed back to the office. Now that everyone is back from leave and we also have a new sergeant in the office, space is limited, as are the available computers. I was able to get on first thing in the morning to check my email and do my weekend checklist, but that was about it. We also had to do a weekend counseling statement and sign an "Oak Tree" counseling statement as well as have our vehicles inspected. All the counseling statements were stating that we agreed not to get into trouble over the four day. On my weekend checklist I stated after the portion "If Drinking How Will You Get Back Home" with…"My hotel is within stumbling distance".

The afternoon was spent sitting in a chair watching SPC JayZ work. At one point I left with SPC Matrix and we picked up a TMP van for tomorrow. Once back at the office I continued to sit in a chair staring at the wall until we were released for the day.

At home my wife and I hung out for a while, ate dinner and watched some TV shows. I studied for my Apple Recertification and then turned in for the night.

Destruction Day - (Germany) Day 99

This morning for PT we did muscle failure. It seems like we form up for the morning PT formation, then after everyone is accounted for and some announcements are given, over half the people fall out of the formation because they are not doing any PT. It's getting a little ridiculous because today after everyone fell out to the rear we only had three people left in our platoon. We ended up going inside the racket ball court and then doing a whole mess of push-ups and sit-ups along with some other various warm up exercises and stretches.

Work today was a little more normal. I followed SPC Dub around for the morning trying to keep an eye on everything that he does. The problem is that a lot of this stuff takes repetition and I will not be getting much of it because I'll again be leaving soon for a month long FTX. I went to lunch in the food court with my sack lunch as usual, then came back to work for a bit before heading over to the finance office. Since Korea I've been told that my overseas travel from one overseas to another will allow me 30 days leave that is not charged. I took the 30 days leave, but it was charged. This didn't surprise me, because nothing seems to work as advertised in the army. I had been trying to get an answer since arriving here in Germany and get my leave days back. After I spoke with our NCOIC today she said I should be getting it back and that I needed to head to finance with the paperwork I showed her. Once at finance I realized that I would not be getting a single day back for my COT (Continuing Overseas Tour) entitlement. The finance guy said that rule went out in a past decade. He said the regulation now states that only travel is provided by the government to your home of record. So all leave charged to me will stay charged to me. This really sucks, because if I was told this would be non-chargeable leave…I wouldn't have used all 30 days. Army lesson learned: don't take anyone's word for it ever…even if it's a seasoned NCO or officer. Go check out the regulation on your own.

Back at the office we did the first of the month destructions. This involved taking classified items we have in our safe that are on a destruction list and first laying them out on a table. Not one, but two NCOs checked what we laid out against the list to make sure it was correct. We then started destroying everything that was laid out. This mostly involved shredding (I shredded so much I felt like a guy working for a crooked company trying to get rid of all the evidence as the feds are busting through the door), but a couple items had to be manually cut with scissors and then a few particular items had to be smashed with a sledge hammer! I've never had to actually use a sledge hammer in a job before, and especially not an I.T. job (but you can't really call this an I.T. job).

We ended up staying about a half hour late because all this destruction took a while and when finished we had to inventory the safes that were opened, because of course anytime one is opened we have to do a full inventory which takes a bit.

Sensing Session w/ IG - (Germany) Day 98

This morning for PT we had a pretty good workout. We ran a half-mile loop and then stopped to do 25 push-ups, then ran around the loop again to do 25 sit-ups. We did this process twice ending up running 2 miles and a total of 50 push-ups and sit-ups. I got a pretty good sweat going.

This morning I was back in the office from my 2 week break in the mailroom. Soon after arriving in the office me and SPC Dub (a specialist in our office) were told we had to go to another sensing session. Sometimes it seems that I get so many other non-work tasks that I will never actually learn my job here. The sensing session involved the IG (Inspector General) from the states. The person representing them was a SFC female and the entire group was E-4 and below. A sensing session is basically a time when everyone bitches about what is bothering them. I don't know if this actually changes anything or what they do with the information, but it is supposed to be anonymous and everyone is asked to be free with what they say. Everyone had a lot to say and the meeting went all the way until lunch time. Most of it was people bitching about their NCOs or the lack of communication. A lot of people had some valid complaints, I mentioned as many others did that I would just like to be able to do the job I signed up for. When everyone was asked how our moral was personally on a scale of 1-10, most answered with a 8's, 9's and 10's. In stark contrast when people were asked to do the same but rate their moral at work the numbers dropped drastically with ranges from 1-5.

I then ate lunch in the food court with my sack lunch. I like to get out of the office for lunch, because if I stay at a desk and eat I will no doubt be interrupted to do something stupid like make some copies or shred some paper. When I get away from the office I can actually enjoy my entire lunch.

The rest of the day consisted of taking SPC Dub to the shopping center, driving my boss's car (since my wife had our car and my boss couldn't take him). He is going to the promotion board tomorrow and needed some items from MCSS (Military Clothing Store). He also has had his license suspended due to too many tickets here in Germany…hence the need for a ride.

After that trip the day was pretty much done. When we got back I learned how to prepare some of the paperwork needed around the office for the beginning of the month, then we cleaned up and left.

Once home I took the battery out of my motorcycle and brought it up to charge. Since it had been in storage for so long and I haven't ridden in, the battery went completely dead. I'd like to start the process of getting my motorcycle license here in Germany (which is a process). The first step is to make sure my bike will run :)

Weekend Wrap-Up - (Germany) Days 96 & 97

The work area we perform staff duty in. A chair and computer for both 

the NCO and the runner on shift.

Saturday: Today I have staff duty once again, so I woke up with my wife and we had breakfast together before I headed off to the battalion S3 shop where the staff duty desks are located. The shift starts at 0900 and I arrived a little early at 0845. I brought with me my normal staff duty supplies…snacks, drinks, laptop (with hard drive full of movies), and iPad. I spent the first portion of the morning checking my work email and checking my personal email. The NCO with me was the sergeant on our maintenance side. He let me go for an hour and a half lunch, so I headed home and had it with my wife.

Once back at staff duty I did a little more surfing the net and then watched Black Swan. I had heard it won some Oscars and thought I'd check it out without knowing anything else about the movie. I was a little surprised when I started watching it and found out it was all about ballet. The movie itself turned out to be pretty decent because it is a psychotic thriller. The main character Natalie Portmand starts losing her mind which leads to some pretty interesting scenes.

I was later given a 2 hour break for dinner, which I went home again and spent with my wife. Once back at staff duty I read a book on my iPad, surfed the web, and watched a documentary on Air Jordan. What an amazing basketball player! Later on after the maintenance NCO came back I was able to copy a bunch of movies from him. Trying out a new one turned out to be a total flop. I started watching Bloodrayne. To tell you the truth I had never heard of it, but I thought the name sounded good when I was copying the sergeant's movies. The acting was terrible and the fight scenes were so fake I laughed at some points. I had to stop watching it and delete it immediately from my laptop.

The maintenance NCO told me that I could go lay down on the couch if I wanted and get a little sleep, so I took him up on the offer. The couch is not comfortable by any means, but much better than sitting in a chair. I laid down about midnight and would get anywhere from a half hour to an hour of sleep before waking up and having to reposition myself on the tiny couch. I finally got up at 0700 to finish the last couple hours of my shift. Hopefully I can stay awake when I get home, the final four is going to start right when I get off this shift!

Sunday: I arrived home and was able to stay awake to watch both NCAA final four games. I did take a nap in-between the games and during the halts. The rest of the day was not too exciting…just cleaning up a bit around the house and watching TV shows and such with my wife. I really hate Saturday staff duty shifts because they kind of screw up the entire weekend!

Last Day in the Mailroom - (Germany) Day 95

Just another random note hanging on one of the mailroom walls next to the boxes

We had no PT this morning because of "Days of Excellence". One of the nice things about being assigned to the mailroom is that I do not have to go, however I did have to get up, get dressed, and attend a formation our company was having at 0645 before leaving. I can't complain too much though because with a donation to The Army Emergency Relief Fund we were allowed to wear civilian clothes all day. My boss actually made a donation for each of his soldiers so we could all dress in civilians without even having to think about it. So I showed up, waited around for a while, then went back home to get ready for the day.

I worked once again in the mailroom on my official last day being tasked out to help them. I had thought about wearing my kilt since it was civilian clothes day, but I think I'll save that for another day in the office. I spent the morning getting out mail that was not put in people's boxes the day before, then chatted for a while with the boss. I found out some interesting details on the work situation in the mailroom here. There are a total of 8 civilian employees that work there and only 3 of them are permanent. The rest are temporary, there is a hiring freeze for any permanent workers. The temporary folks time is limited and will probably be out of a job before the end of the year. I guess once you get a permanent job with the government, it's best to hang on to it for as long as possible.

I worked customer service by myself once we opened at 1100, my helper the SSG who is going to get med-boarded had some appointments to start the day. It was a lot more comfortable working in civilian clothes and I have to say that I also instantly got a lot more respect from everyone. It's a lot different when you look like a civilian rather than when you are just a PFC working behind the counter. Soon however I will be promoted to specialist, in fact I would have been "pinned on" today at the Days of Excellence but I wanted to have my wife there and she had to work. An easy enough excuse, so they will do a small ceremony with just the office next week. I don't even think any ceremony should be done at all because I did nothing special to deserve it, other than survive for 2 years. I can see having a ceremony for any early promotions or E-5 and above because they have to actually do something in order to get promoted. E-1 through E-4 is just time in service unless you get an early promotion.

So the day went by without any issues and the last couple hours I worked in the back sorting mail that will probably sit in sorting containers for about a week before they get delivered to their boxes. I used to work for UPS a long time ago and we had to make sure everything went out each day, so this is a whole new experience for me…and also why I keep mentioning it (it just blows my mind). I also took a break when my boss came in. We went outside and he gave me my quick monthly counseling statement. Basically good work and in the future he wants to start preparing me to go to the promotion board. I really have mixed emotions about that. On one hand it will be nice to have the higher rank and be an NCO, on the other hand an NCO has a lot more responsibility and crappy work they have to do. It seems NCOs get tasked to do training that has nothing to do with their job, they get tasked with all sorts of other miscellaneous things, and also have a whole level of supervisory work that needs to be done. This means if I ever do get to a place that actually does I.T. work, the chances of me doing it as an NCO is drastically less…and I have no desire whatsoever to stay in the army. We'll see how it goes.

I went home and after my wife and I ate, we left to Mannheim to go watch a movie. Here in Germany at the Mannheim Cinemaxx theatre, they play movies in English and you can also reserve seats via the internet. My wife reserved the seats and we went and watched "The Hunger Games". The theatre is much nicer than the one on post and it also has stadium seating which is also very nice. We had both read all the books, so we were excited to see the movie. The movie was pretty good and kept pace with the book for the most part, but there is just so much more detail in the books. I can see where someone who hasn't read the books may not get as much out of the movie than people who have already read the books. My wife was surprised they served beer in the theatre, I had to remind her we are in Germany…they even sell beer in the McDonalds here!