Intel 35 Day 1 - (Germany) Day 258

This morning we woke up at our hotel and after getting ready headed outside of our rooms to have breakfast in the dining area. The breakfast was modest, but more than enough to satisfy. I had orange juice, a roll with jam, a banana, and a slice of bread with some cheese and meat. The host also filled up my travel mug with coffee for the road…Awesome! Now I'll have coffee for a while during class.

Speaking of class we arrived and started the process of the first day of class. There were only four of us and nobody was on the actual schedule to take the class. We all came on stand-by status…LOL. We were all missing at least one piece of required paperwork, but after making some calls we all were able to get everything taken care of before the end of the day. This class is much different than Intel 34. We have the same instructors for Intel 35 and even they joked that the previous class (Intel 34) is very boring and tough to teach. All the instructors remembered me from the previous class. We started off by doing a little introduction, then headed into an overview of what the class will involve. This class will be a lot more hands on. In fact the first half of the day consisted of mainly PowerPoint, but the second half was all hands on. It wasn't much, but we did turn on the LCMS system, created accounts and such.

I think this class is going to be so much better than the previous class. It's also nice having SGT Mex from my office with me here. We are able to hang out and chat quite a bit during breaks, lunch, and after class. We got out at 1630 and headed back to our hotel. After changing and reading a little I met up with SGT Mex in the dining area to eat dinner. We chose to sit outside because it was pretty nice out. I had a typical German meal with a sausage, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes. A German meal wouldn't be complete without a beer, and dessert was ice cream of course. I'm loving that we get to stay and eat at this hotel for free. The place is nice and the food is outstanding!

I then settled down and did some schoolwork for a while before video chatting with my wife for a bit. Now I'm going to relax, read a little and turn in for the night.

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

Another Town Hall - (Germany) Day 255

The going away dinner for SPC Whirlwind and his family

at the Schwetzingen Brewery

This morning was just one of the many many times that just reaffirmed my decision to get out of the army after my current contract is over with (I think I must say this every other post). We were told we had to be at the PT formation at 0550 because we were doing a battalion run. The season has definitely changed here in Germany, and even though the day may still end up being warm, the mornings are getting a lot colder. We were told to wear our long sleeve PT shirt with our shorts, but it was still pretty cold. We formed up and stood in formation for at least a half hour…just standing there, waiting…standing and freezing. Finally everyone got formed up and ready to go. The leaders came to the front and started the getting everyone stretched after having those of us on profiles head to the back. The sergeant major then came back and asked each person why they weren't running. He made all those on "run at your own pace and distance" go back and join the group saying they had to do exactly that…run at your own pace and distance. The rest of us walked to the gym and worked out.

When we came back the leaders stated how they thought the run was great and even some of those on profile did a good job keeping up. On this point I have to disagree. If a person feels they can indeed do the run, then by all means let them do it. I think there were some that were pressured into doing the run even though it meant running through the pain. Doing that is just stupid. If your body is in pain, it's trying to tell you something…and just ignoring it is going to make it worse. We then had to hear a safety brief from the battalion commander for the weekend. It contained the usual…don't drink irresponsibly, don't beat your wife, don't do stupid things. He then asked the battalion command sergeant major if he had anything. Of course he does, he's an NCO…so he adds his input, which is almost exactly the same thing (drink responsibly, don't beat your spouse, don't do stupid stuff). We then get released to our company commander who in turn gives us his safety brief which is all the same stuff. He asks our company first sergeant if he has anything to add…of course he does! He then proceeds to say the exact same thing. We're standing out in the cold listening to the same thing over and over and I'm thinking I'm going to go nuts just watching the time go by and my available time to get ready shrink by the minute. It's this kind of stupidity that I absolutely hate about the army.

Everyone had until 0930 to be at "Days of Excellence" which was being held on PHV at the theatre. I of course have to get ready a lot faster than that, because I take my wife to work by 0830 each morning. I then had a knee exam scheduled today before we found out about the Days of Excellence, so I was allowed to keep my appointment. I headed to the appointment, which was great…that meant I was going to miss "Days of Excellence"! The knee exam was a huge disappointment though. My doctor just moved my knee in a couple directions and said oh there's no ligament damage. My X-Rays show a little degenerative evidence on my knee cap, so she said I'm just getting old and I have to deal with it. I know something's not right with my knee, it's throbbing every day now and I can't even keep it in one position for a long period of time without being in pain. Then at random times I have shooting pain…but it's all just because I'm getting old and I have to deal with it. There has to be more that can be done, I was a little frustrated leaving there. I did get some pain medication refilled, but that stuff doesn't seem to do much of anything.

I headed home and changed into my uniform (I had to be in PTs for the knee exam). I grabbed a snack and waited a little bit before heading to then end of "Days of Excellence". For those of us that live on PHV, we went to a Town Hall meeting on the closure of the base. It was open to anyone and they went over pretty much everything we already knew, PHV will be closing by August 30th of 2013. Sometime between now and then everyone will be moved to their gaining units. Most of it will be done after June because they don't want to interrupt those with children in school. The other message put out was that everything they do this year will be the biggest and best ever…they want to go out with a bang. Unfortunately the meeting went until 1300 and I was starving! When we left we were released for the day. As we all headed out the sergeant major was there and told everyone to go back in and get a flu shot. I ended up pretending to go back in, but then headed home instead. The problem with flu shots are that I don't really believe that they protect you from the future flu season. Also we will be required to get one at a later date and have it recorded in our records, so those who went back in to get their shot are likely to be required to get another one in the near future.

I headed home and ate lunch. I then headed into the office in civilian clothes where I met my boss. I had to print off a couple items to take to class this Sunday. I then headed home and took a nap. I passed out and didn't wake up until I went to pick up my wife at 1600 from work. Later on we met up with my boss and a few other people from the office. We headed out to a brewery (and restaurant) in Schwetzingen, a city only a few minutes away. It was basically an unofficial good-bye to SPC Whirlwind and his family. We all had some good food, good beer and good conversation.

Zonk - (Germany) Day 255

This morning we formed up for PT as usual. Once everyone was accounted for SGT Mex who was in front of the formation looked at us for a moment, then said "Zonk". Everyone just split and went home. It was pretty cool, especially since I'm still sore from Tuesday's muscle failure. This is a welcome break.

At work we had sergeant's time training. Our platoon sergeant has been on leave which I have to say has been very nice. SGT Mex was the instructor for the training and he quickly went through a number of slides on detecting IEDs and IED avoidance. This is another case of training for the sake of training and SGT Mex knew this. This is something that is not going to help us with our current job and if we do end up in a tactical unit, we'll be trained on all this stuff by qualified folks. So training went by in about 15 minutes or so and we all broke. I was able to jump on a computer and check my email and the news. I then ended up talking with some other guys in the office about various subjects including the economy, the upcoming election, the army, and the state of America. We had some good conversations all the way until lunch.

I ate lunch as usual in my car, listening to music and then taking a nap. I headed back to the office and learned how and where we go in order to send registered mail. After that I headed over to the shoppette to put some more money on our prepaid SIM cards for our phones. My wife and I now have unlocked iPhones, but we have to put money on our cards at least once a month. Instead of straight up pre-pay, we chose a plan that costs 10 Euro a month for unlimited calls and texts between T-Mobile users and along with 100 MB a month of data. It's not a bad deal because my boss uses T-Mobile as well. We just keep our data usage down and we're good to go with a really cheap plan.

When I got back to the office I was told I had to fill out a personal data sheet. This stuff just pisses me off. All the information on it, our company has in various places. They wanted my hat size, the date I joined the army, the date I got my rank, the size of my NBC mask. I just started making crap up, I don't know all this stuff off the top of my head. My religion…it's now "Jedi", why they need all this stuff over and over again is beyond me. I spent the rest of the day on the maintenance side of the office since our two computers were taken. I just chatted with the guys over there while they watched youtube and while SPC Mac applied for jobs all day. (The maintenance side of our shop has been "closed" for business for months now and will stay closed until the base closes up for good. So the guys have no job and just hang out and find ways to pass the time every day...the army is smart like that)

We cleaned up and went home at about 1630.

Another Day…Another Town Hall - (Germany) Day 254

Watch Out!! MPs on patrol....

mounted on Segways with Training Wheels...LOL

This morning we went back to our usual PT here at PHV. The normal folks went for a run, while us profiles headed into the gym to do cardio. I did the stationary bicycle and had a decent (no impact) workout.

The morning started off at 0900 as usual. I tried to move my dentist appointment scheduled for 12:30 this afternoon because SPC Whirlwind was having his going away party. The dental folks said they could move my appointment no problem, but since I was calling within 24 hours of the original appointment, they would mark it as a missed appointment and inform my command. I guess there has been a big issue with people missing their dental appointments. So big in fact we see stupid commercials about it on AFN. I thought calling would solve this problem, but I didn't call soon enough…so I had to keep my dental appointment and miss SPC Whirlwind's going away lunch.

I hung out on the "other" side of the office this morning (the maintenance side). Since we only have two computers on our side and they were taken, I decided to interact with they guys on the other side instead of sitting in a chair, looking at a wall. I basically sat on the other side and read the latest copy of the Army Times. All the NCOs were at a "town hall" meeting with brigade. When they came back, all the junior enlisted had to go over and attend. It was basically just a dog and pony show with them telling us how great they are, how great we are, how great the army is.

After that I left for lunch. I just headed home for a little bit before going over to the dental office. I didn't want to eat anything before they cleaned my teeth. The cleaning went fine except I really hate the scraping of the teeth, it's like nails on a chalk board. I then went back home, made myself lunch and ate it before heading back into the office.

Once in the office I uploaded some more documents to my DTS account for this next class I'll be heading to on Sunday. I did hear the SGT Mex will be coming as well, that is a good thing. I checked out Facebook and noticed my sponsor (when I arrived here in Germany) posted that he is going to be out in 97 days. He then went on to say: "only in the military can we take a person with the ability to cure cancer and make him a lawyer. The army sets you up for failure, tries to dictate your career path based on the last 4 of your social security number and please pray that nothing happens to you where you can no longer run a 14:40 2-mile. I realize that I'm too outspoken and have too much common sense for the military. And if I go to my next job and ever hear someone say 'you should be ready to do (insert task here) any day at any time', I'm quitting and walking out."

Needless to say, I'm not the only one that doesn't quite understand why the army does the things it does, and how it can drive you nuts. It's basically the reason I have no desire to stay in past the end of my contract or the desire to get promoted and be an NCO.

We didn't do much the rest of the day, took the new safe combinations over to secure in another office's safe and then cleaned up the office. We were able to get out about 1630. I gave the new guy a ride home after picking up my wife and some gas as well. I filled my motorcycle gas tank up and warmed it up a little. I even drove it around the parking lot a bit to get it's juices flowing. It's the only riding I'll be able to do for a long time I'm afraid.

SPC Whirlwind and his family came over for dinner and we were able to have our own little goodbye dinner with them. They are a great family and will be missed once they leave.

Back in the Office - (Germany) Day 253

This morning I woke up after a pretty crappy night's sleep. I was thinking too much about having to go back in the office again. I may have complained about school the last two weeks (mainly because it was boring, gave me more training in a job I did not sign up for, and it made me not only miss my trip I had planned to England with non-refundable tickets, but it also made me miss my required motorcycle course in order for me to get my license to ride here in Europe.  I also just checked today and there are no more classes available for the rest of the year, so it looks like I'm waiting until spring of next year), but at least I was not in the office every day.

PT this morning was our entire battalion. We've never done this before and we all had to form up at Campbell Barracks, where I work. We formed up and did PT on the parade field, which is full of red dirt and little rocks. Fun stuff to have to lay in, roll around in and do general PT in. (That was me being sarcastic). Those of us with profiles had to stay in formation for this special event and just do what we could, and do alternative exercises of our choosing for those that would break our profile. (for example if the exercise was sit-ups, I would just stand there and raise my knees one at a time) I did as much as possible and I'm sure I'll be feeling it later, because I haven't worked out at all in two weeks! With my head hurting the way it was, there was no way I was going to do anything these last two weeks. Hopefully things will go back to normal tomorrow and I'll head to the gym and do my own routine. I get a good workout while inside and listening to my music, instead of people screaming and showing off in front of the command sergeant major…give me a break.

Work started at 0900 as usual and when I came into the office I saw that some things had changed. Our side of the office shrunk and we lost a computer to the other side. There already wasn't enough computers to start with, now we're down one more. So if we aren't one of the lucky ones to get a computer at the moment, we can sit in a chair and look at the wall…retarded!

I spent the morning (after I had a chance to get on a computer) going through my email and then finalizing my DTS information to send up. This is all the information that is supposed to get me paid for my TDY going to class the last two weeks. It's not a lot, but we'll see if it ever happens to come…I'm not holding my breath.

I went to lunch in my car as usual, listened to music and played "Plants vs Zombies" on my iPhone (forgot my iPad with my books on it). After that I headed back to the office and had to change the combination to all our safes in the vault. SPC Whirlwind is leaving this Sunday and anytime someone leaves, all the combinations have to be changed.

I then tried to start the process with DTS for my next trip. I'm going to the next class "Intel-35" next week. I also made some appointments this week while I'm here. The day went by pretty quick and I'm glad. It all came rushing back to me why I just can't stand being in the office. I'm actually looking forward to going to this next class. I'll be out for another two weeks and I've been told this class is a lot more hands on with no homework. Also SGT Mex may be coming with me, which will be nice. We just have to wait and see if he passes his weight test. He can't go to any schools while he's overweight. Hopefully we find out soon, and he'll be able to come. It will be nice to have someone I know there with me.

Weekend Wrap-Up (4-Day) - (Germany) Day 249 - 252

A view of from the Wasserturm (Water Tower) in Mannheim.

Friday: Even though today starts the four day weekend for everyone else, I'm still stuck here for this class. I started the day a little different than usual, I had to get ready and pack everything up before leaving to have breakfast. I headed over and checked out first, leaving my bags at the hotel desk. I then had breakfast, then made my way over to our classroom.

Today is test day…we had 3 hours and 15 minutes to finish the test. I took my time and skipped any questions I didn't know the answer to. There were a total of 50 questions. After I finished, I went back and looked up each of the questions I skipped, and the ones I wasn't too sure about. I finished with plenty of time left. I waited for the instructor to grade my paper and found out I got a 94%. Not too bad for a class I had no interest in and no desire to take.

I headed over to the hotel and changed into civilian clothes after getting my bags. We were required to take the test in ACUs. I only had to wait about 5 minutes or so before my boss arrived to pick me up. We went to lunch at a restaurant off post called the "Tea Garden". Probably the best Chinese food I've had here in Germany. We then went to the PX before heading back home. When all was said and done I made it home about 1700. I just hung out with my wife and relaxed for the night. We were both a little bummed because we should have been in England at this moment, and we lost out on the tickets we purchased because of this class.

Saturday: Today we just relaxed and took it easy. We slept in and after a while decided to head out to downtown Heidelberg for a bite to eat. We walked around until we decided on a Mexican restaurant. After we finished we headed back to post and went to the theatre to watch the movie "Brave". My wife had been wanting to see it for a while and we lucked out with it playing here again. It was a cute film.

Sunday: Today was a day of sleeping in of course…then cleaning. Laundry and cleaning the house was the theme of the day. We then watched some TV shows and relaxed the rest of the night. Not a whole lot to say about today.

Monday: We decided to head out and check out the downtown area of Mannheim today. We had been there before for movies, but I read that there is a large pedestrian zone with a lot of shopping and restaurants to check out. We walked around checking out the sites, but by the time we decided to eat, we were starving and the only place close by was a McDonalds….LOL. So we ended up eating there and then continue our site seeing adventure. There is a lot to see and we could probably spend another day there just checking out the shops and restaurants…but next time we'll eat at an actual restaurant or cafe. The "Wasserturm" is a pretty cool attraction with fountains, statues and nice grounds surrounding it.

We headed home and took it easy for the rest of the day. We watched "Battleship" a movie about aliens invading from space…a fun sci-fi movie. I'm really not looking forward to heading into work tomorrow….Uggghhh.

This whole four day weekend didn't turn out exactly as originally planned, instead of going to England we just took it easy and relaxed for the most part. Nothing too exciting to report.