A sign in the S-3 bathroom (the shop where we pull staff duty)
Saturday: (Staff Duty) So I am pulling my first staff duty assignment since being in Germany. Usually you get one or so a month and unfortunately I am getting mine on a Saturday. On a Saturday after I've just been in the field for the last week. On a Saturday when I've previously worked 12 days in a row without a day off. So This will make it 13 straight with my only "day off" tomorrow, which doesn't really count because I'll be working until 0900 tomorrow morning. So I'll be sleeping for part of it, then have to go back to work again like normal on Monday. A pretty crappy deal if you ask me.
I started the shift this morning at 0830. I found out technically we don't have to be here until 0900, but my platoon sergeant told me 0830, so that is when I arrived. Staff duty consists of sitting at a computer desk and answering the phone if it rings. We have to do a security check of the TMP vehicle and a couple buildings, once before midnight and once after midnight. I'm working with a female sergeant from our office (I'll call SGT Black). SGT Black does ComSec work like me, but is also the retention NCO for our company, so that ties up most of her time.
I spent most of the morning typing up this journal for everything I wrote down during the exercise. I ate lunch at the desk and then did half of the "before midnight" security checks. Once finished it was 1400 and SGT Black said to go ahead and take a break until 1700. I headed home and hung out with my wife for a bit, then headed back. When I got back she said I should have stayed until 1800, then swore up and down she told me 1800. Oh well…I'm back and I was not late.
Staff Duty on the weekend is not too busy. We've had a couple of calls and one soldier who needed a ride back to Patton Barracks after his shift here at Campbell Barracks. SGT Black gave him a ride while I held down the fort.
I watched the movie Thirteen Days on my laptop. The movie has Kevin Costner in it and is about the Cuban Missile Crises and how close we actually came to war with Russia. It was a pretty good movie if you could get past those horrible north-eastern accents.
At 2030 SGT Black let me take another break until 2300, so I headed home and was able to watch the University of Washington Huskies basketball team actually play a game. I don't think I've seen them play since I joined the army! Unfortunately they lost by one point to UCLA.
The rest of the night was pretty uneventful. I listened to music, read the news via the web, and answered a few phone calls. I ended up watching "SWAT Firefight" which was a decent movie…in fact I would say it is a little better than your average B movie…a B+ movie. It passed the time and was entertaining. I nodded off for a few minutes here and there and then finally at 0830 the runner came in and relieved me.
Sunday: After I went home I took about a 4 hour nap on our couch. I tossed around the idea of staying up, but as soon as I laid down..I was out. When I did get up, I did some regular maintenance on all our home computers. This is something I used to do on a regular basis every month, but I've been out of sync since joining the army. I plan on getting back to keeping everything optimal now that all our computers are together again. I also spent some time doing and filing our taxes. I'm glad that is done and out of the way.
We didn't do much the rest of the day, SPC Whirlwind and his wife came by for a couple hours to visit. They are going to the US on vacation. SPC Whirlwind took 30 days total, but doesn't plan on spending it all in the US. He's going to travel space A, so I'm looking forward to see how that works out for him.
Thanks for the updates!
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