Last Full Day (FTX Day 22) - (Germany) Day 133

Some people come very prepared...this was the guy next to me with his TV, PlayStation and laptop. The TV was left on playing a movie that the NCOIC had to finally come and turn off.

Rude and inconsiderate…that is how my morning started off. Those of us who are on my shift were able to sleep in because we don't have to report to work until 1300. Others that started waking up before 0600 were noisy…yelling across the barracks and just being generally loud. It just pisses me off that these guys don't care about anyone except themselves. I can't wait until I'm back in my house with my wife…back to normal. Once everyone finally left a little after 0700 I was able to get a little more sleep and finally got up around 0830. The morning spent reading and playing games on my iPhone.

We headed to work at around 1230 giving us time to swing by the food vendors. I ordered a bratwurst for lunch and grabbed a drink from the shoppette. We then headed to the help desk and did exactly what we've been doing the last couple of days…nothing. We heard that the exercise was officially over. We also heard that even though we were all put in for awards, they were sent back. Last we heard, the head civilian guy was trying to push them though, but at this point I don't really care. After the whole thing with my PCS award not going through, the army awards system has left a bad taste in my mouth. To tell you the truth I don't really care if I ever get one. Since I have no plans to become an NCO, I don't have to worry about the promotion points that come with an award, so it means nothing to me. I'm tired of being told I'm getting an award, then never seeing it get done. Who cares? Also besides the first few days, we haven't done much except have to stay in crappy barracks and eat crappy DFAC food…does that deserve an award? Maybe the iron stomach award…LOL.

We were able to leave at 1700 instead of 1900 because of the end of the exercise. We found out that we do indeed have to go in tomorrow in order to in-process people for the next exercise, which is starting right away. The permanent party folks will take over and then we'll be free to go home. I can't even in-process people because I don't have domain administrator rights, so I'll be doing nothing…along with the others that don't have domain administrator rights. The truth is that we only have 3 computers to in-process people and we'll have about 20 workers there in the help desk area…so there will be a lot of people standing or sitting around doing nothing.

We got a TMP and headed to the bowling alley to pick up dinner from their restaurant. Once back at the barracks, I read for a bit and then watched "In Time". This was an interesting movie set in the future where everyone has been genetically altered to stop aging at 25, after that they get one year to live. They can however purchase more time, so in essence "time" becomes the new currency. Go to work and get paid in time…your time remaining shows up on your arm and when it runs out…you die. Want a latte? That will be 3 minutes…then you watch the time get taken off the clock on your arm. The rich can live forever while the poor literally work day to day to stay alive. The story turns out to be a futuristic Bonnie and Clyde with a Robin Hood twist.

The day started off with rude and inconsiderate people and that is how the night ended as well. The guy next to me who brought a TV, a playstation, and a laptop started watching a movie. Everyone else in the barracks uses headphones when watching a movie, but this guy has his blaring over speakers and then just falls asleep. Finally the NCOIC cam over and turned it off at around 1030. I'm so glad this is my last night here.

Good News (FTX Day 17) - (Germany) Day 128

There are only 4 power outlets in the barracks...so what you see here is 

a power strip, plugged into a power strip, plugged into a power strip, 

plugged into a power strip, plugged into the wall. There are also several long 

extension cords people bought and other power strips coming out of the other outlets! 

One of these nights we'll probably catch the place on fire.

(Due to the FTX my posts may be a little sporadic, I found out the USO offers free Internet and will be toting along my laptop and uploading posts as I get a chance)

This morning was another normal morning getting up, getting ready, eating a bowl of cereal at the DFAC and getting to work at 0700. The day was pretty uneventful unlike yesterday. I worked on a couple of tickets…fix a printing problem and installing some software. I then ran a cable to connect a VTC machine. The problem was there were no more ports in the room or the adjacent room next to it, so I had to run a cable two rooms down…not a bit deal, but that was the highlight of my day.

We found out after arriving that only the night shift is going to start the 12 hour shift, we would work 0700 to 1300 and the NCOs would stay until 1900 when the night shift started it's 12 hour shift that we will relieve at 0700 tomorrow morning. This was good news, I was already mentally prepared to work the 12 hour shift, but luckily that will wait until tomorrow. It was so slow I can't imagine staying there until 1900 tonight. One of the air force guys was so bored he was looking for things to do to others, like sticking duct tape on them without them noticing.

After work I headed back to the barracks and took a short nap before talking to my wife for a bit. I read some more of my book (book 1 of George Martin's "A Game of Thrones" … I have all four books loaded on my iPad). As I was chatting with my wife we were talking about the civilians working here at the exercise. They are the tier 2 level support and have a lot more privileges than the rest of us working the help desk. I then realized that there are no military folks at all in the tier level 2 support. My wife said "you need to get those privileges" when I was telling her about how often we can't complete a ticket because we don't have enough privileges. The funny thing is that I can get certified in everything under the sun and have all the degrees in the world, but I will not be able to work in there because I'm an E-4 and in the military. Gaining rank will not even help because when you get a higher rank, you do less technical work and more supervisory work. Another reason I will not be staying in the army after this first enlistment. I will get as much as I can out of the army while I'm in, but there is no way I'll be staying in.

The rest of the night was uneventful and pretty much the same routine watch a movie, read a little, then take a shower and get ready for bed. I watched "Transporter 3" tonight…a movie I've seen before, but I always enjoy watching a good action packed movie. Starting with the help desk shift tonight, the help desk will be manned 24 hours a day…with our 12 hour shift coming up tomorrow. We'll see how it goes.

Slammed (FTX Day 16) - (Germany) Day 127

(Due to the FTX my posts may be a little sporadic, I found out the USO offers free Internet and will be toting along my laptop and uploading posts as I get a chance)

This morning was a little irritating. Some guys got up early and went for a run this morning, but instead of being courteous to those those of us still sleeping, they all talked back and forth in loud voices not caring about anyone else except themselves. That wasn't even the worst part, the guy in the bunk next to me was one of them and after he left, his alarm went off and kept going off because he was gone. I had to get up and turn the damned thing off, and I wasn't planning on getting up for another 45 minutes. The joys of living in the barracks. I laid around for a bit pissed off, then finally got up and got ready for the day.

The work day today was a little different than previous days. The official exercise hasn't started yet, but there are a number of people already here working and preparing for it, so they have been getting their accounts setup and they have also been turning in trouble tickets because of various issues that have popped up. A lot of them are because the images that we used on these machines are old and do not have everything setup properly for their needs. One of the biggest issues we ran into are a whole mess of computers on the domain that were put in quarantine because the image was so old, they did not meet the minimum security requirements. Once in quarantine there wasn't much we could do, only two of the civilian workers had enough privileges to log into them. They would log in and then we would start the update process and try and get them up to date, so they could get moved out of quarantine. (Once a computer is in quarantine the user cannot log in and the machine is pretty much useless…this is to protect the network as a whole).

So the day turned out to be pretty busy, in fact I only sat down once to check my email and Facebook, but after about a minute I had to get up and take care of another issue. Busy is good, the time passed quickly and I felt like an actual I.T. technician once again. I just wish I had more administrative privileges, so I could fix more problems instead of waiting and relying on others.

We left and I headed back to the barracks and took a nap. I don't know why, but I've been tired lately after each shift. Tomorrow we start the 12 hour shifts, so instead of working 0700 to 1300, we will work 0700 until 1900. This is a pretty crappy schedule, we'll be there the entire day and by the time we get out it will probably be starting to get dark. I guess we'll see how it goes, we should get a lunch and a dinner break. I think I would rather have this shift though than the other shift which is the opposite - 1900 until 0700. That would really mess up my sleep pattern.

I watched "Knowing" starring Nicolas Cage tonight and it was a pretty decent movie. I didn't know what it was about, so I was surprised that it turned out to be about the end of the world! It was entertaining and passed the time. I took a break and was able to talk to my wife for a bit before finishing up the movie and then getting ready for bed. I'll read some more of my book and then called it a night.

Bad Feet (FTX Day 11) - (Germany) Day 122

An example of how some people brought extra blankets to add a little more privacy to their bunk

(Due to the FTX my posts may be a little sporadic, I found out the USO offers free Internet and will be toting along my laptop and uploading posts as I get a chance)

This morning I did my usual at breakfast, cereal and fruit. We then headed to the warehouse and started work at 0900. Me and a co-worker were tasked with getting the VTC machines ready to go. They wisely decided to use static IP addresses for these machines (This means the address is a permanent address vs one that may change over time). We had to put in the address and then make a test call to verify everything works. We took our time because we knew there was not a whole lot to do today…we finished almost everything yesterday.

We did find a couple problems and had to troubleshoot the issues. Finally we were down to two machines that didn't have speakers, so we had to request them from the warehouse. After this we settled in and started surfing the net. There was absolutely nothing to do, but for some reason the NCOIC wanted people doing something…so he would have people go and recheck rooms we've already checked at least twice already. Our NCOIC came in the room my co-worker and I were in and said "What are you guys doing? Come follow me I got something for you to do" We proceeded to follow him and he had us move two folding chairs about 3 feet. I kid you not, that is what he had us do. At one point in the day while I was working on the VTCs and he saw me walking across to another room, he called for me to come over to his desk. He then told me to put some paper that was on top of a cabinet in a box. It started to become a game where nobody wanted to be anywhere the NCOIC could see them. I ended up hanging out with the air force guys because they have their own NCO and he doesn't play the stupid games.

The air force guys also have two TMPs and offered to take the junior soldiers to the food court and PX for lunch. Anything to get away from the NCOIC is fine with me. After lunch we spent the rest of the day doing nothing…everything is setup and we are just waiting until next week when the exercise starts.

After work we headed to the gym to play some basketball. We were supposed to play against the air force, but they ended up not showing up for about an hour later. I tightened my running shoes and decided to play with everyone. Two of my co-workers were there and also a captain that is pretty cool and staying with us in the barracks. I probably shouldn't have played because I didn't have my basketball shoes, but my competitive nature got the best of me…that and my co-worker really wanted me to play. I ended up tearing up my feet just like I did in Korea when I played in running shoes. The skin on my feet just tore off and now I have big flabs of skin just hanging off my feet and I can barely walk. I also played like total crap. I couldn't hit a shot to save my life. Normally I consider myself one of the best shooters out there no matter who I'm playing with, but for some reason I couldn't hit anything today. The only good thing is that I got a bit of a workout, but it came at a big price.

I took a shower back at the barracks and listened to the bombs and artillery going off consistently. It's strange being so close to and actually feeling the artillery at times even in our barracks. I heard today that the battalion that is in the set of barracks right up the road from us just lost two soldiers in an accident on the way here while traveling on the autobahn. Pretty crazy how one minute you can be on your way to do some training and out of the blue you get hit by a semi and it's over. I really changed my mindset after divorcing my first wife, and now I try to live and experience every day to its fullest. It's reminders like this that help you remember just how short life can be and you really don't want to waste it. It's one of the reasons I wanted to do this whole army thing…I wanted to do it before I got too old and I wanted something different, I wanted to see the world, and I wanted a little adventure.

Shooting Around (FTX Day 9) - (Germany) Day 120

Just a general photo to show the barracks we live in. 

The building on the end is the bathroom and showers

(Due to the FTX my posts may be a little sporadic, I found out the USO offers free Internet and will be toting along my laptop and uploading posts as I get a chance)

This morning we started at our usual time of 0900, the nice thing was I didn't have to worry about how or what I was going to eat for breakfast. The bad thing was that the DFAC food just really sucked. I tried some sort of omelet in a pita bread concoction. I only took a couple of bites before I had to stop. I thought about eating the bacon, but it was very limp and was just dripping with grease. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge bacon fan...but I just couldn't bring myself to try this stuff. Luckily the DFAC also offers other items such as cereal and fruit, which I decided to have instead…I think I'll be sticking with that from now on.

The work day was somewhat productive, I started off getting all the VTC (Video TeleConferencing) machines tested and ready to go. These are basically a large screen with a camera on top used to make video calls over the Internet…similar to Skype, but this is their sole purpose and they have better quality from what I have seen. I then helped get more SIPR computers up and ready on the network. We have a lot more SIPR machines and it seemed like we had a lot more problems with them as well. We had to have "the warehouse" exchange more than a few machines because of hardware issues that we kept coming across. Each time this happened it would take extra time. The process of getting a machine working good takes a few reboots and some configuration settings, but the machines aren't the fastest. So if all goes well we get a machine up and on the network in about 10 minutes. It always seems there is something that needs to be fixed though, the network cable is bad, the video card is bad, the image is bad, the bios is locked…etc. Each of these items takes time to troubleshoot and then resolve, so it was slow going…but we did make a lot of progress. I think we should be able to finish up tomorrow, or at least get really close to being finished.

We were given MREs for lunch, which we grabbed from the DFAC and brought back to the barracks to eat. Because we are in a training area we can hear and feel the explosions of either tanks or artillery around us. It's pretty crazy because sometimes it seems as though there is a tank right outside the barracks firing. It's loud and you can feel the rumble as the windows shake.

Back at work we continued our progress and worked until about 1745. Once we were let go, my co-worker wanted me to come play basketball with him at the gym. We decided to skip the DFAC and go play, planning on eating afterwards. I didn't actually play any games, I just shot around. For one thing I'm old and out of shape and I also didn't have my basketball shoes. To be honest though I really don't care for playing with people I don't know and I don't mean to be racist here, but I especially don't care for playing with black folks when I don't know them. Their style of play is a lot different, and being the only white guy playing I don't think I would even get the ball passed to me at all. So I just shot around and my co-worker played in a few games. I'm really glad I didn't play, because I can feel my legs are sore from just shooting around…that is pitiful, I'm so out of shape!

It turns out we left the gym too late and all the places to eat on post were closed. We decided to go off post and grab a bite because we were starving at this point. We went to a little restaurant that we had a brochure for about 10 minutes away from post. The place was nice and quaint. I wish we would have stayed there to eat, I would have tried one of their family beers and watched the soccer game on the TV. I'm not a huge soccer fan, but there were about 6 locals in there all excited and watching the game.

We got back at almost 1000 and I quickly ate and then prepared for bed. Hopefully I'll get some good sleep tonight and be ready for the another day tomorrow.

Overheard Quote: "Man….I'd rather get my prostate examined than eat that shit!" (A guy in our barracks after coming back from eating at the DFAC)

SIPR Setup (FTX Day 8) - (Germany) Day 119

Ummmmm.....I can see the exit right there!

(Due to the FTX my posts may be a little sporadic, I found out the USO offers free Internet and will be toting along my laptop and uploading posts as I get a chance)

As expected the new barracks was quite a bit different than our old barracks. Last night I realized another advantage of bringing a couple blankets to drape on either side of your bunk. The couple that did had their privacy as I mentioned, but they also had a nice dark area to sleep in. It didn't matter how late the lights stayed on, or how early the sun came up…they stayed relatively dark. I'll definitely have to consider that next time if possible. The problem is that you have to secure a bottom bunk in order to make it work. I used my PT cap as usual and put in my ear plugs. The PT cap pulled down over my eyes does a decent job of keeping the light out. At 0500 in the morning people's alarms started going off. Not all at once, but about every 15 minutes or so I would hear one even with my ear plugs in. This was kind of a bummer because I wasn't planning on getting up until 0700 (a half hour earlier than usual because we had to be in a half hour early at 0900).

I finally just got up about 0645 and started getting ready for the day. Today was the day the SIPR (secret) network was turned on. This in turn causes a lot more security to be enforced such as no personal electronic devices are allowed inside the warehouse and there are guards posted at the entrance to check for ID badges and inform folks to leave said electronic devices behind. Me and a co-worker found out when we arrived that we would actually be pulling this guard duty today…or at least this morning. The people that are coming to do this for the exercise were arriving today, but they were not sure when…because of this we were voluntold.

We were given the security brief and then started our new job. It was actually a really easy job and turned out to be just sitting in a room waiting for the occasional person to come show us their badge so we could buzz them in through the door. As each person would go by, we would remind them not to bring in any personal electronic devices. Most of the time we just sat there and surfed the internet on the computer in the room. We ended up doing this until the real guys pulling guard duty arrived. They came in perfect time for lunch, so we ended up leaving in a TMP to the bowling alley for lunch. We heard their restaurant was pretty good and wanted something different.

Once back at work we joined the rest of our crew getting the SIPR computers up and running. The process was very similar to the unclassified network (NIPR), but this time the NCOIC picked 4 rooms and had everyone concentrate on these four rooms until each step was finished. This seemed to work out a little better than the crazy "chicken with their head cut off" method used last week. We stayed until about 1730 getting everything finished and then had an end of the day meeting to update the status of everything.

Tonight the exercise DFAC finally opened. There are a couple of advantages of this…I don't have to buy food anymore, it's located literally 40 meters away from our barracks. There of course are some drawbacks as well…I will not be getting paid the full per diem rate and…well…it's DFAC food. We had dinner there and I had some sort of chicken stir fry concoction over rice which was edible, but my buddy tried the pork dish and couldn't eat it. He had me try and I couldn't blame him. I told him to go up and get a serving of what I had and he did. The really nice thing is that the DFAC will be open for breakfast, so there will not be anymore scrambling in the morning trying to figure out how to eat. (This morning I just had to wait until the shoppette opened at 1000 and make a quick run over there to buy a NutriGrain bar for breakfast).

A Day of Rest (FTX Day 7) - (Germany) Day 118

One of the unique landmark buildings I snapped a picture of 

while we were driving around the main post of Grafenwoehr

(Due to the FTX my posts may be a little sporadic, I found out the USO offers free Internet and will be toting along my laptop and uploading posts as I get a chance)

This morning I slept in until 0745. I could have slept longer, but nature decided to call early and when that happens the bathroom is not just in the other room here. Once the trip is made 50 meters to the bathroom and back (outside), you're pretty much up. I listened to music on my iPhone for a while waiting until the shoppette opened up at 1000. I planned on doing laundry today, but I had to get out cash, then buy a little snack for breakfast to make some change (the ATM only spits out $20 bills). Once that was done I headed to the laundry mat to wash my clothes in the coin operated machines.

Back in the barracks we found out that the room we were all in was reserved for E-8's and above. These folks would start arriving today or tomorrow and we had to get out. Nice…I wish we would have been told this earlier and had us just move into the other building. Now there are already people in there and the good spots next to the few power outlets are all taken. We all packed up our stuff and moved the 30 meters or so to the new building. The one benefit is that it's a lot closer to the bathrooms. The main drawback is that there are a number of people in there along with some NCOs. It's always a gamble with NCOs, they can be cool or real assholes. So there is the potential that the next couple of weeks could really suck. Our NCOIC is not much of a project manager, but he seems like a nice guy otherwise and he never bothered us in the barracks.

I ended up getting a bunk next to a guy who had his playstation plugged into a transformer along with a couple power-strips, so I am able to reach my power cable to it which is perfect. The other guys ended up buying some long extension cords to reach their bunks from the other guy's power-strips. I do learn something new every time I do go on an FTX though. Last time I realized that I needed to bring a pillow, a blanket to cover the mattress, and a power-strip. I see now that bringing a couple extra blankets will come in hand to drape on either side of the bed for some privacy. There are a couple guys in this bay that are doing it and it looks like a good idea.

Me and my co-workers took a TMP to the food court where I had Pizza Hut of course. We all brought our laptops and headed to the USO to make use of their free Internet. There is nothing else really to do except hang out in the bay, so this worked out well. We spent a few hours there and I kind of video chatted with my wife. I say kind of because the microphone on my headphones is broken, so I could hear my wife, but she couldn't hear me. I had to type everything while she talked to me…kind of a one way conversation, but it was nice to see her and hear her voice. I may have to look into purchasing a new pair of headphones with a microphone before next weekend.

We left and the others ate dinner, but I was still full from the pizza and cheesy bread. I just ended up eating some trail mix later on back in the barracks. Once back everyone started coming back in the barracks and it filled up a bit. What a difference from our previous bay which was relatively quiet. There are conversations everywhere and someone is bouncing a basketball. Hopefully it will quiet down at night, but I'm sure the morning will be noisy with people getting up to go to the gym.

I settled down in my bed and watched "What Happens in Vegas". A chick flick about a couple that meet in Vegas and after a night of drinking, get married…oh and they win 3 million dollars on a slot machine. Instead of giving them an annulment, the judge orders them to work on their marriage for six months with required weekly marriage counseling. It's a typical romantic comedy and runs through the same routine that all romantic comedies go through and yes in the end they live happily ever after. It's a decent watch and had me chuckling a few times…always nice to veg out and let your mind escape this boring place.

Beautification (FTX Day 3) - (Germany) Day 114

A photo of our barracks bay...it's pretty bare now with only 5 of us in there.

(Due to the FTX my posts may be a little sporadic, I found out the USO offers free Internet and will be toting along my laptop and uploading posts as I get a chance)

This morning I woke up on my own once again. I had my alarm set for 0730, but woke up at 0700. One thing I can say is good about this FTX, is that we don't have to get up at the butt crack of dawn to start the day which I very much appreciate. Our NCOIC took me to Burger King and bought everyone breakfast, which I helped him bring back. For some crazy reason they sell Whoppers for breakfast now, and that is what everyone got except for me. When I have breakfast I want breakfast food (Pizza is the only acceptable alternative…and it can even be cold when eating it for breakfast).

We started the day again in the warehouse and the whole first half of the day was spent doing "beautification" in each of the rooms. This was basically taping all the network cables under the long tables so they would be out of sight and not presenting a tripping hazard. We went to lunch at the commissary, which I have to say was awesome. They make a nice fresh sandwich and the total with a very large drink and chips was under $5.

Once back at the warehouse we started adding computers to the domain. Once added we did a couple steps to finish up and then the machine was ready to go. This all seems like an easy process, but somehow the leaders ended up changing some things up and getting everyone confused. We ended up working until 1800 and then finally were able to leave. This I don't think would normally be a big issue, but yesterday our NCOIC had told us we would probably be out of there at 1430 or 1500. So by 1800 everyone was grumbling and upset. Before I left I heard one of the leaders say we need to upgrade all the systems to Windows 7. If that is the case, I think they should have used a Windows 7 image when we pushed it out to all the machines. I guess we'll see what happens tomorrow, but I have a bad feeling that we are going to do a bunch more redundant work.

We headed back to the barracks and everyone left to the bowling alley to eat and hang out. I just wanted to relax, so I stayed back. If the place had free Internet I would probably go, but I don't think it does. This place really sucks for free WiFi. There is a couple places where you can purchase a temporary internet connection similar to ones found at AIT, but that is just a rip-off.

I read my book and then watched the last movie in the Blade series "Blade Trinity". I wasn't expecting much of anything from the movie, but it was surprisingly pretty good. It had a more modern feel and even a little "Matrix" flare to it. Toss in a little bit of cheese and kung-fu and it was a fun movie to watch. It even had Dracula in it of all vampires!

Lightning Warrior Field Training Exercise Day 1 - (Germany) Day 60

My view of the barracks while laying in my bunk bed...pretty tight quarters

I woke up at 0250 after a crappy nap. I can't even say a crappy night's sleep because I had to get up so early. I got ready and left the house at 0325. My wife had to drive and drop me off, so she could have the car for the week I'll be gone. I headed to the armory and picked up my weapon and then had to wait at our office until 0515 when the bus finally arrived. I have a ruck sack full of stuff, as well as my duffel bag and my body armor that I have to carry out and load onto the bus. The bus just came from Landstuhl and Mannheim, so the storage underneath is already completely full. It is hauling a trailer though that we can throw all our stuff in.

The bus leaves at 0600 and somehow I end up with a seat to myself. I'm very grateful because these seats are pretty small and I'm not a small dude, so I'm able to stretch out a little using both seats during the 3 hour or so ride to the Schweinfurt training area.

Once we arrive around 0900, everything is unloaded and I find my bags and body armor, then head to our barracks room. The room is just one big square building with as many bunk beds as they could possibly fit in there. There were a number of people that took off with just one bag or something so they could claim their bed. The bottom bunk was a coveted item and they went fast. By the time I made it down to the building there were only top bunks left, I picked one by placing my duffel bag on top and hanging my body armor from the side.

At 1015 we all have to head to the DFAC which is an amazingly small place. The commander has his opening speech and then the chaplain does a suicide prevention training. Dear god, didn't I just finish one of these? I'm thinking to myself that forcing everyone to go through these mandatory trainings may actually cause someone to commit suicide! We are then broken up into squads, and my squad consists of my platoon leader from our office, a specialist from the maintenance side of our office (I'll call him SPC Mac), and McLovin. These are the only ones I actually know, but there are about 16 or so folks from various offices from around the brigade in our squad. We are then told to head back to the barracks until further notice.

Once back on my bed I start to read my new book "Hilarity Ensues" by Tucker Max. It's his 3rd book and it's funny as hell. Surprisingly we do nothing for the entire day. When I say nothing, I mean we did absolutely nothing. I sat in my bed and read, played games on my iPhone and chatted with others…oh and took a nap because I was so tired from getting up so early. Others did pretty much the same with the exception of a couple card games going on here and there. Why we had to get up so early in order to hang out in the barracks is unknown…and actually pissed me off a little.

At 1730 we had dinner at the DFAC. They cook the meals in a mobile field trailer and then we take it into the DFAC to eat. The food was actually not that bad. We were told by the previous week's attendees that it was horrible and they always ran out. It wasn't great, it was typical DFAC food.

After dinner we hung out some more in the barracks and did the same ol' thing until about 2030. We had a meeting where they announced some minor squad changes and told us the schedule for tomorrow. We then continued hanging out until lights out at 2200. I can't believe what a stupid day this was…we had to get up way to freakin' early and did absolutely nothing the entire day…except some suicide prevention training. What a joke!

A general view of the barracks during our FTX

Class A Pickup - (Germany) Day 35

PT this morning was a pretty good workout. We formed up at our normal PT location at Campbell Barracks. After warming up we ran the PT test circle which is basically a half mile loop around the parking lot and a field. We ran it four times stopping after each lap to alternate 20 push-ups and then 20 sit-ups. Half the people didn't even participate though because they were either on profile or they were going to take the actual PT test tomorrow morning.

My boss picked me up for work as usual, but a little earlier because we had to stop by the barracks for an inspection on the only soldier that is currently living in the barracks. He married a German national and she basically lives in his room with him. Unlike my barracks room in Korea where I had to share the actual room with another person, these barracks are private rooms that have a bathroom that is shared between two people. Everyone in our office knows the guy has his wife living there, but nobody up higher does. I think she helps him keep it pretty clean…my boss didn't have to do much inspecting, plus he's a pretty easy going guy. I am still glad I don't have to deal with stupid room inspections anymore.

Work was a little more eventful today, I was actually able to log into a computer although I only stayed on for a minute…it was just a test to see if it worked. I followed SPC Whirlwind around pretty much the whole day just helping him out while learning various parts of all the paperwork that I will have to do. I'm slowly "getting" little pieces of the job, but it's going to take a while to get down all the paperwork down. There are so many rules and procedures that need to be followed exactly because of the high security level that we deal with.

For lunch my boss took me to the alterations shop where I picked up my uniform. They sewed on my unit patch. I then headed up to the military clothing store and had to purchase everything that I needed for my dress uniform. I believe the maid in our temporary housing threw my bag of name tags and ribbons away. Luckily they had everything I needed and I was able to pick up my name tag that I ordered on Friday. We ate lunch at the food court and then headed back to the office.

I spent the rest of the day following around SPC Whirlwind again and then we headed out after cleaning up. We have a dress uniform inspection tomorrow, so my boss invited me and my wife over for dinner. Before dinner we worked on getting our uniforms squared away…placing all the ribbons and medals on them as well as the insignia and such. Trying to get everything perfect is a trying matter and neither of us finished before dinner was ready. We ate dinner and then decided to finish it up tomorrow before the inspection which is at 1600. We will not be wearing the Class A uniform to work, but we will have to put it on at 1600. This is in preparation for the "Days of Excellence" which is this Friday. This Friday the whole battalion wears their Class A's all day and there will be a more formal inspection done.

FYI: A great site that can be used for building your rack of ribbons and medals is:

EZ Rack Builder

Things That Go Bump on the Door - (Korea) Day 332

I heard a rumor that we were going to have another room inspection today by our first sergeant. I never believe rumors anymore, but sure enough someone was banging on my door at 0500. They didn't say anything and I didn't answer it. They banged on my door a couple more times, but I just laid in my bed. If they can't tell me in advance to be ready by a certain time, then don't expect me to be. Also if you're going to bang on the door say something like "hey this is sergeant John Doe…open up for inspection". How am I to know that you're not just some person just being a jackass? Have I mentioned lately that I really hate living in the barracks?

Work call was at 0830 and I arrived, checked my email and then watched a little TV until it was time to setup for a meeting in our conference room. I had everyone clean up a bit and then we setup. SPC Mick stayed up in the control room to flip slides while the rest of us headed down to setup for another peculiar meeting. I'm not sure why we were doing this one because it's not one of the generals that we support and it's not in any of our conference rooms. Who really cares though…I'm just  a private I do what I'm told.

SPC Roy's major in his office was having a computer problem and he asked if I could come take a look. I was hoping my demigod card would have it's admin powers in his OU, but unfortunately it lost all it's powers when I took it away from my small network. I was unable to help them out. I was rewarded anyway with my choice of hot dog, chili, with a number of sides. I chose a bowl of rice covered with chili…so good and also reminds me of my wife. Poor SPC Roy is in the process of trying to lose weight. He's going about it the wrong way, but he wants results fast. He's basically starving himself and only drinking a ton of water and smoking a lot. He is also wearing some sort of waist belt that helps him sweat a lot in that area. He has to sit in that office while all this food is cooking (all for a fund raiser).

I headed to my room for the rest of my lunch break and video chatted with my wife for a while. Once back at work I was able to do a little more IMO work. I had to restore my NCOIC's personal folders for her Outlook. Her current folders got corrupt and she lost a ton of data. She was freaking out. Luckily I made a backup about a week ago when I moved her to a new machine. So when I restored her files she thought I was freakin' awesome. I then headed over to our protocol office and helped the director over there get his computer squared away. He had some settings he needed changed, but needed an admin in order to do so.

Once back at the office our NCOIC tells me and PV2 Charlie to run to the company and get some shower curtains and that they are giving them out first come first served. We both need them because our current curtains are getting moldy. Not sure what it is about the old barracks, but mold definitely likes it here. When we arrived at the barracks we had to answer 20 questions and then the first sergeant wanted to actually see us. When she asked about our current curtains we told her the condition…then she looks at me and says "I don't remember seeing you this morning". Oh Crap! I told her that nobody told me which is actually the truth. I only heard a rumor that she may come and do an inspection, but was never told a time or anything. She then gave us the curtains. She had paid for them out of her pocket which is why she didn't want to just hand them out to anyone. It's probably a good thing that I got a new one though, mine is starting to show more black mold than it does any other colors…now if only I can get my roommate to spread it open when he finishes showering maybe it will dry between uses.

We then cleaned up and everyone went home except me at 1600. I volunteered to stay a little longer until a meeting was finished in our conference room so I could shut everything down and lock up. I ended up leaving about 1630, still early…but not early enough to hit the gym right away without running into rush hour. I eat dinner at the food court and then watch a CSI: Miami in my room. I then worked on schoolwork before heading to the gym and working out. Once finished I watch an episode of The Ultimate Fighter and then call it a night.

PCS Move Update: Not a whole lot going on. I sent S1 an email today asking if there has been any update or change in the status of my paperwork. They had sent everything to Germany to get everything approved so I can take my wife. I received an email back saying they haven't heard anything yet. I wasn't expecting anything yet, but it was worth a try. I'll check back next week.

Big Plans - (Korea) Day 204

A ROK soldier in our sister office trying to figure out the copier. This particular
soldier (doing his mandatory service) speaks English very well and plays basketball
with us at times...pretty nice guy.

This morning we had a 0500 formation in front of the barracks. I was called last night and told about it. One moment I was planning on going to work at 0800, then the next I heard this news. Grrr. We formed up and our first sergeant told us we were going to have a "G.I. Party". For those of you who don't know, a G.I. Party isn't a party at all. It's when a bunch of soldiers have to clean or do some other sort of work...party has no business being in the name. We were instructed to go to our areas in the barracks and start cleaning. I guess our first sergeant saw the common bathrooms in the other barracks and was pretty disgusted, so this is the result. The only common area on my floor of my barracks is the laundry room and it's the only area I even use. I spent a little over an hour cleaning some washers. I had flashbacks of TRADOC (basic training and AIT). We finally were told we could go back to our rooms about 0615 to get ready for work. I took a shower and then got my uniform on before starting to video chat with my wife. Next thing I know there is a knock on my door…we have another formation. WTF?? I go out there and I'm the only one in ACUs, everyone else is still in summer PTs . Our first sergeant told everyone they did a good job and that there wouldn't be another formation tonight or tomorrow as long as they keep everything clean. There will now be a person in charge of each floor of our barracks and they will also be responsible for assigning rotating cleaning duties to all the rooms to help keep everything clean.

Not the way I wanted to start my day. It's really one of the many drawbacks living in barracks. You are at the mercy of someone else at all times. I can't wait to get to my next duty station and actually live off post with my family! I headed to work call which was at 0800. We setup for a meeting in the secret conference room called "U-Staff" which is kind of interesting because it involves all the member states of the UN that is here in Korea. I flipped slides for a while until Special K came down to relieve me. I guess CPT Hooah! was having some technical issues and wanted me to come up to the office. Turns out we had a bad fiber optic cable. After calling the help desk they came and verified it by using one of their cables. The tech then takes his cable and leaves. I was like…hold on there little buddy, we need that good cable. He then told me our office had to purchase our own fiber cables. Holy cow! Luckily a major in our office had a spare in his desk that we were able to use.

I then worked on SkillPorts until lunch. For lunch I headed to my room and ate while video chatting with my wife. After lunch I headed back to the office and started more inventory of the computers. This time I went to the command group and inventoried all of their items. At first the sergeant said they were too busy, but then told me to hold on and then helped me out.

After that I headed back to my computer and did some more SkillPort. I then took a small break and watched a little TV. Before I knew it I was asleep, I guess the TV was pretty boring. I was woken up by my phone vibrating in my pocket, it was Special K telling me to open the door to our conference room. I had fallen asleep with my legs up on the table, so they were elevated the entire time I was sitting there. When I got up to open the door I almost fell over because my legs were asleep! I grabbed the table and slowly made my way to the door. When I opened the door our NCOIC was waiting there for me. As we walked in our KATUSA was fast asleep in the conference room…lol. Our NCOIC was like…"what are you doing?". We all gathered around and had the "sit down" that she promised earlier.

The sit down was a very informal talk with all of us. Our NCOIC basically told us about herself and wanted to get to know us a little better. She then told us about what she envisioned with our office. She has a bunch of ideas and plans, we'll see how it all plays out. So far all my experiences with plans and ideas here have started off with a bang and then slowly whimper out of existence. She wants us to do a lot more PT, we will be leaving work early to go work out. I really wouldn't mind that. She also wants us to do sergeant time training once a week. When we do this training, we each will be responsible to do the training for everyone else on a rotational basis. She also said our sergeant has not been volunteering us for duty anytime the company requests it. So lucky us…we'll get the chance to pull weeds and such in the future. She also wants us to go to the soldier of the month boards and such to get us some experience doing so. I guess we'll see how it all goes. Our office has always been a little different because of our odd and ever changing schedule. We are always flexible because of the various meetings that we have to cater to. It will be interesting to see if and how our NCOIC will be able to accomplish all of these goals. All in all I think she seems like a nice person and wants her soldiers to succeed.

We left after cleaning the office at 1700 and I headed to my room to eat dinner. I then did my normal nightly routine of schoolwork and TV shows. Normal work call tomorrow, so I should get a good night of sleep.

RBK Photos (AIT - Fort Gordon) Day 40

A photo of one of the day rooms in RBK. A number of people hook

their laptops up to the flat screen and play movies

This morning we did running and it kicked my butt. After our normal warm up we jogged as a company for a while and then we arrived at a hill. We ran up and down a couple of times which was killer, and then jogged back. I was drenched in sweat and my legs felt like rubber for the rest of the day. A good workout!

The rest of the day was pretty normal so except for a funny incident in class. We had a guy actually fall asleep and hit his head on the desk. Everyone next to him couldn’t  stop laughing, it was pretty funny. 

For now I’ll post some of the pictures I got this last weekend of RBK that I haven’t posted yet:

Overheard Quote: “We are professionals. We are not Burger King, you can’t have it your way!” (A sergeant talking to people coming late into formation)

Our hallway used by Charlie Company

Our nice individual showers

Our cafeteria (the RFAC) all clean and with the flat screens on the wall...only if I had time
to sit back, enjoy a cup of coffee and watch the news.

Ahhh...Saturday (AIT - Fort Gordon) Day 38

A photo of Barton Field from the RBK side. We cross this field heading

to Charlie company or the DFAC. The field is huge! There is a dirt running

track around it that is 3.2 miles long.

Today started off great. I must say that I like staying at RBK. Our morning formation only took a few minutes and our duties were to do a quick police call around the outside of the barracks which took a whole 5 to 10 minutes, then the rest of the day was ours. I did a little homework and then went shopping for some supplies. Another nice thing about RBK is that we are much closer to the main PX, commissary, the clothing store, and the bowling alley. I was able to get all my laundry done and put away after shopping.

I walked to the Charlie Company DFAC for dinner (our RFAC is closed on the weekends unfortunately) with the young Hawaiian (a young private from Hawaii) and as we were eating, we talked to some of the people still back at the Charlie barracks. They said all the ones that were phased back have been doing duties all day long with a formation about every 2 hours. I’m so glad I’m outta there! They all have to be in ACUs too when doing duty. What a bummer for them.

Night time came and I went and had a couple of beers with PFC Metal and his wife who was down visiting. As phase V and being of drinking age, we are allowed to drink at only one place on base which happens to be the bar in the bowling alley. The bowling alley is conveniently located right across the street from the RBK barracks.

All in all a very laid back and relaxing Saturday. A much needed change of pace after being busy all week long.

Bad Hygiene (AIT - Fort Gordon) Day 29

This morning was a little odd. During the middle of our PT session on the pull-up bars the "I Hate You All" Sergeant ended up smoking us. He kept telling everyone to be quite, but nobody shut up. So instead of taking turns doing the pull-ups everyone had to get down and do push-ups, v-ups and some flutter kicks. Pretty crazy, I've never heard of getting smoked during PT before. 

When we arrived at school and were standing in formation waiting to go in, we all saw two sergeants in the distance in each others faces. I thought a fight was going to break out. We couldn't hear what it was about, but it took the Master Sergeant to run over there and separate them. 

During class Sergeant Cujo made a surprise visit. He came in and wanted to talk about hygiene. I guess there have been complaints about the smell of everyone. In fact he said it smells like "hot foot and ass". He said because it has been so hot and because of the air conditioning in the building not working that well, people have started to smell a bit. He asked everyone to make sure they are washing their clothes, taking showers and even suggested purchasing a little Febreez and spraying yourself down when returning to class. I was thinking to myself, maybe we should start wearing summer PTs to class instead of these hot ass ACUs everyday. I would even settle for a modified ACU with just the t-shirt underneath and not the top part of the ACU. It seems like those things just trap the heat. Sergeant Cujo also said we would be able to take the phase-up test tonight. I'm super excited about that. I want to phase up as soon as possible.

When we finished dinner, we were hanging around waiting for formation to head back to study hall when we heard a person say they were doing the phase-up tests right now. Crap! PFC Metal and I headed over to the company area to find a number of people in the middle of taking the test…unfortunately there were a few people waiting in line for others to finish, so they could take the test. I was getting pissed, because when Sergeant Cujo was in the classroom he made it sound like we could take it later in the night after our study hall, but he decided he didn't want to stay up that late. As we were in line he also said that study hall was a priority and phasing up was a privilege, so all of us in line had to take off to study hall. PFC Metal actually was able to grab a test and started taking it, but I was one of the unlucky ones who had to head back. So the whole time at study hall I was just pissed off. There were a few people who came late to study hall and started bragging about how they passed the test and phased up. They were even issued their new badges. All that did was piss me off more. I couldn't even study.

After study hall, me and a few others who were unable to take the test checked in with the sergeant on duty to see if we could take it. She let us all take the test on the floor, I didn't care where I took it as long as I could take it. I have been studying all the material, so it only took me 5 or so minutes to finish. I knew I passed, but the sergeant didn't want to grade them…she said the morning sergeant would do it. Grrrr what a pain.

Now let's talk about the Charlie company barracks for a bit. I was just thinking today how old this place is and how run down it is. Since I arrived, there has been three stalls closed waiting for maintenance in the closest bathroom to my room (I'm sure there are similar issues with all the other bathrooms). The laundry room on our floor has one washer that makes everything smell like piss when you use it and the other three are broken. It seems there must be no money in the budget for repairs. I am planning on going to the laundry mat this weekend just to wash my clothes, we do have some washers on the main floor but they are always busy and I've heard too many stories of people's stuff getting stolen from down there.