ACAP & In-Processing - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 32

My drive home back into Bremerton...a big navy town. 

Always a pretty amazing site to see these huge aircraft carriers

This morning I headed to morning formation in ACUs and after formation my name was called along with a few others. At first I thought "oh great…another pee test". It turns out that it wasn't for a pee test, but was just to inform me that I would be moving to Bravo company next week. I had actually started to wonder about this because I had heard that people were only in HHC company for a month before being transferred. This is already day 32.

I headed back to my car and ate breakfast, then headed to an ACAP (Army Career and Alumni Program) appointment. ACAP is the process every soldier has to go through before they get out of the army now. It is mainly to provide the soldier with all the resources he needs before separating from the army. This meeting was just to register me for all the required classes that I need to finish in order to complete the program.

The squad leader that talked to me this morning then gave me a call. He asked me to come to his office and bring all my in-processing paperwork. I headed up there and showed him what I had so far. He has been the only squad leader working for the last couple weeks because the others have been on leave. So he was tasked with getting my packet ready to transfer to Bravo company. I wish I would have had this squad leader the entire time because he was extremely helpful. He had a list of notes for every place that a new soldier needs to do for each in-processing station. All the ones I had remaining were ones that I wasn't sure where to go and I was waiting for my squad leader to come back. I took his notes and then headed off to finish my in-processing.

The first place was the security office and even with the extra help and instructions, I still spent quite a while trying to find their actual office. The building number is not marked and when I finally asked someone for help, they brought me into another building that is connected via several hallways to the building I was looking for. I finished in-processing there and one other place before taking my lunch break in the SFAC.

The rest of the day was spent running around trying to finish up my in-processing. I was able to get almost everything done. I did make it to every place, but some of the folks where out of the office. I'll try them again tomorrow. If I would have had these helpful instructions when I started, I would have finished up a long time ago.

Meet the Commander - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 6

Went to the morning formation and then headed back to the hotel room and had breakfast with my family. I then met with my squad leader in his office at 0900. He signed off on some of my in-processing paperwork. We chatted for a bit and I decided to cut him some slack. He is so overwhelmed with stuff to do, and I was able to see it in the short amount of time I was at his desk. He is dealing constantly with new soldiers arriving among a lot of other things. He gave me another packet filled with some mandatory online training I need to finish. I was able to get in-processed with S-4 and the training office while I was there, so my "days 1-5 checklist" of in-processing is looking much better.

We had the commander's newcomer brief at 1000. He had a few people come in and give their information, then he had us take a short test. The questions were based on our soldier handbook that we were given when we first arrived. Once we finished that he basically stated his expectations and let us know how important it is to make our appointments while at WTB. Our mission while we are here is to rest, heal, and get better. If we miss 3 appointments it can be a UCMJ offense and we can get into some serious trouble.

I then went back to my hotel room and had lunch with my wife and son. We then left to check out some houses my wife has been investigating online for us to rent. We had appointments for a couple and we just drove by a few more. I let me squad leader know I would not be at evening formation because of this. We then headed to my wife's parents where we had a BBQ and stayed for the weekend.

Finance & In-Processing - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 5

I went to PT in my ACUs this morning. Since I was unable to contact finance at Waller Hall yesterday, I had to make sure I headed down there first thing this morning. When I arrived at the front desk, I told the guy my problem about missing the 2nd part of the finance brief and he said "no problem, just come back to that same room at 1030, I'm going to give that brief today". So I headed back to my hotel room and hung out with my wife and son for a while.
I headed back to Waller Hall and I was able to attend the 2nd portion of the finance brief. It was a similar situation as the first finance brief, I just joined a room that was already full of people going through brief after brief for their in-processing. It's amazing to think about how many people get processed through this building every month. The brief had us fill out more paperwork as we followed along with the speaker. Once finished we turned it in and he looked it over…then we were dismissed.

I felt a lot better now that I got that out of the way. Now I will get almost an extra $1,300 in my paycheck for housing allowance. I had lunch with my family, then called my squad leader to ask some questions. He was busy at the moment, but said he would call me back…he never did. I was a little upset and was thinking if he doesn't care, then I sure as hell don't care. I ended up getting a couple more signatures for my in-processing done (the mailroom & tri-care).

Frustration & Goal Setting - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 4

 The Rainier Inn on JBLM...the army lodging hotel where

we stayed the first 10 days of arriving.

This morning those of us that did PT went to the gym and worked out on our own. I rode the bicycle and got some cardio in. As I was there peddling I realized that this was the first time I've worked out since the end of March. I went on leave the first of May and then was out-processing once I came off of leave. I need to get back into shape!

I had an appointment with Occupational Therapy at 0900. Occupational Therapy is the place that does what it can to help soldiers in the WTB make the transition into the civilian workforce. They help soldiers in the WTB get internships with federal agencies that can be done while still in WTB. We went over all my limitations and the guy told me about their programs and such. They want to make sure soldiers are busy doing something to help with the transition for when they get out, school and internships are what they are really pushing.

I then started doing some of the in-processing still needed. I hit S-1 and some various other places. When I made it to the finance office, I found out that I actually missed one of the finance briefs the other day. I went to one and then left, but they didn't tell me there was more than one I needed to attend. I still need to get my housing allowance setup, so I can live off post. This stressed me out quite a bit. I was given a number to call to schedule an appointment, but after trying at various times throughout the entire day…they never even picked up the phone.

I continued to get more things checked off my in-processing checklist until 1445 when I had an appointment for my "goal setting" class. I had to set goals for my time here at WTB in six different areas such as professional, educational, spiritual, and such. It was kind of difficult to come up with short term, medium and long term goals in each of these areas. Some of them are kind of stupid like "go to MWR events monthly" under the "social" section. My real goals are just to get through this and get out. I should be able to obtain my bachelors degree before I leave as well…which is one of my biggest goals.

I then headed back to our hotel room where my son was there waiting for me. It was awesome to finally see him after all these months! It is really nice to be home again.

No Rest For The Weary - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 2

This morning I had a 0630 formation at the WTB (Warrior Transition Battalion) unit. Even though I just flew in from half way around the world and I'm still trying to adjust to a new time zone, there is no break at all. It wasn't just formation either, my day was busy from beginning to end. Right after formation an NCO took me to sick call to get seen by a doctor for an initial visit. There are a number of time sensitive things they have to take care of within the first day and this was number 1. The doctor asked some basic questions to see if I was a high risk factor for self harm. She then gave me some basic information and turned me loose.

I met with my NCO again and she drove me to Waller Hall which is where most of the major in-processing and out-processing is done for all soldiers except those in the WTB like me. I was shown a meeting room and told the finance brief will happen at 0900. It was kind of strange because there was a room full of people doing in-processing and I ended up just joining them for this financial piece. The brief covered our travel costs and I had to fill out some paperwork step by step as the briefer went over it. Once she was done everyone lined up and turned in their paperwork. There were a couple folks looking it all over and then stamped it and signed off on it. I asked if that was it as far as financing and the person who stamped my paperwork said "yup", so I left. I didn't care too much for just being dropped off with hardly any information, but I figured I would find my way through it all one way or another.

I then headed back to my hotel room for lunch with my wife. After that I headed back to the WTB unit and saw a social worker who also assessed my mental health situation. I guess there are a lot of folks coming into the WTB depressed and suicidal. Once the social worker saw that I was feeling fine and had no suicidal tendencies, she turned me loose. I then headed across the hall to see my NCM (Nurse Case Manager). I found out this person would be my single point of contact for almost everything. All appointments go through her and I will be checking in with her weekly. She gave me a list of appointments that she scheduled already for me. I was told who my squad leader was, this person will basically be my boss while I'm here. He gave me a bunch of in-processing paperwork to start on.

I found out that I'm assigned to HHC, which is basically only during the in-processing stage of my time here. Once I get through in-processing, I will be assigned to either Alpha, Bravo, or Charlie company here at the WTB. This means I'll be getting a new squad leader and everything shortly. I'm told in-processing lasts as long as a month.

I headed back to my room. I'm jet-lagged and very tired. I was in Germany yesterday and I've been going non-stop since I arrived here. I promptly passed out in our hotel bed.

Final In-Processing - (Germany) Day 28

Last night was one of my worst nights of sleep ever. I'm not sure why, I didn't have a lot on my mind or anything…I just kept tossing and turning the entire night. I may have had an hour of uninterrupted sleep the entire night. This made getting out of bed when my alarm clock went off an extremely unenjoyable experience. My boss picked me up for PT at 0545 and we headed to the formation which was at 0630. Since there was a light rain we ended up heading into the gym and doing the spinning class. I got a pretty decent cardio session in. My boss then took me back home where I had about 45 minutes to get ready for work.

Work call this morning was the usual 0900 and I sat and planned to stare at the wall once again, but one of the sergeants pulled one of our customer's folder and had me look through it to get a feel for how everything is laid out. I took my time and checked it out. One thing with this job I'm seeing is that there is a ton of paperwork and everything has to be in perfect order because of the sensitivity of the products we deal with. There is going to be a lot to learn to get it all straight. Right now I have a general idea of what the office does, but I am totally clueless with how they do anything. In other news I heard my network access should be setup soon, all the required signatures and such have made their way back to the IMO. Now they can officially create my account in the system and give me access to log into a computer. Not sure how often I'll be able to though because like I mentioned earlier there are 3 computers with 6 (sometimes 7) people that want to use them…and I'm the lowest ranking person.

My boss took me over to central processing at 1100, we grabbed lunch and then I headed to my final briefing for in-processing. The sergeant major of the installation did his brief, as well as education, chaplain, the credit union, and the MPs. It wrapped up at 1530 and I was able to turn in my completed sheet into central processing finally. I then headed to he PX and ordered our bed and mattress that we picked out last weekend at Ramstein.

My boss picked me up and we headed back to the office. We were informed we will be doing some sort of practice exercise this week. Not sure what it will involve, but I have to bring in my body armor and such tomorrow. I guess we'll see how that goes.

Workin' from Home - (Germany) Day 17

Woke up this morning at 0700 and readied myself as usual. I was in uniform and ready to go, but I had no idea what was in store for me today. I didn't have any actual appointments, so I just started going through the mandatory online training that was part of my in-processing packet from the company. I already had a completion certificate for the GAT (Global Assessment Tool) Survey, so I just emailed that to my AKO address to print off later. I went through Anti-Terrorism Level 1, SHARP (Sexual Harassment) training, and Accident Avoidance training. Most of these require you to either read or watch videos and then answer a quiz in order to get your certificate of completion. There were two others, but one required a CAC card login and the other I was unable to find.

I then ate lunch with my wife and decided I should call a sergeant in my office to check in. The sergeant gave me a quick safety brief for the 4 day weekend and told me to get out and enjoy it. Woohoo…my entire day of work consisted of a little time in front of my home computer getting through some online training. The funny thing was that I was in uniform the whole time, but never left home.

My wife and I headed to the gym and I went pretty easy on myself. I can't believe how out of shape I'm in. I think I have the rest of the 4 day to try and get back on track a little before I have to start doing PT with the company. We'll see how that goes.

My wife cooked an awesome dinner and we had a little wine with it. We watched a show called The Departed. I was expecting quite a bit more from the movie. Our experience is limited because we're watching it on my little 13" laptop screen (oh how I can't wait until our household goods arrive and I can finally watch things on a big screen TV complete with surround sound). Physical limitations aside, the movie was packed with stars such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg and many more but it jumped around quite a bit in the beginning and I never really got into the movie. The story line looked like it had potential too…good guys that have an informant in with the bad guys and bad guys who have a crooked cop with the good guys. I can say it may be worth a Netflix rental, but nothing I would keep in my permanent collection.

I can now have some Fahrvergnügen - (Germany) Day 16

Woke up at 0700 again this morning and readied myself for the day. Lately I have no idea when I'll be picked up, so I just try and be ready by 0800 and see what happens. This morning was not much different. I was ready and then my wife and I watched another episode of Sons of Anarchy…a great way to start the day. Then I skimmed through the study guide for the drivers test. I received a call about 0900 and was told a girl from my office would be picking me up. This is one of the girls we met on New Years Eve, so at least I have met her before.

We headed to CIF and picked up all my issues gear. It was a pretty simple process since I already have a number of items that were shipped with my stuff from Korea, they only issued me some basic items such as a ruck sack, some wet weather gear, a sleeping mat and of course my body armor. We put all the stuff in the van and brought it back to my house. The girl from my office ran some errands before coming back and picking up my wife and I to take us back to Central Processing. Central Processing is also the same place that has the PX and other shops, since my wife was getting cabin fever the girl in our office invited her to come along. I had to take my test to drive a POV (Privately Owned Vehicle) in Germany.

We all ate lunch together and then I headed to take my test and my wife checked out the various shopping venues. I thought I was going to just take a test, but it turned out to be a little instruction via a movie, then some PowerPoint slides before the test. I am not complaining because I kept hearing about people that failed the test multiple times before passing, so I wanted all the extra instruction as possible. Some German driving laws are a bit different than in the US:

You can get fined if you leave your car parked and unsecured. So for instance you leave your car unlocked and have some valuables in it and they get stolen…not only are you losing the valuables, but if you report it, you can get a fine for not securing your car.

All drivers must carry a reflective triangle and a first aid kit under the passenger seat or in the glove compartment. If you get caught without these you can get fined.

Do not run out of gas on the autobahn…if you get caught…you will get fined.

The German police can use physical force to test you for drugs or alcohol if needed.

There are a lot more, but I don't have all night to write them all out…LOL. Basically a lot of the laws and general rules are similar. You have to focus on the various road signs and the "right of way" because it's a little different. That makes up the majority of the test, which I passed with flying colors…only missing 3. The entire process took about 3 hours

The surprise came when I went to get my license in the next room over…I had to wear my glasses in order to read the chart. My eyesight is going downhill.

I met up with my wife and the girl from my office and she brought us back home. We ended up walking to the commissary and then eating dinner before watching a few shows. Not sure what tomorrow has in store for me as I've now finished everything except for the rescheduled briefings in central processing.

The Strong Hold - (Germany) Day 15

Government efficiency at it's best....I waited pretty much the entire day to get served

Woke up today at 0700 and got ready for the day. I still wasn't sure exactly when I was going to be picked up, but after the sergeant dropped me off yesterday I had a better feeling that I wouldn't be forgotten again today. At a little after 0900 the sergeant came and picked me up and we headed to Central Processing. I had one place to go…the ID card section. I grabbed a ticket a little after 1000 and saw my number was 31…after about 15 minutes I heard them call number 10. That's when I knew this was going to be a pretty long day. The sergeant that picked me up texted me about a half hour later and I went out to talk to him. We headed to the hospital where I was able to in-process at two places. He then dropped me back off at Central Processing.

I waited for a while and by that time they were somewhere in the teens, the lone person working said she was going to take an hour and a half lunch, then told everyone to come back at 1300. I headed over to the food court and had some Taco Bell, then went to the USO and hung out there using their wireless internet on my iPhone until 1300. I sat back down in the waiting area and watched as more and more people kept coming in. I knew there was no hope for them to be seen today. It really amazed me how ineffective this government office is. Time went by and I passed it by chatting with my wife and playing Words With Friends on my iPhone. The people waiting were starting to grumble and complain. The manager then came out and said that the lone worker is a contract worker, so she has to leave at 1600…no exceptions. So he said anyone over 31 should just leave and come back tomorrow.

This pissed some folks off and the ones that didn't leave right away stood in line to talk to the manager…finally they all left in defeat except for a few who just needed PIN resets. As I saw my hope diminishing as 1600 drew near, my number was called with 10 minutes to spare. I headed in and after checking my ID card, she found there was a certificate that was invalid…so I had to get a new one issued. I'm kind of glad because my last one was from basic and I was in the PT uniform…I also smiled on this one.

Finally done with this in-processing, I met up with the sergeant from my office and we headed back to the company to join the end of the day formation. I was introduced to everyone and had to stand up front. We then took off and I was brought back home.

Yesterday my wife and I ran across a website that showed all the fitness rooms at all the posts in Heidelberg. For PHV they showed "The Strong Hold" and said it was in the Village Pavilion. I had my wife make it her mission to search out this place, because the little gym I spoke about earlier that our sponsor showed us was not at the Village Pavilion. My wife did find it and we both headed there after I got off work to get a workout finally. It's no wonder we never saw this place before. It's actually underneath the Village Pavilion and is not very easy to find. It's not too big and not crowded (probably because it's hard to find). It has cardio and nautilus equipment. I wish we would have known about this place earlier as I would have tried to start getting back into shape a lot sooner. At least now we know there is a place to work out now on PHV!

I spent the rest of the night studying for the drivers test I have to take tomorrow and also slipped in a couple Sons of Anarchy as well.

Don't Forget Me - (Germany) Day 14

Woke up at 0700 today just to get ready and start the day. After eating and hanging out with my wife for a bit, I started to wonder when I was going to be picked up. I had talked with my sponsor last night via e-mail and he said someone would be by to pick me up. Unfortunately he is teaching a security+ class all week, so he will not be able to help me out at all. I have an appointment at noon in Central Processing for more briefings. I also don't have any contact numbers except for my sponsor, so I just kind of hung out and waited.

As noon approached and there was nobody in sight I gave up hope of making my appointment. It wasn't until almost 1300 when I received a call from a sergeant in my office telling me that he's on his way. When we arrived at Central Processing he came in and they had to reschedule my appointment to 23rd. He left me there so I could try and finish up my walk-in processing.

I only had to go to housing and DEERs. Housing was pretty simple, I went in and they signed my sheet. I also turned in the discrepancy list while I was there. The discrepancy list is basically a list of damages we found while walking around our home. We have to document them so when we move out, we are not charged for them. Everything was in pretty good shape, just some minor scratches on the floor and such.

I then went to DEERs and sat…and waited…and waited. I started to wonder if anyone was even working in the back because there had been no movement. I had my number (45) and was patiently watching the TV in the waiting room with a number of other folks. About 20 minutes later they called the next number….24. I got up and walked out. I was able to pay my Internet bill, pick up some stuff from the exchange and waste some more time before heading back. I sat back down in the waiting room of DEERs and after about 15 minutes I hear them call number 29. This is crazy! A little bit later a guy came out and said they only had one person working so it was highly unlikely that all of us would be serviced before the end of the day. Looks like I'll try again tomorrow.

I called the sergeant that gave me a ride and he picked me up, then took me back to the office for a bit. I ended up catching a ride with a different sergeant to my place. The wife and I then enjoyed dinner together and watched some more Sons of Anarchy…what a great show!

Health and Wellness - (Germany) Day 10

Goofing around at the PowerZone during an extended break while in-processing

This morning I was picked up by my sponsor at 0820. We headed to the main processing facility once again. The briefings started at 0845 and today's topic was health and wellness. We were briefed on diet and exercise, but unlike the other days which were just "Death By PowerPoint", today we actually all had to get up and be involved. After the brief we had to line up for two stations. The first station measured our body fat percentage and body mass index (BMI). The next station took our blood pressure. We were then briefed about the results…all of mine fell within the normal category, so I guess I'm doing OK.

The next briefing was given by the self proclaimed "Condom Queen". This lady came in with a bag that had various condoms all over it. She was pretty funny and went through her "shock and awe" presentation showing us all the gross stuff that STDs can do to you with some very graphic photos that I could have done without. I don't care to see penis, vaginas and butts all messed up with diseases. During the brief anyone that answered a question from her was given a condom from her condom bag. She had various colors, flavors, and even glow in the dark ones.

We waited a bit for the next brief, but they never showed up so we were let go early around 1100. I headed to work on getting the rest of my in-processing done. We have a sheet that has a number of things we need to get checked off before we can finish in-processing. These briefs are part of them and they have specific times, but there are numerous others that require no appointments and we can just go in and get the in-processing done. I was able to turn in my medical and dental records. I finished Tri-Care, Transportation, Army Community Services, and also the drivers licensing office which set a date for me to take my test to get a license so I can drive here in Germany.

I ate lunch with a guy from my battalion and a young girl that sat next to me. We headed to Popeye's and then wasted some time at the PowerZone and the book store. This young girl is only 18 and is here on her first duty assignment. It blows my mind when I think that I have a daughter who is only 3 years younger. I still think of her as this young child, but in three years she is going to be out and about in the world…pretty crazy!

A specialist I hadn't met yet from our battalion came and picked us up and dropped me off at my place. I was home about 1530. I guess I'm lucky because the other guy always has to go to the PT formation each morning just to check in and the evening formation as well. He also has to go to his office each day, but doesn't have a computer account yet so he can't do much.

Once home I walked to the commissary to pick up some items and then had dinner with my wife. I then started to read my study guide for the drivers test that I'll have to take next week. There is a lot of stuff I have to learn. I hear a lot of people fail it the first time…I'm hoping I'm not one of those!

Moving In - (Germany) Day 9

This morning we had planned to walk from our temporary room to our new place with our remaining bags. Once we started getting ready we could hear the wind howling outside and after taking a look my wife asked if I could call our sponsor and have him come pick us up and drive us over to the new unit. I didn't argue with her because not only was it very windy, it was also raining. Not that the rain bothers me much being from Seattle, but having to bring all our crap with us in the rain wasn't too exciting for me. After talking to my sponsor he said no problem.

We arrived at the new unit right after 0745 and the inspector was already at the door waiting. Luckily he hadn't left yet. Once in we went over everything with the inspector and found that the dishwasher does not work. He also marked the minor scratches on the floor and checked everything else out in the place. When trying to show us the storage in the attic and the basement he found that we had a key to another unit's basement storage and we had no place in the attic. I guess we have to go to housing and get that squared away now.

My sponsor arrived again to take me to more in-processing, so I had to leave and let my wife sign any papers. She also had to wait for our loaner furniture to be delivered. I headed off to in-processing and prepared myself for another day of "Death by PowerPoints". We had a number of briefs including Drug & Alcohol, Fire Prevention, Safety, EO, EEO, IG,  OPSEC, Crime Prevention, & CID. Lots of acronyms I know…the day mainly consisted of people telling us to be careful, don't drink and drive, don't sexually harass others, and don't do drugs. There was a girl next to me that kept nodding off which was actually a little entertaining to watch…LOL.

The briefings ended at 1500 and my sponsor picked me up and drove to our new place to pick up my wife as well. We then headed to the PX and then the PowerZone to pick up needed supplies for our new place. Without any of our household goods, we had to buy stuff like curtains, shower curtains, coffee maker, microwave, bed sheets and blanket + pillows. After blocking the checkout lane long enough to start pissing people off (why they only had one lane open I don't know) we headed back to our new place…our new home.

I went about getting the cable modem hooked up and the Internet connection up and running. I have my priorities! I then put up all the curtains so we could have a little privacy and then sorted out all the rest of the stuff we purchased. We settled down for a bit and had dinner while watching Sons of Anarchy.

Like a Boss - (Germany) Day 8

A photo of the unit we chose. This picture is from the living room looking

into the dining area and the kitchen off to the right.

This morning my sponsor called about 0645. I was already up, but just not out of bed yet. Since we didn't meet up yesterday as planned, we never made any time for him to pick me up today. He said he'd be here to pick me up at 0820. I got up and prepared myself for the day.

Once my sponsor picked me up, we headed to the main in-processing place for the post. I've said before that USAG Baden-Württemberg is broken up into several pieces. I live on PHV, work at Campbell Barracks, and the shopping area also has the in-processing center for the post. My sponsor dropped me off and planned to meet back up with me at noon when my briefings were over.

I headed to a classroom type setting and ended up sitting in the front row. Then came the "Death By PowerPoint" in-processing briefings. Today we had the commissary, customs, tax relief, USO, AAFES, Environmental, Community Bank, TKS, BOSS, and TARP. A couple such as Red Cross and Claims didn't show up. The most interesting one was TARP which had to do with spies and such. Similar to the ones we had in Korea, this briefing gave us a few examples of what has happened not only around the world but close to this area as well. We went over what to look out for and how to report it. It turns out that most of the traitors and people working on the inside give a number of signs that should be reported.

Another brief that I enjoyed was the BOSS brief. The briefer was a pretty entertaining guy who was unlike most briefers who just stand up at the front and read what's on the slide in front of you. This sergeant was genuinely excited about being with BOSS. For those of you who don't know BOSS stands for "Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers" When I was in Korea, they threw in unaccompanied soldiers as well. The briefer here said that he wants everyone including families to get involved. BOSS has a number of volunteer activities, stuff and activities to enhance the lives of soldiers and boost morale, and they do tours and trips as well. The tours part interested me the most. I want to make the most of my time while stationed in Germany. I doubt I'll have another opportunity in my life where I'm getting paid to live in Europe. I want to visit as many places as possible and soak in every experience I can while I'm here.

After the briefings I met up with my sponsor and we headed to the food court for lunch. We then went to TKS which is the local Internet, TV and phone provider here on post. I signed up for an Internet and phone package. I haven't had a normal land line in years, but this one comes with their cheapest package and it turns out that all calls to the US are free. What's funny is that even though calls to the US are free, calls around Germany cost extra per minute. We get the basic AFN channels for free, so I didn't bother getting anything extra.

My sponsor and I then went to "The Power Zone" which is basically the electronics store on post and I bought a pre-paid cell phone. We'll use this and once our household goods arrive I'll jailbreak my iPhone and use the pre-paid SIM card in my iPhone. I want to wait until I get my desktop computer though, so I can transfer all my crap to it from my phone. We'll do the same with my wife's as well. The contract phone's here are pretty expensive and I've heard that it's hard to get out of the contracts and there can be surprises if you're not careful.

We headed back to our room and picked up some of our luggage along with my wife and took it over to our new unit. We then headed to the recycling station on post where they also have a place that lends out items. We picked up some of the very basics such as pots and pans with a few dishes to get us by until our household goods arrive. We are scheduled for the pre-inspection tomorrow and our loaner furniture is scheduled to arrive shortly after. We have to check out of our temporary room by 1100 tomorrow.

My sponsor dropped us back off at our room and we watched a couple "Sons of Anarchy" while eating dinner and hanging out. I received an email that said my shipment of my stuff from Korea arrived today. I gave them a call to schedule delivery. They said it would be this coming Monday between 0800 and 1600. Really? That is worse than the cable repair guy!

Choosing Our Future Home - (Germany) Day 3

Received my new unit patch today - 43rd Signal Battalion

This morning we both woke up early again around 0500. My wife is still sick and we are both trying to adjust to the time difference. We had coffee and I poked around on the internet for a bit before having breakfast. I have to say that living with my wife once again is really wonderful. I hated being alone in Korea for so long. I'm really looking forward to spending my time here in Germany with my wife.

I met up with my sponsor at 0830 and we headed off to the central in-processing where I received a schedule of appointments that I need to make. I then met up with the finance guy to get all my army finances in order. I will lose my housing allowance and some other things such as the family separation pay & Korean COLA, but I will be gaining the German COLA as well as some one time reimbursements for travel to the airport and the travel to drop off my car to get shipped while back in Washington.

We then headed to the company to drop off copies of my PT card and weapons card since I didn't have those yesterday. We then went to S3 and did some more in-processing. After that we headed to housing and picked up keys to two different housing units. We picked up my wife and checked out the units. They are both in Patrick Henry Village, but are very different as far as the interior. One of the units had been remodeled and looked much newer, while the other with the same floor layout looked much older and dated. The choice was pretty easy and we headed back to the housing office and signed the papers for the updated unit. We were also able to order the loaner furniture which will arrive on Wednesday next week. We have an inspection scheduled for that Wednesday morning and we will have to check out of our temporary housing then as well.

We then headed to the food court for lunch before heading over to check out the costs of internet packages in for our unit. Interestingly they package their internet with phone or with TV & phone, but no internet only package. We are thinking about going without the cable package and just using the computer for our entertainment needs.

We headed back to our room about 1430 and called it a day. My wife took a nap and I laid down for a bit, but was unable to sleep…a headache was just too much. The rest of the night was pretty laid back…just watching a few shows and taking it easy.

In-Processing - (Germany) Day 2

This morning we both woke up at around 0530 and could not get back to sleep because we ended up going to bed so early last night. We poked around on the internet and just hung out for a while until it was time to start getting ready. We met my sponsor at 0930 and he took my wife and I to do some in processing. We headed to S1 and then our company. He then took us to show where I would be working. I'm finally going to actually be doing some I.T. related stuff! We then headed over to get our IDs input into the system so we can come and go on base without any hassle. After that we headed to housing and were put on a waiting list, but were told it will probably be only about a week.

We then headed to the food court and had a bite to eat before heading back to our room. My sponsor is a pretty nice guy who has been very helpful. The post here is broken up into quite a few different locations. I'm currently in Patrick Henry Village which has quite a few amenities such as the commissary, but consists of mostly housing. There is also Mark Twain Village which is mostly single soldier housing and is where my sponsor lives. We work at Campbell Barracks which is yet another post. There are also a couple others that we stopped at for some miscellaneous items.

It turns out that they will be closing this post in the next couple of years. There are very few people coming in now. It will be interesting being part of this transition when the post closes for good. Once that is done we will be moving to Wiesbaden which is about an hour north of Heidelberg.

In-Processing Charlie - (Korea) Day 294

A gas station I passed earlier while in Itaewon with hanging nozzles...

interesting way to save space.

Work call this morning was at 0630. We arrived and setup for a KUB in the top secret conference room. Our new guy PV2 Charlie was here so I had him come along to see what the majority of his job will be…a glorified bus boy.

Since it's the start of the week I checked my promotion point status:

Military Education - 260 Maximum Points

Correspondence Course (Hours 1202) (Points 240)

OMG I'm so freaking close to maxing this portion out…it's killing me! I only have 20 more points to go, or 98 hours depending on which you look at. I'm hoping to finish it soon!!!!

I then started helping PV2 Charlie in-process. There is a lot of stuff that has to be done for all the in-processing. The first thing we did was have our admin office make him a badge, so he could come and go from the office without having to check in and give up his ID card every time he came in the building. Next stop was the company and then we started at some of the places at battalion, but took a break for lunch.

At lunch I headed to my room and video chatted with my wife for a while. Once back at the office we continued PV2's in-processing. We were able to get his mailing address setup and some more items at battalion before we called it a day. We didn't get it all done because at one point we had to head over to our supply office. I had to help a new supply KATUSA with his network account and getting his email setup. This was not a problem, but our supply sergeant I think gets pretty lonely over in her office, and you can never just get in and get out because she is a talker. She met PV2 Charlie and talked and talked and talked.

We headed back to the office around 1600 and cleaned up before leaving around 1630. Normally I would have gone to work out, but I'm still not feeling very well. I have a pretty annoying cough to go along with a cold that I just can't shake. I've been hydrating and taking extra vitamin c, but it's not going anywhere. I headed to the shoppette to purchase some more OJ and vitamin water as well as some cough drops.

I then headed back to my room where I finished my last day of school for this year's TA. I used all of my TA allotted to me for the year which is great. I'm going to take a little time off to now study for the Windows certification coming up. I was pretty tired from being sick I guess and also getting up early, so I took a nap. After the nap I watched some TV Shows (CSI: Miami & Breaking Bad), then did a couple SkillPorts.

More In-Processing - (Korea) Day 8

Our office door at work...I used some of my arts and crafts

 skills to put on the finishing touches...my first job at my new post

Today I woke up with plenty of time to get ready at a leisurely pace. I then walked over to the food court and purchased a coffee from Starbucks and talked with my wife via Skype. So far the morning has been good, but I have to say the thought of going into work today almost made me throw up. I have been nervous as hell doing this job with all the brass around. It doesn't help either that I'm the only 25B (IT Specialist) there. That means no collaborating or backup for me.

I arrived to work 20 minutes early (don't want to be late and leave a bad impression). The day went much better than yesterday. We spent most of it doing in-processing. We walked from spot to spot on my checklist and had the people sign off on it. I was input in systems and I received gear. By the time I got back to the office I had my arms full of gear and paperwork. I was shown around where I will actually be working and what my responsibilities will be. My first task today was some arts and crafts! I helped decorate the office door for a Christmas contest. LOL.

I also had to read and sign a statement that said I cannot let out secret information or compromise any operations that are going on. This means I'll have to be careful about what kind of stuff I post here. I had planned on telling all about my job and what exactly a 25B does in the real army, but at least with this job at this post I may have to limit it to my feelings and more general things that are going on.

I had my initial counseling session with my NCO today. He is a sergeant (E5) and is a very cool guy. Really wants his soldiers to succeed and sounds like he'll do anything to help them do so. I think this guy will be a great guy to work for! He did however have to give us all some "corrective training" today. The specialist that was walking around with me showing me all the places to go, missed a very important meeting. There was a general involved so our sergeant was pretty much required to take some action. Since we are a team we all had to go out and do some push-ups as well as some marching around in circles (well squares really) for a while. Not too bad though really.

Speaking of push-ups I found out today that we are pretty much responsible for doing our own PT in this unit. This is great, I've always wanted to do my own instead of some of the stupid army PT that I've had to do in the past. I just have to make sure I'm responsible and do it each morning. One of our specialists said he hasn't done any in 2 months. He also failed his last PT test, so now the sergeant was on him a little more today. I haven't done much at all since leaving AIT, so I need to get back in action. I plan to do so tomorrow morning!

I went back to my room after work today and found my roommate was gone. He had completely moved out! I wonder if I snored or something. He seemed like a really nice guy and I thought we were going to get along great. (He was really quite which was perfect for me!) Well that means for now I'll have the room to myself…no complaints about that!

New Unit - (Korea) Day 7

My new unit badge and flash on my beret

Today started out very similar to yesterday except before we left to the DFAC for breakfast, we had to turn in all our linen and also bring all our packed bags down into a storage room. Once the bus took us to eat and returned us, we all grabbed our bags and loaded them on the bus, which then took us to the incoming soldier receiving center…the place where we get all our briefings. Today we had no shortage of briefings. There were so many that I didn't even try to remember all of them. The two that I do remember were the MWR briefing (all the fun and recreation that is provided) and the education center briefing (where we go to get our education on). After so many PowerPoints I think my brain just shut off.

After all the briefings they called a number of names and told them where they were going and a bus came and picked up a number of people. There were a handful of us left and one by one each person was called and told there was a person coming to get them. The private calling the names looked at me sitting there all alone and said "you're name hasn't been called yet?". I said no and showed her my orders. She asked me to wait in the break room with some others that were already in there. Finally a sergeant came and called off everyone's name (except mine and told them to get their bags and wait outside for their rides). I asked her about me and she looked up my name, then said "oh you get your bags and wait down there as well…SGT so and so will come and get you". So after waiting with my bags watching each person get picked up before me, the sergeant came over and asked me if I was still waiting……um yes…yes I am. She said she would call and make sure they were on their way. I still had no clue where I was even going.

Finally my sponsor came (a specialist whom I will be eventually replacing). He picked me up and drove me to show me where I'll be working. Turns out I'm going to be working with a bunch of generals and too many officers to shake a stick at. I'm not too excited about that. In fact I'm very nervous…almost to the point of freaking out a bit. I met so many people my head is spinning. There were a lot of people surprised that a PFC was going to be working in there, I guess they don't get a lot of Privates working in there…that doesn't help. I can't keep all the names and ranks straight. To make it worse I'm in a joint environment, so not only do I deal with army, I deal with air force and Korea forces as well. I may even deal with the navy too, I wouldn't be surprised.

My head is spinning, I was kind of looking forward to working with a number of other 25Bs in a shop or something, but instead I'm doing this. My sponsor had to tell me a couple of times to relax a bit, I guess my was looking a bit nervous. After this mini tour, I was taken to get my room assigned and also my unit patch and flash for my beret. We then dropped everything off in my new room. I have a Korean roommate (there are a number of Korean's who are in the army helping out the US on post). This is going to be so much better than rooms with 4 to 12 people in them. We have our own bathroom and the guy seems like a quite person. Perfect! I had to run to the PX and pick up all new linen because it is not issued for barracks people. There is an unexpected expense…grrrrr. When I got back to my room I unpacked and settled in a bit. That felt nice. We have a refrigerator a microwave and plenty of space for the two of us. This is going to be so much better than my previous living arrangements since I've been in the army. The only bummer is that there is no wireless internet available. We can call and order an Ethernet line put in, but it is pretty expensive (around $60 a month I hear). So for now I'll just keep coming to the food court and using their free wireless internet.

My new bed....what’s that??? ....a Seahawk on my 

comforter? Why yes it is! I found this lonely comforter 

all the way in Korea a long long way from home.

Death by PowerPoint - (Korea) Day 6

Last night I knew I had to get up and be in formation at 5:50 AM. I had a wonderful plan all set. I went to sleep at 9:00 PM and had my alarm set for 5:00 AM giving me plenty of time to get ready. I had my headphones in playing white noise and I had my beanie pulled over my eyes. Everything was going swell until about an hour into going to sleep all of a sudden the light flips on and people are talking very loud and even bumping my bed. WTF? Surprise we just got two new roommates! They had to pack all their stuff in their lockers, make their bed and then get changed to go to sleep. I know it's not their fault that they came in late, but they were noisy as hell. There were also people going up and down the hall making all kinds of noise. Grrrrrr. So much for my plans. After what seemed like forever they finally turned off the light and went to sleep.

This morning I tested the water and we still do not have any hot water in the barracks. No shower for me this morning I guess. I'll have to do a quick one tonight washing all the essential areas as quickly as possible. We were bussed to the DFAC and I ate my first meal there since arriving here. I can tell you that this is the worst DFAC I've ever had in my limited experience so far. The place seemed dirty and the food was barely edible. I wasn't missing much not eating there. So far I've ended up buying every meal I've had here, but I'll have to change that soon. Once I get settled into a place I plan on eating primarily DFAC food.

Today was a day of briefings. We had briefings on sexual assault, sexual harassment, religious services, and housing. Why those of us that will be living in bachelors quarters had to sit through a housing brief I have no idea. We were also given more inspectable items. This means they are part of our uniform while we are here in Korea. I have to carry around a SOFA card (you show this to Korean police if you ever get into trouble and they call the MPs). I also have to carry around a couple of other cards in case I get sexually assaulted.

We had a break for lunch (Pizza Hut), then back to more briefings. This time there were so many that they ended up being kind of a blur. A briefer would come up and and do their thing. As soon as they were done they would tag team the next person and so on. It was literally one after the other. From what I can remember we had the "How to stay out trouble brief", JAG, finance, family assistance, other family programs, domestic abuse, child abuse…and more. The day of briefs ended with the substance abuse brief. This one was actually kind of interesting because we heard a few stories of when people had a little too much to drink here in Korea and what happened to them. We also saw a lot of funny pictures and a video of drunk people (the kind that circulate the internet and failblog). This had everyone laughing, but it was to drive home a point that soldiers need to know when they have had enough to drink. She ended it on a very gross note that I have to share because it was that bad. She said that anything that alters the mind of a soldier is against the rules and we can be punished for it. Then she gave an example of what they have found some soldiers doing. I guess it's called the "juice box" or something like that. A soldier will poop and pee in a bottle and seal it. They will let it ferment for a while and then capture the gases it creates in a balloon. When they inhale the contents of the balloon they get a high from it. Very gross! We were told that is against the substance abuse rules because it altered their minds (got them high) even though they weren't using illegal drugs to do it. No worries lady, I will not be doing anything remotely close to that! We were then dismissed for the day.

Right before we were allowed to leave though a sergeant said that everyone in area II will need to be packed and ready to go tomorrow. I asked him if he could check where I was because my "pinpoint orders" didn't have an area on them. After checking he said I was in area II. Finally I have at least a little more of an idea where I'll be. I still have no idea what unit I'll be with, but now I'm assuming I'll stay here at Yongsan. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

I found my wife was still awake, so I spoke with her a bit on Skype using the food court's free WiFi. Now I have to go pack my bags for tomorrow's move.

Pinpoint Orders - (Korea) Day 2

My new home while in-processing

Today I woke up in the hotel at 5:00AM before my alarm went off (which I had set for 5:30). That was an awesome night's sleep since I went to bed a little after 8:30 last night. I took a shower and checked my Facebook and email. I got ready at a leisurely pace and then headed down stairs. We had the option of getting on a bus to the DFAC or just eating in the hotel. Me and a few others that I went to AIT with decided to just eat at the hotel. Even though it cost us a bit of money, it was nice to have the extra time and the food was good. I had a breakfast burrito and some Starbucks coffee….nice.

We then all walked to the briefing room and started a long day of brief after brief. A lot of power points with different presenters. Some were on the rules here in Korea, CID did a report, Military Intelligence did a report (lots of spies around so be careful who we talk to and what we say), finance (filled out a bunch of forms to make sure we get all our pay), and health. I ended up having to get my second anthrax shot, but that was it. Some folks who didn't get their smallpox shots back in AIT had to get them at this time.

We were told today we would get our "Pinpoint Orders". Basically everyone's orders to Korea are pretty general, but the pinpoint orders show where exactly we will be stationed. There are times when the pinpoint orders show something different than the original orders people received. A number of people were called up and told they are going to "area 1" which is up by the DMZ. These people left shortly after the briefing started. A number of other people got their pinpoint orders throughout the day, but mine never came up until the very end. When I got mine I checked them out and was pretty disappointed. Without going into specifics, my orders said basically I'm going to Korea and that is about it. They were about as generic as it gets. I had been waiting and waiting to get my pinpoint orders so I could finally see where I would be going and what unit I would be in. To my surprise my pinpoint orders said the exact same thing as my original orders. They don't even say what area I'll be in. What gives? I'm the only one who doesn't know where exactly I'll be going. I guess I'll find out when they put me on a bus and send me there.

We also found out some more unfortunate news. We were all told that we would be staying in the barracks from this point on until we are through in-processing. We were all hoping we would be staying in the hotel again, what a bummer. When we arrived we found out the barracks are really old and crappy. What a difference from the hotel we just came from. Our room can fit 8 people, but there are only four assigned to it right now which I am grateful for. Unfortunately there is no internet available, so there will be no updating the blog or any other internet surfing while in the barracks.

We ate dinner at the food court by the PX which is only a short walk away. The food court has all kinds of American food establishments (I had some volcano tacos from taco bell). The food court also has free wireless internet available (I know where I'll be going this weekend!). I was able to take advantage of it from my iPhone and check out some the internet. My iPhone with it's service suspended has now basically become an iPod touch that I can use for everything except calling which is nice.

A few side notes about being here so far. The base itself is not quite what I expected. I had pictured a remote location, but this base seems like it's right in the middle of the city. There are walls all around it, but there are city streets all around it. Everywhere you look there are city buildings. Another thing I've noticed is that so far the cadre here are very different than any that I've experienced so far in the army. They are actually nice and treat us like normal people. I'm so used to being treated like crap in all the training I've been in, this is such a nice change. Hopefully it stays this way!

Tomorrow we have a formation at 5:20AM and the uniform is civilian clothes again. They said it's a no paperwork day, all we are doing is learning about the Korean culture. Sounds like it could be a pretty cool day.

The postal box outside the PX...LOL