Have you ever had that feeling after the weekend when you just don't want to go to work the next day? I have that feeling every day…but it was especially difficult to get motivated and get out of bed today after a four day weekend. This morning's PT was muscle failure. The profile's went our separate way into the gym and did a workout that we were able to do customized to each of our profiles. I really like doing this instead because I feel like I'm still getting a good workout each day. I did a lot of abdomen and upper body work.
This morning I headed to the driver's licensing office to attend the motorcycle safety training class and then take the written test. I passed the test, so my next step is to bring in my certificate the day before my two day required hands-on class…which unfortunately isn't until August. I will then be issued a temporary license that will last 8 days so I can actually take the hands-on class. Once I pass that class I take the certificate back to the licensing office and I will be issued my permanent license. Then I have to start the process of getting my motorcycle inspected and licensed. I feel like it's going to take an entire year before I'm able to actually ride my bike. I finished a little after 1100, so I headed home to have lunch with the kiddos.
Back at work I forwarded all the required command sponsorship paperwork for my daughter to my NCOIC. She then in turn forwarded it to our company…now it's a waiting process to see if they want anything else before granting it. I then headed over to our S2 office and had my fingerprints taken and the official initiation of my clearance. That took about 45 minutes or so, I spent the rest of the day surfing the internet.
One of the reasons I really hate my job and life in the army in general is all the stupid crap that you have to put up with. This morning for instance it was put out that everyone in the barracks has to have their rooms inspected 3 times a week. WTF? I would be so pissed off, that I don't know if I could control it. I'm just glad I'm not one of those poor guys that has to put up with that crap.
Then there is SPC Mac on our maintenance side. The guy is planning on getting out of the army in May. He was just told that he will probably be moved to another post here in Germany. Doing this will really screw his life up. It took 8 months for him to get his kid in day care, his wife has a good job and said she will not move with him, and if she did they probably wouldn't be able to pay all their bills. Out of the blue he's told this and he was stressing out today. He's going to see the chaplain to see if anything can be done, he also is wearing a protective boot because of his broken ankle. He won't be able to move until that is all healed up. It just doesn't make any sense…why move a guy when he is going to be out so soon?
I don't know how I'm going to deal with all the crap, and I don't know if I'll ever want to work for the government again. I know being a civilian worker has to be much better than a soldier, but there is still a lot of stupid crap to deal with.
Showing posts with label motorcycle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label motorcycle. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
A Day of Frustration - (Germany) Day 169
This morning's PT was muscle failure in the gym. Those of us on profile did whatever exercises we could, and I can say that I was able to get a decent workout. Lots of squats and lunges, I'm sure my legs will be sore tomorrow!
This morning I didn't head to work, instead I headed to my basic motorcycle riding course. This course is required before I can get my motorcycle license here in Germany. I found where the class was located easy enough at the army airfield, and started talking to the contractor that runs the class. After a bit of conversation I found out that I could not take the class because I do not have a temporary motorcycle license yet. I was so pissed off I couldn't even see straight. I have been trying to schedule this class which is offered once a month for a few months now, but there is always something going on at work to make it so I can't go. This was the month..finally. I was told that I needed to attend this class and then take the completion certificate to the licensing office on post to get my motorcycle endorsement. We went in the office and made a call to the licensing office and they backed up the contractor and said I have to get the temporary license first. Now realize that I would have been driving their motorcycle on a closed course (the airfield) without going on any roads. Why do I need any license at all? The civilian working in the office agreed with me and said he's going to work to change that, but it doesn't do me any good at the moment. The contractor said he thinks the army doesn't like motorcycle riders and they try to put up as many road blocks as possible.
I headed to the licensing office and found out that I have to take one of their motorcycle safety courses and pass a written test before I can get my temporary license…and the kicker…they only offer the course once a month. It turns out that I can't attend this month's course on the 21st because of a work conflict (of course). So I was told to call in July to see when they are going to have that class. I was steaming mad at this point…I headed back home and changed into my uniform, then headed to work.
Once at work I submitted all the paperwork that is needed to go on pass. I've mentioned this earlier, just a bunch of red tape to get through in order to go on pass. I then took my lunch in my car…listened to some music, read my book and took a nap. Once back at work (and still in a bad mood), I found out that since on one of my passes I plan to drive, that I have to submit a trip plan. WTF? I'm not a 16 year old who has no clue how to drive around. It just seems that the army wants to play big brother a bit too much. Why do they need to know all this information? I'm a grown ass man and can take care of myself. If I want to go somewhere just let me tell you where I'm going and know that I'll have my cell phone on me. None of this extra paperwork solves any real issues.
So I have to go online to fill out this trip evaluation form and I'm getting more pissed off at each question that is asked. What time are you leaving? What kind of vehicle are you driving? A car…how many doors does it have? 4. What size of four door car is it that you drive? WTF? At this point I just want to punch the computer. How old are you? What sex are you? Shouldn't all this information be in your giant database? Shouldn't this all be on file when I log in? Will you be wearing a seatbelt? How long do you plan to sleep before your trip? Will you be drinking alcohol before your trip? I am going to go postal and just start destroying everything! I hate all the babysitting that is done in the army. Oh yes…later on this week we'll have to have our cars inspected by an NCO because I guess they can't trust us to check our own cars. Today it just all came to a head and I let it get to me. I used to think that when I get out of the army that I would want to work at a government job, but now I'm thinking I want to get as far away from this stupidity as possible.
As far as work goes, we received a box full of ComSec crap. Old paper based material that we will never give to anyone and it will sit in our safe until it's expiration date comes up, then we will destroy it. Since we had to put it in the safe, we had to take a full inventory of the safe because it was opened. Wouldn't you know that on the very first item I put a check mark on the wrong date…so after inventory was complete I had to type up a memorandum for record stating that this particular box was an accident. Paperwork is very important for ComSec and everything has to be perfect. It just wasn't my day.
I headed home and was going to relax, but I had to get together a vest, canteen, canteen cover and my beret to bring in tomorrow. Unfortunately I could not find my beret. Just the perfect end to a crappy day.
This morning I didn't head to work, instead I headed to my basic motorcycle riding course. This course is required before I can get my motorcycle license here in Germany. I found where the class was located easy enough at the army airfield, and started talking to the contractor that runs the class. After a bit of conversation I found out that I could not take the class because I do not have a temporary motorcycle license yet. I was so pissed off I couldn't even see straight. I have been trying to schedule this class which is offered once a month for a few months now, but there is always something going on at work to make it so I can't go. This was the month..finally. I was told that I needed to attend this class and then take the completion certificate to the licensing office on post to get my motorcycle endorsement. We went in the office and made a call to the licensing office and they backed up the contractor and said I have to get the temporary license first. Now realize that I would have been driving their motorcycle on a closed course (the airfield) without going on any roads. Why do I need any license at all? The civilian working in the office agreed with me and said he's going to work to change that, but it doesn't do me any good at the moment. The contractor said he thinks the army doesn't like motorcycle riders and they try to put up as many road blocks as possible.
I headed to the licensing office and found out that I have to take one of their motorcycle safety courses and pass a written test before I can get my temporary license…and the kicker…they only offer the course once a month. It turns out that I can't attend this month's course on the 21st because of a work conflict (of course). So I was told to call in July to see when they are going to have that class. I was steaming mad at this point…I headed back home and changed into my uniform, then headed to work.
Once at work I submitted all the paperwork that is needed to go on pass. I've mentioned this earlier, just a bunch of red tape to get through in order to go on pass. I then took my lunch in my car…listened to some music, read my book and took a nap. Once back at work (and still in a bad mood), I found out that since on one of my passes I plan to drive, that I have to submit a trip plan. WTF? I'm not a 16 year old who has no clue how to drive around. It just seems that the army wants to play big brother a bit too much. Why do they need to know all this information? I'm a grown ass man and can take care of myself. If I want to go somewhere just let me tell you where I'm going and know that I'll have my cell phone on me. None of this extra paperwork solves any real issues.
So I have to go online to fill out this trip evaluation form and I'm getting more pissed off at each question that is asked. What time are you leaving? What kind of vehicle are you driving? A car…how many doors does it have? 4. What size of four door car is it that you drive? WTF? At this point I just want to punch the computer. How old are you? What sex are you? Shouldn't all this information be in your giant database? Shouldn't this all be on file when I log in? Will you be wearing a seatbelt? How long do you plan to sleep before your trip? Will you be drinking alcohol before your trip? I am going to go postal and just start destroying everything! I hate all the babysitting that is done in the army. Oh yes…later on this week we'll have to have our cars inspected by an NCO because I guess they can't trust us to check our own cars. Today it just all came to a head and I let it get to me. I used to think that when I get out of the army that I would want to work at a government job, but now I'm thinking I want to get as far away from this stupidity as possible.
As far as work goes, we received a box full of ComSec crap. Old paper based material that we will never give to anyone and it will sit in our safe until it's expiration date comes up, then we will destroy it. Since we had to put it in the safe, we had to take a full inventory of the safe because it was opened. Wouldn't you know that on the very first item I put a check mark on the wrong date…so after inventory was complete I had to type up a memorandum for record stating that this particular box was an accident. Paperwork is very important for ComSec and everything has to be perfect. It just wasn't my day.
I headed home and was going to relax, but I had to get together a vest, canteen, canteen cover and my beret to bring in tomorrow. Unfortunately I could not find my beret. Just the perfect end to a crappy day.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Organization - (Germany) Day 46
The movers had a fun time getting rid of all our boxes by throwing them out our window
This morning I had to wake up at 0620 so I could check in with our platoon sergeant. My NCOIC gave me the day off so I could take care of all my household goods, which I plan to do…but I'm not going to start at 0630…so I promptly went back to sleep. At around 0830 we got up and started the process of organizing all our stuff. We unpacked the last few boxes and then continued to put stuff away for the rest of the day. The movers came about 1500 and picked up all the boxes and paper from the move. This was nice because there was a lot of them and they were taking up quite a bit of room. Once the boxes were gone I made a quick trip to a motorcycle shop with SPC Whirlwind's wife so I could pick up a cover for my motorcycle. Unfortunately our box with the cover didn't make the move…it is in storage back in Washington. We found out that even though boxes were marked as one thing, sometimes there were completely different things in them.
Once back, I put together all the Ikea stuff my wife bought yesterday and proceeded to get the entertainment system up and running. It's nice to have a TV and stereo now. I watched some college basketball while organizing everything…first game I've been able to watch since last season back in Korea. At least everything is up and running before March Madness!
When I got to hooking up our desktop I found out that our monitor and our 2 Terabyte external backup drive both broke during transport. This really sucks because I was looking forward to actually using the big computer finally instead of my laptop. Now I have to go through the process of putting in a claim. Not sure how that goes, but I'm not looking forward to it.
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