Army life

Sandy Internet Superhighway

October 15, 2005

Today was a banner day for me here in Iraq. I just got an internet connection installed in my CHU and I got a mattress to sleep on. I had been waiting hours for 20 minutes on a public connection and had been sleeping on plywood covered with a thin "therma-rest" type camping mattress. Let's here it for progress!

Now that I have a connection in my room I highly recommend that those of you who do not have Yahoo or AOL instant messenger go ahead and get that service. Its free and will be the best way for me to chat with you. My screen name is rotoravi8r on AOL and on Yahoo. I am 7-8 hours ahead of most of you.

The past few days have been relative quiet here for me. I hitched a ride on a recent flight as a passenger just to see what the flying environment is like. We flew all over northern Iraq without incident. Bagdad is really cool looking from the air with night vision goggles. The goggles keep you from really seeing the destruction so the city appears to be quite beautiful. I hope to be in the pilot seat soon. The guys who have started flying are flying a lot and I expect to get a lot of hours as well.

I am getting used to the routine and to my accomodations. I will send pictures in the next few days.

Photos

October 7, 2005

Here are some promised photos. They are from the trip over here and from some of the time we have spent in kuwait. The one behind the fence is from out stop-over in germany when we were waiting for the plane to be serviced. The one of me in the dark is in Kuwait waiting for the bus after we got off the plane. I think the others are self-explanatory.

Too Much Time on Our Hands

August 29, 2005

Well, we all know what happens when a group of people have too much time on their hands. Silly things start to happen. The Lance is one example. Here is another. During PT last week we all participated in the Lancer Olympics. The games pitted first and second flight against each other in events such as the tug of war, wheel-barrow races (you read that right) and various kinds of relays. I am sorry to say that my flight, second flight, was shut out. It seems that first flight has more strength, agility and speed than we do. I must admit that it was a good work-out and we all had fun.

The pictures that I am attaching speak for themselves. Most of them are from the olympics though a few are from the ceremony in which I was granted the "honor" of bearing the Bravo Company Lance.

Oh, about that Lance . . .

I left it unattended in the office last week. It was taken away from me for a few days when it was picked up by a fellow warrant officer. I got it back last week with a stern warning to never again leave it unattended. I was also told that I would not, as planned, be passing the Lance to another junior warrant officer that week but would, as a punishment, be carrying it for another two weeks. Hoo ah.

Ouch

August 25, 2005

I spent three and a half hours today getting poked and prodded. This is called preparing an SRP or Soldier Readiness Packet. Part of the packet is getting vaccinated. I got vaccinated for Typhoid and Smallpox. I expect the Smallpox vaccine to be a lovely experience. I can expect a pus filled blister to develop on my arm within the next three days. The lymph node in my armpit will likely swell and become sore. I may develop a low grade fever and feel fatigued. I will need to be careful to change the dressing carefully and be sure not to contaminate the rest of my body with the virus from the blister. After two to three weeks it will eventually scab and fall off. All of this for protection from a disease that no one has caught in many, many years and, at this time, exists only in a few test tubes.

There is also more about the lance. I accidentally left it unattended in the office last week. One of the more senior warrants picked it up and gave it to the senior instructor pilot. I spent almost a week wondering if there would be some kind of "punishment" for this transgression. I got the lance back today with a warning not to leave it unattended again. I am waiting to see if there will be further repercussions.

Aside from classes on desert flying and getting shots my days are relatively uneventful. I am doing PT most days and getting about half of the day free. I acually wish I was either busier or had full days off so that I could go somewhere. Having a half-day free just means that I sit around being bored in Clarksville. I have heard rumors that we might get some leave in the next few weeks. That would be cool.

Riding Solo

June 19, 2005

I decided on Wednesday evening that since I was scheduled to fly at 1500 on Thursday I would use Thursday morning as productively as possible. Naturally that meant testing out my new Suzuki DR-Z-400 on the dirt trails at Land Between the Lakes (LBL). I couldnt find anyone to go with me so I did what any responsible, mature adult would do. I went alone.

As I was gathering my gear together for the one hour road ride to get to the trails I couldnt help but think back to my search and rescue days. How many missions started something like this? A guy goes out riding, hiking, climbing, biking, whatever, alone in an unfamiliar area and, before he knows it he is the subject of a search. I wasn't going to be that guy so I threw my handheld GPS and cell phone in my bike toolkit before speeding off. I also wore all of the body armor I had purchased a week earlier. I was clad in brand new padded pants, shin guards, knee guards, boots, chest protector, spine protector, elbow guards, gloves, helmet, and goggles. Oh yeah, I also wore my MP3 player. Gotta have tunes.

I arrived at LBL at 0830, just when the park was opening. I paid my entry fee and noted that absolutely no one else was there. I would have the park to myself. It was a good thing I had all of my gear, both electronic and high impact plastic, to keep me safe on my solo adventure. I set my "bingo" time at noon. That was the time I would have to be leaving the park to be sure that I'd make it home in time to shower and change for work.

Watching and Waiting

June 9, 2005

This past week has been characterized by watching and waiting. Despite my instructor's promise to "fly me until my eyes bleed" I have not been in the air at all since my last flight one week ago. Rather, I have hung out around the hanger watching other pilots plan for flights and waiting for my turn to come. I have also, of course, continued to keep the fridge stocked with sodas and junk food in addition to taking out the trash, cleaning-up after the other pilots, and studying. This is the glorious, adventure-filled life of a new aviator.

In addition to watching and waiting, I am staying up all night so that I can "reverse out" with the rest of the company. Everyone else is flying at night and sleeping during the day. Even though I am not flying the powers-that-be decided that I should keep the same schedule. That means that I am usually sitting at home or at the hanger all night, bored, while everyone else flies. Exciting.

On the bright side, I am scheduled to fly tonight. If the weather stays good and no one else suddenly needs to take my slot I will be in the air from 2200 - 0200. Keep your fingers crossed.

I took some pictures of the planning session last night. You will see the pilots preparing a chalk diagram on the hangar floor for a dress rehearsal of the mission and another picture of them sitting in the briefing room. It is a relatively interesting procedure to observe. It would be more interesting to actually be part of it.

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