Journal 9/3/05-9/7/05
Journal 9/3/05-9/7/05
***Due to military policy, I will not reveal movement dates until they have long been completed, times, unit strength, or identification. Everything expressed in this blog is the opinion and observation of the author.**
September 3, 2005
2034 hrs
Ft. McCoy, Wisconsin
Another long day of hauling gear out of our large containers. Problems galore. Leadership issues. Subordinate issues. Everyone nervous about what’s to come. Some have it worse than others. I’m concerned about one person in particular. She was taken out of her job and put into a medics slot. She has no training as a medic. She has no desire to do a medical job. She’s trained as a supply clerk. And now, they’re expecting her to drive an ambulance and assist the medics with their job in a war zone.
She has approached me with her concerns as well as my platoon sergeant. Nothing seems to be getting done with it. This is a serious concern here and she’s not the only one who has been taken out of their trained job and placed into a medical one. What happens when these people can’t accomplish the tasks when it’s really needed? What happens to the person they’re expected to treat? How would you feel if you were told to treat wounds and give I.V.’s without having any desire what-so-ever to do it? I think it’s horrible to put someone into a position like that. I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to get out of it at any cost necessary.
September 4, 2005
1811 hrs
Ft. McCoy, Wisconsin
Today I began my System Administrator duties. They allowed us to pull out all the laptops, printers, hub, & gateway and set it up. There are 2 other S.A.’s assigned to our unit…. Both are cooks by trade. An interesting combination… 2 cooks and a radio operator. At any rate, we successfully implemented a 3 laptop network with printer. And let me tell you, it was certainly a feat. I would guess it took us approximately 4 hours to complete. To military standards, that’s quite a long time. But considering the fact that we only had a 12 hour class on setting up and maintaining a computer network, I’m pretty proud of it.
The rest of the company continued to inventory and re-supply their medical boxes…day 3 of unloading and reloading the conex’s with 1 more day of it tomorrow. As for my duties tomorrow, I’ll implement the 10 other laptop computers into the network already established, make a spreadsheet for all the I.P. address’ and who they will be assigned to, and create usernames for everyone in the company.
My mood has been pretty inconsequential. Neither here nor there. It’s been a day of little resistance by myself.
September 5, 2005
2011 hrs
Ft. McCoy, Wisconsin
Myself and the 2 other System Administrators completed our network setup bringing it to a grand total of 8 laptops and 1 printer. Things went very smooth today with little to no glitches in our process. Hopefully it will go as smoothly in Iraq.
The day went fine enough with me ignoring thoughts of home and trying to focus on my job, my friends, and my sanity. Tonight the commander showed us a video on Improvised Explosive Devises (IED’s). It’s easy to convince yourself that you’ll be in a nice secure air-conditioned building with doctors & medics who treat the common cold and sprained ankles. But the reality is that we’re going into a war zone. Anything is possible. It’s hard to come to terms with that. I know that I haven’t.
Phone conversations tonight were sad and angering. I miss making music. I miss friends, lovers, and uninhibited speech. I long for a beer. I want to wear jeans. I’m still struggling to conform. My mind is half in and half out.
Tomorrow begins our MOB briefings. Not before those lovely shots the military provides though. On the menu is a fine assortment of disease stabilizers including the dreaded smallpox shot. I “lucked out†of the shot during the last deployment because of a fresh tattoo I received a few weeks prior to leaving. This time I have no excuse. The small pox vaccine is actually a live small pox agent they inject into your upper arm 3 times. This creates bubbling, scabbing, and eventually a scar. Because it’s a live agent, every precaution must be taken not to spread it anywhere else on your body (or someone else’s). Because I had a fresh tattoo previously, that was still considered an open wound. A bandage must be kept over the site at all times. When you must replace the bandage, it must be inserted into a sealable plastic baggy and thrown immediately into the trash. You must never touch the affected area or anything it has gotten in contact with. Contact wearers must cease from inserting their contacts until the scab falls off for fear of spreading the agent into your eyes. The scab will fall off on an average of 3-4 weeks. Ugh.
God. When will day 1 start. Every day I wake up here it’s day zero again and again.
September 6, 2005
1928 hrs
Ft. McCoy, Wisconsin
I’m sitting outside of our lovely laundry facility. I actually went a week without doing laundry. That kinda makes me feel a bit dirty, or perhaps I just packed way too much. “20 pairs of socks? Perhaps I should throw in one more just to be safeâ€, is what I was thinking.
They messed up our shot day and we’re not scheduled to get them until tomorrow morning. So, Anthrax shot #6, Typhoid, and Smallpox here I come. (And of course whatever else they can throw in at the last minute.) I can at least rest assured knowing this will be my last Anthrax shot until next year. It’s been a long and winding road with than damn shot series. It all began in 2003 the last time I was deployed. I feel sorry for those that haven’t begun the series yet. They’ll be expecting 3 Anthrax shots over the next couple of weeks. By far the most painful shot I’ve ever received.
Today was filled with mobilization briefings. Now, after sitting through this torturous event, I really think they should consider renaming it. It gives you the impression that you’ll be getting some sort of information of what’s to come. Instead they force you to sit thru poorly produced military informational clips. A few topics covered included: Core Army Values, Sexual Harassment, Equal Opportunity, and Coping with Stress. Of course the one brief we really should have be paying attention to was about middle-eastern customs and courtesies. They scheduled it to be one of the last presented and by then we were all long gone into a zombie like state. They set us all up in a stuffy church, sitting in pews, drooling from the absurdity of the previous classes. What I remember from the hour long brief? Don’t point, don’t give the “o.k†sign, don’t give the thumbs up sign. Never show the bottom of your shoe. Don’t talk to the women. The men will most likely not talk to female soldiers. Iraqi’s have no concept of personal space and tend to talk very loud and animated… possibly confusing you as aggression.
Our road march was canceled today as well because the “mobilization briefing†took until 1700. Just enough time for me to snag the company van and screech a few of us to pick up some goodies. Now I’m sitting here finishing my laundry. I’ll be going to bed once it’s finished and starting another day tomorrow at 0400 for PT (physical training).
September 7, 2005
2014 hrs
Ft. McCoy, Wisconsin
The shots have finally been injected and my arm is useless. Three in the right and smallpox in the left. Ouch. More intensely boring briefings. They were mostly just basic information about being captured by an enemy or terrorist force. Five hours worth of videos that could have been summarized in one handout sheet. The military is a master at providing you very little information in a very long amount of time.
Tomorrow continues more briefings. I don’t know how much more of this I can take. I spend most of my day standing in the back of the room because I keep falling asleep in my pew. At least I know I won’t have to do PT in the morning. Two hours of “sleeping inâ€. I can flip my alarm from 0410 to 0630. It makes a huge difference.
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