In Processing, Hurry Up and Wait

It's 8:15 AM.  In processing my new unit begins 30 minutes. I've already been up since 4 AM, I did an hour of really hard training, rode my bike, took a nap, and I just finished breakfast in this lovely dining facility.  Whew!!

The alarm went off at 4 AM. I did not get ready as fast as I could have and just made it to formation at 4:45 AM. At 5 AM fitness training started with the usual warm-up exercises. Then we did push-ups and situps and the instructor’s favorite exercise: lie on your back and lift your legs and upper body together. By the time the hour session was over I had done 150 situps, 140 push-ups and I don't know how many other various exercises.  I was tired. I went for a short ride on my bicycle just to stretch out and was riding nine or 10 miles an hour.

When I got back to my room, I tried to read and then ended up checking my eyelids for leaks. They did not admit any light for the next 30 minutes.  After I showered and changed I went to the Dining Facility (not called Chow Hall or Mess Haul anymore).  This lovely place served a breakfast my sons live for:  Omelets, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, waffles, scrambled eggs, juice, coffee, bagels, toast, grits, home fries, hot and cold cereal, and fresh fruit.

I ate like I did an hour of hard PT then started writing this post in the Dining Facility.  I am at the in processing unit now.  Real Army here!  We are sitting in rows of chairs facing a TV waiting for someone to come out and tell us how to fill out their particular Army forms. 

More on in processing later.  I thought this was going to be nothing special, but we are almost at two hours of waiting.  In the active Army, accountability is everything.  What matters is that the people in charge of us know where we are.  Our time has no inherent value except in accomplishing whatever mission our leaders have.  So a dozen men and women are sitting in front of a big screen TV watching the movie “300” probably for the tenth time.  And we are here to learn to be writers.

Presumed to be a Sh*tbag!

Today is the first of 90 days on active duty with the Army. I am at Fort Meade in Maryland attending the defense information school. This morning my wife saw me looking anxious as I got ready to leave and asked what was bothering me. I thought for a minute and then told her that I was thinking about going to a new unit and having active duty soldiers presume I was a shitbag. 

The Army and all military services are very competitive. Everyone is sizing everyone else up based upon their appearance or how they speak or how they carry themselves. So I know that when active duty soldiers see someone who is my age and my rank they assume I am some kind of hold over National Guard failure. At my age I should be a general or a Sgt. Major or a warrant officer five.  They don't assume I started over after a quarter-century break in service. 

When I reported to school today they sent me to the billeting office to get quarters. I walked in the company responsible for quarters and told them I was reporting for school. There were four young soldiers at two desks in that room. One of them got up to ask the Sgt. in charge where I should be assigned a room. The soldier who was walking turned and asked one of the soldiers who is sitting down which group I should be in.

One of the soldiers who is sitting down said with an obvious sneer “He’s a reclass, look at him.”

The soldiers who attend Army schools are either straight from basic training or they are being reclassified. I am obviously not straight from basic training.

At 5 AM tomorrow morning I will start to undo one assumption that young active duty soldiers make about old National Guard sergeants. Students have physical training every morning at 5 AM. They will expect me to have a profile or waiver and not participate. 

When I reenlisted six years ago I knew this would happen. At the time I didn't think I'd still be here past age 60. Tomorrow I will process into the school and do what ever other paperwork and medical tests they require.

And tomorrow night I will let you know how things go with fitness training. It should be fun.

On active duty in two weeks!!!

 It's time to start posting again. I will be on active duty for three months beginning Wednesday, August 7.   So in just two weeks I will be a full-time soldier. I am not going overseas and I'm only going someplace dangerous in the sense that I will be writing my bicycle in suburban Washington traffic.

I will be  in Army journalism school at Fort Meade Maryland until November 5 of this year. You might wonder why the Army would send a 60 year old soldier to school. I have been trying to get into this school since I got back from Iraq in 2010. Last year I got the chance to possibly deploy with a Stryker brigade.  That deployment would have started in November of this year. To get ready for the deployment I needed to be an Army trained public affairs Sgt. So the plan was that I would go to the school and then joined by deploying unit with the correct MOS  or military occupational  specialty.

President Obama announced in his State of the Union address that the United States would be leaving Afghanistan faster than the current schedule. This meant the deployment was canceled. But I had changed jobs in my unit and I needed this new MOS. So I am going to school at age 60 to learn how to do the job I have been doing as a civilian since 1978.

It may sound silly for me to do this but I am looking forward to this school. The military combines the training of all five services in public affairs so I will be in school with soldiers from the Marines, the Air Force, the Army, Navy, and even the Coast Guard. As you can imagine the military has the best crisis  management training available. Crisis management has not been one of my specialties so I'm looking forward to learning from the best.

 Anyway,  I will write every day on active duty about what it's like to be in training with 20-year-olds from all five services. Or at least I will do my best to write every day. Homework first!!

Finished Tough Mudder--Report Overdue

My apologies for being off line for so long.  I ran the Pennsylvania Tough Mudder on Sunday June 2 in the last wave of starters.  One of my bicycle riding buddies and a body builder, Lois Olney, joined me for the event.  It took three and a half hours for us to run almost 11 miles and clear 23 obstacles.  

I went into the race thinking the Ice Enema would be the toughest obstacle.  For that one, you run up a ladder, jump into a 6-foot deep, 20-foot long dumpster full of water and ice, swim under and obstacle in the middle and climb out the other side.

FREEEEEEEEEEZING!!!!!

But that was not the worst.  Two miles up the road we crawled under barbed wire with shock wires hanging from it.  I got zapped in the head three times, saw flashes behind my eyes and got disoriented.  I managed to shake it off and keep going, but the shocks were worse than the ice.  In comparison to them, climbing walls, horizontal ladders and mud pits were a snap.

Lois and I rode to and from the event on single-speed mountain bikes.

We were WIPED out on the way home on the 50-mile car ride from where we parked.  

About 10 miles into the drive, we saw an Arbys and both decided we needed meat.  NOW!!!

When we stopped we looked at each other and sniffed.  "Is that us?"  The Tough Mudder was on a farm and we smelled like fertilizer.  We both ordered food then went to our respective rest rooms for a quick change of clothes.

Six days later, Army summer camp began.


Tough Mudder vs. Ironman, Part 3

Tough Mudder vs. Ironman, Part 2

Tough Mudder vs. Ironman is Here

Second Tough Mudder Report

First Tough Mudder Finish

First Tough Mudder Photos

First Tough Mudder Entry

Ironman Plans

Ironman Training

Ironman Bucket List

Ironman Idea

Ironman Danger

Ironman Friendship

Back from Summer Camp--Best Pictures

For those of you, like my lovely wife, who are not on Facebook, here are some of the best pictures from Summer Camp 2013:

More soon!!!

Latrine Queen--So Out of Date Sarge

In 1972 when I first enlisted in the Air Force, on my father's advice I volunteered for latrine duty. Back then, the guy with that job was called the Latrine Queen.

Yesterday was my day for barracks cleaning duty along with one of the medics.  I cleaned the latrine, he swept the barracks and took out the trash.  I told one of my 20-year-old roommates that I was Latrine Queen for a day.  He said Latrine Queen was so out of date.  No one says that anymore.

The job is the same.  And he did not seem to know what replaced the royal title, but he knew that the old title was as gone as the Army Jeep.

My informant must be current on language.  He occasionally drives his squad leader nuts by answering in the affirmative with a sound he said is "Yerrrrp."  The foster son who lived with us last summer made a similar sound when he wanted to say yes and piss his mother off at the same moment.  When he left, our other two boys fell under the strictest instructions never to make that sound/answer again.

Life does have a way of circling back.

My New Home

Here is a quick look at Home, Sweet, Home for the next week.  My bunk is on the right out of the frame.  There are two open bays, one for our company, one for Fox company.  In the middle are the latrines.  There are four showers, with doors!!!  It's very odd to have any kind of built-in privacy in a barracks.  This morning after breakfast all four stalls in the latrine were taken.  That led to jokes about warm seats and people wishing aloud they had a gas mask.

Because the officers and senior enlisted are in another barracks, we have lots of room.  Everyone has a lower bunk, for example.  

The food is pretty good too.  We have a real dining facility to eat in and for the cooks to use, not a field kitchen.  Over the weekend we have a 48-hour training exercise, so we will get very tired, then drive home.

Later today will be a Humvee driving obstacle course.  That should be serious fun!

Chinook Pilot Qualifies for All Guard Marathon Team

CW2 Amanda Nesbitt and her son Dathan

Photo by Beth Cardwell Photography

CW2 Amanda Nesbitt

The Chinook is the fastest helicopter in service in the United States Army. Chief Warrant Officer 2 Amanda Nesbitt, a Chinook pilot with Bravo Company, 2-104th General Support Aviation Battalion, recently showed she is among the fastest soldiers on the ground also.

Nesbitt qualified for the All Guard Marathon Team at the Lincoln Nebraska Marathon held May 5, 2013.

“The top 15 women and the top 40 men qualified for the team,” said Nesbitt. “There was no qualifying time. The fastest runners made the team.”

Nesbitt ran the marathon in three hours and 43 minutes. She was 14th among the 15 women who qualified for the team.

“I just made it,” she said.

A feat she accomplished in with just six months of training that began less than a year after the birth of her son, Dathan.

Nesbitt is 29 years old and has been in the Army for 12 years. She enlisted in high school, first serving in a communications unit in Allentown. She earned a bachelor's degree from East Stroudsburg University in 2008. Nesbitt ran in college but did not run marathons.

After college came a succession of big events. She went to flight school in 2009 and became a Chinook pilot in November 2010. Just over a year later in February of 2012, her son was born.

“I had a baby last year so I knew it was not going to be easy to make the team,” Nesbitt said. “Sometimes I ran alone at night with my pepper spray, 18 miles around and around our neighborhood, but I was determined to make it. And the team was rooting for me.”

Her husband, Drew, also an avid runner, supported Amanda’s marathon ambition.

“Drew made it possible for me to put in the time to train,” Nesbitt said. “He supported me the whole way.”

“I tried to make the (marathon) team five years ago, but Pennsylvania did not have the running base it does now,” Nesbitt said.

Her first marathon humbled her.

“At mile 18 I was hurting,” she said.

She finished with a 4-hour, 17-minute time and put away her marathon goals until late 2012.

She signed up for the event even before she knew if Pennsylvania could take her.

“I figured I would go by myself if I had to,” Nesbitt said.

The All Guard Team includes the Army and Air Guard and represents all 50 states plus Guam, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.

Nesbitt said the top overall female qualifier was Senior Airman Emily Shertzer of Pennsylvania who ran the 26.2-mile distance in three hours and one minute.

“Emily has been to the Olympic Trials,” Nesbitt said.

Three of the 15 women and four of the 40 men who qualified for the All Guard Marathon Team are from Pennsylvania. With seven of the 55 runners from the Keystone State, Pennsylvania has the largest team of all the states.

“Pennsylvania was also the first place team at the qualifying race,” she said.

“I went into the race wanting a 3:40 (time),” she said. “I knew it would not be easy 'post baby.' I ran a 3:43 this time. I'm OK with that. Next year I want to run in the 3:20s.”

Now that she is on the team, Nesbitt will be able to choose races she will compete in during the coming year.

“The Army Ten-Miler and Boston are on the list,” she said.

Nesbitt last competed in the Army Ten-Miler in 2011 when she was six-months pregnant.

“I was not that fast, but my time was good enough to help the Pennsylvania team win the National Guard category,” she said. “It was cool to get the trophy from a general.”

The All Guard Marathon Team goes to marathons and half-marathons around the country and represents the National Guard Recruiting Command.

“I have heard we also march in parades and run relays,” she said. “And we go to the Expos before events.”

“We have red and white running uniforms and bright yellow warm-up outfits. No one is going to miss us,” Nesbitt said.

Bravo Company, 2-104th GSAB, is currently deployed to Afghanistan. Nesbitt is a reserve pilot serving on rear detachment. She could be activated and join her unit at any time, and she is ready for that marathon, if she is called.

Read more: http://www.dvidshub.net/news/108339/chinook-pilot-makes-all-guard-marathon-team#.UbUZh_aUu3A#ixzz2VqMDCqCl

Eight-Hour Drive Then Eight Days of Luxury!

Today is the 2nd official day of Army Summer Camp.  Yesterday we packed for the drive from Central Pa. to Fort A.P. Hill just north of Richmond, Va.  At Army Convoy speeds, the 250-mile trip was just over seven hours.  I was in the back seat of a Humvee, very much feeling my advanced age in my screaming knees.  I was stretching every way I could on the way down--much to the amusement of the three lieutenants who were the rest of the Humvee crew.

We made it despite my knees and were quickly unloaded into our barracks.

Yes barracks.  For the eight days we are at A.P. Hill we will be in open bay barracks, not tents.  That's luxury already, but these are cinderblock barracks, not wooden ones as old as I am.  Even better they have AIR CONDITIONING!!

I don't have air conditioning at home!!  My frugal wife opens and closes doors and windows and manages our whole-house fan so we don't incinerate.  But I still like AC.  Ahhhhh!  Army luxury.

But wait, there's more.  I stuffed my bike in the Humvee, so I will be able to ride when we are not training.  We are doing PT (physical training) every morning at 0600.  So ZI should be able to ride after we are done.  I rode tonight and got caught in a thunderstorm.  I got back just as the lightning started, so no damage.

Soldier Who Wants to Fly is Already Soaring Toward America’s Miss Pageant

National Guard soldiers all learn to move from the civilian world to the military world and back again.  It is the nature of citizen soldiers to adapt and make that change.  But some soldiers make a much bigger change than others.

On drill weekends, Pvt. 1^st Class Karissa Grossman is logistics specialist with Charlie Company, 2-104^th General Support Aviation Battalion, Johnstown, Pa.  During the week, Grossman is a full-time Army technician working as a tool and parts attendant at the Aviation facility in Johnstown.  Recently she has been serving as the Hazmat coordinator for the facility while the technician who normally holds that job is deployed to Afghanistan.

In addition to her work as a Soldier and technician, Grossman has another uniform.  This uniform has a sash and the headgear is a crown.  Karissa Grossman is currently Miss East Coast after winning her region in the America’s Miss Pageant earlier this year. In July, she will be competing against women from around the country in the America’s Miss Pageant in Maryland. 

Grossman wanted to fly and to be Miss America for much of her life and she is on track to realize both of her dreams. 

“I joined the National Guard because I’ve always wanted to fly,” said Grossman.  “I looked into different branches and saw the National Guard Warrant Officer Program would let me go to flight school and the Army would pay for my schooling on top of that. Right now I'm working on my flight packet.”

Born in Kings Park, Long Island, New York, Grossman’s family moved to Johnstown when she was in the third grade.  She said moving to a new place is difficult, but she has done very well in Western Pennsylvania.  Grossman went to Johnstown High School where she graduated at the top of her class.  She was also elected class President, President of the Key Club, and President of the National Honor Society.

During high school she also modeled, competed in beauty pageants and threw the javelin for the track team.  “My dad served in the National Guard in the 1970s,” Grossman said.  “He did his six years as a Cobra mechanic in the New York National Guard.  He is the only one who served in the military in my family.”

“Everyone was shocked when I joined,” she said.  “I modeled. I entered pageants I was not the kind of person they expected to join the military.  I told everyone I wanted to fly and I did not want to be in debt for the rest of my life because of something I wanted to do.” 

As she simultaneously works toward completing a bachelors degree and the requirements for flight school, serving in the Guard, working as a technician, and competing in higher level pageants she integrates her many roles in her pageant platform.

“When I compete in pageants I have a platform,” she said.  The platform is the issue that she will bring attention to in her public appearances.  “I am very big on women's rights,” Grossman said. 

“When I speak at schools sometimes it will come up that I am in the Army,” she said. “Right away, the kids will ask what's that like being in the Army.  And the little boys who thought I was just a girl and had “cooties” suddenly get interested in what I am saying.” 

Grossman said the Army and pageants are two different worlds.  “I go from wearing camouflage and being relaxed to being all dolled up and appearing in front of a large audience.  Sometimes the transition is difficult and people wonder how I can do it.”  She admits it is not always easy to transition from standing at parade rest while talking to someone in the military to having people at a pageant crowd around her for autographs and pictures.

She makes the transition among the various roles in her life smoothly most of the time, but not always.  “I come to work in my army uniform and then right after work I have an appearance as America's Miss in my sash and crown,” she said.  “Sometimes I will walk into a building and try to take off my crown off like it's my army headgear.”

Her plans are moving forward on parallel tracks.  The next step in her Army career is going before a Warrant Officer board prior to flight school.  Then, in July she will compete at the next level of America’s Miss and if she wins that pageant, flight school could be delayed during her reign as America’s Miss.  At the same time she will continue to pursue her college degree.  Eventually she will add a tasseled mortarboard and an Army flight helmet to her choice of headgear to go with the crown and the patrol cap she wears now.

Lunch with Chalid

Today we are making our quarterly visit to our former foster son Chalid. 

Boalsburg memorial Ceremony Photos

From the annual 28th Division Memorial Ceremony at Boalsburg PA.

It's a beautiful ceremony in a beautiful setting.  Ceremonies like this one remind you that small-town America can do big things.

Apocalypse Now??

Last night I talked with my best friend from the Army back in the 70s. We were talking about the future and he was more depressed than a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. He said we can't pay off the debt--"we" meaning all of us Americans--and he started to bring up all the troubles around us. I hadn't thought of this before but I am in the middle of reading the Gulag Archipelago:  a book of almost 1400 pages about Russian labor camps and the politics of the Soviet era in the Soviet Union.

I asked my friend, "If you lived in Hamburg Germany in 1943 and looked around you at the firebombing and and the black cars that came in the middle of the night to take people away who never came back and you knew Jews and others were being slaughtered by the tens of thousands per month what would you think then? What would the future look like? Would you think the German economy would be one of the strongest in the world and that Germany would be one of of the freest and most peaceful nations on earth within 20 or 30 years? No you what you would think the Apocalypse is coming and it's got a come soon just like you hear from misguided preachers and from TV and talk radio.

"And what if you lived in Japan in 1945. Your country has a completely wrecked economy and two smoldering nuclear waste sites with more than a hundred thousand dead in each one. What would you think that with that economy come back to be the third strongest in the world with that country have better health in general than most countries on earth?"

No there is no way you would think that.  

But it is true.

And here we are with the most abundant food the best healthcare and still one of the strongest economies on earth ever in his history and some people can do nothing but BITCH.  

You might think because I read about Soviet gulags that I would be as depressed and worried about the apocalypse as Survivalists in Idaho. But it's the reverse.  Reading about the horrors of the Soviet Union--the horrors it visited on its own citizens--and reading about the slaughter that was World War II and how little any of the armies, even ours, cared about its soldiers that I am so thankful I live in America RIGHT NOW.

it's true about people in every country in the world at every time in history that those who have the best circumstances bitch the most. Who files the most lawsuits? Rich people. I've served in both the Air Force and the Army. In my experience airmen bitch way more than soldiers. And I'm sure Marines bitch less than either the Air Force or the Army. So it just makes sense that the bitchiest country on the planet would have the most food the best healthcare and and still think the world is coming to an end.

If you still believe that you are stuck in the worst place in the history of the world in the hopeless situation please shut off your television and turn off talk radio and ignore Facebook for a while. Read what life was like in Moscow in 1937 or in Berlin in 1945 or in Beijing in 1970 or in Nagasaki in 1945.  Those people could have been hopeless.  They weren't.  They rebuilt their shattered world.  

Each one those places is 1000 times better than it was at its worst.  And if you are a Believer, how much worse that you profess eternal Hope and can't be as optimistic as non-believers in in the rubble of World War II.

We live in a great country and those who think otherwise should find something else to fill their fantasy life.