I Flunked Laundry!

No Kidding. So the fifth of seven modules in my phase 1 training is how to maintain and operate a field laundry. I have four kids and do the laundry at my house. I thought the laundry module would be a cinch. But it's mostly about maintenance and operation of a diesel-powered field set up. I scanned the material, took the test and scored 53%. Unlike the other modules, I am going to have to study this one thoroughly--even though this is the one thing so far I actually do in the course of a normal week. But troubleshooting a diesel powered laundry is nothing like doing the laundry for one household. Oh well.

Chemical Weapons Training On Line

I have completed four of seven modules in Phase I of my 63J10 training. So far no chemicals. I will be responsible for maintaining chemical weapons detection equipment. So far, the the first three modules cover repair and maintenance of power generation equipment. The fourth module is how to operate and maintain a 350 Gallon Per Minute pump for diesel fuel.

New Computer, New Army

Since my last post, I received the CD-Roms in the mail for Phase 1 of 63J10 school. The computerized Army is a Microsoft Army. The disks I received were dated June 2002 and would not run on a Mac. I have a Mac Powerbook, so I bought a cheap computer to run these disks. My son will eventually need a Windows computer for school, so it was not a waste of money. The courses are well organized and I have completed two modules so far. One of the instructors from the 63J school called and asked if I had the materials and wanted to make sure I had time to finish phase 1 by March 8. So after being nowhere last week, everything is going well--and I own a Windows-based computer.

Different Century, Same Army

When I left the army in 1984, the computer at the gunner's right elbow in my M60A1 tank was a metal box with three cams inside. It adjusted the elevation of the main gun to the ballistics of the three rounds in our basic load. So 23 years later, in a new century, it has been interesting to see just how much personal computers and the Web have changed the army. Not much that I can see so far. Last year our training NCO enrolled me in 63J10 school. The school is remote learning (CD Roms) for Phase 1 and on-site for Phase 2. In November I was put on a wait list for Phase 2, no mention of Phase 1. Two weeks ago, I got an email from the Phase 2 school asking me to prove I have completed Phase 1 and reminding me I will be sent back to my unit if I arrive at the Phase 2 class in March without proof of Phase 1 completion. I called and emailed the school and my training NCO saying I have not completed Phase 1 and have no hint that I can get the materials. A week after my training NCO sent this correspondence to training HQ, I received an email (just this week) saying I am now enrolled in Phase one and giving me two links to course materials in case they are available on line. I went to those sites--CD Rom only. So I sent an email to the address that came with the course notification asking to verify the address they have for me, so I would know where the disks are arriving.

Yesterday I got the answer: "Request for Assistance Denied" was the subject line of the email. The email gave me another Web site to log into that is the official place to ask questions. It may be computerized, but Army paperwork remains the same as 1970s, and, I suppose, the 1790s.

Adoption Class

Today my wife and I attended the first of three day-long adoption classes. Annalisa said she wants to adopt a brother (or maybe a sister) for Nigel. I agree that it will be good for him. And she thinks it will be a lot better for Nigel to have a brother than be an only child if I get deployed. There are lots of kids that need homes in PA and in America. The Web sites of kids waiting for homes is www.adoptpakids.org for the whole country: www.adoptuskids.org .

Forensic DNA Presentation

This morning I listened to a talk by Joan Bienveneuve of the Army Forensics lab. The presentation was part of a seminar held at my day job--Chemical Heritage Foundation. She spoke about identifying the remains of soldiers using DNA. With this process, unknown soldiers have been identified from as far back as the Civil War. Although most IDs are from the Viet Nam and Korean wars.

Class A Inspection Part 2

I got the Class A (dress green) uniform back from the tailor the day before the drill. I bought the last of the ribbons and badges I needed at 0715 for an 8 am inspection. I was getting dressed in the locker room and just before formation asked a young guy from another unit to make sure my collar brass was straight. I helped him with a sling--he had an injured shoulder--then we both went to our inspections. An hour later I saw him in the hallway and he asked where I was stationed "back in the day." I told him I was in armor in Germany between 1976 and 79. It turns out this young soldier had enlisted a few months before after graduating high school in 2007. His Dad did the same and was assigned to a tank unit in Germany from 1984 to 1986 near my old base. He thought it was pretty funny that his Dad is ten years younger than I am.

Class A Inspection

Saturday morning, January 5, our company will have its annual Class A (dress uniform) Inspection at morning formation. At the end of last drill my squadleader said not to worry about the inspection for the very good reason that my Class A uniform pants are on backorder. We made all the obligatory jokes about me getting inspected without pants. But I found you can buy ANYTHING for an Army uniform (of many armies for that matter) on line. So I bought Class A pants from a North Carolina on line store.

I got the pants and jacket tailored at the men's shop where I get all my suits for work. I had a nice conversation with a guy who works there about why I joined. And it turned out he was in Germany as a student when I was there in the Army in the 70s.

Lisa and Nigel Help Clean Up

In the morning before the holiday party, a half-dozen of us set up additional tables and chairs and put nuts and mints on the all of the 59 tables set up for the Christmas lunch. After lunch, the 23 tables and 184 chairs we added to the usual set up had to be put away again. Lisa and Nigel helped pick up trash and stack chairs for an hour after the party ended. Because we were cleaning up Lisa took leftover fruit and salad home with us. She brought "Army salad" for lunch. I can say confidently she is the only kid in her high school having Army food for lunch today. Nigel's best moment was when a young enlisted man decided to push a cart with 10 eight-foot tables stacked on it. He was having a lot of trouble getting it moving, so Nigel ran over and started pushing. Nigel helped the soldier push the 200-pound load the length of the mess hall and was very pleased to have helped an "Army man" push the tables.

Brigade Christmas Party

On Sunday beginning at noon, members of our brigade on drill this weekend had a Christmas party, complete with Santa and an Army Christmas dinner. This is the first time my family went to any official Army event. Nigel loved the food. At dinner he asked if we could put gravy on the shopping list--lunch included turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes, all with gravy. Lisa, now in her sixth month as a Vegan, at the salad, fresh fruit and dinner rolls that were part of lunch. Although this was Annalisa's first step into Army culture, she did meet an old friend. Our battalion chaplain was for six years in the 1990s assistant chaplain at Franklin and Marshall College. He is Greek Orthodox and when he was at F&M had a full beard, so even though I had seen him a couple of times in the past few months, I did not recognize him without the beard. He went to Afghanistan in 2004 and seems excited to deploy again.

Warning Order for Deployment

This morning at a battalion formation our commander told us we now have a warning order for deployment. If all proceeds according to current plans, we will move to Fort Sill OK on January 20, 2009, and be deployed two months later.

Sept. Sunday News Link is Down--Here's the Story

He's (back) in the Army now at 54!
Executive joins Guard, hopes to use his knowledge of chemicals

By JON RUTTER, Staff writer
Sunday News Published: Sep 02, 2007 12:17 AM EST LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - Fifty-four-year-old Neil Gussman is in the Army now.
Actually, he's in it for the second time.
He originally joined back in 1972, when the draft and the Vietnam War were still on.
Gussman had just graduated from high school in Boston. He enlisted to get money for college. He was, by his own admission, clueless.
"I had no political opinion. ... I don't think I had a view on the war, positive or negative."
Thirty-five years later, Gussman lives in Lancaster with his wife and four children. He travels the world as a corporate executive. He's a self-described "token Democrat" at his church, Wheatland Presbyterian.
He isn't out to spill blood. "I'm 54 years old," he reiterated. "I didn't join the Army now to kick down doors in Tikrit or anything."
So, then, why?
Why forfeit a weekend a month and two weeks each summer to serve in Echo Company, 104th Aviation Battalion, in the Pennsylvania National Guard?
Somebody has to do it, Gussman reasons, and he's eager to give back.
He expects his helicopter-maintenance-unit job at Fort Indiantown Gap to lead to a slot as a chemical-weapons specialist.
Chemical weaponry is cumbersome and unpredictable, Gussman acknowledged. Strategically, it's dead. But it's tailor made for terrorists, and thus remains a critical threat to the modern world.
"My intention is to get training [in detection] and then later join the unit that goes out and looks for this kind of thing."
Red scare
Gussman knows chemicals.
He's a communication manager for The Chemical Heritage Foundation in Philadelphia.
"I've been writing a lot about chemical weapons" for work, noted Gussman, who also focused on that subject as a sergeant in an Army tank unit in 1976.
"Once a month, I would teach people how to survive" chemical weapons and nuclear attacks. "We were stationed in Germany and waiting for World War III to start."
The Communist onslaught failed to materialize, and Gussman eventually returned to the States. He married Annalisa Crannell, a mathematics professor at his alma mater, Franklin & Marshall College.
Crannell's altruistic spirit has led her to volunteer for Hospice of Lancaster County and other causes, Gussman said. Five years ago, she donated a kidney to an ailing co-worker.
He, too, yearned to make a difference, he said, but his type-A personality has never quite fit the charity mold. "I believe the same things she does, but I don't really do anything."
Of course, Gussman has been doing something.
He's an avid bicycle racer who competed in 50 events to celebrate his 50th year, among other feats.
While descending Turkey Hill at 50 mph during a training ride in May, he recalled, his front wheel kissed the derailleur of another bike; the crash flipped Gussman onto the pavement, knocking him out and breaking 10 bones.
The accident has not dampened his enthusiasm for riding. But it deepened his conviction to risk his neck for a worthier cause than simply "flying around in Spandex."
He said he first thought of re-enlisting last fall after researching an article on weapons of mass destruction.
About a month before the cycling accident, he'd rung up Kevin Askew, a Pennsylvania National Guard recruiter at Fort Indiantown Gap.
It turned out that chemical-weaponry specialists were in demand. Askew said the Gap's chemical-disaster team especially welcomes knowledgeable people such as Gussman.
"Neil's experience is going to put him on a track to be able to work with those guys," Askew said.
There was one other hurdle besides the bike wreck: Gussman exceeded the maximum enlistment age by a dozen years.
Congress raised the cutoff for all branches from 35 to 42 in 2006. But there is a caveat.
The military subtracts one year from a person's chronological age for each year he or she has served previously.
"It's Army math," said Askew, who entered the service when he was 18, in 1989. "It's not supposed to make sense."
With 11 years under his belt, Gussman was close enough to get in on a waiver. He drove to the Gap a week ago to pick up his green-and-brown-patterned uniform and lunch with his new "homies."
A handful of Gussman's "older than dirt" peers clustered at one end of the table. The guys at the other end had not yet been born when he left the service the first time, in 1984.
"I get the idea there's not a whole lot of people doing this at my age," Gussman cracked.
Fort Indiantown Gap had no available age-specific data on recruits. However, according to Sgt. 1st Class Gino Burns, the Gap recruited 701 individuals with prior military experience and 1,419 with no service experience through July this year.
Shocking episode
Graybeard or no, there are bright spots.
Gussman said he enjoys the camaraderie of military life. He's looking forward to flying around in helicopters.
Plus, he said, "I can still keep my job" and stay close to wife and son, Nigel, 7; stepdaughter, Iolanthe, 17; and daughters, Lisa, 16, and Lauren, 18.
They're conditioned to a crazy, bike-racing dad, he added, so they're OK with this latest venture. "So far, my kids think it's really cool."
His biking roadies are perplexed.
Scott Haverstick said he supports Gussman in this latest "shocking episode" of his life.
"Honestly, to his credit, this is all about service. I've got a lot of respect for him." On the other hand, pondered the self-proclaimed "old '60s lefty" from Washington Boro, "What in the hell is he doing?"
Gussman's peleton assumed his age would disqualify him, Haverstick said. Then came the horrific crash, which Haverstick witnessed, and which he initially thought had killed his friend.
Gussman, bleeding profusely and spitting teeth, was medevaced from the scene. He came back with fused vertebrae.
The military accepted him anyway, said Haverstick, who remains incredulous that injury and age seem to pose no barrier. "I'm 60. I'm going to start slinking around for fear they'll get their hooks in me."
Gussman, meanwhile, has been running to prepare for his physical fitness test, coming up in October.
He said he started running when he was still in a cervical collar.
"I think I won't be the slowest guy in the fitness test," predicted Gussman, who must complete a two-mile run in 19 minutes and 30 seconds, among other challenges.
An Army training course will update him on detection equipment, which has gone digital since the days when experts sniffed out chemical contaminants with litmus paper.
Gussman will not likely be going to Baghdad. But nobody can predict what dangers lie ahead.
Dispatched to the Utah desert during the Vietnam War, Gussman recalled being temporarily blinded by munitions test shrapnel.
His buddies who were deployed to the war zone returned without incident. "I was the only one who came home in bandages."
Such sacrifices remain necessary, according to Gussman, who said he is frustrated by what he calls "the complete failure of conservatives" in Iraq.
"The war is a fact now. Whether you support the war or not, somebody's got to go."
 Jon Rutter is a staff writer for the Sunday News. His e-mail address is jrutter@lnpnews.com .

School Catch 22

Last month, I decided to sign up for the on-line version of 63J (chemical weapons dectection equipment maintenance) training so I could get started now rather than waiting till next year for a resident school slot to open up. The 63J non-resident program is several hundred hours ofd on-line training followed by two weeks at Aberdeen. I am scheduled for the two weeks at Aberdeen, but I am on a WAIT list. Because I am on a wait list, I have not received the the authorization code to start taking the 63J course. Until I get off the wait list, I can't start the on line course. In the meantime, I am taking a chemical weapons on-line course that I can sign up for as additional training. It turns out that I can't take the mandatory job rtraining course without formal authorization, but I can take a course that has the same content but is not job training on the same subject. Computers have not changed the Army when it comes to approving paperwork.

Catching up with my old Boss

Tonight I spent nearly an hour on the phone with Col. Rich Goldsmith, retired. In 1977-78 Rich commanded 1st Battalion, 70th Armor, 4th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Wiesbaden, West Germany. I was a tank commander in B company during that time. It was a lot of fun to catch up on what he is doing and fill him in what's been going on with me and my family. He sounds the same. I hope we can meet in person when his travels take him to the North, or I get to Alabama--which will be my first trip.

Training Day

What does an Army National Guard soldier do all day on a training weekend? Here's a log:
0600--Get up, make coffee, get dressed, check my e-mail, make sure I have everything I need in case we have night training and I spend the night.
0645--Drive 39 miles north, all on back roads, from my home on the west side of Lancaster, Pa., to Fort Indiantown Gap.
0740--I am inside the mess hall at our headquarters building and waiting for formation. The cooks sell egg and sausage sandwiches for $1.50, the coffee is free. (Only the noon meal is provided for Guard drills, unless we have night training.)
0800--Morning formation. Usually the First Sergeant begins the day with routine annoucements for the whole company and formation takes about five minutes. this morning, the first sergeant expressed his displeasure with the results of the preceding month's APFT (Annual Physical Fitness Test). He reminded everyone that their enlistment contract included staying in shape and meeting the Army's height and weight standards. And then he said "Those of you who failed the PT test should know that Old Man Gussman passed with flying colors last month. Any of you who are younger than him--that's every damn one of you--should be ashamed of yourselves." He then said those who flunked will retake the test after everyone else is dismissed this evening and do it every month till they pass.
0815--We are told at formation we will get a gas mask test fit at 0830. Several of us go to the test area, but the test will be delayed, so we go to the motor pool.
0830--The motor pool building is one mile away on the range road, but there is a barrier across the range road and no vehicles are allowed. So everyone drives 5 miles around the airstrip to the motorpool. I walk. I listen to my iPod for 20 minutes and arrive 5 minutes after the people who drive.
0850--My assignment for the morning is to set up the side curtains and start the heater on my $200,000 tool box. See the FRS (Forward Recovery System) post from last month for details. Next I inventory a box of filed lighting equipment. It's a 100+-pound green plywood box about 2x2x3 feet. Inside are wires, bulbs, connectors and power cords. I count everything, verify the lengths of the cables, and issue tools from the FMS.
1100--The motor sergeant sends several of us back to the headquarters building for gas mask fit. When I get there, he is shutting down for lunch.
1130--In the monthly newsletter sent to everyone a few days before drill, my name is listed as needing to sign some paperwork and turn in other paperwork--college transcripts, direct deposit authorization, etc. So I go to our company HQ and take care of the paperwork.
Noon--Lunch. Beef in gravy over noodles, mixed vegetables, fresh fruit--pears and oranges--rolls, cole slaw, and orangeade. I eat everything. Lots of jokes at lunch about how the lunch is going to look coming back up during the PT test.
1300--I get my gas mask from the supply room and join the line for mask fit. The new method connects a pressure sensor to the drink toube and makes sure the mask fits correctly by sensing pressure while we breath normally, breath hard, turn our heads side to side, up and down, and finally pretend we are chewing gum.
1330--I walk back to the motor pool. I am always alone for this 20 minutes. As far as I know, no one ever walked to the motor pool except me. Certainly no one has in the last three months. So I talked to a friend who teaches English at Lancaster Bible College about a class he is teaching on faith in the arts. We talked about the music he was using to tracing Dylan's career in one class session.
1400--With the light box inventory complete, I began to inventory the refrigeration mechanics tool kit. It turned out to be a total of four tool boxes. I also stowed the tools takes from the FRS.
1610--Back to HQ for afternoon formation. I walk fast. "Walk This Way" by RunDMC keeps me on cadence.
1630--Afternoon formation. Everyone is dismissed until 0800 Sunday. I decide to stay around because my squad leader is one of the guys who has to re-take the AFPT.
1700--I tell my squad leader i will run with him then go and change into exercise uniform while he and the others do the push-up and sit-up part of the AFPT.
1730--Everyone drives to the track.
1740--We arrive at the track. Another company is testing. I talk to them and they are fine with us sharing the track as long as our timing is on the opposite side.
1745--The two-mile run begins. I run beside my squad leader. He gets slower in the middle but recovers enough to pass. He was sure he was going to see his lunch again. 1805--At the end of the run, seven of the nine guys who needed to pass made it. Two left for next month.
1815--Everyone goes home. My left knee was swollen before the run. It feels better now so I do three more laps because I know I will have to lay off running for at least a week anyway.
1845--Drive back to Lancaster. On the way home, I talk to my best friend from the last time I was in the army. He is a recently retired firefighter in San Diego. We laugh a lot about how little the Army has changed. At other times we have talked about how much more combat ready the Army National Guard is now than the active duty unit we were in during the post-Vietnam malaise.
1945--Stop at Starbucks then go home.

Soldiers as Guinea Pigs

As long as there have been state doctors, soldiers have given those doctors a perfect test group for new drugs, new surgical procedures, new life-saving techniques. Sometimes big things, sometimes small. On May 11, I broke three of the seven vertebra in my neck. The surgeon who replaced my C-7 vertebra with a bone from a cadaver recently returned from Baghdad. I am not dead or paraplegic because he has had a lot of recent practice in the kind of surgery I needed.
At drill this coming weekend I get a flu shot. Actually I am one of four men in my unit to get a flu shot. The rest get their flu vaccine by inhalation. This new technique promises to offer better protection, but needs testing. Soldiers are a great test group—young, in good shape, and well fed. And they do what they are told, so they all take the new vaccine and give researchers a great set of data points. So why do four of us get shots? We are in shape and well fed, but we are also over 50. In the Army more than 80% of the troops are under 25. The over-50 guys are so rare, leaving us out gives them a much better sample than having to deal with the 99th percentile (by age) soldiers.

Training Squeeze

I'll be very busy between now and March 9, now being defined as whenever the paperwork is approved and processed for me to take chemical weapons training on line. The second phase of my training--two weeks at Aberdeen--is already scheduled for March 9. I have to complete the first phase on line before March 9, but that will occur when the paperwork is approved and that might take weeks. So maybe I will be spending the Christmas holidays learning about Chemical Weapons.

Lauren's Team Makes the Championship

In the final game of the regular season, my oldest daughter Lauren's soccer team made qualified for the playoffs. With an 8-4-4 record they just made it to the championship. This is Lauren's freshman year at Juniata College. The current starting goalkeeper is a senior and Lauren should be playing a lot more next year when she and another freshman goalkeeper will step up as Russo graduates. Lauren had high hopes for the first-round championship game against Scranton. Unfortunately, the Juniata title bid ended in the first game with a 3-2 loss. I am looking forward to seeing Lauren in the goal next season. It was strange this year going to her games and seeing her on the bench for the first time since the sixth grade. She has started every game in middle school and high school on defense and, the last tow years of high school, in the goal.

Re-enlistment: When the paperwork is done

The latest word on re-enlistment is the paperwork is filed, but it might be several weeks until it is completed. So no word yet, but maybe by Christmas.

State Cross Country Championships

OK This is not about the Army, but I am also a dad and my youngest Daughter ran in the Pennsylvania AAA High School Cross Country Championships today. This is her first season in Cross Country and she is doing great. she was first finisher on her team in every regular season meet this year. She finished first once, second four times and fifth once--although there is a different scoring system that followers of the sport know and would be too long to explain here. In the post season, she finished ninth among more than 200 girls in the Lancaster-Lebanon AAA League meet; 39th in the district championship which allowed her to make the state meet; then 82nd today in the PA State Championship among the 300 best runners in the state. Her time today was 20:22. Her best time of the season for the 5k distance was 19:22.