Graduation

We got our DA form 1059s, the form saying we are now qualified in our military job (MOS or Military Occupational Specialty). There were four different groups and ours was last. We were all seated at tables and went up one at a time to receive our certificate from the course instructor then shake hands with the instructor, NCOIC (sergeant in charge) of the school and the school commander. At the end of the ceremony the NCOIC, an master sergeant with close to 30 years service who is younger than me, told the group he wanted to bring one of the students to their attention "Specialist Gussman who has a 23 year break in service and has the patriotism to return to duty after all these years." I got a round of applause and some very quizzical looks. In the hallway later a couple of guys from other classes said, "That's way cool what you did." I didn't really do anything, but it felt like I just won a race--and I didn't even sweat.

Last Class

This last class covered the 1500 gallon-per-minute water purification unit and finished up the smoke generator. We then took a test on the smoke generator and went to lunch. After lunch we presented plaques to our instructors. My roommate got them made at a local trophy shop for each of our instructors. Neither of the instructors had ever received a plaque from their students, so it is apparently an unusual gesture. Before presenting the plaques, the guy from Las Vegas whom our instructor had dropped for pushups on a half-dozen occasions took charge of the class and ordered all of us to the Front Leaning Rest (pushup) position. We then did ten pushups together yelling out "One sergeant, two sergeant. . ." as we did them. The instructor then said she would accept all of our pushups for the ones our class clown owed her. It was a great way to end the class. After we were dismissed, I rode my bike, went to the gym on Post and went running. The 20-somethings in the class got a case of Miller. All three of them can max the PT test without working out. Even the one of them who smokes can run two miles in under 13 minutes. Different ages have different workout schedules.

Last Supper

For those who follow the Church calendar, the Thursday before Easter is the night of the last supper. Without making too many Biblical references, our class had its last supper together on Maundy Thursday--at TGI Friday's. There were 11 of us, but that's pretty close. Anyway, we drove 20 miles west to get to TGI Friday's in the 15 passenger van that hauled us to meals for most of the two weeks. During our 30-minute wait for a table, I called my youngest daughter to ask her what was the best thing to order at TGIF (I have never been to TGI Fridays--that was part of how we picked this restaurant.) She told me about the top-chef menu they are featuring in their ads. she also asked why we didn't drive 15 miles further and go to Baltimore. Everyone had just one or two drinks. We all had to get up at 6am for the final class, so no one "got their party on." One of my classmates from Las Vegas talked about joining the Army in 2003. He was a sprinter and hurdler in high school running the 400 in just under a minute. His recruiter told him he could be on the army track team, just sign up for 11 Bravo (Combat Infantry). When he completed infantry training, he went to Iraq. He never joined the Army track team.

I Passed the Laundry Test This Time

Today we learned about the Laundry Advanced System LADS I mentioned in an earlier post. This amazing self-contained system on a semi-trailer can wash 2-tons of clothes operating 20 hours per day and use just 540 gallons of water for each ton of clothes.

Real Smoke

Today the active army class fired up an M56 smoke generator right outside the building where we work on our equipment. I was surprised because these billowing smoke clouds can only be generated for short periods under conditions of nearly no wind, but two classes sent big white clouds into the countryside. The building on the far side of the cloud all but disappeared after just seconds of smoke. It works very well at hiding a building and works much better obscuring smaller things-like vehicles.

Give Me 50!

This afternoon four of my classmates were told "Give Me 50!" at the beginning of an afternoon class session. The instructor relented somewhat and said they could do the 50 pushups in two sets of 25. The offense? The instructor said she would tell us her first name at the party at the end of class. The four guys pushing the earth down tried to figure out her first name by questioning the other instructor. Speculation about her name pretty much stopped after that.

Army Instruction

Today's class was on 600 gallon-per-hour and 3000-gallon-per-hour water purification units. These water purifiers can take in swamp water, sea water, even water contaminated with chemical agents and turn it into safe drinking water. Most of the day was on the 600gpm unit with troubleshooting of the electrical system, preventive maintennance checks and putting the system into operation. With the 3000 gpm, both of the units available for training had maintenance problems so we could only simulate. In another occurrence of what could have been the dullest method of instruction on the planet, we read aloud, in turn, 20 pages of the start up procedures in the Army Technical Manual. A sample follows:
a) With the raw water pump primed, the discharge hose will quickly fill and harden with pressure. Check the hose and the media inlet/outlet pressure gage
(1) to assure pressure has been established. NOTE If pressure is not observed check the raw water hose for kinks, sharp bends, or leaks. Check that control panel and valves are set up properly. (b) Push CHEMICAL PUMP START
(6). (c) When media inlet/outlet pressure gage
(1) reading steadies, push BOOSTER PUMP START
(3), and slowly close feed valve
(4) until feed flowmeter
(5) reads 100 gpm.
NOTE
If 100 gpm cannot be obtained check as follows: · Check discharge hose for kinks restricting the water flow. · Check valves for proper position. · Check suction hose connections to assure tightness. · Refer to Troubleshooting.
(d) Open media filter vent valve
(2), close, when a steady stream of water is seen.
(e) Hold steady condition (no control operations) for 10 minutes.

If you want more Enjoy!!!!

So the nine of us students and our teacher crammed ourselves in a 20-foot container that houses the control systems and filters and read 20 pages of the manual aloud in turn--sentence by sentence. After a few minutes the reading rate got almost to auctioneer speed and everyone yelled in unison when we read NOTE or CAUTION! By the time we were done everyone was laughing and making jokes on the way out the door.