Lining up for Fuel

At Last Drill, Echo Company set up a night FARP (Forward Arming and Refueling Point).  Lucky for me, they set it up in mid-afternoon so I could shoot pictures.  Just before dark, this pair of Apache Longbow helicopters flew in for fuel.  They had to wait a few minutes while the fuelers transferred fuel from one tanker truck to another, so I did not get pictures of the fueling operation.  I did get Blackhawks and Chinooks getting fuel which I will post tomorrow.  


I like watching the Apaches circle and swoop down to the fueling area.  

Screws Out for Summer!!!

All three of my daughters were on Spring Break last week.  Lauren scheduled the surgery to remove the plate and six screws from her finger--she had a compound open fracture at the beginning of the Soccer season last fall.  

Surgery was Friday, the 4th.  She started moving the finger on Saturday and was back on the elliptical on Sunday.  Therapy started Monday and she returned to school on Friday the 11th mostly recvoered.

She asked the doctor for a picture during surgery.

Here it is:

Catching Up--Fuelers in the Snow

These pictures are from January.  A convoy of Echo Company fuelers were heading out to set up a fuel point for aircraft.  Their 8-wheel-drive HEMMT fuel trucks are great in the snow.

More Combat Life Saver Training Photos

More photos from Combat Life Saver training.  The "casualties" refilled the blood bags before each team started the training.  They said it definitely washed out--they hoped.

Combat Life Saver Training

At the February drill weekend, 46 soldiers in our battalion took part in Combat Life Saver training.  One day was class training, the second day was hands on training in the Medical Battalion Training Site.  They trained in smoke, noise, low light, rubble and with fake blood squirting out of the casualties.  Here is the first batch of photos.  More soon.

Medals Don't Always Match Effort

My oldest daughter Lauren just won the NCAA Championship Medal above.  She earned it as the playoff goalie for the Juniata College Women's Field Hockey Team.  Lauren never played field hockey as a sport until the end of the 2010 season when she was drafted by the team to be the goalie if their championship game came down to penalty shots.  Lauren is tall, quick and has been good against penalty kicks in soccer  during all the years she has played goalkeeper.  Lauren practiced with the field hockey team for three weeks before the playoffs, but never played in a game.  Juniata was eliminated from the playoffs in the first round and there were no penalty shots.  But Lauren was on the team and got an NCAA medal.

She played four years for the Juniata Women's Soccer Team, sharing the goal for three years with "KP."  During her three years Lauren had an open compound fracture of her right index finger--she gets the screws out in a few weeks--a couple of concussions, knee injuries and many minor injuries.  But she got the medal for field hockey.

During my first service in the Army, I was a tank commander with Bravo Company 1-70th Armor.  During my first three years with Bravo, I trained for months in the desert of southern Colorado, followed by months of winter training in Germany.  I shared all this misery with a hundred great guys, most of whom never got a medal.

The last year I was in Germany, I worked on the base newspaper.  I went to the field for days, not weeks.  I ate hot food.  I had a Jeep or a car.  I got my first Army Commendation Medal for getting 70th Armor and 4th Brigade int he newspaper.  

Life is like that.

REAL Army Weekend

No, I did not shoot guns or fly in a Blackhawk.  REAL Army is waiting for something that never happens.

On Saturday, I spent most of the day in the classroom phase of Combat Life Saver (CLS) training.  I arrived at 0945 and stayed until 230pm.  The class started at 9 and ended at 345.  I was there waiting for the deputy division commander to show up and check out the class.  He never showed.

But I did see him.  While we were on lunch break, I asked the new 28th Aviation Brigade NCO of the year and the battalion and brigade sergeant majors to meet me at 1pm so I could take their picture together.  I took one in the office then walked outside with them.  The general was just arriving.  He knew both of the CSMs.  They introduced Sgt. Matt Kauffman, the NCO of the year (from Echo Company).  Then I got a picture with the four of them.  The general gave Kauffman a division coin and I got a great picture fot he newsletter.

Then I went back to the classroom and waited another 90 minutes for the general to show up there.

It was not a total loss.  I did two very boring on-line courses while I sat in the back of the class and got a few good pictures of the hands-on part of the training.

The next day I waited part of the afternoon for the division commander to come to the CLS training and part of the morning for the battalion commander.  Neither showed up.   Too bad.  The Sunday training was very realistic.  I'll post those photos soon.