Annual Training, Day 2, Paperwork and Medical

This morning I set my alarm for 5:26 am. This gave me a 4-minute head start on 80 guys using the six sinks in our shared bathroom.

My teeth were brushed and face face clean shaven before the farting herd crowded into the latrine.

I packed up my bedding, got dressed and went to an Army breakfast--eggs, bacon, potatoes, toast, cereal, fruit, juice and coffee.

At home I hardly eat breakfast, but as soon as I put on a uniform, I am hungry at O-Dark-30.

At 0640 we formed up for one-day processing. We got our records and headed for the ten paperwork stations to be sure we had wills, insurance, financial arrangements for deployment, plans for our family, a current ID card and two sets of dog tags. They gave the one-day people VIP tags and put us at the head of all the lines!!! This was cool. In 2008 this process took all of a long day. We were done by 1030.

Next we went to field-gear issue. We boarded a bus with our clothing records and they gave us body armor and whatever we were missing from our field gear issue. Many of us had field gear we never used from Iraq (it is mostly cold and rain gear) so we just got the things we were missing.

After field gear we changed from our camouflage duty uniform to PTs. We had a box lunch of Lunchables (no kidding the crust-free sandwiches!!!)Lorna Doones, TGI Fridays chips and water. Healthy choice!!!

Next is medical processing.

More on that later.

Annual Training, Day 1

Today we reported for duty at Noon. The first day of training is a travel day. So I ran in the morning, went to the gym, then hung around with my family before driving to Fort Indiantown Gap.

When I got there, I checked in with my unit before going to the SRP site. SRP stands for Soldier Readiness Processing. It is all the stuff they do to get you ready to deploy.

We had a formation at 1300. By 1330 we had another formation just for those of us assigned for processing in just one day. This is unusual. The process usually takes three days. The lieutenant in charge released us until 0640 tomorrow morning.

I went back to my unit and arranged for a trip to a fuel site on Sunday.

Then I went and had dinner with my family. My oldest daughter Lauren was in town so I got to spend a few some time with her and the boys before going back to my barracks.

Since I got in late and the barracks were full, I got a top bunk in the corner.

For the first time in a year, I got to experience the Snore Serenade of sound bouncing around the 40-man room full of snoring, farting soldiers.

Summer Camp on Friday

Annual Training begins for me the end of this week.  I will try to write every day about what I am doing--whatever that turns out to be.

Since we keep all our gear in the armory, packing is not such a big deal.  Most of my packing is bike stuff so I can ride at the end of the duty day--when the day's training ends before dark.

More later.

Catch 22 and Living in Pennsylvania

This post is a week late.  Most people don't live in the state where they grew up, so the fact that I have lived in PA for more than three decades after growing up in MA is not a big deal.  But how I came to be a PA resident is straight out of Catch-22.  That wonderful, dark book has many messages, but among them is:  In the Army (government) Paperwork is reality, Reality ranks below paperwork.

So if there is a conflict between paperwork and reality, reality loses.

Several years ago, I wrote about the scientist in charge of the Soviet nerve gas program.  This long-suffering man was drafted into the Soviet Army in 1941 to repel the German invasion.  He was Lithuanian.  When the Soviets took over his country, they took his families home and looted it.  Yet he fought for the Soviets.  Bravely.  He was twice gravely wounded, once left for dead.  He was decorated many times.

After the war he went to Moscow to get soldiers preference admission to college.

He was denied.

Why?  the paperwork indicated he died in 1943 in the Battle of Kursk.  He was left for dead, but was quite alive and standing in front of the Soviet official.  It took months to prove he was alive.  Eventually he did.

When I re-enlisted in the Army a year after I left the Air Force, I signed up in Lancaster PA.  I was talking college classes, but not a resident.  I compared the offers of recruiters in Lancaster and Boston and went with the one Lancaster.  I signed the enlistment giving my address as PO Box 334 Brownstown PA.

Four years later I was in Germany and getting ready to get out and go to college.  I was planning on going back to MA when I was told I was not a resident of MA.  I lived in Stoneham MA from birth to my first enlistment.  My parents were still living in the house they bought in Stoneham in 1957.

Didn't matter.  My DD Form 4 (enlistment) said I was a resident of Brownstown and my stuff would get shipped no further.

But it turned out that DD Form 4 meant I was legally a PA resident.  I could attend Penn State at resident rates!  I applied and got in.

I became a PA resident the moment I signed that DD Form 4, no matter where my family lived.

Told My Boss

This morning at 845 am I told my boss about the deployment.  She was great.  She supports the military and understands that I want to go.  Maybe just as important she understands adventure.  She told she and her family are going to the Caribbean for the weekend.  She plans to swim with a whale.

On Tuesday we will be making plans for putting someone else in my job for a year.  Two of my co-workers may get a chance to see if they like my job.  Of course, nothing  is for sure.

On the Roller Coaster

Late yesterday I talked to the sergeant in charge (NCOIC) our the battalion admin section.  She dropped the likelihood of me going to Afghanistan from 70% to 30%.  The problems are technical but real in the sense that if there is not an open slot, I can't fill it.  She (the NCOIC) said a lot of people are still trying to figure out a way I can go, but her 20-year experience in Army paperwork says what every soldier knows:  paperwork is reality.  Before I can get aboard the long flight, all the paperwork will be right or I won't go.

My wife said she is going to plan for the deployment no matter what anyone says.  She said if someone definitely tells me "No" she will consider that maybe, but if someone definitely says "Yes" then I am going.  She is a smart woman.  And she knows how determined our sergeant major is.  So while I ride the roller coaster--at least in the emotional sense--she will wait.  She said, "I will know you aren't going when the plane leaves and you are here."

Of all the books I have read about the military, the one that best describes paperwork is Catch 22 by Joseph Heller.  If you haven't read and you like black humor, it's the best book of its kind I have read.

Next post I will tell you why I am a PA resident and a Penn State graduate and how Army paperwork made that happen.

Up and Down the Chain of Command

Those of you who read this blog while I was in Iraq will remember that my move from the motor pool to battalion headquarters came when Command Sergeant Major Christine came to me and said, "Do you want to do the newsletter full time?"  I said I did.  Next day I was in the Battalion HQ.

On Saturday (see yesterday's post) the CSM had a plan. On Sunday it went from idea to plans and reality.  At 8am I was on a Chinook flying to Boalsburg to take pictures at the annual 28th Division Memorial Day Celebration.  This year Gov. Tom Corbett was the speaker.  If you are curious, 147 photos here.

The Battalion Commander flew the Governor and The Adjutant General to the ceremony in a Blackhawk.  While the BC was waiting to take off we had a chance to talk about the deployment.  He and the CSM had talked and he would do his best to make it happen.

His aircraft was the first to take off from the ceremony.  The Chinook I was riding in left an hour later.  When we got back, I walked through the flight facility--they have the best coffee within ten miles of Fort Indiantown Gap.  One of the pilots saw me and said, "You're going Dude."  When I got back to the armory, the admin officer and NCO both said "We're going to find you a slot."

I walked outside with the CSM.  He said, "Tell your family.  You're going."