Go west young man

I have been out at training in Yakima, Washington. Yes i said Washington. The state not DC. Without bashing the ARMY or what we do this was a wasted mission. We trained a lot of soldiers but none of the problems we have encountered were worth the training.

First the drive out here took 4 days. Four days in a day cab Freightliner with an empty trailer. Bouncy doesn't describe it. The drive wasn't too bad but it was long. Once here at YTC (Yakima Training Center) we set up and got ready for an inspection by civilians on our tankers. This had to happen before we hauled fuel. Well it just so happened that our first mission couldn't start until we had enough tankers cleared. Guess who was in charge of the first mission?Yup me. I was in charge along with one of our brand new Lt's. Here is some back story. We weren't running missions with our own platoon. each platoon had sent a squad of soldiers about 10 or 11 to make up four teams that would each handle a specific leg of the missions. So i had a new LT and only 10 out of 30 soldiers that i knew. Needless to say all hell broke loose. Nothing we could have foreseen or avoided. 4 tankers leaked once fuel was pushed in, 2 tankers came back dirty( as in had sediment that would cause bad fuel, and our Humvee broke down.

That's not all! Oh yeah it gets better, still on my mission we find out Congress hasn't passed a certain bill and now all of our funding has been cut. Yes we had no money for fuel. So at 9 o clock at night after getting up at 5am the LT and i are trying to find out how we can repair the Humvee, repair the tankers, get our soldiers to sleep( we had to leave at 3am) and find a way to purchase fuel so we can keep our tractors running. Well we came up with a plan but none of our plan was used. I will just say other factors took over. The factors that took over were corrected later and that will never happen again. We made it back, it wasn't pretty, it wasn't perfect but it was accident free. I was patted on the back for my job well done, then i slept and got up and did it again.

So on the cutting of funding. i want to speak about this for a minute. We actually lost a ton of funding. We stayed in a hotel once on the way out here, well that's gone, the ARMY credit card used to rent a van to drive people out here was blocked, our fuel cards were cut from $20,000 to $10,000 without warning. Now the unit is half convoying home and half flying and the convoy is praying the fuel cards they have will get them home. Congress please get off your fat ass. We need to train and we need money to do so. I understand there are a million things that get added to a bill but, Military funding should never be compromised, not while we are at WAR.

Okay thats my rant. I should be back this sunday. I cant wait to see Jessica and the boys.

Last Tango in Paris

Yes, its not the final days at home but im leaving for 20 days and thats enough to make me sad. yes i said it sad. I hate leaving. Who likes it? I hate it but it is a part of who i am. Anyway we had a great time this weekend. I played with my boys and watch an amazing MMA fight. I spent time with my wife, i grilled some amazing steaks. 4 Steaks to be exact. More on the fun with the boys in the family blog. Anyway, I am leaving to go to Buffalo MN and then drive to Yakima Washington. That's 3 days of driving. That's all the fuck on the west coast. Yeah, your tax dollars at work. Why are we driving all the damn way out there to train. Guess what we arnt doing any combat training just driving. I can drive anywhere. I can do all the driving they want me to do at home. Why do i have to drive out to Washington state to drive? Yes i want to get to know my soldiers but this will only piss them off to leave home for the better part of a month to do training they could do close to home. I wont complain much more. I just feel this type of training is why soldiers leave the ARMY. I love the ARMY but i do understand it is retarded at times. Thanks

Ferris Bueller's day off

Well, I didn't skip school, and all the fun happened on Sunday but i think knowing no one had to get up Monday morning for work allowed a ton more fun. We started early in the afternoon and went well into the night. I took this weekend as a chance to have some real fun and cook some good food. I made my own burgers with the same ingredients as last time but we had more burgers to make so i upped the amounts. I had fresh corn on the cobb. I shucked it myself. We had some grilling bean. I also made some Bacon wrapped shrimp. Yes you heard me correctly i found some jumbo shrimp and center cut bacon. I skewered them and grilled them with butter. Oh yeah they are even better than your imagining. Well after the kids went to bed the adults enjoyed time. I loved hanging out with my kids all day and my friends all night. We had great stories to tell. We listened to great music from Vannila ICE, to Billy Joel, to the Eagles and even Bell Biv Devoe. Yeah we were having a great time. Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy.

Pack it up pack it in, let me begin, i came to win battle me thats a sin.

Yes, House of Pain Rocks!

I begin the packing process now. I picked up my gorilla tote from my unit today. Its just an over sized footlocker. We will be filling these with items we will need in Iraq but wont need before. This is where we pack; desk lamps, rugs, ball gloves, paper, sheets for a twin bed, pillows, the stuff that is odd to carry over seas but we will still need. I have amassed some good gear so far. Thank you to all who helped. Still have a ways to go. Hopefully I can collect all I need. I am an over planner so I'm sure i will pack and repack twenty times. I can only hope that all i pack is used. i hate extra unused gear. It just extra weight.
A few other things i will be taking are gloves, decent socks, an electric razor, a digital camera. I hope to post while in Iraq with pictures of everything.

Thanks again.

Office Space

New laptops are here! The cases and fun stuff are here. Huge thanks to the parents DAD and MOM, Jessica loves her new computer. Thanks to Jerry (Mr. Smith) for the computer messenger bag and ammo pouches. It all fits perfectly. Trust me I intend to put all of it to good use. Its helped out with getting ready to go and all the blogging.

Its 69 days left and I am sitting at my desk this morning with no desire to complete any task that i normally do. I guess the looming all encompassing task that awaits is starting to make all else seems trivial. Yes i know i cant blow off work but when people complain about promotions or emails or that people are drinking too much sugar or creamer in their coffee i want to scream. I know i have complained many of times about people who use the wrong tense in their emails, or who leave the subject line blank or the voice mails i get where some jerk listened to the whole recording only to hang up once it actually started to save their message. But Damn people, i know gas prices suck, i know they are high, but did any of you stop driving? did anyone take a bike instead of hoping in their SUV? NO. Don't complain about the things that your not willing to change. If you want someone to use the correct grammar in an email you should correct them in a nice way. maybe they are too damn stupid to know they are looking like a giant dork. if you want lower gas prices, WALK. I hate how my price of bread has gone up 30cents in 3 months but you know what i don't care. I can sacrifice in many other areas. How many of us complain about gas but have cable. There is $40-80 bucks a month. How many of us drink beer? I cant imagine how much that would be but i can easily say its $100 bucks a month. So there..... there is 140 bucks for the average American of luxury that they could, but wont, give up to ease the pain at the pump. Stop complaining. i know we all do it out of reflex but as anyone who has had a major life changing event happen would say, its not that important. Raising your kids to be good people, being kind to your fellow man, providing a roof and food and love.. those are what matter. Those are the values and constants that should permeate our thoughts..... not whats the current price per barrel.

Okay there was my rant about gas and the trivial pursuit of man.

Thanks again we love everything.

76 days

So I have 76 days left and if you count today as already done 75. I made some changes to the blog to spice it up a bit. I added links to the items I hope to have before i go. I racked my brain and tried to think of what would have made my life easier last time i was in Iraq. Some items i had like the Wiley-X's (thanks dad) and they worked great, some will be new like the gloves, but i know i have used things very similar to all of the items and they will be better than taking nothing. Again i am not asking that anyone purchase these items. If you choose to do so i appreciate that beyond comprehension, but if it comes July I will buy each of these myself. I have also added a few fun things. Please note the poll, the different colors, and even the quote at the bottom. More to follow. thanks again to all who read.

Last Drill

So this past weekend was my official last drill weekend for at least a year. I was both happy and a little sad. Happy because drill weekends can suck very bad. A lot of drill weekends are boring. The ARMY doesnt always have lots of money or ways to train soldiers on a basic Saturday and Sunday drill. Many weekends you spend your time just walking around trying to look busy. Happy because now the answering of the same question "when you leaving" is over. Sad because i will miss the soldiers and friends i made at the 705th. I have been in the same platoon and the same company, hell even the same squad for over 10 years. There are only a handful of people left at the 705th who where there when i first walked in. People have transferred units, gotten out of the ARMY or just stopped coming altogether. I will miss the soldiers i have trained. i have seen many of them click off years and get older. I have seen many drink too much and puke. i have seen many find out that being a good soldier isn't just showing up to drill. I have had yelling match's, i have had my butt chewed out. You name it Ive done it at the 705th. I went Christmas parties with these people, grill outs, weddings, funerals, and the occasional ambush. I have laughed, cried, fought, and hugged. I have bleed next to them, done things I'm not proud of next to them. Now even though a few will travel with me, i leave the 705th behind. Sgt. Groman thanks for listening, i have seen you grown from a 19 year old wide eyed kid to a 21 year old NCO. Good luck in all you do. When i come home I want my first steak to be grilled by you. SFC Cook, thanks for helping save my life. Thanks for showing me a different style of leadership. Sgt. Fisher WHODEY!
I still have a few days where i will need to return to the 705th but there will be no goodbye's or goodluck's. Guess i will have to change my license plate?