Slow and Steady

It's been a week since my last post. Sorry about taking so long to post. There just hasn't really much going on to write about. Possibly it could be that I'm just not creative enough (lazy) to come up with a good topic. The other problem, is the last two topics I was going to write about turned out to be a bust.

First, I figured I'd talk a little bit about the change in weather. I waited for about a week of "colder" weather to declare it fall here and write about it. I figured I'd talk about how I was freezing cold at night as the temps go down to 78 degrees. No joke. I'm shivering in 78 degree weather. I put on a sweatsuit in 87 degree weather. Also, those nasty winds and sandstorms came to a halt. It was nice. Anyway, the day I decided to write about fall beginning in Kuwait, mother nature played a joke on me. It ended up being in the 100's and a sandstorm rolled through. So much for my story about the fall weather.

The other story I was going to tell actually still is a pretty good story, but not the story I had originally planned on sharing. I accidentally left my mp3 player in my pant pocket when I dropped my uniforms off to get washed and pressed. We drop them off at a trailer on base, and they take it an hour and a half away to Kuwait City to be cleaned. I figured it was safe to assume that it was long gone. So that was going to be my story. For the heck of it, I figured I'd at least go over and ask the guy at the trailer if it got turned in. He looked at me and told me no, it hadn't been turned in. He also told me the odds of getting it back were slim to none. He said usually the stuff gets tossed in the washing machine, it comes out ruined/broken, so they just throw it away, and you can't count out theft either. Regardless, he said he would give his boss a call down in Kuwait City, to be positive. I went back the next day expecting to confirm my thoughts. Surprisingly, it got turned in, in working order and all. Actually, he seemed more surprised than I was. So, that story had a happy ending to it. I just have to remember to take better care of the mp3 player and to check my pockets twice before I drop them off.

Hurry up and Wait

Monday was our first actual day of training. It consisted of mostly administrative stuff and gear issue. We would rush from one place to the other spending hours in between in formation just waiting to be whisked away to the next evolution. Typical military fashion. We got some pretty cool gear. Mostly stuff I probably wont use but cool nonetheless. The one piece of gear that was not cool, was the rifle they gave us. Big oafy M16's. Don't get me wrong its a good weapon, but for a law and order det, we really need something more compact like an M4. I used both in the past and prefer the M4 for any situation, but for what we're going to be doing, the M4 is what we need. Not mention the M16's we got were pretty old and beat up. A few guys got guns with crooked or no front sights (sights are what you use to aim; for those who are lost).

I also want to address our attire overall. We look like soup sandwiches. It's bad enough we're Sailors living in Army country, doing an Army job and trying to fit in, but the least they could do is hook us up with matching gear. I currently have gear in 3 different types of camo. Army Digital camo, Navy Woodland camo, and Navy Desert camo. It really looks horrible. Now I'm the exception with 3 different types since I haven't received my desert camo yet, but everyone else has two types, and it doesn't look much better. The keep telling us "One Team, One Fight", why not one uniform? I'm not saying all together, but for situations like this, they should put us in Army digital. Much like a Navy Corpsman stationed with a marine unit. Navy insignias on a marine uniform. They've been doing it for years and it's worked out quite well.

The last bit I wanted to talk about is how when I went to the shower Sunday night, I accidentally left my shampoo and soap on the sink. Which I admit was a mistake on my part. I didn't notice until Monday night after I worked out when I went to take a shower. I asked around, everyone saw it down there, but no one knows what happened to it. So either they threw it away or someone kept it for themselves. Apparently it sat there for over 12 hours. There is only 20 of us here. You're telling me not a single person could shout out if anyone was missing theirs? Anyway I had to go to bed without a shower and it didn't feel to great.

Really...?

The first day at Ft. Lewis was not too bad. I had somewhat of an idea of what life here would be like, but most of it was hearsay. Unfortunately, the rumors were true. We were put in WWII "historic" (obviously a way to make the situation sound better) barracks. Open bay. Open shower. Hot days and cold nights.

Everyone got their new desert camo uniforms on that Saturday except for three people. I was one of those people. I only brought one other uniform, so I hoped the new uniforms would come in soon. I was placed into a squad. Squad 2. So far my squad seems to be the best one. Everyone gets along fairly well. Haven't had any problems. Everyone that came on the deployment was supposed to be an E5 or above, so being so top heavy with guys who are used to being leaders at their respective commands has created a little tension so far as guys compete for the better jobs and evaluations. I don't mind that, but a few guys have gone over the top to the point where it is almost annoying. Anyway, there is only one or two of those in my squad of 12.

Saturday was mostly for getting settled in, unpacking, meeting the guys etc. A few guys weren't getting in until midnight, so I decided to make their beds for them that way they could go straight to bed when they got in. They don't know I did it. I hope they appreciated it and would have done the same for me. I slept pretty good that night. Anxious to see what next week will bring.

Ft. Lewis

The second leg of my journey takes me to Ft. Lewis in Tacoma, Washington. Our flight was scheduled for Saturday April 4th. It was an early 7am flight and our flight was out of LAX. Which is about an hour 1/2 away from Port Hueneme. There were four of us on the flight. We left for LAX at 4:30am and arrived at the airport just in the nick of time. Unfortunately, one of the guys that came with me left his bag laying in the parking lot at Port Hueneme. He must have felt terrible. Glad it wasn't me. Lucky for him there were some guys going out on a flight at 12pm and were still back at Port Hueneme. So they were able to take his bag with them. So other than the embarrassment, it actually worked out for him. Now he didn't have to heave around luggage all over. The flights didn't end up being too bad either. I never have this much luck at the airport. 4 flights in a row. Not only no hiccups, but I even got hooked up with the economy plus and the spacious row in between first class and coach. Not only that, but I had room in the overhead for my bags. No people with obnoxious sized carry ons. No crying babies. No kid falling asleep and drooling on my shoulder. Enjoy it while it lasts I guess.

It starts.... Sort of..

Real quick background info first. I'm a US Navy Master-At-Arms. I was active duty for 5 years and have been a reservist for two. I have been selected as an individual augmentee. I will be performing 400 days of duty somewhere in Kuwait with the US Army.

Ok. Day one. Friday Mar 27th. I arrive at Naval Operational Support Center in Wilmington Delaware. After a few hours of paperwork, I'm given my plane tickets. My flight goes out from Philly at 7am the following Sunday. That day was also the day my Dad was having the Grand Opening of his new store. So my Mom and I decided to check on him, say hello and go to lunch. So we do that and on our way home from lunch I get a phone call from the Navy telling me not to get on that plane. Turns out I have a cavity and apparently cavities and deployments do go together. So my flight is rescheduled for Wed April 1st (my Moms Bday), and I have now have a dentist appointment almost 2 hours away at Ft. Meade. So, I got the cavity filled and headed out on Wednesday. My parents and my fiance Christina took me to the airport. Goodbyes were a little rough as expected.

The flights went well. I even got upgraded to economy plus (about 4 more inches of legroom) by the people at check-in since I was military. Someone from the Navy picked me up from Oxnard, CA and took me to the processing center at Port Hueneme. Here is where all of our initial paperwork is done. We get our shots, uniforms, dog tags, briefings etc. Most people do it in 5 days. I had two. So to say I was a rushed would be an understatement. But Everything went without a hitch and I stayed on schedule.