Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
Well, training in South Carolina is complete and they are shipping us out tonight (That is a good deal, considering they could have us sit here for a couple of days during the holiday).
I will be going dark for a few days until we settle into Kuwait. My cell phone will no longer be a viable source to contact me for the next 7 months so please send me correspondence to this blog or email me at joseph.j.keller@gmail.com.
Take care everyone, and God bless
Joe
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
Week 2 - NIACT Week 1 (hooaah!)
Well family and friends, 2 weeks down, 1st week of Army training complete, a sigh of relief for the weekend to be here. It was a long week of gear issue, and Army training, lifestyle adjusting and body adjusting, but we all made it through. I am enjoying a one night stay in downtown Columbia, South Carolina at the Marriott where I can have my own room and a little quiet time to myself. During the week I am living in a barracks, with 40 of my closet friends, sharing 4 showers amongst ourselves, which can be challenging but is not so bad; it is still better accommodations than on the submarine, but it has been a while for me since I have been stationed on a ship, let alone living in barracks . The barracks are a good mix of officers from all over the navy, Ensigns through Commanders, and we are band of brothers of sorts, surviving the scratchy green army blankets, and barracks inspections by drill sergeants.
Overview of the week
We departed San Diego Saturday morning at o dark thirty (early) on a NALO (Navy Charter
flight of our own, with business class seating throughout) a short stop in Texas to drop off some that where going to training at Fort Bliss, and then onto Columbia, South Carolina. Checked in Saturday evening at NIACT (Navy Individual Augmentee Combat Training) got issued a set of sheets, a blanket and an assigned barracks building. The good news is, as I arrived, I got the last bottom bunk (important for the late night bladder runs without the hassle of jumping down), and settled into my new home for the next couple of weeks.
Monday - We were up early in the morning with the rising sun , gonna do admin, until the admins done. We are now in the Army's hands, and are
being led and trained by a group of dedicated drill Sergeants who had us in formation at 0530 on Monday. To be honest most of us where expecting a bit of the boot camp treatment, who can blame us, we are sleeping in barracks, wearing uniforms we have no idea if we really are wearing them correctly, and being told to just show up on time (which equates to 10 mins early). It turned out not so much yelling, but alot of waiting around. So I learned to hurry up and wait for the drill sergeants instruction on where to go next. Monday was primarily gear issue day, 3 more sea bags worth of stuff, some cool, some not so much, they issued us two weapons (a 9mm hand gun which I will take into theatre, and M16 rifle I would qualify on but not take with me) and then proceeded to tell us we would carry our weapons with us everywhere. We also got plenty of traditional army canteens, and even a shuffle. But the cool stuff was the 70 lbs of body armour and cool cold and wet weather gear.
Tuesday/Wednesday - Big classroom training days with weapons familiarization, breaking down the M-16, cleaning. First aid - including applying tourniquets, learning the tell the difference between the smell and taste of urine, sweat, and blood. The first aid instructor was quite
effective and lively in his demonstrations, and we all appreciated the chance to practically try some of the equipment out. On Wednesday we got to wear our full gear (kevlar helmets, knee pad, elbow pads, and 70 pounds of body armour, and head out to the electronic gun range. We got to shoot on a big nintendo like screen that had some realstic feel to it, while we learned to fire the weapons in full gear, and practices zeroing the weapon (adjusting the sites). We also got to drive humvee's that day and try out the Humvee rollover trainer, which was an actual Humvee that they rotate 30, 90, and 180 degree's so you get the feel of it, then with the vehicle rotated upside down they have us practice get out of the seatbelts, dropping down, and getting out. That by far was the most fun, as you can't get a ride like that at Disneyland. At the end of the day wearing all the body armour and carry our gear, we were all exhausted and ready for some chow and few hundred milligrams of ibuprofen to relieve some of our newly discovered muscles.
Thurs - We got to shoot our guns! O.K. I will admit to not being a big gun fan, I don't own one, and never really shot one except for quals when I first got in the Navy but once again the hidden G.I Joe in all of us was awakened as we got to the Army range, and shot the M16, it was honestly the most fun we had had yet. I shot right next to a female JAG officer on one side, and a doctor on the other. We all laughed and smiled as we considered our navy backgrounds and being given guns to shoot. All of us salty sailors came back feeling one step closer to being John Rambo, and were quickly beginning to develop a close relationship with our m16; a few sailors even gave their guns a names like Lucille.
Fri - So just when it is starting to get fun, the Army is shut down by rain ! The saying goes train like you fight, and fight like you train. For the Army the one exception comes when shooting long metal rod like weapons in lightning conditions. I am grateful for their safety concerns as it saved us a day of sloppy around in the rain, and we seemed to make the most of it with some more decent training. Training on Land Navigation and communications via Army radio's. Biggest lesson of the day, don't try and eat at early at the chow hall. If your company is assign 0700 chow time, don't try and get in early so you have more time to put your gear on. Many smart and efficient officeres tried to get in early that shot straight up to the NIACT CO who I am sure had to explain he had a bunch of Navy sailors here who are still working on their Army skillz.
Saturday - Liberty at last ! - It turned out to be a light training morning with a gentlemanly 0800 muster, training was on convoy ops and IED's (improvised explosive devices). IED's appears to be the biggest threat to soldiers and sailors lives over there, and we were given some good training on what to expect and what we are doing to prevent the IED's from injuring us. I should really only have one convoy to travel in during my time in Iraq, with most of my time being spent inside the FOB (forward operating base ) in Baghdad. After an hour of barracks field day (cleaning up) we were inspected and released for liberty at last ! A fellow EDO (Engineering Duty Officer) and myself quickly changed clothes, and jumped the first shuttle to the main gate, and took a taxi to downtown Columbia for a night's stay at the Marriott. I looked forward to a full day of solitude, rest in a full size bed and long hot showers. I enjoyed a relaxing with a no rush dinner out in town and a nice conversation with the girls back home on Skype (video chat service) in the privacy of my room.
The people -
Again, I am always amazed, and uplifted at how quickly people bond together when faced with common challenges, and how willing all are to help others, even a strangers get through.
LCDR Battle Buddy - There are 5 other ED officers here and I have partnered up with one in my platoon to be my battle buddy. In the Army everyone operates with a "battle buddy" who essentially keeps an eye on me and I one him to ensure weapons safety, uniform correctness, on
time musters, and all around commiseration over NARMY training. He is a great guy, two little girls, and young toddler boy back home in Virginia. We have many common friends in the ED community, and have spent a good deal of time catching up on others and what they had done since leaving Postgraduate School in Monterey. He is a SSP guy (Strategic Systems Program) and is a no kidding a rocket scientist. It is good having a battle buddy to watch my back and catch the details I miss. As most of us know, our wives have long been our battle buddy back home, watching to make sure we don't leave our credit card at the restaurant, letting us know when we have forgotten something important before we leave (like the kids). We have joked that we are battle buddies with out benefits (read deeply into that one if you need).
LTjG Brooklyn - there is always one joker in every group. For us it is this italian-greek kid from Brooklyn, who keeps things lively and upbeat in the barracks. His Brooklyn accent and Beastie Boys attitude are enough to keep things lively. He is a respector of no rank and quickly finds some way to characture a few people in the barracks, from the surgeon we have in our barracks, to me who he just calls Ray Ramono. His only complaint is that some guy near him snores like a bear and keeps him awake at night (no coincidence he sleeps right near me)! He rejoiced Thursday night in waking me up to relieve him as fire watch in the barracks.
CDR OppsIdidItAgain - You got to feel for this guy. He is a JAG reservist, reactivated just 6 months after returning from deployment to Iraq. He is heading back this time to Afghanistan. There are quite a few JAG folks going over. You can definitely get a feel overall of the communities in the Navy that are heading over their to support the stabilization efforts : lawyers, engineers, fire control and sonar operators, IT network guys, and a bunch of guys going to support the staff administration for the commands over there.
Chief bumblebee - He is the salty old seabee who is seen it all, and done it all. Little known to me our SeaBee's (naval construction, facilities guys) are well versed and trained in the ways of the Army. This guy was the salty dog who showed us all how to wear our body armour correctly, how to set up the shoulder sling on the M16 so we can let it hang loose while getting chow, most importantly refreshed our platoon on some of the marching basics, so we didn't embarass ourselves with the Army drill sergeants (which we still ended up doing).
Staff Sergeant bumpkin- this is the type of drill instructor you would be expecting to find in the Army, a self proclaimed country bumpkin, wearing his smokey the bear hat and telling all of us great stories of his time in country, and how to take care of each other over there. Many drill sergeants here are from the South, and that only adds to the character that makes me smile when I hear them share stories, don't be surprised in I come back with a Carolina accent y'all. His heart is pure, and he shares much with us from his vast experience out of a desire to see us all be safe, and by far makes this training worthwhile and useful. The drill's are all good men, and have not treated us like the recruits we at first felt like, I have a great deal of respect for their professionalism, and teaching ability. These men and there sacrifice would make all Americans proud of the caliber of men our country produce, and the sacrifices they are making.
Staff Sergeant rookie - this born again hard staff sergeant had an obvious age difference from the others, and was quite disciplined in his demeanor. He was the first to march us out to PT, and proceeded to give us some not to advanced but more complicated facing movements sending our tight formation into a scattering of people. A chief in the platoon, later that day called him to the mat and asked him how long he had been in (all of five years ), and then proceeded to ask one of the Commanders in the platoon how long it had been since he had been in the Navy(15 years) and how long it had been since he marched in formation (another answer of 15 years) which brought the platoon to a degree of amusement. He has shared alot of good technical stuff with us, and I am sure will be a good leader as his experiences and leading opportunties grow. The take away for those Navy folks still to go to NIACT is that you don't have to worry about becoming Army hard, they can't completely take away the Navy attitude of the sailors that I have grown to love, and they do respect our time on the pond.
This week's take away:
Last week was mentally tough as I adjusted to the admin shuffle, and missing the family back home. This week was by far more physical and somewhat mental. The physical part came with the constant movements from place to place, with tons of equipment being piled on; finding a comfortable fit for 70 lbs of armour, and slinging around a 7 lb rifle everywhere. The mental challenge for me was not really having a good feel for what you were going to do each day. The Army does their best, to keep us doing something, but we are training at a location that trains reservist and national guardsman, as well as Army recruits. We don't always fall in the highest of priorities. We have learned to be flexible and relax with alot of hurry up and wait.
Spiritually it has been good. Without any t.v. to distract me, I have got good time at night to read books and do my daily devotions and journaling. God has been faithful to teach me lessons daily as I read His word and reflect on what it means to me to trust in Him, as I face this new environment. Most of what I have been reading has come from 1 and 2 Corinthians where the Apostle Paul is disciplining and guiding a group of Christians that he helped disciple to hold fast to the faith that they first had, when they first came to know Christ. As I have left my home and my home church in Hawaii, I know my desire is exactly that , to not forget the faith that I have developed, and I feel strengthened as I realize how far God has brought me along to this day.
I hope to get the next blog out sometime during the week of Thanksgiving, which should be the end of our NIACT training, and final preparations to fly out to Kuwait.
Overview of the week
We departed San Diego Saturday morning at o dark thirty (early) on a NALO (Navy Charter
flight of our own, with business class seating throughout) a short stop in Texas to drop off some that where going to training at Fort Bliss, and then onto Columbia, South Carolina. Checked in Saturday evening at NIACT (Navy Individual Augmentee Combat Training) got issued a set of sheets, a blanket and an assigned barracks building. The good news is, as I arrived, I got the last bottom bunk (important for the late night bladder runs without the hassle of jumping down), and settled into my new home for the next couple of weeks.Monday - We were up early in the morning with the rising sun , gonna do admin, until the admins done. We are now in the Army's hands, and are
being led and trained by a group of dedicated drill Sergeants who had us in formation at 0530 on Monday. To be honest most of us where expecting a bit of the boot camp treatment, who can blame us, we are sleeping in barracks, wearing uniforms we have no idea if we really are wearing them correctly, and being told to just show up on time (which equates to 10 mins early). It turned out not so much yelling, but alot of waiting around. So I learned to hurry up and wait for the drill sergeants instruction on where to go next. Monday was primarily gear issue day, 3 more sea bags worth of stuff, some cool, some not so much, they issued us two weapons (a 9mm hand gun which I will take into theatre, and M16 rifle I would qualify on but not take with me) and then proceeded to tell us we would carry our weapons with us everywhere. We also got plenty of traditional army canteens, and even a shuffle. But the cool stuff was the 70 lbs of body armour and cool cold and wet weather gear.Tuesday/Wednesday - Big classroom training days with weapons familiarization, breaking down the M-16, cleaning. First aid - including applying tourniquets, learning the tell the difference between the smell and taste of urine, sweat, and blood. The first aid instructor was quite
effective and lively in his demonstrations, and we all appreciated the chance to practically try some of the equipment out. On Wednesday we got to wear our full gear (kevlar helmets, knee pad, elbow pads, and 70 pounds of body armour, and head out to the electronic gun range. We got to shoot on a big nintendo like screen that had some realstic feel to it, while we learned to fire the weapons in full gear, and practices zeroing the weapon (adjusting the sites). We also got to drive humvee's that day and try out the Humvee rollover trainer, which was an actual Humvee that they rotate 30, 90, and 180 degree's so you get the feel of it, then with the vehicle rotated upside down they have us practice get out of the seatbelts, dropping down, and getting out. That by far was the most fun, as you can't get a ride like that at Disneyland. At the end of the day wearing all the body armour and carry our gear, we were all exhausted and ready for some chow and few hundred milligrams of ibuprofen to relieve some of our newly discovered muscles.Thurs - We got to shoot our guns! O.K. I will admit to not being a big gun fan, I don't own one, and never really shot one except for quals when I first got in the Navy but once again the hidden G.I Joe in all of us was awakened as we got to the Army range, and shot the M16, it was honestly the most fun we had had yet. I shot right next to a female JAG officer on one side, and a doctor on the other. We all laughed and smiled as we considered our navy backgrounds and being given guns to shoot. All of us salty sailors came back feeling one step closer to being John Rambo, and were quickly beginning to develop a close relationship with our m16; a few sailors even gave their guns a names like Lucille.
Fri - So just when it is starting to get fun, the Army is shut down by rain ! The saying goes train like you fight, and fight like you train. For the Army the one exception comes when shooting long metal rod like weapons in lightning conditions. I am grateful for their safety concerns as it saved us a day of sloppy around in the rain, and we seemed to make the most of it with some more decent training. Training on Land Navigation and communications via Army radio's. Biggest lesson of the day, don't try and eat at early at the chow hall. If your company is assign 0700 chow time, don't try and get in early so you have more time to put your gear on. Many smart and efficient officeres tried to get in early that shot straight up to the NIACT CO who I am sure had to explain he had a bunch of Navy sailors here who are still working on their Army skillz.
Saturday - Liberty at last ! - It turned out to be a light training morning with a gentlemanly 0800 muster, training was on convoy ops and IED's (improvised explosive devices). IED's appears to be the biggest threat to soldiers and sailors lives over there, and we were given some good training on what to expect and what we are doing to prevent the IED's from injuring us. I should really only have one convoy to travel in during my time in Iraq, with most of my time being spent inside the FOB (forward operating base ) in Baghdad. After an hour of barracks field day (cleaning up) we were inspected and released for liberty at last ! A fellow EDO (Engineering Duty Officer) and myself quickly changed clothes, and jumped the first shuttle to the main gate, and took a taxi to downtown Columbia for a night's stay at the Marriott. I looked forward to a full day of solitude, rest in a full size bed and long hot showers. I enjoyed a relaxing with a no rush dinner out in town and a nice conversation with the girls back home on Skype (video chat service) in the privacy of my room.
The people -
Again, I am always amazed, and uplifted at how quickly people bond together when faced with common challenges, and how willing all are to help others, even a strangers get through.
LCDR Battle Buddy - There are 5 other ED officers here and I have partnered up with one in my platoon to be my battle buddy. In the Army everyone operates with a "battle buddy" who essentially keeps an eye on me and I one him to ensure weapons safety, uniform correctness, on
time musters, and all around commiseration over NARMY training. He is a great guy, two little girls, and young toddler boy back home in Virginia. We have many common friends in the ED community, and have spent a good deal of time catching up on others and what they had done since leaving Postgraduate School in Monterey. He is a SSP guy (Strategic Systems Program) and is a no kidding a rocket scientist. It is good having a battle buddy to watch my back and catch the details I miss. As most of us know, our wives have long been our battle buddy back home, watching to make sure we don't leave our credit card at the restaurant, letting us know when we have forgotten something important before we leave (like the kids). We have joked that we are battle buddies with out benefits (read deeply into that one if you need).LTjG Brooklyn - there is always one joker in every group. For us it is this italian-greek kid from Brooklyn, who keeps things lively and upbeat in the barracks. His Brooklyn accent and Beastie Boys attitude are enough to keep things lively. He is a respector of no rank and quickly finds some way to characture a few people in the barracks, from the surgeon we have in our barracks, to me who he just calls Ray Ramono. His only complaint is that some guy near him snores like a bear and keeps him awake at night (no coincidence he sleeps right near me)! He rejoiced Thursday night in waking me up to relieve him as fire watch in the barracks.
CDR OppsIdidItAgain - You got to feel for this guy. He is a JAG reservist, reactivated just 6 months after returning from deployment to Iraq. He is heading back this time to Afghanistan. There are quite a few JAG folks going over. You can definitely get a feel overall of the communities in the Navy that are heading over their to support the stabilization efforts : lawyers, engineers, fire control and sonar operators, IT network guys, and a bunch of guys going to support the staff administration for the commands over there.
Chief bumblebee - He is the salty old seabee who is seen it all, and done it all. Little known to me our SeaBee's (naval construction, facilities guys) are well versed and trained in the ways of the Army. This guy was the salty dog who showed us all how to wear our body armour correctly, how to set up the shoulder sling on the M16 so we can let it hang loose while getting chow, most importantly refreshed our platoon on some of the marching basics, so we didn't embarass ourselves with the Army drill sergeants (which we still ended up doing).
Staff Sergeant bumpkin- this is the type of drill instructor you would be expecting to find in the Army, a self proclaimed country bumpkin, wearing his smokey the bear hat and telling all of us great stories of his time in country, and how to take care of each other over there. Many drill sergeants here are from the South, and that only adds to the character that makes me smile when I hear them share stories, don't be surprised in I come back with a Carolina accent y'all. His heart is pure, and he shares much with us from his vast experience out of a desire to see us all be safe, and by far makes this training worthwhile and useful. The drill's are all good men, and have not treated us like the recruits we at first felt like, I have a great deal of respect for their professionalism, and teaching ability. These men and there sacrifice would make all Americans proud of the caliber of men our country produce, and the sacrifices they are making.
Staff Sergeant rookie - this born again hard staff sergeant had an obvious age difference from the others, and was quite disciplined in his demeanor. He was the first to march us out to PT, and proceeded to give us some not to advanced but more complicated facing movements sending our tight formation into a scattering of people. A chief in the platoon, later that day called him to the mat and asked him how long he had been in (all of five years ), and then proceeded to ask one of the Commanders in the platoon how long it had been since he had been in the Navy(15 years) and how long it had been since he marched in formation (another answer of 15 years) which brought the platoon to a degree of amusement. He has shared alot of good technical stuff with us, and I am sure will be a good leader as his experiences and leading opportunties grow. The take away for those Navy folks still to go to NIACT is that you don't have to worry about becoming Army hard, they can't completely take away the Navy attitude of the sailors that I have grown to love, and they do respect our time on the pond.
This week's take away:
Last week was mentally tough as I adjusted to the admin shuffle, and missing the family back home. This week was by far more physical and somewhat mental. The physical part came with the constant movements from place to place, with tons of equipment being piled on; finding a comfortable fit for 70 lbs of armour, and slinging around a 7 lb rifle everywhere. The mental challenge for me was not really having a good feel for what you were going to do each day. The Army does their best, to keep us doing something, but we are training at a location that trains reservist and national guardsman, as well as Army recruits. We don't always fall in the highest of priorities. We have learned to be flexible and relax with alot of hurry up and wait.
Spiritually it has been good. Without any t.v. to distract me, I have got good time at night to read books and do my daily devotions and journaling. God has been faithful to teach me lessons daily as I read His word and reflect on what it means to me to trust in Him, as I face this new environment. Most of what I have been reading has come from 1 and 2 Corinthians where the Apostle Paul is disciplining and guiding a group of Christians that he helped disciple to hold fast to the faith that they first had, when they first came to know Christ. As I have left my home and my home church in Hawaii, I know my desire is exactly that , to not forget the faith that I have developed, and I feel strengthened as I realize how far God has brought me along to this day.
I hope to get the next blog out sometime during the week of Thanksgiving, which should be the end of our NIACT training, and final preparations to fly out to Kuwait.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Week 1 - NMPS - the admin shuffle
Well, I have completed the first week of my deployment process and am currently heading to my next destination for some good old fashioned Army training at Fort Jackson in South Carolina.
Here is what I have been up to since I last blogged:
Sunday Nov 2nd: I departed my dear family in Hawaii. We had a great last day together, lots of close family, good food, and movies galore. For me it provided a good distraction from the impending thought of leaving the girls behind. Abby was real champ and good Navy wife and sent me off with lots of hugs, kisses, and not too many tears. For me an uneventful, low key departure is best, as I prefer to keep the emotions under control and conserve my energy for the time ahead and ultimately a jubilant celebration upon returning.
I arrived in San Diego for NMPS (Navy Mobilization Processing Site) on Sunday night, and we jumped right into the processing on Monday morning 0600 for uniform fitting. That is where I learned excitedly that I would be issued the Army Camouflage Uniform (ACU) vice the Navy Desert Camouflage. The nice feature of ACUs are the tons of pockets for storing everything from I-pod to 20 oz bottles of coke, and the ability to not even look like you are concealing anything. Just imaging those popular 80’s zipper pants and zipper jackets that had tons of pockets everywhere, but instead of zippers they use Velcro, and it is all camouflage so each day you discover a new pocket that you didn’t realize you had.
My assessment is that NMPS is just a necessary administrative evil that must be endured. It serves two purposes. First, another thorough review of all your medical, dental, and personnel records (considering I spent 6 months prior to departing Hawaii doing a thorough 6 page deployment checklist, I expected to have them find very little, but was not the case) This proved to be a monotonous and often frustrating process of being herded around from one clinic to the next, getting last minute shots, answering questionares and seeing different doctors and corpsman. This brings us to the second purpose of NMPS, to prepare you for the Army way of doing business … hurry up and wait, don’t ask too many questions, this is the way we do business. The ultimate inefficiency of the process got under most of our skins, but we quickly realized that fighting against it only dissipated unnecessary energy, and that it was best to just make the most of each wasted moment. After day one being full briefings, we all came back day 2 with books, gameboys, ipods, and snacks to occupy our wait times in between events. The first two days where the hardest but then it seemed to thin out a bit as we all were just finishing up our last few administrative details on Wednesday. Thursday started looking up as they told us that we needed to only to get fitted for our gas masks and to report in at reasonable 0830 get our gas mask and then we would be released to enjoy San Diego a bit. Well as you can imagine it was another Army training session in which once we mustered, they figured out there was no way 
they would process all 140 of us in the morning, and told half of us to come back after lunch. The gas mask process completely captured the spirit of the whole week here, once we were sent, we waited 1 hr in line to get to the gas mask fitting room, only to realize the room was full of chairs of people waiting to be fitted and tested. The good news is you got a chair to sit and read a book for the next hour, while you watched everyone do the 10 min leak test while wearing their mask. I was able to capture a few pictures of that event. One Petty Officers displayed wise use of time reading email on her phone while doing the 10 minute leak test of the gas mask.
I did get some time for some liberty in the evenings, and Friday afternoon, so I spent some time visiting with old friends from college and their families, as well as going back to visit San Diego State. Wow what a change they have undergone. Lots of new buildings and renovations since I went there (except the engineering 
building where I spent so many hours of my life in college, it looked exactly the same. Not surprising engineers are so cheap!) many more starbucks and a cool new basketball arena on campus. I also ate my traditional carne aside meal in old town San Diego during my visit.
The final day at NMPS was uniform issue. That was pretty cool, 4 full sets of uniforms, 2 pairs of boots, gloves, sweats, a couple items for extreme cold weather . They gave us nearly a full seabag full of stuff when you included the gas mask, and it made packing the last night a little challenging. I ended up having 1 full sea bag, 1 very full back pack, and a small extra carry bag as I departed Saturday morning on a Navy DC-10 from North Island San Diego to Columbia South Carolina. Here in this picture you can see my miraculous transformation from Navy blue to Army green.
The story of the people: Everyone knows that men and women of the military serve for love of country and family, but one thing my Navy career has taught me is that we are motivated often times much more by the people we serve along side, the relationships we develop, and the desire not to let the guy beside you down. Here are some short bio’s of the people that were deploying with me from NMPS (names changed to protect the identities) that I found inspiration from:
OS2 (Operations Specialist 2nd class) Seawiss - I sat next this fine petty officer on the flight from Hawaii on United Airlines. It was not until we reached LAX that we realized we were both going to the San Diego for mobilization. He volunteered for a 1 year IA (Individual Augmentation) tour directly from his ship in Pearl Harbor. He is going to Iraq to operate the land based Seawiss systems that protect us on the military Camps in Iraq from incoming rockets and mortars. He just arrived in Hawaii 3 months ago and left behind his wife of 3 years. He was a humble and yet excited volunteer, really amazing from a guy going from a sea going command to Iraq.
HMC (Hospital Corpsman Chief) Savesem - I met the Chief waiting in the medical clinic. I thought it was a bit ironic that even a corpsman chief was not able to make it through the medical screening process at NMPS without finding something missing in his records. HMC was going back for his third tour over there. I was needless to say impressed, and listened carefully as he shared great stories and advice on how to operate in theatre with the locals, the contractors and the third party foreign nationals working there. The HMC was taking a 1 year GSA billet which is different from the IA billets that I am going on in that he actually detached from his previous command and took orders to ECRC (Expeditionary Combat Readiness Command) and upon return gets his orders to his next command. His family is allowed to move temporarily if they desire until new orders are received. It seems like a good idea, so that commands are not losing personell to gapped billets like the IA billets create.
CAPT Chopper (Supply Officer) - The CAPT is an activated reservist going back for the second time. He works supply and logistics in theatre. I enjoyed a good amount of time in the gas mask line getting to know him and his experiences. He is a San Diego resident and works in the medical supply field in his civilian life. He was all in all in good spirits and took it well being just one of the guys waiting in line for hours like the rest of us. It definitely impressed on me the diversity of the group both in skill training, anywhere from sonar techs to pilots and from seaman to CAPTs where in our group.
Reflection:
So what’s the take away from this unique and memorable week. There is more waiting and frustration ahead, and inefficiency has long been a pet peeve of mine (some of you may know that I have history of reacting in frustration when I get impatient) but that there are many great people in which to share the experience. Often times people grow close in times of adversity, and you make memorable friends along the way. I must rely on God to give me patience and peace during the trying times that lie ahead.
The verse of scripture that I believe God has given me to work deeply in my life for all the trials that remain ahead comes from Philippians 4:6-7
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus”
Thanks everyone for you continued support and prayers, I continue to pray for peace of mind for all my friends and family back home.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)