It's hot, windy, and I hate using porta-potties. Only a few more days left here in Kuwait, and then we'll be truckin' up north. Yippee
-Mac
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Kuwait, Day I-don't-know
The past few days have been a blur of countries and flights, SP times and squad meetings. We left Camp Atterbury on a day that I seriously cannot remember. I think it was a Friday, but I could be wrong. We took what is called a MAC Flight to South Carolina. I am not exactly sure what ‘MAC’ stands for, but I think it’s Military And Civilian (or something to that effect). It’s a civilian plane, with civilian staff, that flies the military around the world. The company, “Ryan”, must have hooked us up or something because we had the whole 300 passenger plane to ourselves for the first leg of the flight. We picked up about 120 Navy sailors on their way to Kuwait also. That left a lot of seats open still, and I enjoyed 3 seats in the middle of the plane, or ‘the couch’ as I refer to it. I slept quite a bit on the couch for our journey here. South Carolina jumped up to the top of my list of states I love.
We sat on the tarmac for a good hour before getting off the plane to the biggest welcoming party I have ever seen. Swarmed by about 30 veterans, we ate plate loads of food and listened to endless stories of gore, war, and glory. It sucks that we got a better welcoming/send-off from people in a state that none of us have any ties to than in the damn state we grew up in. I think it's bullshit, or as my favorite Marine veteran Charlie now says, "Pelosi". Charlie was in 'Nam since the beginning, and I'm not afraid to say that it really f***ed him up. As The Jap, Moon, and I sat at a table stuffing our faces with pizza, Charlie broke the dinner silence with this statement: "Around these parts gents, we don't say 'bullshit', we say 'Pelosi'!!!". He went on to say some more anti-this and anti-that stuff, and it was great entertainment for about half and hour. I could tell it was good for him to get it off his chest.
From SC, we went to Gandar Canada. It was in the low 30’s outside on the tarmac, and it was a very surprising change from the hot and humid SC weather. We were supposed to fuel and move out within an hour to Iceland, but it turned out they were having 50mph winds where we were supposed to land. We got rerouted straight to Leipzig, Germany. Another refuel there took a couple hours, and I got the chance to enjoy some fine German airport cuisine (joking). From Leipzig, we went straight on down to Kuwait City.
I, being the dimwit that I am sometimes, volunteered for the baggage detail, and had to help unload the 600+ bags we had in the belly of the plane. Each person in my unit had about 3 bags, and the sailors had 4 each. Do the math whichever way you want, with a few extra bags and boxes in there, and it added up to a couple of sweaty hours of work at 0200 hours. It had been about 48 hours since we left rainy Atterbury, and all of it with stinky socks, crappy airplane sandwiches, and bad gas from the combo of some authentic German brats and a ton of candy. I was tired and just wanted somewhere to rack out, but it never came. When we unloaded the bags, nobody thought to separate them. The Navy Officers, having a larger number of sailors than our puny 46 soldiers, said we would have to wait for our bags a few days while they got to their camp on the other side of Kuwait. Our Commander blew a gasket, and I’ve never seen an O-6 take shit from an O-3 before but it was great. The guy was so wrapped up in himself that he thought we would wait a couple of days to have our bags bussed to us. It was bullshit, and our Commander called him on it. So we got another truck, and went through every damn bag again to sort ‘em out. Of course, there were a few people with common last names and even the same first initials, so there were some problems. I sat back enjoying my first bottle of Kuwaiti Spring Water while everyone else sorted through the bags, and my Commander granted me a pass on this one rightfully so. The only bags I was going to touch more than once were my own. Luckily there are only a few of us in my family clan, so my bags weren’t mixed up. All in all it got sorted out, and only one person lost a bag (which was sorted out later and returned).
We are only supposed to have a few more days here, but I honestly can’t tell you how long we have been here. I called my dad the second night, so and I think that was on a Sunday. Our whole purpose of coming into Kuwait is to acclimatize ourselves to the weather and Arabic life in general. I’ve been having to speak a lot more Arabic and it really makes me hate it even more. Everything smells like a taxi cab with a middle-eastern driver, even the port-o-johns stink of it. It’s freaking hot out at all hours of the day. It cools down to a brisk mid 80 temp at night, but its back up to triple digits before 0800hours the next morning. Our tent is air conditioned, and we just got a plywood floor too. The internet café costs an arm and a testicle, but it’s relatively fast for being run out of a hodji hut. There are quite a few people on this base, and the PX, phones, and chow halls are pretty packed. The food isn’t too bad, but I’m already getting tired of it. Hopefully we punch through all the training quickly and get the hell up north to where the ‘war’ is.
-Mad Mac
We sat on the tarmac for a good hour before getting off the plane to the biggest welcoming party I have ever seen. Swarmed by about 30 veterans, we ate plate loads of food and listened to endless stories of gore, war, and glory. It sucks that we got a better welcoming/send-off from people in a state that none of us have any ties to than in the damn state we grew up in. I think it's bullshit, or as my favorite Marine veteran Charlie now says, "Pelosi". Charlie was in 'Nam since the beginning, and I'm not afraid to say that it really f***ed him up. As The Jap, Moon, and I sat at a table stuffing our faces with pizza, Charlie broke the dinner silence with this statement: "Around these parts gents, we don't say 'bullshit', we say 'Pelosi'!!!". He went on to say some more anti-this and anti-that stuff, and it was great entertainment for about half and hour. I could tell it was good for him to get it off his chest.
From SC, we went to Gandar Canada. It was in the low 30’s outside on the tarmac, and it was a very surprising change from the hot and humid SC weather. We were supposed to fuel and move out within an hour to Iceland, but it turned out they were having 50mph winds where we were supposed to land. We got rerouted straight to Leipzig, Germany. Another refuel there took a couple hours, and I got the chance to enjoy some fine German airport cuisine (joking). From Leipzig, we went straight on down to Kuwait City.
I, being the dimwit that I am sometimes, volunteered for the baggage detail, and had to help unload the 600+ bags we had in the belly of the plane. Each person in my unit had about 3 bags, and the sailors had 4 each. Do the math whichever way you want, with a few extra bags and boxes in there, and it added up to a couple of sweaty hours of work at 0200 hours. It had been about 48 hours since we left rainy Atterbury, and all of it with stinky socks, crappy airplane sandwiches, and bad gas from the combo of some authentic German brats and a ton of candy. I was tired and just wanted somewhere to rack out, but it never came. When we unloaded the bags, nobody thought to separate them. The Navy Officers, having a larger number of sailors than our puny 46 soldiers, said we would have to wait for our bags a few days while they got to their camp on the other side of Kuwait. Our Commander blew a gasket, and I’ve never seen an O-6 take shit from an O-3 before but it was great. The guy was so wrapped up in himself that he thought we would wait a couple of days to have our bags bussed to us. It was bullshit, and our Commander called him on it. So we got another truck, and went through every damn bag again to sort ‘em out. Of course, there were a few people with common last names and even the same first initials, so there were some problems. I sat back enjoying my first bottle of Kuwaiti Spring Water while everyone else sorted through the bags, and my Commander granted me a pass on this one rightfully so. The only bags I was going to touch more than once were my own. Luckily there are only a few of us in my family clan, so my bags weren’t mixed up. All in all it got sorted out, and only one person lost a bag (which was sorted out later and returned).
We are only supposed to have a few more days here, but I honestly can’t tell you how long we have been here. I called my dad the second night, so and I think that was on a Sunday. Our whole purpose of coming into Kuwait is to acclimatize ourselves to the weather and Arabic life in general. I’ve been having to speak a lot more Arabic and it really makes me hate it even more. Everything smells like a taxi cab with a middle-eastern driver, even the port-o-johns stink of it. It’s freaking hot out at all hours of the day. It cools down to a brisk mid 80 temp at night, but its back up to triple digits before 0800hours the next morning. Our tent is air conditioned, and we just got a plywood floor too. The internet café costs an arm and a testicle, but it’s relatively fast for being run out of a hodji hut. There are quite a few people on this base, and the PX, phones, and chow halls are pretty packed. The food isn’t too bad, but I’m already getting tired of it. Hopefully we punch through all the training quickly and get the hell up north to where the ‘war’ is.
-Mad Mac
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Camp Atterbury Day 63.54
September 24
The past few days that we’ve been back from our leave have been boring, to say the least. The first day we were back was one big lecture. A few people had gone home on leave and really screwed up. Car accidents, injuries, and inappropriate tattoos were some of the things we heard about from our commander. Overall, nobody was seriously injured and no arrests were made, so our roster didn’t change and that’s all that really matters I guess. I still can’t believe some of the crap people pulled just because they were home for 10 freakin’ days. The tattoos bothered me the most I think, and guess who got them? Yeah, the females. Our most outspoken lesbo got one of a grenade in the shape of a peace sign, and colored in with the Rastafarian red/green/yellow colors. What the hell is that!? The other female’s was the Dodger’s “LA” behind an ear, totally violating the Army Regulation on tattoos that are in sight while wearing a formal uniform. A: tattoos aren’t allowed in sight while wearing a formal uniform after joining the Army. If you have them before you sign up, they are documented and waived. B: the “LA”, believe it or not, is gang affiliated by Army standards, and isn’t allowed after you are sworn in. Whatever the case, I’m just annoyed that these 2 are in MY unit and are a reflection upon ME when we go overseas. Every single soldier that sees either of these tattoos is going to think the same thing about the wearer: “What the hell was she thinking?”, “Who allowed her to get THAT!?” or the worst, “This unit is jacked up, look they don’t even enforce Army Regulations.” I have to stand information every day and it pisses me off that I can see these damn tattoos from where I am. Just goes to show what kind of soldiers are going and what kind of leadership we have in this unit.
I guess that’s enough ranting. For the past few days we have been on alert status, meaning our bags are packed and we’re ready to be on a bus in 3 hours or less if they call us. It really sucks living out of a duffel bag, and it sucks even more getting the call and having it cancelled…twice. Just get me the hell outta Indiana so I can do my damn time in Iraq and get on with my life already!
The past few days that we’ve been back from our leave have been boring, to say the least. The first day we were back was one big lecture. A few people had gone home on leave and really screwed up. Car accidents, injuries, and inappropriate tattoos were some of the things we heard about from our commander. Overall, nobody was seriously injured and no arrests were made, so our roster didn’t change and that’s all that really matters I guess. I still can’t believe some of the crap people pulled just because they were home for 10 freakin’ days. The tattoos bothered me the most I think, and guess who got them? Yeah, the females. Our most outspoken lesbo got one of a grenade in the shape of a peace sign, and colored in with the Rastafarian red/green/yellow colors. What the hell is that!? The other female’s was the Dodger’s “LA” behind an ear, totally violating the Army Regulation on tattoos that are in sight while wearing a formal uniform. A: tattoos aren’t allowed in sight while wearing a formal uniform after joining the Army. If you have them before you sign up, they are documented and waived. B: the “LA”, believe it or not, is gang affiliated by Army standards, and isn’t allowed after you are sworn in. Whatever the case, I’m just annoyed that these 2 are in MY unit and are a reflection upon ME when we go overseas. Every single soldier that sees either of these tattoos is going to think the same thing about the wearer: “What the hell was she thinking?”, “Who allowed her to get THAT!?” or the worst, “This unit is jacked up, look they don’t even enforce Army Regulations.” I have to stand information every day and it pisses me off that I can see these damn tattoos from where I am. Just goes to show what kind of soldiers are going and what kind of leadership we have in this unit.
I guess that’s enough ranting. For the past few days we have been on alert status, meaning our bags are packed and we’re ready to be on a bus in 3 hours or less if they call us. It really sucks living out of a duffel bag, and it sucks even more getting the call and having it cancelled…twice. Just get me the hell outta Indiana so I can do my damn time in Iraq and get on with my life already!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Camp Atterbury Day 3,612
September 9-22
My trip home was awesome! I did a lot of sleeping, eating, and lounging around. A few surf sessions with some friends and even my dad, a fishing trip with my close buddies, and even my first trip up to San Francisco! I had a great time with everyone I got to see, and I hung around home with my parents a bit too. I saw Inglourious Basterds, Valkyrie, and a few other movies at home too. Overall it was a good trip home, but a little bittersweet. When I left back in August, I had my mind set on not being home for well over a year, but this was an unexpected joy. I didn’t want to make this second goodbye more difficult than the first, so I didn’t really go around seeing EVERYONE. I had a good time though, and it really relieved a lot of the stresses that the last month and a half of training had built up.
-Mac
My trip home was awesome! I did a lot of sleeping, eating, and lounging around. A few surf sessions with some friends and even my dad, a fishing trip with my close buddies, and even my first trip up to San Francisco! I had a great time with everyone I got to see, and I hung around home with my parents a bit too. I saw Inglourious Basterds, Valkyrie, and a few other movies at home too. Overall it was a good trip home, but a little bittersweet. When I left back in August, I had my mind set on not being home for well over a year, but this was an unexpected joy. I didn’t want to make this second goodbye more difficult than the first, so I didn’t really go around seeing EVERYONE. I had a good time though, and it really relieved a lot of the stresses that the last month and a half of training had built up.
-Mac
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Camp Atterbury Day 19
September 2-6
Our trip to Crane Naval Base was pretty uneventful. The trip was to get the newer soldier in the unit familiarized with the basic procedures and duties of an Ammunition Specialist. The very basic duties have to do with handling a few different types of ammunition, storage, distribution, demilitarization, and basic maintenance. When handling ammo, we use a few different kinds of forklifts, from 10,000 pound all-terrain to the 3,000 pound warehouse Hysters like you would see at Costco. The Hysters are fairly easy to drive, as they are small and move quickly around tighter areas. Most of the underground and berm magazines are crammed with ammo, so Hysters really help out. The all-terrain forks are used for the outdoor magazines and storage areas, as they can lift more and have offroad capabilities. The 10k and 6k forks are a little more difficult to drive, as they are a lot bigger and harder to control. They can reach higher top speeds, but don’t usually move fast with loads on the forks. It takes a lot of hours behind the wheel of any fork to be able to master its capabilities and be able to use the right amount of force or finesse. After being in the cab for a while, I’ve seen a lot of different situations that require using the forks for things they aren’t intended for, and only experience helps with the solution to most of these problems. Forks can be used to push, pull, dig up, or smash things as needed, but you’ll only be able to do it right if you’ve seen it or done it yourself. Anyway, the ammunition at Crane is controlled entirely by civilians, so that was new for some of the newer soldiers also.
Most soldiers on this trip were placed on teams that were paired with civilian teams, and they learned from their leaders on both sides. The soldiers with experience were placed with civilian teams and went straight to work, while the other teams were walked through and introduced to the operations. I got paired with a few different civilian teams, and it was nice to get away from the group for a while and knock out some real work. Over the course of this trip I loaded over a thousand pallets of .50cal, 2.5inch rockets, 155mm propellant charges, and some other Navy missiles onto various platforms. Some of the loads were into shipping containers (or connexes), others were on flatbed truck trailers, and some were even into railcars. The railcars were my favorite. They are pretty tough to load, space is tight and depending on the load being carried it can get dangerous. I hadn’t loaded a railcar in a long time, so it felt good when I knocked the first few down. After that it just turned into a blur as we loaded each railcar all the way through the day. The team I was with that day had their stuff together, and we watched quite a few railcars go out full and come in empty. I liked working by myself too, nobody from the group complaining or wanting to take breaks. I skipped lunch and didn’t even notice. I was pretty tired after 14 hours of loading that day, and I slept pretty well, even in the crappy barracks they put us in.
Most everyone got some good training, but a few soldiers were paired with some civilians teams that weren’t so receptive as mine. I understand why, it’s almost as if we were in the way. The civilians had to stop their normal routine and explain it to a bunch of new jacks and let them try it out. Anyone that does this job every day for a while is going to be faster than a bunch of newbies that have never loaded a railcar, let alone driven a forklift. I was pretty lucky I fell into a good rhythm quick, as I hadn’t been in a forklift for over a year before that.
We arrived back at Camp Atterbury on the 6th of September to some great news: we had a 10 day pass to go on leave coming up! The pass length would allow us to come home and enjoy our last few days in the states in a comfortable environment.
-Mac
Our trip to Crane Naval Base was pretty uneventful. The trip was to get the newer soldier in the unit familiarized with the basic procedures and duties of an Ammunition Specialist. The very basic duties have to do with handling a few different types of ammunition, storage, distribution, demilitarization, and basic maintenance. When handling ammo, we use a few different kinds of forklifts, from 10,000 pound all-terrain to the 3,000 pound warehouse Hysters like you would see at Costco. The Hysters are fairly easy to drive, as they are small and move quickly around tighter areas. Most of the underground and berm magazines are crammed with ammo, so Hysters really help out. The all-terrain forks are used for the outdoor magazines and storage areas, as they can lift more and have offroad capabilities. The 10k and 6k forks are a little more difficult to drive, as they are a lot bigger and harder to control. They can reach higher top speeds, but don’t usually move fast with loads on the forks. It takes a lot of hours behind the wheel of any fork to be able to master its capabilities and be able to use the right amount of force or finesse. After being in the cab for a while, I’ve seen a lot of different situations that require using the forks for things they aren’t intended for, and only experience helps with the solution to most of these problems. Forks can be used to push, pull, dig up, or smash things as needed, but you’ll only be able to do it right if you’ve seen it or done it yourself. Anyway, the ammunition at Crane is controlled entirely by civilians, so that was new for some of the newer soldiers also.
Most soldiers on this trip were placed on teams that were paired with civilian teams, and they learned from their leaders on both sides. The soldiers with experience were placed with civilian teams and went straight to work, while the other teams were walked through and introduced to the operations. I got paired with a few different civilian teams, and it was nice to get away from the group for a while and knock out some real work. Over the course of this trip I loaded over a thousand pallets of .50cal, 2.5inch rockets, 155mm propellant charges, and some other Navy missiles onto various platforms. Some of the loads were into shipping containers (or connexes), others were on flatbed truck trailers, and some were even into railcars. The railcars were my favorite. They are pretty tough to load, space is tight and depending on the load being carried it can get dangerous. I hadn’t loaded a railcar in a long time, so it felt good when I knocked the first few down. After that it just turned into a blur as we loaded each railcar all the way through the day. The team I was with that day had their stuff together, and we watched quite a few railcars go out full and come in empty. I liked working by myself too, nobody from the group complaining or wanting to take breaks. I skipped lunch and didn’t even notice. I was pretty tired after 14 hours of loading that day, and I slept pretty well, even in the crappy barracks they put us in.
Most everyone got some good training, but a few soldiers were paired with some civilians teams that weren’t so receptive as mine. I understand why, it’s almost as if we were in the way. The civilians had to stop their normal routine and explain it to a bunch of new jacks and let them try it out. Anyone that does this job every day for a while is going to be faster than a bunch of newbies that have never loaded a railcar, let alone driven a forklift. I was pretty lucky I fell into a good rhythm quick, as I hadn’t been in a forklift for over a year before that.
We arrived back at Camp Atterbury on the 6th of September to some great news: we had a 10 day pass to go on leave coming up! The pass length would allow us to come home and enjoy our last few days in the states in a comfortable environment.
-Mac
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Camp Atterbury Day 14
Today was sort of an off day. We had a life fire event yesterday, and it was a complete gaggle-f***. The situation was very complicated and orchestrated well, but the execution fell through. No injuries and no damages, so I guess it went well enough. I basically spent a few hours picking off the most difficult targets, practicing my marksmanship and trying to pick ‘em off as fast as I could. I regret it though, because now my weapon is freaking dirty as all hell and I still have to pack.
Tomorrow we head off to Crane Naval Base, the largest Naval weapon base on the east side of the Mississippi. We are supposed to head out there and help/supervise the civilians for a few days. I’m not really looking forward to it, as dealing with Department of Defense Civilians is never fun, but we’ll see. I’m off to go scrap the carbon out of my weapon and go to sleep with smelly carbon hands. Yay.
Tomorrow we head off to Crane Naval Base, the largest Naval weapon base on the east side of the Mississippi. We are supposed to head out there and help/supervise the civilians for a few days. I’m not really looking forward to it, as dealing with Department of Defense Civilians is never fun, but we’ll see. I’m off to go scrap the carbon out of my weapon and go to sleep with smelly carbon hands. Yay.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
COL Nighthawk Day 3
Our time here at the COL is almost finished, and I'm glad. Today we went over how to run and ECP (Entry Control Point). The ECP is the first line of defense for a base, or in our case, COL Blackhawk. There are 3 major pieces to the ECP: tower/gate guards, searching personnel, and the QRF (Quick Reaction Force). The tower and gate guards watch all the vehicles coming in, as well as the pedestrians and the respective holding areas for both. The searching personnel look through and underneath vehicle for anything suspicious, and also hand search any pedestrians. The QRF are the badass boys of the ECP, and I was glad I was picked for it. Anyone can call in the QRF if there is any chance of the ECP being overrun or heavily damaged. If anything gets out of control, we are called in to kick ass and take names later. Asking for the QRF is reserved only f or serious situations, and it’s not a force to be toyed with. We were called a few times that day, for everything from a riot to a sniper holed up in a van outside the gate. It was actually a fun exercise, and we did really well. Chief Mule Face was on Alpha Team of the QRF with me, and we had some fun running around with machine guns and firing blanks at simulated enemy, sliding behind barriers and calling in over the radio that we “need more fucking ammo up here sarge!!!” haha.
All in all, everyone learned just how chaotic the ECP can get, and how important it is to report anything suspicious before it gets out of hand. Everyone also learned that it is best to have all the badasses on the QRF. It felt good to be able to run everything out and kind of escape the bullshit for a few hours and concentrate on the mission. I don't know why, but I'm letting some of the soldiers in my unit get on my nerves about things that normally wouldn't bother me.
I also got dropped by Sergeant Know-It-All today too, for the second time. I've begun to take a different approach to this deployment, and I'm not sure if it's going to work for me. I told a good friend of mine before I left that I had planned to keep a light attitude towards this trip, and she agreed that it might be the best idea for me. Well, it sort of bit me in the ass when Sergeant Know-It-All called me out on it today. He took me outside after I spit out a few jokes before a class, and told me I am "not allowed to joke anymore". This is a senior NCO, been in the Army ten plus years more than me, and he's telling me I can't joke!? Talk about a waste of time. This guy should have so much more on his plate regarding our mission and the welfare of our soldiers, yet he insists on singling me out to stop my "unnecessary and disruptive horseplay". Now, I see Horseplay in the same league as GrabAss, and I clearly was doing neither from the position I was sitting in. Anyway, I did pushups while Know-It-All was explaining this to me, and I couldn't help but smirk. Know-It-All was about to blow a gasket, when a captain came outside to tell us class was starting. Nothing like getting saved by a captain :)
-Mac
All in all, everyone learned just how chaotic the ECP can get, and how important it is to report anything suspicious before it gets out of hand. Everyone also learned that it is best to have all the badasses on the QRF. It felt good to be able to run everything out and kind of escape the bullshit for a few hours and concentrate on the mission. I don't know why, but I'm letting some of the soldiers in my unit get on my nerves about things that normally wouldn't bother me.
I also got dropped by Sergeant Know-It-All today too, for the second time. I've begun to take a different approach to this deployment, and I'm not sure if it's going to work for me. I told a good friend of mine before I left that I had planned to keep a light attitude towards this trip, and she agreed that it might be the best idea for me. Well, it sort of bit me in the ass when Sergeant Know-It-All called me out on it today. He took me outside after I spit out a few jokes before a class, and told me I am "not allowed to joke anymore". This is a senior NCO, been in the Army ten plus years more than me, and he's telling me I can't joke!? Talk about a waste of time. This guy should have so much more on his plate regarding our mission and the welfare of our soldiers, yet he insists on singling me out to stop my "unnecessary and disruptive horseplay". Now, I see Horseplay in the same league as GrabAss, and I clearly was doing neither from the position I was sitting in. Anyway, I did pushups while Know-It-All was explaining this to me, and I couldn't help but smirk. Know-It-All was about to blow a gasket, when a captain came outside to tell us class was starting. Nothing like getting saved by a captain :)
-Mac
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