Douchebagistan

Haven't posted since I've got here. What a rugged, beautiful country filled with curious, hard-working people. Too bad the U.S. Army is here to shit all over it. The reduction in strength imposed by the President in order to adhere to the draw down has hamstrung our unit, just like it did to the unit we replaces and all units to come. It turns out sending half your people home makes you shorthanded. I would get back on a plane and go back to Iraq in a heartbeat. The days were long, it was hot as balls but we had a set schedule and a set rest cycle. I can count with my fingers the number of times I've slept through the night without being woken up to do some detail or another. I've pulled more 36 hour days (shift -> mission -> shift) than days I've got to sleep without being disturbed. I've been on the verge of calling IG or writing my congressmen pretty much everyday that I've been here. It's not just me either - it doesn't seem too intelligent to make a guy do two back to back shifts on tower guard but it happens daily. I understand we are short on people but that doesn't mean NCOs don't have to go to bat for their soldiers to shield them from the bullshit.

Gripes aside, things are well here. We saw some action in the wake of the Koran burning (thanks turds - you can never really understand the impact of some cunt burning a Koran or pissing on a body until you're actually in that country when it happens), but not too bad. Our mission OPTEMPO is actually ridiculously slow compared to the last deployment, we just have to cover down on the FORCEPRO and the chow hall guard unlike last time. One of the new guys called me a fobbit and told me proudly that he's been on 10 missions in 3 months so far. I laughed - in Iraq we did 90 in 3 months. As always, the busy gauge violently switches between watching paint dry and staying awake for 40 hours without sleeping. I miss going out everyday with the guys but at the same time our missions aren't anymore exciting than working in the TOC. Drive, sit in the turret while a KLE happens then drive back. I still get made fun of. I was thinking about changing the blog name to Fobbits Eat Ice Cream too.

Still around

Just finished our rotation at NTC. I'm not sure what the point of coming here was. Our brigade was cut approximately half due to the troop reduction (probably the first serious thing that has made me seethe with hatred over a Presidential decision) and will be broken off into individual task forces spread across Afghanistan. NTC only trains brigades. Brigade SOPs and brigade level training was conducted for 3 weeks yet in about 2 weeks, our brigade will dissolve and we will not work with them ever again. We learned nothing - we proved ourselves to be the best CoIST in the brigade and did nothing but utilize our company and BN SOPs. That being said, I witnessed some really terrible shit that makes me glad we will not be working with our own brigade soon enough. A no cell phone/outside communication policy that resulted in more than one soldier missing the chance to talk to a loved one before they died. A restriction on red cross messages to immediate family only to prevent them from leaving "the box" and pictures of pizza boxes in the brigade TOC while at the company level, we were usually restricted to MREs or sometimes nothing. Sometimes I am so excited and proud to be a member of the military and other times I am so disgusted that I regret ever joining. I suppose everyone in the military feels like this at one time or another, and that I am not extraordinarily unique in this thought process.

Well I'm off

Because the National Guard and the Army as a whole enjoy fucking soldiers out of money, we're doing two back to back AT's (2011 followed the next day by 2012) in order to not pay everyone BAH and the other entitlements we would normally receive on active orders for 6 weeks or so. Then we're off. I feel confident in the COIST team and I know we'll be able to perform whatever tasks the commander has for us. The largest part of our job is receiving intelligence and processing it to make it useful to the commander and higher headquarters. We're all college educated, anal retentive/borderline OCD neat freaks, so we fit well together. Not sure how the blog thing will work out this time. If anything, I'll keep a digital journal and then publish it all once we get back.

NYT Article

So I read this article today: http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/16/wanted-a-good-job-and-some-understanding/


Quite a good read. It makes me laugh too. The military and the government are always doing surveys and spending millions on how to fix veterans but they do not hesitate to keep troops away from their families for lengthy periods even when stateside. I ran the numbers and I was gone for training 1 day out of every 3 last year. This year has been even worse. Last year we had a month AT, two weeks off in between, a MUTA 12 (6 day drill), another 2 weeks off, another MUTA 12 then I was gone for 2 weeks for a school. I had two more weeks off, then was gone for a MUTA 4 (2 day drill) and a 7 day school. There has also been a disturbing trend towards having drills during the week instead of the weekend. Trying to get a job as a Guardsmen has been the hardest thing I've ever done. They ask for your drill schedule, see that you'll be gone at least one week a month, an entire month sometime in the summer and then either at the end of the year or early in the next, you'll be gone for an entire year. When you get back, you'll have a few months of nothing and then the cycle starts all over.

If I hear "we've filled the spot internally" one more time, I might get sick.

Old Navy

So I have a wedding today. Yesterday the girlfriend and I went to Old Navy in search of some cheap "summer casual" wedding clothes. I found a nice polo, a pair of khakis and some black undershirts. As usual, my girlfriend found nothing to wear in the entire store. I noticed a tiny TV playing some military crap at the front of the store with a bin that read "t-shirts, boxers, and socks". We waited in line at the check-out and our cashier greeted us. She rang up my stuff and made small talk with my girlfriend. Right before I was ready to pay, she asked if I would like to donate $5 to the troops in order to get 10% off my purchase. I laughed and commented that I was a troop. This was apparently not funny. She looked at me and said "Well you can donate $2.50 too for 10% off." I laughed again. Explaining to this girl that absolutely none of these clothes or cash would go to troops that actually needed it would be an exercise in futility. Care packages and MWR packages go to people that spend the majority of their deployment time at the PX and Burger King.

The girl was stonefaced. "So because you think you're a troop you don't need to donate?" In my mind, I pictured myself smashing her face open with my fist. I could see her nose crack, her lip split and teeth come out. Luckily my girlfriend stepped in: "He's already donated 5 years of his life, with one of those in a combat zone."

The girl was unrelenting: "You can donate as little as $1 for 10% off!" I swiped my credit card and left with my shit.

Well done Old Navy. I'm not sure what reward you're giving your cashiers for pushing this 4th of July bullshit. I used to shop at your stores almost exclusively for my clothes. I will never shop with you again.

No more beret, a perfect birthday gift for the Army

Berets are gone with ACUs. I've always hated it, but I've also managed to go three years without wearing mine. We wear PCs at training anyways since we spend very little time in garrison. It was great to read the report last night though, considering I am at a two week course where we have to wear it everyday. One less item for the packing list and now my right cargo pocket will be empty of a hat I never wear.

The velcro patches are largely irrelevant to me considering in a few months I'll be overseas wearing Multicam without any nametapes or patches anyways.

Good changes that have been a long time coming.

It's a secret handshake...

Easily the best Army commercial I've seen in my brief 25 years on this planet. I think we beat the Marines this time. I went to the gym and ran after watching this I was so hyped up.