Life in JBB - Money

I have not spent much money since I have been here.  I neither have time to spend it, nor time to look for things to buy, nor time to shop, nor time to use stuff that I would buy.  Moreover, there is nothing I really need.  The army is pretty good at providing food, clothing, and most other eseentials.  Other useful things come in care packages, like more food from home and toiletries.  Once in a while I have to spend money, like when I want a haircut or some other things from the PX or one of the stores. 

We have various money options here in Iraq.  Most places accept credit or debit cards if they are Visa or Mastercard.  Many places also accept cash, American cash.  However, while we use American dollars we do not use American cents.  We use AAFES change.  AAFES is what used to be called (and sometimes is still called) the PX.  AAFES is the army store and they have pogs instead of change, so it is rare to see a quarter here.  Here is a picture of some AAFES change.  They have all sorts of military pictures on them.  We also have "Eagle Cash" which is an Army Debit Card which is accepted in almost every place on post that charges for something.  There are machines that let you load the card with money that gets taken straight from your bank account and then you can spend the money using that card.  The post office here takes Eagle Cash and Cash, but not the AAFES change.  The "Haji shops", where you can buy pirated DVDs and software takes almost anything.  The restaurants take all forms of payment too. 

But again, there is just not all that much to buy here. 

 

Life in JBB - Showers

As Army showers go, the ones we have here are pretty ordinary.  We not not have plumbing in our CHUs, so one must leave their CHU if they want to use one of them.  The showers are in large trailers that have about 12 sinks and 12 showers, each shower covered by a cheap and rather uninteresting shower curtain.  Yes, they are in ordinary free-standing trailers and there are lots of them around the post, especially near the living quarters, though some are in pretty random places.

 

To get to the trailers closest to me, I have leave my CHU and walk about 2 minutes across a large gravel lot.  When I go to shower I usually wear flip-flops and Army Shorts and an Army T-shirt. The walk is very annoying for a lot of reasons.  First, flip-flops and gravel don't go well together.  Second, if it has just rained, flip-flops and mud and puddles really don't mix.  This is especially true for the way back after I have showered and have to return back to my room by slogging through all mud again.  Third, sometimes it is just cold and who wants to go leave the building in the cold to shower? And who wants to walk back in the cold after a shower? 

 

The trailers are almost always clean.  And while that is a good thing, they are always clean because there is always someone there cleaning them.  There is always a TCN (third-country national) trying to wipe down the sinks or squeegee the floors while you are there.  They are really polite and don't get in the way, but they are always there.

 

There is usually hot water, but not always. Once in a while I was forced to make do with a cold shower.  But that's rare.  It is also pretty rare that you have to wait for a sink or shower.  Actually, that has never happened to me.  Usually, when I go, there aren't more than three or four people using the trailer.  So it is not that bad. 

 

Now you know how I shave, shower, and brush my teeth each and every morning. 

Weekend getaway

I was able to spend the weekend in VBC - Victory Base Complex in Baghdad.    I got to see some of Saddam Heussain's palaces and the compound.  It was good to get away from JBB.  I'm back now. 

Life in JBB - Clean hands

Each DFAC (Dining Facility) here (and there are four of them) has an antechamber with about 15 sinks and lots of paper towels that all have the consistency of toilet paper.  Everyone washes their hands before entering the DFAC to eat.  Hand washing prior to meals is not normally that interesting, but in this case it is because there is no such room with sinks in any of the DFACs in the US that I have been to.  I guess that you are expected to come to DFACs in the US with clean hands, whereas here, people may be coming from the field with dirty hands.  So the sink room is something you only see here.  Perhaps it is related to the dirt. And almost everyone entering the DFAC uses washes their hands - the soldiers, the TCNs (third country nationals from places like Nepal, Uganda, or Bangladesh), the locals, and the US civilian contractors.  I have actually seen people make nasty remarks when people just walk in to the dining room without washing their hands (I witnessed this personally). 

 

On a related note, though I don't like using the stuff, hand sanitizer is fairly ubiquitous.  Wherever you go, every office, latrine, room, etc, has hand sanitizer.  The USO put it in the little kits they gave us, it comes in care packages, they are attached to the latrines, and they are generally all about.  I have a bottle on my desk.  I got new bottles as part of a "flu kit" that just contained hand sanitizer and cheap tissues.  It is quite normal for people to asent-mindedly use some while standing by a desk, in a meeting, outside, or wherever. I caught myself doing it yesterday.  Actually, I think I have used so much hand sanitizer at this point that I can tell the difference between the different brands by the way my hands feel a few seconds after rubbing that stuff on them.  Some brands leave your hand feeling refreshed in that alcohol wipe sort of way, others leave your hand feeling sticky, and others have moisturizer. 

Life on JBB - Coffee

Here on JBB we have many coffee options. For starters, each of the four DFACs (Dining Facilities) has coffee machines and to-go cups. So you can get regular coffee there. They actually only have regular coffee - none of that "unleaded" stuff, as some here might call it. Actually, two of the DFACS have two coffee machines: the first is labeled "regular coffee", the second is labeled "strong coffee".

The DFAC closest to my room has the worst coffee of the four DFACs on JBB and their to-go cups don't work well either. They have those Styrofoam cups with those clear flat plastic lids that belong on cups of soda and always manage to drip. The DFAC nearest my work makes a pretty good coffee and they also have decent to-go cups too. The good cups are those paper cups with white plastic lids with the little hole for drinking. The DFAC I usually go to for lunch has good coffee but bad cups. I try to take a stash of the good cups with me to use in the morning when I make my morning coffee. I also try to grab a whole bunch of those tiny little cups of flavored creamer that they have. Those do not need refrigeration, so I can keep them in my room. I do not have a refrigerator, so I cannot take milk back to my CHU.

In my CHU I have a French Press to make coffee, and I also have a plastic thingy that makes a good drip coffee, like a coffee maker would. I have plenty of regular coffee maker coffee around. I use the French Press on Sundays when I have some time to clean it. I prefer French pressed coffee, but without a sink, cleaning the press is annoying and time consuming. Mostly I make instant coffee. Starbucks has good fine powdery instant coffee that I was sent (THANKS!). I am growing to like that (and also running out; hint hint). I have those tea-bag-like Folger's instant coffees which are OK too in a pinch.

There are also at least two stores that sell coffee here on JBB. First there is a Cinnabon store near the PX where you can buy a fairly decent cup of coffee and there is at least one and maybe more, Green Beans Coffee, one (I think) on the Air Force side of the FOB and the other on my side but inside an Air Force compound.

My office also has a few coffee machines, but for some reason I have never had coffee from them. Believe it or not, I'm trying to cut down.

Thanksgiving

Yesterday was Thanksgiving here as well.  As you can imagine the Army does celebrate it.  We alas did not really do too much it honor of the holiday.  I was out of work by 6 PM, which is 1-4 hours earlier than normal.  We noticed throughout the day that other Army units we needed to coordinate with were not picking up the phone or answering emails, leading us to believe that many units were celebrating Thanksgiving more than we were. 

 

I did get to participate in an Army Thanksgiving tradition where the officers (including yours truly) served food to the enlisted soldiers.  So I served corn, green beans, and turnip greens (whatever those are) for about 45 minutes. Typically enlisted soldiers serve the food, though the past few years the trend is to hire civilians to serve the food.  Most of the food service here is done by TCNs (Third Country Nationals); these are non-Americans, non-locals. So we relieved them of their serving duties for lunch.  It was much less stressful than my regular job.   

interesting post

Dad forwarded me this Interesting post.  The comments seem to generally reflect a very poor understanding of what goes on here. 

Torah Scrolls

I dot recall ever seeing a torah scroll on an army base or here in Iraq, so this is interesting.

Life in JBB - Part 2 - Dirt

It is hard to imagine JBB without thinking of the dirt.  It is not that things are dirty or messy, but everything here is covered with a fine layer of some kind of powdery dirt or dust or fine sand or something.  I am not quite sure what it is. It is not quite sand, it is much finer like talcum powder, and it is light brown or tan, I think.  It seems to be everywhere on everything.  It is in the air you breathe, the floors you walk on and the walls that surround all the buildings. It covers everything. The tactical vehicles all have a layer of this dust and the non-tactical vehicles always need washing. The dirt is similar in color to the tactical vehicles, so you when you look at them you only know it is dirty because if the vehicle has been parked too long, the windows are the same color as the rest of the vehicle. I am told that there is always a long wait at the car washing place.

The air conditioner filters are constantly amassing a layer of the fine stuff and really do need to be shaken out from time to time.  It is on the floors of all the rooms that don't get mopped regularly because it is on all the boots.  I am always sweeping my room and I really ought to get around to investing in a mop. Basically, the stuff is everywhere.  It is not disgusting in any way and it doesn't feel dirty, but this stuff is ubiquitous. Many of the roads are paved, but nonetheless in parking lots and when you have to drive off the road you see vehicles kicking up these huge dusty plumes.

We have been pretty lucky so far not to have major dust storms which gets the stuff into everything, though we have seen some minor ones. The little dust storms we have seen look like any foggy day in the states, but the fog is a brownish color. Everyone in JBB knows what that dust tastes like. This is the kind of dust that you don't just smell, it gets in to your mouth and nose and everything. It is not gritty like the sand on the beach, it is just part of the atmosphere here.

I should add that it wasn't until I got to Iraq that I understood the Talmudic passage: "When the Rabbis would leave from the study sessions of Rav Huna and shake off their clothing, the dust would rise and cover the sun, and those in the West Palestine) would say 'they arose from the study session of Rav Huna the Babylonian'." (Ket 106a) It makes perfect sense once you've seen the Babylonian dust.

Jewish Chaplain

Here is an article about the Jewish chaplain currently on JBB. I met him recently at "movie night", an event he held where about half a dozen soldiers and airmen attended.  In case you are interested we saw "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas".  It was nice. 

Life in JBB - Part 1 - There was a young soldier who lived in a CHU. . .

Due to numerous requests for details about life in Balad, today begins the first of a series of posts wherein I shall describe in great detail my life here in JBB.

 

I can start by telling you that I live in a CHU, not a sneeze-like cavern, or a modified shoe, but a Containerized Housing Unit.  Like everything in the Army it is given an acronym instead of a name - CHU.  Like its name, it is pretty small; it is very roughly a cube, or some government approximation: I'd guess about 13' x 13' x 10'.  I have one "ghost roommate".  He is also a LT in my unit, fairly considerate, and not around much.  So it is not that bad a place to live. 

 

My CHU, by the way is in a pod.  There are about 60 CHUs to a pod.  The pod is in an "H".  There are seven Hs, I think. Each "H" has a bunch of pods.  There is no I Pod, I assume that was deliberate.  They go up to about S Pod.  So for example someone may live in H-5, N pod, CHU 30.  (I have no idea who this is.)

There are CHUs that are bigger, but I got a small one.  It is pretty spartan with a touch of dingy.  The CHU came with a bed, a small wall locker, a garbage can, a table lamp, and a night table for each of us.  There is also a fire extinguisher and an air conditioner that more or less works and they say also doubles as a heater for when the weather cools down.  We'll see.  The walls are made of fairly ugly paneling and they are very thin, so you can generally hear everything that goes on in the attached rooms, though I am not sure anyone would really want to.  Attached to my room, on both sides, there are young privates who have the oddest schedule and constantly have people coming in and out.  They wake up at 4 AM every morning.  So I wake up at 4 AM every morning.  But they are gone by about 430, so I can usually get back to sleep easily. 

 

The wall lockers are pretty small too.  They are beige industrial metal and fit all they stuff that I have now, but most of my stuff has yet to arrive.  It is scheduled to get here soon.  So once that gets here I will have nowhere to hold everything.  Frankly I am not sure where I will put the huge foot locker itself.  I'll figure it out.  There are broken blinds on my window that face T-Walls, so there is nothing much to look at.  (I will talk about T-walls later.)  The floor is generally covered with dust (I'll talk about that later too.)  I sweep a lot.  I have to invest in a mop or something too.

 

I want to start putting some homey touches in the room.  I got a refrigerator magnet in the mail with a picture of the Manhattan bridge.  (THANKS D!)  On my wall locker it looks like a tiny window facing outside to Brooklyn.  It's a start.  I was also given a small television from someone who just left Iraq for Kuwait and will not likely return.  I have not tested it out yet.  But I think all the rooms come wired for cable.  So the room is actually starting to have that college dorm room feel. 

 

The picture you see was taken on a pretty messy day before I straightened out.  I usually live a bit neater than that.

Rain!

Last night there was a brief thunderstorm - lots of lightning too.  I got caught in the storm on my way back from the shower.  It broke up the monotony.  I guess the season has begun.  It was a nice day today though. 

T'filah for the Safety of American Soldiers - by the OU

This was forwarded to me by my dad a few weeks ago. Though I am generally pretty safe here, many of us are still not. It is good to know that those still in harm's way are being thought about in shuls around the world.

Sad story

. . . here.

Groundhog Day: SITREP

Pretty soon I will start to describe some of the details of life
around here. There is not much about myself that I have to report as
my life, so far, does not change much from day to day, We have an
expression here to describe this: Groundhog Day. It is the phenomena
where each day resembles the last and after a while they all seem to
look the same. I am sure that I will find something to do that will
break up the monotony. But for now, please pardon the infrequent
posts. As I get more proficient in my job and I understand it better
there will be less to learn and more time to do other things and I
will keep shorter hours. .

Until now I will give you what we call in army parlance a SITREP
(situation report): All is well. No change from yesterday.

Jumping in head first

Since I have been here it has been pretty much non-stop work.  Lots of on the job training.  I stay on the FOB for the most part and work out of an office.  We put in 12 hour days, and don't get enough sleep.  But all in all it is not bad.  We are doing stuff that is pretty high-profile and seems to be important.  Most of my unit is training for their jobs, but the job I was given is pretty different from theirs so I just jumped right in.  There is always a lot to do and some pretty demanding people who want everything done now and done right. 

 

Everything here reminds one of a rather typical army base.  Lots of people walking around and doing their jobs.  Everyone wearing army clothing, etc.  There are concrete walls around everything, the living conditions are comfortable, but spartan. The bathrooms and showers are clean.  There is lots of food, and it is not bad. Let me know what you want to know about. 

 

I would be able to write with more frequency in the future now that my computer stuff is set up in my office.

In Iraq

I landed in Iraq safe and sound the other day and I am now getting settled in and recovering from jet-lag.  We are processing into the base, getting acclimatized, getting settled in and learning where everything is. 

It is odd how "normal" everything here seems.  Nothing too interesting going on here. 

Yom Kippur

I arrived in Kuwait safe and sound though a bit hungry. I did kol nidre in Leibsig, Germany, broke the fast in camp Buherig, Kuwait on powerade and a Cliff Bar, and had a real meal in Ali Al-Salem, Kuwait. The fast was shorter than normal since I travelled west through about six time zones.  It is pretty hot here in Kuwait, but manageable. I'll keep you posted.  

PS I just opened my first non-alcoholic beer . . . with my 9mm. Surreal.

In Maine

We are now on a quick stopover in Bangor Maine.  Last place in the US I'll be seeing in a while.

Keeping busy

Looks like I won't have time or internet access for a few days, so blogging will be light. All is well. Have a Shabbat shalom and an easy fast.

5K RUN

This morning 15 members of our unit participated in the base's 5K run.  Despite the rain, it was still a lot of fun. We ran around the base's helipad.  It was cool seeing a bunch of Marine Ospreys sitting on the field. 

 

Otherwise, we do not have a lot going on so soldiers are finding ways of keeping themselves occupied.  

 

One thing we did was have an ongoing "drama" involving a lawn ornament that was "kidnapped" and re-kidnapped a  number of times.  It was a ceramic gnome with a Boston Red Sox outfit.  The HHC commander thought he would make a good mascot, but many of the New York members of the unit took umbrage.  I played "Dr. Zevil" in a number of episodes of the "ransom" and "re-education" films involving the gnome.  If it sounds bizarre, it is.  I am not sure I understand it either, but it seemed to be good for morale. 

 

Library

I am now in Camp Atterbury Indiana where they have a rather unusual library.  Apparently you can borrow up to 10 books a week.  The catch is that you just don't ever have to return them. That's my kind of library.  

Pass

I am now enjoying a brief few days on pass in New York. It is good to be here one last time before I leave. It is nice to see as many friends and family as I can. Have a shana tova everyone.

Inglourious Mamzerim

The other day we were given the afternoon to go to the mall in nearby Greenwood. Myself and three other officers saw Inglourious Basterds. Highly recommended.

Food update

Today there was nothing I could eat in the DFAC (except corn) so I tried the La Briute self-heating kosher Vegetable Beef Stew in Gravy.  I liked it much better than the last meal I tried a few days ago. I would have this again.  

However, I am a bit puzzled as to why they include powdered soup in all the packages.  To make the soup you have to be able to boil water.  If you could boil water you could make food that required boiling and would be much hotter than you can get with the self-heating meals.  There is some good kosher packaged Indian food, for example, that only requires boiling.  So it seems pointless to include the soup.  

The meals come with cookies too.  The cookies are made by Zomick's by the way.  They are edible, but just OK.  Zomick's could do better.  I know.  I've tasted their stuff.  

I think that next time however, I will try to use an army MRE flameless heater to heat the meal instead of the included one.  the meal did not get as hot as I would have liked.  I think the army's heaters are better (surprisingly). I let you know how that works out.  I might try using both the army's and the included one at the same time.  Also, the Army's MRE meals come in aluminum bags which conduct heat better and these come in plastic containers.  So that might be why MREs get heated better.  I will have to do some experimenting with this.  

UPDATE 17 SEP 2009: I just remembered, Jews in Green did a comparison of different kosher MRE-like foods a few years back. Here is what they wrote up.

Go Colts!

The army let us spend the afternoon at a local sporting event.  So far its pretty fun.

USO

Today was an off day.  We had a few small tasks to accomplish, but not much to do.  We sat around a lot.  We packed all our stuff up and then unpacked it all. (Don't ask.)

Tonight, I am writing this from the USO in Camp Atterbury Indiana.  Given the limited computer resources that my unit has, the USO has been invaluable.  Since we are confined to the base most of the time, the USO is a nice place to get away from it all. They have snacks, internet access, some pool tables and a TV.  Many of us owe them our gratitude.  Thanks. 

Down time

First, to alleviate any worries, I have not lost much weight here yet. I'm fine. I eat lots of cookies and cereal and salad and peanut butter and things like that.

Second, we are more or less done with our training requirements here. We now are taking care of a lot of details and things that have to get done before we leave. We are starting to have some more down-time.

We have been sitting in classrooms a lot lately, and also going to some indoor simulated driving and shooting ranges. They all resembled large very expensive video games, but slightly less exciting.

Otherwise not much to report. I'm still here in Indiana looking forward to a relatively relaxing weekend.

Meat

Today it is raining here and I was not in the mood to go to the DFAC for lunch so I tried the kosher Salisbury steak La Briute self-heating meals. It was the first meat I have eaten in about 6 weeks.

The heating  element is almost the same as those in the army MREs, so it did warm up the meal. The food itself was only OK. The meat tasted very processed and the potatoes were decent. It was not a great meal, but it was satisfying enough in a pinch. I will try some of the others to see if they will prove better.  I hope I don't have to go through the year in Iraq meatless, though it has not been too bad so far.

When I finally do arrive in country I will have to work out some better food plan. (Hint, hint ;)

Good week

It has been a busy week. A lot of proverbial dust is settling and we have a better understanding of how our mission will go.  We are starting to properly train our soldiers for their jobs in theater. They are now relearning the computer systems they will be operating overseas.  We are more or less done with the general theater-wide required traing that is of little relevance to most of us. I feel pretty good about how things are going.

I've been feeling a bit sluggish though. I'm told that's a normal reaction to the small pox vaccine we were given last week.

Range and packing

We went to the shooting range again today where we got some more "trigger time" with our weapons. We then started packing up our our stuff that will be shipped overseas prior to our leaving here.

Shots

Today I had my blood drawn to test for some strange diseases, got my second anthrax shot, a small pox shot and a tb test. Not so fun. 

We go shooting tonight . . .

Indianapolis

"D" and I are in Indianapolis hanging out in town. Our unit had an information session today talking about a lot of resources available to deployed soldiers and their families. Then we got the night off. Families were invited and flown in.  Indianapolis is kind of quiet on Sunday nights.

In San Francisco

We have the day off and we got a nice trip to San Francisco.  Its nice to get out and relax for a change. I miss city life.

Last day of training here

We just finished our final training for this phase.  We have some administrative stuff to do tomorrow, but it feels good to be done with this nonetheless.  As you might have guessed, the stuff we have been doing is generic soldier stuff.  More specific job-related stuff comes later.  I'll keep you posted.

Convoy training

We've been doing convoy training for the past few days. Here is the view from my window this morning. Mostly boring stuff.

Day off

Today was more or less a day off of training.  We didn't do too much, and I just rested, did a little reading and sitting around and caught up on regular life.  It feels good to decompress.  I did laundry, cleaned, sorted, etc.  Ahhh.

Regular soldier training

We've been pretty busy the past few days doing lots of normal soldier training like land navigation, hand-to-hand combat, and urban warfare stuff.  Pretty tiring all around.

MK 19 etc. . .

Today started with a 5AM run, continued with playing with even bigger weapons systems than yesterday, and ended at 8PM with a long class on a computer system that it really behooves me to know how to use.

Not enough time to get annoyed by anything. So all in all, an OK day.

Today we played with some army weapons systems. We have been playing with our weapons for the past few dyas. I have also been doing some computer thingies for the past three days. Lots to do. I am keeping very busy.

Map of my morning run

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=208720053294850828351.00047065073e2f3ca5a6e

Early mornings

One of the few things I really enjoy about the army life is the early morning runs in the hills when I get to see the sun rise. Eight of us did about four miles starting just before sun-up. It was quite beautiful. 

Forest Fire

There is a forest fire near our base now. 

If these hills look familiar, by the way, I think this is where they filmed the opening sequence for M*A*S*H.

In the desert

I am now in the CA desert surrounded by mountains and a whole lot of nothing.  All is well though. I am getting settled in here. Lots more training to come.

I just flew across country on this.  I'm safely in CA.

Last day in NY

Tisha B'av is my last day in NY. We did all we had to do and left base early in preparation for our early flight in the morning.

Busy day

Another busy day, but this will likely have been our busiest for the next few days. We do not have to be in at 6AM tomorrow morning. We get another hour and a half. Our unit did fantastic today, and we are just about getting ready for the next step.

Work, work, work

Today was a crazy day. We were kept immensely busy all day from 7AM to 7PM non-stop. I'm pretty tired. My soldiers were really proficient, however, so despite the work, there was little stress. A good day overall.

Meetings

I spent the whole day yesterday in meetings pertaining to the deployment. I am finally seeing how things are done at the level of the higher leadership of a unit. It is interesting although I sill don't understand much of what is going on.

I also got to see family, have sushi, and spend the night at home.

On Drill Status

Class is now over. I passed. We flew out Friday afternoon.

I am back in New York for a few days. It is good to be home, but we have to be in the unit every day pretty early. We are preparing for the deployment. It is pretty chaotic since we have so many new people. I am meeting a lot of them. There is so much to do and so much to prepare. I brought my foot locker in today, and turned in a lot of my old gear. I packed pretty hastily last night. I hope I packed everything I will need.

Also, note that if you don't know my number and want to call me, you can now use the widget on the right. It will have your phone call my phone. Give it a try. This will be useful as I now have a variety of phone numbers and you might not have the one I am using at the moment. This should work as long as I am in the US.

The little things

Another day, another exam, lots of class. Nothing interesting happened today. We got out about 25 minutes early. As simple as it sounds, it felt pretty good.

I got in a quick run in the evening and somehow our unit's conference call failed to happen which messed up my schedule. No big deal. I ccancelled our study session, but I think it is pretty easy stuff so far.

And, on a happier note, you can now read the first two pages of a recent review I wrote that just came out. Or, you can go to a local Judaica store and get a copy.

The Weekend

We had a test on Friday. I aced it. We have another one tomorrow, by the way and then again on Wednesday and Friday again. Way too much work here. Looks like a few people will not make it to the end of the course.I got what I think is one of the owrst haircuts of my life Friday too. It'll be fine in another day or so.

I had a visitor for the weekend, so it was really nice. Two relaxing days. We saw Brüno on Saturday night and otherwise just spent the weekend hanging out, eating, reading and relaxing.

The other people in the course relaxed too. They went for Hibachi, working out, and some relaxing on the beach. One person broke their leg. Endless drama here.

another day

Another long day. We had class then a 3.5 hour study session for tomorrow's test. There is a lot to know here at army HAZMAT school. I assume that some of this will be relevant to our mission overseas, so I am trying to make sure that my soldiers get it. But these are long days.

First test

Today was another day in Army school. The usual 8-5. I was tired all day from the late study session last night, but all-in-all it was pretty manageable. I met an old friend yesterday at lunch and another one today. It is good seeing people I haven't seen in a while. We had our first test of the course today. I did fine. Otherwise nothing special happening.

Still in school

Another 8 AM to 5 PM day here in Army school. So far so good. Nothing too interesting happened yet.

Class

Got to class at 8 this morning, left way after 5. Had a headache all day, but I'm recovering. Sigh . . . and it is still Monday.

First leg of the journey, first step

Today I flew to some Army base to begin a few weeks of training. There was supposed to be five of us on the flight. The whole trip went off well enough except one person missed the flight, the unit forgot to activate the government credit cards, one person had a government card that had expired 6 months ago and no personal credit card. . . But we managed to do just fine. It is all pretty much straightened out now. The Army has us in a standard motel in the neighborhood; nothing I can complain about yet.

Day 1

Today marks the first of about 400 consecutive days I will be in the Army. I spent it in the reserve center. It was "family day" for the unit, so lots of our soldiers brought their parents, children, and significant others to our base where we spent the day BBQing and chatting on the grass. It was good having fun with everyone as we gear up for what will be a work-filled year. Stay tuned for updates.