17 August 2007
It's been a while since I've written. I can't say that a whole lot has happened, but enough to keep me busy. Since we came in from the field we've been cleaning up our Battalion area and working on fixing all our vehicles.
August 1st marked the start of monsoon season. Since then it has rained pretty hard almost every day. It's getting pretty old. Especially because so many things here are so old that the rain ruins them in one way or another. The building I moved into when I first got here got so bad that we were evicted and had to move. It became a very depressing situation because even my shoes were molding from the buildings staying so wet. The new buildings have better ACs and ventilation so at least it's less muggy in the room than outside. But that was another hastle to deal with was moving.
August 1st was also a proud day for me in my military career so far. One of my Soldier's asked me to promote her and re-enlist her. So I promoted one of my better, more dedicated Soldiers to Sergeant which has been a pleasure to have another NCO who steps up and takes care of business. She re-enlisted to stay in the Army for another 6 years. It's a little sad for me to re-enlist Soldiers just because I never will re-enlist and it's pretty fulfilling to see young and old Soldiers volunteering to stay in even though they all know that there next duty station will either bring them back to the desert or deployed for the first time. Having the good Soldiers re-enlist makes up for all the poor Soldiers I deal with on a daily basis.
On the other hand, this morning was a sad one. Last week a Soldier within my Battalion passed away so we had a memorial service for him this morning. It was the first memorial service I'd been to here. We had another Soldier killed in a car accident while I was at EFMB, so I wasn't at the memorial. It was a sad reason to bring everyone together, but satisfying in a way with the tradition in memorial services.
This week our Battalion did NBC (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) protective training. We had to go through the gas chamber again. The worst part of it was it's so hot right now here that having all the extra gear on makes it miserable. We go through CS gas which is a particulate, so it irritates your lungs, makes your eyes and nose run. Some people through up, but we didn't have too strong of a dose. My Soldiers took all the pictures - they were having too much fun with it I think, but it makes me happy to see them with a positive attitude as apposed to the Soldiers who complain about everything we do.
August 1st marked the start of monsoon season. Since then it has rained pretty hard almost every day. It's getting pretty old. Especially because so many things here are so old that the rain ruins them in one way or another. The building I moved into when I first got here got so bad that we were evicted and had to move. It became a very depressing situation because even my shoes were molding from the buildings staying so wet. The new buildings have better ACs and ventilation so at least it's less muggy in the room than outside. But that was another hastle to deal with was moving.
August 1st was also a proud day for me in my military career so far. One of my Soldier's asked me to promote her and re-enlist her. So I promoted one of my better, more dedicated Soldiers to Sergeant which has been a pleasure to have another NCO who steps up and takes care of business. She re-enlisted to stay in the Army for another 6 years. It's a little sad for me to re-enlist Soldiers just because I never will re-enlist and it's pretty fulfilling to see young and old Soldiers volunteering to stay in even though they all know that there next duty station will either bring them back to the desert or deployed for the first time. Having the good Soldiers re-enlist makes up for all the poor Soldiers I deal with on a daily basis.
On the other hand, this morning was a sad one. Last week a Soldier within my Battalion passed away so we had a memorial service for him this morning. It was the first memorial service I'd been to here. We had another Soldier killed in a car accident while I was at EFMB, so I wasn't at the memorial. It was a sad reason to bring everyone together, but satisfying in a way with the tradition in memorial services.
This week our Battalion did NBC (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) protective training. We had to go through the gas chamber again. The worst part of it was it's so hot right now here that having all the extra gear on makes it miserable. We go through CS gas which is a particulate, so it irritates your lungs, makes your eyes and nose run. Some people through up, but we didn't have too strong of a dose. My Soldiers took all the pictures - they were having too much fun with it I think, but it makes me happy to see them with a positive attitude as apposed to the Soldiers who complain about everything we do.
1 comment:
It's nice to hear from you and see you smiling!! You should explain why you'll never re-enlist, that may be confusing to us non-military readers.
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