Fall Fashions For The Stylish Soldier

The Army has a new uniform on it's way, to be distributed out to the bulk of the regular Army in October. But oddly enough, we have received word that for our deployment, rather than getting the desert BDU uniform, we will get the new uniform before 95% of the regular army will get it.

No new word from anyone about deployment. I'm just living life normally, don't really want to let it bug me. What else do you do? Next week for work, I travel to Kearney, Nebraska and take over from Monday thru Friday for our night driver out there who is taking vacation. I get to stay in a nice little three star hotel, internet access, full workout facilities with pool and sauna, a restaurant, etc. It will probably take me a couple of days to figure out where all the little towns are, because even though I mapped them out and printed them off on Yahoo maps, some of businesses didn't even show up.

But, I'm getting paid well for this, so I'm happy about that. Do not be surprised if you are reading this about a month from now and I've gotten another job though, my body takes quite a beating working with windshields and the job overall is just terrible (even though I choose not to really talk about it much on here heheh). Hopefully someone has that job testing easy chairs for 50 bucks an hour??? One can only dream : )

Current Lyrical Ramblings
You clean out your room, and under your bed
Lay a picture long forgotten
With a hand to your head, you sigh out loud
As the memory rushes over - and buries you
- Cry In The Sun, Better Than Ezra

The Big Sandbox

I was excused from my Army National Guard drill on the 9th and 10th of this month in order to spend time with belly, and to make up for that missed drill I was to attend a recruiting function at Camp Ashland on Saturday the 16th, where I would be the NCOIC (non commissioned officer in charge) of equipment, in this case, a station (much like a booth at the fair) at which high schoolers/potential guard members could look at our M915 A3 semi truck and trailer and I'd answer questions about them.

On Friday night, I got home to a frantic answering machine message from my unit, telling me to call "immediately" upon receiving the message. I didn't like the sound of that, and sure enough, upon calling, received notice that we had been put on activation alert for possible deployment to the 'Sandbox'. Now, not sure if I need to explain what 'Sandbox' means, it's basically one of a number of places, all in the middle east. In our specific case, it means one of two places basically, and most likely one place... Iraq.

I made a few phone calls to let some people know what was going on, belly's parents, my parents, a few service providers (cable television/internet, cell phone, credit card companies) checking on what I'll need to do when my deployment begins. I don't want to be stuck at the last minute realizing that I've got things I should have had done months before, I procrastinate enough as it is heh heh.

So the day after the call I was at Camp Ashland running our station, answering questions about the truck and our mission, "this is the primary transportation vehicle in the United States military, 450 horsepower, 1450 lb feet of torquer, 100 gallons of fuel at roughly 3 miles per gallon" etc, etc. I started to notice that every officer of the rank of Major or higher seemed to be making a beeline for our station and pretty much asking the same question and making the same comments.

"So, I hear you got the call last night?" or "Yes, I'm sure you will do just fine, the 189th Transportation has made one hell of a name for itself." That sort of stuff. What this tells me is that there are people above us who know a lot more about it than we do at unit level, so I would say, it's about a 99% sure thing that we are going to be over in Iraq.

When you ask? Train up is likely to start in mid to late July or early August. Probably 'in country' (Iraq) sometime nearing the end of September to early October. So, with this in mind, belly and I have moved the wedding plans up by one year. If something were to happen to either of us, I want everything to be financially and legally secure, and this is really the best thing for us right now. It certainly shakes up the time table for belly's parents, but hopefully not too badly.

I was trying to work out the pay scale for what I will earn while over there, and I can't seem to pinpoint exact numbers, except to say that it's going to be over $50,000. That won't be too bad. I also look at this differently than I'm sure a lot of guys in my unit would... I have 15 years in and I've never been overseas, and although it's not a real 'wish' of mine to be in Iraq, it is a goal of mine to get overseas time while in the military, and my time will start running short in a few years. This also gives me the opportunity to give something back to the Army, to my country.

Also, if I do have to go, I want to go with the ones who got me here. Our unit is ex infantry, as infantry we were one of the best trained Army National Guard units and it showed whenever we went head to head against the regular Army. We didn't win every battle but even if we lost (rarely) we inflicted a lot of damage on those we faced. That's why I find it quite funny when ignorant people say "Oh... National Guard" as though we are substandard to the regular Army. Oh, I'm sorry, you fucking ignorant douchebag, we are required to not only be proficient within our military jobs, but also to have regular civilian full time jobs on top of that. This isn't the National Guard of the 1970's, regardless of what the uneducated might think.

But anyways, lemme get off the soap box on that one. I've got a lot of work to do in the next three months, and quite honestly a logistical nightmare in terms of what to do with all of our stuff while belly is at training and I'm deployed. But I'm not too worried. It's all going to go just fine, a few rough edges I'm sure, but nothing belly and I and our families won't be able to work through.

Current Lyrical Ramblings
You had alot to say. You had alot of nothing to say. Come down.
Get off your fuckin cross. We need the fuckin space to nail the next fool martyr.
- Eulogy, Tool

Giving The Machine The Finger!!!

At work we have a large machine that is basically a hydraulic press with a steel frame built around it, like a box, called a cardboard press, which puts out bails of cardboard. We call it simply the "bailer" for short.

On the front of the bailer is a door that you normally shut when you fill it full of cardboard boxes, so you can press it. This door has two 40 lb weights as counterbalances, each connected to a chain that runs over a sprocket. Now, a lot of the time we basically break the rules and leave it open, and sometimes, a piece of cardboard will catch on the bottom of the open door and lift it up higher than it's supposed to go and knock one of the counterbalance chains off it's sprocket.

When this happens, I'm the one who ends up fixing it, because our assistant manager is a chode, he's supposed to be the maintenance guy but he's about as useful as a fork to eat cereal with. All I need to repair the door is a large screwdriver, which I wedge underneath of the chain, lift it up, use my other hand to position the chain on the sprocket, then slide the screwdriver out letting the counterweight pull the chain up and over the sprocket where it belongs.

Well, because I am so infinitely wise, I figured I could repairing this problem a couple of days ago without using the screwdriver. Everything went as to plan at first, I got the chain pulled up, using my hand to hold up the end with the weight on it, and my other hand instead of a screwdriver to align the chain to the sprocket, but as I went to slowly release the weight it slid in my hand, and the chain pinched the glove on my other hand and pulled my middle finger up and through between the chain and the sprocket.

Uhm, OUCH!! *hopping on one foot*

I jumped down (you are about 8 feet in the air when you are repairing this thing) and it didn't seem too bad, but then the shock sort of wore off, and as I was trying to tug that glove off, the pain started in like a large nail being pounded into my finger. I got the glove off and blood was squirting from the end of my finger, I just wrapped it into my shirt and sort of doubled over, I was sort of in that semi coherent state of "arggggggh, how bad is this going to be" and trying to fight crying out from the pain.

Of course my dingleberry assistant manager is out of the office asking "what's wrong, what happened?" and of course I can't answer because it hurts too much to talk. After about 2 minutes I pulled my finger out of my shirt where I had been squeezing the hell out of it, and saw the damage. As it ran through the sprocket, a tooth punched right through the middle of the nail, and that is where blood was now slowly oozing from. The nail was cracked near the edge where another tooth had clipped it. All in all, painful, but lucky even so. had it caught my hand further in it could have broken the finger or worse, might have lost my insulting digit!!

So here I sit with a blackened fingernail. It won't build up pressure because of the hole already busted through the nail, so that part is good, no need to have to drill a hole for relief. The nail is going to be about half dead though, so it's likely I won't lose the nail completely. Anyways, a really bone headed move on my part, I tried to save myself the 30 seconds to walk to the tool cabinet and get that screwdriver and instead gave the machine the finger, damn near completely. And the machine damn near took it!!

Current Lyrical Ramblings
Can you feel it crush you, does it seem to bring the worst in you out?
There's no running away from these things that hold you down.
Do they complicate you, because they make you feel like this?
Of all the colors that you've shined, this is surely not your best.
- Colors, Crossfade

Belly's Time On Leave

We had sooooo much stuff planned out that first day, and for the most part we got to it.

New phone, new coverage plan: went to Alltel, wanted to bitch smack the woman we talked to. "Well, you don't have extended coverage and this phone is out of warranty." Yah, despite the fact that I had to get a new phone only one month before for the SAME problem this one had. Let me just tell you right now, do not EVER EVER EVER buy a Motorola cell phone, they are junk, they are shit, they will not charge. I was stupid enough to purchase the T720, a monumental turd of a phone whose most amazing feature was the ability to have KEY LAG, as stupid as that sounds, on a phone... you push in the number, press dial, send, lift to your ear... waiting, waiting, error recording, then you look, and 'oh, well, one number didn't register.' Along with the completely ignorant charging system that ALWAYS fails, same as it did on the Talkabout, but oh when I bought this one I was assured that they had fixed all of that.

I was getting really ticked, "So basically what you are telling me is that I have a phone that is just over a month old, that is just like brand new, I've never abused it, or anything, it will not charge, and you expect me to pay my monthly bill for the next 8 months without a phone to use???" To this the saleslady didn't have a good response, BECAUSE OF COURSE HER REASONING WAS RIDICULOUS!! So she told us she had to call her manager in some meeting and let us know. In the meantime, we headed out to...

Price engagement rings: so off to the mall we went, Helzbergs, where I learned about the 4 C's of diamonds, clarity, cut, carats, and uh... cash consumption? Hehehe, actually, it was fun, and I'm glad I waited for belly to be home so we could look together, because I would have been really lost as to what exactly she wanted. We ended up looking all over though, there was a lot in our price range, so I was happy about that. We decided not to be too drastic and not buy the ring on the same day we look. While we were at the mall, the Alltel lady called us back and told us it was sorted out, so we headed back over there...

Of course, I had to redo my calling plan to get a new phone, a 40 dollar LG that so far has been 100 times better than that piece of shit Motorola. We also got our calling plan switched over to the National Freedom plan, so that belly and I can talk for free in most areas of the United States. We pay about 20 bucks more a month but it's worth it. Then, after a couple days, when we got home, come to find out the freaking lady screwed me over, she tossed in a car charger that I never asked for, and the phone itself was supposed to be 99 cents, so the 40 dollar charge was not for the phone but for that stupid adapter that I can get for 10 bucks at Walmart. That charger is going back to Alltel, damn, it never ends!! RIPOFF!!

Get my name added to her bank account: We went and got this taken care of, because of some issues that came up while she was away, and I realized I had no way to fix the problem without her approving me to be able to do so. Thankfully I was able to work with them to at least deposit money into the account.

Purchased a lap top for belly to use at MOS school: I didn't realize she actually wanted to buy one this very day, I was under the impression that we were just going to be looking, browsing, but that was okay, I figure if we have to be apart for 8 months or so, that the purchase makes sense, as long as she takes care to protect it and keep it safe and sound, and I'm sure she will. So we came home with a new laptop.

Let's see, some other things... we set up an appointment to get our engagement photos taken, at Walmart of all places, because to be quite honest, they have a really good photo center. We were also going to go test drive an SRT4 *evil grin* but we didn't get a chance : ( The time will come though, oh yes, I will have that car!!

There was more to that day, but those were the big things. Wow, I couldn't believe HOW MUCH CHOCOLATE we had in our house. Talk about completely ridiculous!! Is it blasphemy for me to say that I was actually sick of chocolate? Probably not, for the simple fact that I'm not a female, if I were that might be a horrific statement to make. I mean, we had a TWO POUND CHOCOLATE RABBIT on our table!! Oh, he's gone now, but only after getting my blood chocolate level to maybe .5% or so. Certainly high enough that I shouldn't operate heavy machinery. I think today, the only chocolate left is the dark chocolate bunny in the fridge. He will likely be wrapped up and frozen for belly when she gets home from healing up at Parris Island.

I had to go back to work on Wednesday, Yahhhhhhhh!!! Okay, not really exciting, in fact, quite annoying, but soon... oh yes, I walk away from that place!! Belly got a lot of rest, and that's really what I wanted. It was so wonderful to be able to call home and have her pickup and just hear her voice, I can't believe how much something so apparently miniscule such as that is anything but when you don't have the opportunity. We ate like pigs the entire week, ordered pizza and like 8 movies one day (GEESH, that was a LOT of movies, my silly baby).

Oh, the engagement ring... we found one at Zales, and belly immediately knew it was the one, I could see it in her eyes when she looked at it, so we made arrangements to have it sized, then I picked it up two days later on Thursday.

On the way back home from Zales, I said I wanted to drive up and see the lake, something we normally would do by just walking up there, but with her hip being hurt, I didn't want to do that. Of course, I had a plan with going there, but as we got to the lake, there was a big family picnic and they were on the dock with the gazeebo, which was unfortunate. So we walked down the path around the lake till we got to the first bench, and I got down on one knee and proposed there, and she did not say yes... okay, she said "OF COURSE I WILL" quite forcefully : )

I am so blessed. I sometimes wonder what this woman sees in me, how did I get so tremendously fortunate to wind up with someone this amazing? I used to always wonder how people knew when someone was "the one", and I figured maybe they just settled for someone or something. I now know what the feeling is like. It's a combination, your best friend, someone who enhances every aspect of your life, the first person you want to say good morning to, the person you want to whisper goodnight to every night, to share your life with. Anyways, I guess I'm just trying to say I'm so happy, and so thankful with where my life is at today.

Sunday came far too quickly for us. We had to be at the airport by 7:30, so off we went. Belly used her crutches, so I carried her stuff with her, I got a pass to enter the boarding gate with her. I didn't want to let her go as I hugged her, not knowing just how long she would have to be at Parris Island recovering, not knowing if she would immediately have to go to Marine Combat Training afterwards, or even if she would be able to come home before her MOS school starts. I just knew that I wanted to save that moment, holding her close. Of course the time came to let her go get on the plane. I felt so down on the way home, but all the same, still so proud of my sweety, for everything she has done. It won't be long and we'll be back together again.

Current Lyrical Ramblings: "All along I have wanted you, I pray tonite that you want me to. All along there was no one else, I've been waiting here, all by myself." - All Along, Blessed Union Of Souls

Day Six - 04Apr05

This was the big drive day!! We got out on the road at about 8, reasonably early for once. Okay, not early, but still... there was no real plan to see anything or visit anywhere, so the basic plan was to drive drive drive. We didn't stop for lunch anywhere because we had our snacks, so we munched on this and that, drank Pepsi, drank grape juice, ate a little chocolate. Oh, and wow, does grape juice ever stain!! I didn't realize it was really THAT bad.

We actually had some quiet time while driving today, I don't know if it was because we really didn't have anything to say, or if it was because we were getting fatigued from the trip and were just content as we rode along, listening to CD after CD on the radio, happy to be together again. Belly drove about 300 miles of the trip, till about St. Louis then I drove again. We got to Columbia, Missouri and stopped at a steak restaurant and had a really good meal, then back to our odyssey.

When we got back to our place in Omaha at about 10 at night, we took only the basic stuff we needed inside and left everything else in the truck, and pretty much crashed right away. The kitties were so happy to see belly, especially MiMow strangely enough, I thought it would be Tyler but he seems so content rather than excited. If this seems like a short post, well, we just didn't do a whole lot. Driving driving driving. I'll tell you this much, it's nice to have a navigator looking over the map instead of me trying to do it while driving. We didn't screw up and go the wrong way at any time on the way back haha. It was really nice to be back home.

Day Five - 03Apr05

OKAY!! We are going to be on the road by 6 in the morning!!! Well, we got up and were downstairs around 9. Hey, do not judge us, it was the end of Daylight Savings Time that has knocked us off our schedule okay??? So after some continental breakfast, and cleaning the truck, we headed over to Walmart to replenish the cooler with some goodies for the trip home.

I told belly to buy whatever she wanted to snack on, because she had just spent the last 90 days unable to do that. I'm thinking cookies and Doritos, and she buys something else *grumble*. Of course, on the way home as I'm munching on mozzarella string cheese and garlic Triscuits, I realize her choices were better than what I wanted. I'm so willing to just stick with what I know and like sometimes, that I forego trying other things. Having someone in your life who expands your horizons, even with something as simple as buying snacks, is really wonderful. I have been with people who so completely lose themselves in my life that I never get a clear picture of their likes and dislikes, or who they really are, and relationships like that can never work. They end up being clingy and desperate and all around depressing for everyone involved.

Thankfully I don't have to deal with that now, I'm with someone who has her own life, her own favorite activities, foods, music, television shows, etc. I believe that in a relationship you mesh with one another, that certain things you both enjoy bring you closer, but the things you don't realize you might like, that your other half finds enjoyable, enhance your relationship and make life more interesting and rewarding. This is without a doubt a better relationship than being with anyone who would act as though they are intrigued by your thoughts and your ideals when in fact they are disgusted by them, and in the process they try and become someone they think you would be attracted to rather than just being themselves, which is deceitful, and ends up destroying the relationship because they are no longer the person you ever thought you loved.

People like that end up blaming others for their problems, they take the bad things that happen in their own lives and project them fully onto other people, with this assumed intellectual superiority that does not allow them to either admit fault, nor to apologize for their actions. What is hard is I find myself feeling bad for people like that, because I do believe everyone deserves to be happy, just as belly and I are. I think the difference now is that I no longer dwell on other people's problems like I did before, and it's like a breath of fresh air. As we loaded up our truck and got back on the road for the trip home, belly put the pillow on my lap and laid down across the front seat, the sunlight shining through the back window as we headed out west on on Interstate 16, I looked down and realized just how lucky I am, and that there is no where else I would rather be in the world than where I was at that very moment, and just how much I had missed her.

So there we were, with our string cheese, Triscuits, oatmeal raisin bars, grape juice, Pepsi, etc... on our way to Fort Benning, where I went to basic training in the summer of 1990, some 15 years ago. I wanted to take belly there to give her some idea of what I went through when I was at basic training. When we got to Macon, GA, we headed west on Highway 80, a road that winds through the backwoods of Georgia. It was a pretty drive, although confusing at times. I probably wasted about a half hour to 45 minutes just trying to find the right direction INTO Fort Benning, not realizing that it's actually south of Columbus, GA. So at about 3:30 or so we rolled through the gates of Ft. Benning, and headed over to the National Infantry Museum.

As we walked around inside, checking out the exhibits, it was an amazing feeling. Here I was, at the very post where I had trained to do exactly what these men had done for so many years, to protect our country, believing in something bigger than themselves, and I am a part of that brotherhood, that tradition, the 'blue cord' of the 11B, Infantry. It's really hard to describe the emotions... pride for the accomplishments of those who came before you, sorrow and appreciation for those who's blood fell on the soil of so many foreign lands to accomplish the mission, to protect each other, to protect one's country. To be there and see that with belly, herself newly part of another proud organization with it's own amazing traditions, it is a point in time I will never forget.

Unfortunately, we were only able to spend about 40 minutes in the museum before they closed. Afterwards we walked around outside and looked at the armored personnel carriers, artillery pieces, and tanks on the lawn in front of the museum. Then we got back into the truck, and using a map of Benning we got in the museum, tried to find Sand Hill, where I spent my three months of basic training. Now, despite my spending 3 months here, it had been 15 years before, and also, being at basic training you don't really get to see WHERE you are, in terms of being able to find your way around post, save for about one section, about a half square mile you spend the majority of your time in. Now certainly you leave that area, but usually on foot, marching in a long ranger file on the side of the road. So it probably was another 15 minutes of driving around before we came across something I recognized: the Sand Hill Post Xchange.

As belly and I went inside to do a little shopping, it was amazing how the memories came back, the barber shop, the arcade gallery we were not allowed in, the long lines of young men waiting to purchase only the essential items allowed by their Drill Sergeants. I did have to laugh about one thing though. On Sand Hill, you are lucky if you see maybe half a dozen females your entire time at basic training, because only men are allowed to do infantry school, which is basically all Sand Hill is. So as belly and I walked in the door, I caught one private out of the corner of my eye elbowing the private next to him and saying "WOW" and pointing at belly. I started laughing and belly wondered what for, so I had to explain why the soldiers she would see around here might act rather oddly. Of course, I am always pointing at her and going WOW so I didn't see what the big deal was : )

I purchased a couple of Ft. Benning tshirts, one for myself and one for my buddy midas, then we got some dog tag silencers and a dog tag chain for belly, and headed out to try and find the battalion I trained at. Further down the road we came across the Sand Hill clothing exchange and I decided to buy a watch, one of the really cheapy 20 dollar timex military watches with the cloth band. I have been meaning to get one for some time, but they are hard to find on the civilian side.

At this point I had a rough idea of where we were at, as we drove past the medical building where I went to sick call twice, and then I saw the fitness track and realized I was there, the 1st Battalion, 50th Infantry. As we drove up I saw a few changes, the big hill behind the building where we used to have to run up and down, doing pushups on the way down and situps on the way up at the blast of a whistle, had been cut about halfway down and there were buildings there now, along with quite a few more trees. As we drove up and parked in the lot, I thought about getting out and showing belly around some, but a Drill Sergeant had a platoon out about 25 meters to the front and he stood staring at us with his hands on his hips, 'round brown' pulled way down, looking all menacing, haha, so we just headed out on our way.

We tried to get up to Harmony Church but every road was blocked off. I wanted to show belly some of the places where I had trained up there, like first aid and map reading and what not, the really old barracks from World War I. When we got to the front gate on our way out of Ft. Benning the guard told us that the buildings at Harmony Church had been razed to the ground. That was sad to hear, because of the history of those buildings. The guard said that they had left a couple to renovate back to the same shape they were in around 1918 or so. I would have liked to have seen them one more time. I would like to have just had more time to look around, someday...

So once again, out on the road we went. This time up I-185, to bypass Atlanta. We were both pretty tired by this point in time, it had already been a long day of driving. It was about 10 p.m. when we got into Chattanooga, Tennessee. My sister had wondered if I would want to stay the night there but I figured we would get a hotel instead. We did stop in and visit with her and her husband for about an hour or so. It was nice to be able to see them twice over a 5 day period like that. My nieces were especially rambunctious, they are growing up so fast. I hope they can all come to our wedding, I would love to have one of them as a flower girl, that would really be nice.

After our visit we headed back down Lookout Mountain and tried to find somewhere to eat at 11 at night. We passed by a Taco Bell on our way to Wendy's. This ended up being a mistake. We got to the menu board. "Hi, welcome to Wendy's, can I take your order?" So we gave her our order. "One moment please". Waiting... "Can you repeat that?" We repeat the order. About literally a 3 minute wait. "Hi, welcome to Wendy's, can I take your order?" Ever seen a Dodge truck laying down rubber in a Wendy's parking lot late at night? If you haven't, you would have had your opportunity right there as I showed my disapproval of the idiot lady taking our order and we headed on out to Taco Bell.

Then we stayed in a hotel just off the interstate, ate our cheap meal, and enjoyed more time together. Oddly enough, it was the best hotel room I had the entire time and the cheapest. It's hard to catch up on 90 days apart, it seemed like neither one of us ever did stay quiet the entire time, we talked and talked and talked some more, it was nice. After awhile though, we were both pretty tired and fell right asleep.