Gimpy Knees and Harleys I did something amazing this morning. I woke up at 530 and went for a run. Even more amazing because of the time change (yeah, Europe is a week earlier then America). So I was actually up and about EARLY this morning. But I also discovered that I have a gimpy knee. It was ok when I ran this morning, but I'm worried that it will start to fester and give me some problems down the road. That's frustrating. I have plans for that knee. And then I was greeted this morning by Eminem. I don't know about you, but I don't mind Eminem when I'm in the mood for him. And seeing that I am not a morning person, in the morning is not the time to listen to Eminem. Apparently my roommate thinks so. But that's another rant. Meanwhile, today was a day where we got to drive to Monteith. I observed a lot on the way there and found an honest to goodness Kosovo Harley Repair Shop! I should ask Dad if he wants a Harley from here, I bet I could get one really cheap. He always wanted a Harley, but I'm not exactly certain if this is the kind he wants. But I should probably put up a picture. Hmm. . . Pictures to follow tomorrow. Along with descriptions. Yeah, that would be cool. -SGT E: # 9:27 PM - |

Saturday, March 26, 2005

Town Hall Every once in a great while, the army gives lower ranking soldiers such as myself an opportunity to participate in a forum with senior ranking enlisted personnel, sometimes it is within the unit, battalion level, or even a brigade. Today, we had one of these 'town hall meetings' involving Task Force Falcon, allowing any enlisted soldier who wanted to share their thoughts or hear what was going on in the army to attend. But this was unique to most Town Hall meetings. This involved the Command Sergeant Major of the Army. He's here in Kosovo for a few days and gave us some information in regards to what was happening with the army and what kind of transition it will be going through within the next 5 years. It gave me a lot of insight in my own career with the army, as I'm at a crossroad now as to whether or not I want to reenlist this November or get out. My grandmother keeps telling me to get out, but she's old fashioned that way. I still love her to death. Anyway, I've got a lot to think about, and I've given myself until November to make a decision. If I'm still undecided by that point, I'll have to extend regardless. But I think I can only reenlist for the reserves while I'm in country, and a part of me wants to go active duty. Another part wants to get out and explore other avenues of my life, as well go back to school. I'll admit that I didn't really want to go to this meeting, it is after all Saturday. But I'm glad I did now. Besides, it was a photo op! Now I can show people pictures and say 'look who I met!' Command Sergeant Major of the Army (SMA) Preston, the highest ranking enlisted person in the entire Army. Shaking my hand. Command Sergeant Major of the Army Reserve Jones, the highest ranking enlisted person in the Army Reserve. And me having a bad hair day. 2nd and 3rd respectfully CSMA's I have ever met. I was also priveleged to meet SMA Jone's predecessor in 2001, I even got a photo op with him as well, I was wearing my Class A's and he was in Dress Blues. SMA Jones has the new Army Combat Uniform (ACU) on. I won't be getting some of those until I get back from Kosovo. We also got an in depth description of the ACU and its improvements from the current Battle Dress Uniform (BDU). I'm looking forward to getting it, though it will take me a while to get used to seeing it. For one, we are prohibited from starching the new ACU, and the command is actually going to enforce it. Which I'm all for. Of course, if I get out, I won't be getting them at all. Mark the new ACU on the checklist encouraging me to reenlist. -SGT E: # 9:07 PM - |

Friday, March 25, 2005

Combat Load Each month we have to inventory our ammunition. Because I frequently go outside the wire, I have a full combat load. As I emptied it out, I looked at how many rounds there were and decided to take a picture. I think I could do something with this if I really tried, next time we do an inventory I'll be sure to work something out. I think one of these days I'm going to follow my rifle around and chronicle its journey, where it goes and where I stick it. I kind of put a few items together and took a picture of that as well, mainly showing the combat load all lined up in a row. And then I tweaked the picture in photoshop. Ah, what am I saying? It's a little cheesey and actually a poor composition. I think I'll work on my photography skills a bit more and see what else I can come up with. And then I'll take some more pictures. -SGT E: # 10:08 AM - |

Thursday, March 24, 2005

Kosovo Milblogs Well, I don't know of a lot of other people with Milblogs in Kosovo other then myself, when I was approached by another soldier who came up to me and said "hey, you're the blogger!" When I confirmed that indeed I was, he told me he had a blog as well. Jim's All Expenses Paid Trip To Kosovo He's got a lot of good pictures in there of the area, I have some pictures too but I don't always get an opportunity to post them. That's something I have to rectify, but this is a good source of information about the area. He informed me that he was warned about his blog as well. He does want to set up a task force blog too, I wouldn't mind helping. I think one of these days I will take a moment to seek out some other bloggers in Kosovo and get a Kosovar Blog Roll going or something. It's something we have in common, a little community and such that defies rank. Gotta love that. -SGT E: # 11:00 AM - |

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

The Ten Commandments of Milblogging Ok, so if you checked here over the past couple days, you may have noticed that I temporarily removed the Milblog (my choice, I wasn't ordered to do so by my commander). Well, it's back up, with a word of advice. Watch what you say. So in response to this, I have decided to come up with a list of things that I either already obeyed or am going to take extra precautions and make sure I don't slit my own wrists. Because the chain of command is watching. I - Thou shalt not speak of any sensitive items Um, basically, anything that is sensitive, it isn't to be discussed here. And I've been pretty good about not discussing sensitive items. For instance. Don't say anything that's classified. Like talking about weapons systems, unit strength, detailed job descriptions, etc. II - Thou shalt not discuss anything detailing Guard Duty Pretty much, this falls under the above, and I broke this commandment. Usually when you are on Guard Duty, you are guarding something important. If you are telling people how you do guard duty and basically III - Thou shalt not take the name of thy Chain of Command in Vain. Chain of Command is pretty much off limits. You can't diss them and say things like, "gees, Major So and So is such a moronic doofus, how did he ever get into that position", which is generally just an all around big no go. Because if Major So and So is in your chain of command and he reads that, you're chances of promotion have just been squelched. And chances are, he will read it. eventually. Or somebody else will read it and tell him. And you're still screwed. IV - Remember that thou art on Salary Pay. Um, when you are deployed, you are on the Army's time all of the time. A soldier 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Keep your baring and act like a soldier. And that is doubly true for the Weblog, you are still representing the military. And they can call you to do a detail, guard duty, or heck, a MASCAL at any time so you just better be prepared. V - Honour thy Unit and don't criticize thy Commander Yeah, you shouldn't say negative things about the unit. That is kind of a rule in the army in general, don't talk bad about your unit. Besides, they are the ones that hold your career in the palm of their hand. Sometimes they do things that don't make sense and drive you stark raving insane, but that's for you to discuss in private letters, not exploting the weaknesses for all to read. VI - Thou Shalt Not Discuss Future Missions Saying things like "yeah, we're going to fly into Bosnia at 1345 on February 31st and set up a perimeter at Grid Coordinates BF 071963 for the purposes of securing so and so" is just plain stupid. Besides, Osama is watching. In hindsight, you can talk about missions that just happened, and I tend to do that after the day is over, but this then goes hand in hand with numero Uno. Don't discuss sensitive stuff, and don't go into to much detail. Likely, if you do it that way one time, you'll do it again, and the enemy now has an idea of how you do things. VII - Thou Shalt Not Mention Adultry or spread Rumors. Its a deployment. People are going to screw around and do stupid things. Don't talk about what other people are doing or so on and so forth. Besides, if I were to talk about something stupid I did, my Chain of Command will likely read it. And then what if I say something about somebody else and the hospital reads it? Even if I omit names, which I generally do, they can probably get an idea of who I'm talking about and then the rumor mill starts flying. And we don't want that. The rumor mill is bad enough as it is without the internet helping things out that much more. And then somebody back home reads it and then we're really getting something going. VIII - Thou Shalt Not Rant Guilty as charged. Ranting is left mainly to the main blog, but I shouldn't rant about things that are general military. The Command is watching. And Rants tend to be filled with a lot of passion and emotion and generally stupid things can be said in the midst of it all. Its just better to get a clear head and post things in a rational manner. IX - Thou Shalt watch thy sarcasm. Let's say, the military doesn't always make sense. being a soldier, I am very much aware of this fact and am often times saying things about it and being a sarcastic person, such things can come out as something it isn't. Sure, I can poke fun at the army from time to time in harmless jest, but I shouldn't be scathing in regards to military proceedings. They do things for a reason, it just so happens that those reasons are usually less then crystal clear. Besides, if I'm joking around, it might be percieved as something else. And sarcasm can be taken completely for something it isn't. X - If in Doubt, Don't Post it! Yeah, if something is nagging you in the back of your mind about something you want to say, it is probably wiser to just not post anything. Besides, we are at war and anything that is posted on a Milblog can be quoted in an article in the newspaper or whatever else. Something you say can be taken entirely out of context. And that basically just about covers it. -SGT E: # 9:24 AM - |

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Hearing Conservation Well, in class all this week, learning all about Hearing Conservation and the US Army. To put it all in perspective, today we watched a video, which happens to be one of my favorite war movies of all time (and that is beside the fact that they got some of the hottest actors today working in it). Black Hawk Down, yes, the movie where the Brits all have Texas accents. They were trying to draw into the fact where the one soldier has the SAW going off right above his head and loses his hearing for the rest of the movie. Well, apparently, my instructor met the guy that character is based off of in real life. His hearing to this day is still shot. He has to wear hearing aids, and he's still in the military. Kind of drives it home, doesn't it? Hearing loss is one of the biggest things in the military today that people get conpensation for from the VA. Its all that weapons fire that blows out your hearing. My job that I'm learning is how to run the Hearing Test, and then reinforce to all the grunts out there that if they want to still hear by the time they are fifty, they need to keep their hearing protection in. Its important! And that means not enclosing yourself in your car with the base all the way up pounding out your ear drums. Despite popular belief, it isn't your ear drums you need to be worrying about anyway. Its your inner ear. You lose that, your hearing is shot, and you aren't going to get it back. This class really helped me understand a lot about the ear, and hearing in general. A lot of this I really didn't know before. I don't know why, but I always enjoyed being in the learning environment, such as I am right now. I love to learn, and despite the dryness of this class, I'm actually finding it to be very fascinating. As I sat and watched Black Hawk Down, I also started to remember why I loved being in the army as well. Call me crazy, but though the beurocracy of this institution drives me stark raving mad at times, I'm proud to be a member of the armed forces. And although I really don't make my living shooting other people up, I can do my own part in helping keep our soldiers healthy, so THEY can shoot other people up. And they can hear each other while they do it. -SGT E: # 1:28 PM - |

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Starching, Continued. . . Well, well, well, what do you know? I was just reintroduced to another reason why I don't like starched uniforms. We turned in a vehicle today. Which means before we turn it in, you top the gas tank off and wash it. The wash rack, well, I get down and dirty and I made sure that vehicle was clean. In fact, I was focusing mainly on cleaning the vehicle that my BDUs suffered the consequences. That nice little starch I had in them this morning? It is now splattered with mud all along the front of my pants. And the back? Well, just walking to the chow hall will get a streak of mud running down the length of your Boot. And I had just polished those as well. Ok, so I guess this starch job lasted one day. And those boots? Guess I better polish them again. Good thing they're Matterhorns, thats a brand you don't spit shine. They just need to be black. -SGT E: # 3:50 AM - |

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

If Starch Were Like Steak I was told to wear a pressed and starched uniform today. Fortunately, I had one in my closet. I'll let you in on a little secret. I don't like to Starch my Uniforms. Mostly because the Starch irritates the heck out of my skin, but if the Sergeant says 'wear a pressed uniform', I say 'medium or well done?' Regardless, they have a press shop here on post, where you drop off your uniform and pick it up 24 hours later. I could have sworn I had asked for a medium rare starch. When I cracked that thing open this morning, it turned out to be Extra Crispy. No wait, that's chicken. Anyway, I found myself with a wedgy and it was difficult to move. And my joints were starting to feel a chaffing. I didn't wear a jacket this morning because the cold couldn't break the material. The Colonel asked me wear it was when I walked in. Maybe I should ask for a light starch next time. That might get me a well done starch. -SGT E: # 5:12 PM - |

For the Record In Response to Ed : Believe it or not, I HAVE attended PLDC. (to you civilians, that's short for Primary Leadership Development Course, AKA Sergeant School) In fact, I was one of those rare reservists that actually attended PLDC while I was still a Specialist. And I did pretty good too, I made the commadant's list and was the first female and, well, heck, I was the first soldier back with all of my points in Land Nav, in which I was gung ho and kicked butt! And, um, I was the Platoon Sergeant the last four days of 2nd Platoon. Don't ask me what happened to my motivation since then, because it looked like I was going on the right track and was all high speed gung ho Hoorah. I'm on the Books to attend BNCOC this May (once again, that's Basic Non-Commissioned Officer Course, AKA Sergeant School Take TWO) So maybe I can pick up a couple pointers from them. I think maybe afterwards, if I'm comfortable enough, I'll put in a packet for Staff Sergeant. I need to be ready for it though. Hopefully, I'll know when I'm ready. -SGT E: # 7:55 AM - |

Sunday, March 06, 2005

Don't go Shopping On Sundays Well, so far this day has gone by the way the snow falls. Snow can't decide whether to come or go, it will pour one day, and the next day it all melts away. Even though its sunday, I had to be at work. Air Sampling today. Which includes me putting out the Air Sampling equipment bright and early so I can pick it up while the sun is still out later today. I could already see the snow coming down, but it wasn't coming down to hard, so I went ahead and put out the TO-17s anyway. My NCOIC volunteered me to do a guardshift at 5 this evening so I had to put out the TO-17s in regards to that. I was pushing it too, as I have to pick them up 8 hours after I put them out. The PM10s I pick up 24 hours later. So I was giving myself a little time to put those out due to the fact that I didn't want to wake up tomorrow and get here early to go get them on account of the fact that my guard shift ends at One in the Morning. Well, the snow came down, and before I could do anything more, I was told to scrap air sampling today because of the risk. The roads are slippery. So the TO-17s are going to stay out all night. Hey, that's one less thing I have to worry about! Considering they blocked all of the roads off today and I had to go the back way and ended up following somebody who was going 10 MPH in a 15MPH zone! You know how infuriating that is? I guess that means I got the day off until about Five. A word to the weary, Camp Bondsteel is not the place to be on Sundays. Well, I take that back, apparently Camp Bondsteel IS the place to be on Sundays, all of the Foreign Nationals come here on Sunday to Shop at our PX and eat at our Chow Hall. The American Camp is the place to come, the Euro is strong against the Dollar and Hey! No sales tax! Our PX is the second highest grossing PX in the chain. Its because of the quantity of electronics we sell. And on Sundays, that place is a mad house. I had one thing to buy last week and I was in line for 15 minutes. I think I'll go back to my room and wait for lunch there. -SGT E: # 6:27 PM - |

Saturday, March 05, 2005

Regulation Army Pictures I got pictures. So now if something happens to me, this picture will be flashed throughout the media. I feel like a dork, but at least it beats the heck out of the basic training picture where I'm wearing a garrison cap. That just barely beats out the Beret in dorkiness. -SGT E: # 11:03 PM - |

Thursday, March 03, 2005

Mailin' Stuff Ah, life in the army. To ship anything overnight you have to wait outside the gate. They give you a time frame, give or take a few minutes on how accurate they are in getting there at that time. So I take a HMMW-V, grab lunch, drive outside the gate and park, and eat while I listen to MP3s on my computer with my rifle at my side, just chillin' and waiting for the mail man. Days are tough. But only when they don't let you back inside the gate (I had to drive around today) -SGT E: # 4:10 PM - |

Dinner with Verona Grr. . . I'm still writing this post. I can't seem to word it right. Just give me a few days and I'll come back to it. -SGT E: # 1:50 AM - |

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

March Madness Ok, I've been neglecting this thing for to long, and so I declare the month of March OFFICIAL DOGTAGS MONTH! Throughout the month of March I will post to my Milblog at least once a day, whether it be a thought in retrospect, a highlight of that day, or even a picture and leave it at that. This month, I am going to post to this blog DAILY! Let's see how long this lasts. Update It doesn't appear to be going to well. -SGT E: # 3:34 PM - |