Serving via Transit

Or this post's alternate title, "Since When Am I an 88M?"

This weekend was my unit's drill, and this time we were slated for weapons qualification at Ft. Carson. Now that I'm the only licensed bus driver in the company, my superiors asked me if I could head down with the advance party on Thursday, one day ahead of the bulk of the company. So, Thursday, I woke up bright and early, and headed over to Fitzsimons to meet up with the rest of the advance party. After a bit of confusion initially, we lined up our three HMMWV's and our LMTV, loaded our personal gear and my radio gear, and set out for Ft. Carson. The rest of Thursday was rather dull for me, since it was just the other members of the advance party, all senior NCO's (and most nearing retirement) getting ammo, ranges, and the like lined up for Friday.

Friday morning, we acquired our bus, and everyone headed out to the range to start setting up. The company showed up earlier than we expected, so we went back and shuttled them out to the range. The company quickly got started on grouping and zeroing. I was called back a few times to shuttle the Command Sergeant Major and the Colonels back and forth to range control in the bus. By the early afternoon, we moved on to qualification. I headed out on the first firing order, and hit 27 out of 40 on my first try, which is passing by a large margin. I would have liked to try again, but time moved rapidly and soon we were forced to close the range for the night. After chow at the dining facility, First Sergeant Bernal gathered all of the enlisted soldiers. He had everyone leave their weapons in the care of the officers, and we trekked out to the bowling alley. Everyone filed into the little watering hole connected to the bowling alley, and then he bought everyone a round of drinks to recognize two outgoing NCO's. SFC Sparkman is retiring after the December drill, and MSG Kanan is transferring to a different unit to be deployed. They're both great guys and great NCO's, and they've both helped me personally during my time with the unit. After 1SG's toast, the karaoke machine was fired up. That was the beginning of the end. Dupio got up several times, as did SPC Justice, the new chaplain's assistant. They even did a duet of "Summer Love" from Grease! Someone volunteered me, Pritchett, and SGT Nieto. I never figured out who, but I suspect either Pritchett was pulling our leg, or it was MSG Kanan. SGT Nieto bailed to the bathroom before the song started, so SGT Mathisen took his place, and the three of us sang a horrible but entertaining rendition of "Old Time Rock-and-Roll."

Saturday morning, we went out to the range and tried to cook off our ammunition as quickly as possible. (It's difficult to turn back in to the depot, so everything you take, you use.) Just for fun, the controllers opened up the long targets, everything from 200m to 800m. I think I may have hit one of the 800's, but it was hard to tell. If I did, it was a lucky shot. After that, we cleaned out the billets, I cleaned out the bus, and was assigned to drive the new company commander, CPT Sherard, in one of the HMMWV's. We didn't get 5 miles out of the gate before MSG Diehl's vehicle ran out of fuel. We went to the next exit for fuel, brought it back, and put it in, only to find that the fuel filter had run dry as well. It took MSG Diehl about 30 minutes to charge the system, and we got back en route. After returning to Fitz, we quickly put away our gear, and called it an evening.

Sunday was slated for a half day, with only one major goal, the PT test. I had been training for 3 weeks, but I still felt nervous. Even so, I was able to get my minimum on the push-ups and sit-ups with energy to spare. But then, once again, the run was out of my ability. I ran 2 miles in 17:28, a full minute and a half short of my age group's maximum time. That's my best time ever at this elevation, but still quite short of passing. I just need to keep pushing, keep improving.

Now, this evening, Ashley and I are over at Holly and Chris's new town home. They've just had internet installed, so I'm working on my Arabic presentation while the other three are playing Age of Mythology. Ashley's been getting into that game recently, and I guess you could call this her first LAN party! Excellent! I guess I'll have to install Age of Mythology and join in next time.