Chris' Updates

Obviously, I've fallen behind my goal of weekly posts. All I can say is that I've been busy. School work is steaming ahead at full speed, and work has just been crazy. In the past weeks, I've taken and passed my differential equations midterm, and had numerous homework assignments in all of my classes. I just finished a project for differential equations, and wrote it within Google Docs . I've been using Docs for a while to take notes and write small spreadsheets, but recent feature additions allowed me to write a report worthy of printing and turning in. You can check it out here . Since this was for a math class, being able to insert an equation with LaTeX syntax and having it print nicely was invaluable. And I really love that I can access these documents from any computer, and don't have to carry it around on a USB drive or manually synchronize with an internet file system every time I make a change. I still hesitate to put everything in the clouds , but it wor...

This weekend was my first drill with my new unit. My new section is an interesting group. Let's start with the current section sergeant, Sergeant Rhino. He's thick-skinned and all business, but fortunately he does have a sense of humor at times. He'll need a sense of humor with Private McLovin around. PVT McL seems to be a class clown and a lady's man, and a text message addict. In contrast, there is PFC Gadget who is probably more of a computer whiz than myself, and has more disposable income for fun electronics. Finally, my counterpart is PFC Jade, the only female in the section. She seems easily bored, but generally good-tempered. In addition, we have two people from out of town to fill slots. Our officer, Mr. Whiz, seems very friendly and knowledgeable, and Sergeant Buccaneer is a backup to Sergeant Rhino. I think I'll be able to work with everybody in the section, and if I'm lucky I'll be able to put up with them when we're off-duty too. I have no i...

I just completed my last drill with my home unit. I got loads of advice from the people there, both on deployment and PT. One of the most common deployment bits was: "Don't give her general power-of-attorney!" Too many people have gone over, earned loads of money, just to have most of it spent by the time they got home. The usual culprit was the significant other or parent in charge of the accounts and bills. And as much as I love and trust Ashley, I think it's still relevant. The advice on PT came from our E-6 medic. He suggested that my biggest problem is cardiovascular health, which I believe. He said the solution for me is running at an aerobic pace, and not pushing as hard as possible. Once a pace becomes comfortable enough, I can gradually speed up. He's an exercise physiologist on the civilian side, and he's just a very knowledgeable guy, so I trust his advice. I'm really going to miss the people here while I'm deployed. It's an excellent un...

It's been a bit of a week. I've been working at the internship not quite full time. This past weekend, the Campbells had their belated Christmas party, and Ashley and I attended. It was good to see everyone in Ashley's family. Today I took the day off of the internship so that I could work for the Army. SGT Nieto and I are setting up for a paperwork updating event called an SRP, and that setup is going well. Also, SGT Nieto is just fun to hang around. This afternoon I met with Lesley McDowell, the CS undergraduate adviser. We talked about my transfer credits, decided on the requirements set I would follow, and filled out a degree audit. After bringing everything home and looking it over, I've decided that it will only take me 4 more semesters to graduate! And they should be fairly comfortable semesters. I'm giddy all over again. If everything works out, I could be graduating in December of 2009. Thats just next year!

This week, I took my last midterm, for calculus. I felt pretty good about it, but I only earned a 67. I'm not fretting though, I only have to hit the average. My monthly Army drill was this weekend. First thing on Saturday morning, we had a random UA screening. Funny thing about the random people chosen, though; most of the E-4's and below were "randomly" chosen. Just funny is all. While people were waiting for the urge, our Major put in The Muppet Chrismas Carol . I'd never seen it before, and it was cute. After that, we got some work done on service calls. I ended working mostly on phone lines again. Sunday afternoon, there was a Christmas gift drawing, and I got a mug and some candy out of the deal. I have to say, I really like this unit, and I'm proud to serve with such a great group of people.

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 ...

Nothing huge to report this week. School is continuing at a steady pace. Work has slowed down, and I'm quite happy about that. We have several new drivers coming into the company, so the workload should cut down a bit. Ashley and I have started ballroom dance classes on Monday nights, through October. I had fun, more than I expected. I don't dread the classes like many males do, but I have to admit, I wouldn't just take them on my own. This weekend was the first Army drill of the new fiscal year. We have another addition to the commo section, MSG Mora, who is a great guy and a knowledgeable NCO. I spent most of the weekend moving phone extensions, since the unit decided to rotate offices for a bunch of people. However, a couple of highlights included a change of command for the company commander from CPT Robinson to CPT Sherard, followed by a patch-changing ceremony. Our higher headquarters have changed from the 96th RSC in Utah to the 103rd ESC in Iowa. Our new patch is a ...

A few exciting points this week. Last Friday, Ashley and I attended her cousin Robin's wedding. It was a very simple ceremony by a Justice of the Peace in their beautifully decorated back yard, and a nice family party afterward. Robin looked great, and it was a great time overall. Saturday and Sunday were devoted to the monthly Army drill. It consisted mostly of unpacking from AT, and the commo section received a new addition. SPC Flauta is a former active-duty infantryman, and self-admitted World of Warcraft addict. He seems like a great guy, and it's great to have him in the section. Besides that, I've been driving buses. Yesterday I took my first bus trip up to Rocky Mountain National Park, and it was just a terribly pretty drive. I've forgotten how nice it is up in the mountains at this time of year. Jackie has been making more preparations to move out next week, and the house has half-full boxes everywhere. But tomorrow we're taking a day off...

My pride, my Army promotion, and my grades are all being decided this week, and so far I'm not doing well. The drill this weekend was fairly normal, nothing too bad except for the company PT test. I started on the push-up event, something I thought I had locked up. But about 10 push-ups in, I started lowering my head and looking at the ground. Almost instantaneously I had 3 NCO's standing around me and telling me to keep my head up and go down lower. With all of the commotion around me, I did a pitiful job, probably one of my worst performances on the push-ups. I didn't even come close to passing there. Disheartened, I wouldn't have even bothered going on, but SGT Murray encouraged me to at least finish all three events. I barely eked out enough sit-ups, and really took it easy on the run. All that preparation on the run with Pritchett, and I ignored my push-ups and failed before the run even started. This morning was the Arabic written final. I don't think I did a ...

Friday morning was a bright, early start for me. I drove down to Fitzsimons, ready to rock the firing range! The morning was the usual drawing of weapons and gear, then the bus ride down. We had a little bit of a hold once we were set up in the billets, since the ranges were behind schedule to go hot. The first sergeant offered to take several people to the Military Clothing Store, and I decided to go with him and buy more boot laces. (Al has developed a fascination with mine.) When we got back, we were late for the move to the range, so SPC Faith and I rode down in the back of a HMMWV with CPT Robinson. Once at the zero range, I tried to quickly verify my M16's zero was still good, then headed back. Friday evening, SFC Zimmerman cooked up some commo training for SPC Dupio and myself, and we refreshed ourselves on SINCGARS radios and learned how to operate a field telephone switchboard. I really needed the radio refresher, and the switchboard training was completely new. We are goi...

This weekend on Friday night I wasn't partying, like any other freshly-turned 21-year old. No, I was at the first day of drill. We had Friday night prior to the usual Saturday and Sunday this time, which was different. I didn't see much of my section this weekend because I was taking the Combat Life Saver's course. The CLS certification is a secondary duty, so I'm nowhere near a medic, but I now know a few extra medical techniques beyond the average GI Joe. The biggest new responsibility is the ability to start an IV and administer IV fluids. Even after several hours of training on rubber arms, it was still nerve-wracking to stick a person. But I did get to hang around with Faith, so the weekend wasn't a complete bummer. The only real disappointment was that after a month of working out with a personal trainer, I wasn't able to take the darn PT test! Now I have to wait another month! When I got home tonight, Ashley was horrified that I was earlier than expected....

This weekend's drill was fairly quiet for the commo section. SPC Vaughn is at WLC, and SGT Lant is at school for a new MOS, something in finance. SPC Dupio had a family emergency and was back home in Hawaii. And PFC Whittier was, predictably, no where to be found. That left only myself, SGT Nieto, SFC Zimmerman, and MAJ Friberg. We continued where we left off on last drill's work, and got to work on the phone systems. This time SGT Nieto actually showed me how to program the PBX machine, and wow, that's a chore. It's not really so complex, so much as cryptic. Everything is done on a command-line text terminal, and the commands aren't very intuitive. Even so, I learned a lot, and I think our phone system is back to operational status. We still don't have all of the documentation that we should, but at least I know how to get things limping along again. SGT Nieto says he doesn't really want to train any of the other junior enlisted guys on the PBX system, just...

So this past weekend was my December drill for the Army Reserve. It was a fairly laid-back weekend, spent at the drill hall. On Saturday I found out that SGT Lant had been replaced as the S-6 section sergeant, replaced by SFC Zimmerman (or Sgt Z). It should be a good change, I think Sgt. Z has more experience being a section sergeant, and SGT Lant and SGT Nieto will still be around to supervise. I missed out on a PT test that nobody told me I was supposed to take. I sort of knew a few days before when they posted the training schedule, but no one told me I was supposed to take part. I wasn't really prepared anyway. So instead, I spent my time helping revamp the drill hall's commo systems. The big deal was fixing some of the phone problems. We mapped out the phone jacks, toned lines to find the other end in the closet, and tried to get the correct extension on the correct phone line. We were pretty successful, but there's a lot more work to be done. Sunday morning was our Cl...

Another drill weekend down. Friday I headed down to Fitzsimons with all of my gear for the field. I didn't read the schedule correctly and missed the first formation, but I was able to quickly catch up with everyone else in being issued the rest of my gear. SGT Lant was even later than me, and barely made the movement. We loaded the bus and drove down to Ft. Carson without a hitch. Once there, I met a bit of a surprise. The training schedule said that we would download our gear at Tent City and head directly to the zeroing ranges to calibrate our weapon sights. Instead we transferred our gear to an LMTV in a random parking lot and were told we could either attend "the function" or stay behind and train on the EST 2000 system. I had no idea what "the function" was, so I just went with the crowd and loaded on a bus for the event. About half way to Butts Army Airfield, I learned that Dick Cheney, the Vice President of the United States, would be speaking. Oh, goo...

It's the first snow of the season! Take a look outside at the Engineering Center! It's really coming down! I'm posting from school, and I'm still here because I have my second physics midterm in an hour. For the most part, I've just been sticking to the new daily grind. School is usual, and I'm actually starting to think I was wrong about Algorithms class. It's not an evil math class, it was just the first couple of chapters that seemed so. My Arabic is progressing steadily, and physics is usual. Work at Transportation Services is still going well. I finally finished with the driver forms, and I'm on to other menial, time-consuming projects, like scanning and filing. I'll tell you though, we have one sexy print/copy/scan/fax machine. It could practically do my job for me if it were set up correctly, but I'm not about to tell them that. Over the last weekend I went to drill at Fitzsimons, which was business as usual. We actually did some proactiv...

Ok, so yet another drill weekend done. It was planned to be a quiet weekend, and basically the only things on the schedule for the lower enlisted were section training and cleaning gas masks. Well after a quick search, it became apparent that we only had a dozen or so gas masks, and the rest were probably loaned out. However, SGT Lant had some good material for section training. As a section, we're responsible for making sure that the communications equipment is running, so on a related note, he brought in a SCSI server and several hard drives to wipe. We did a review of basic computer components, and learned a good deal about SCSI peripherals that I had never dealt with. Admittedly, we didn't stay as busy as SGT Lant intended, and he had to periodically slip out for this or that, often having to stop in the middle of training. The only other person there was Whittier, and he was also popping in and out, trying to clear up his absences the past couple of drills. Sunday morning ...

Eight weeks of class finally came to an end Friday, when I took my Calc 2 test. I don't have the results yet, but it felt pretty good. I'm expecting a C in the class, but there is that slight chance that my final exam grade and a healthy curve kicked me up to a B. Wait and see! This weekend, I started chewing away at my required AT days by helping with the 96th Infantry Division Reunion's Family Day event. They've had all sorts of events this week for the reunion, like on Thursday, when everyone in the unit was invited to attend the Rockies baseball game, in uniform. Saturday's Family Day was an opportunity for the vets and current members to bring their families for food, fun (a rock wall and a dunk tank), and a look at today's military. I was volunteered to show off the M249 SAW , the Army's light machine gun. I've fired one, a little 50-round drum in BCT, but I wasn't immediately prepared to be a "subject matter expert" on the thing. I h...

So, I think the test went well Thursday. I'll find out tomorrow, I hope. Drill was excellent this weekend. We didn't stay in our usual Reserve barracks in the main of Ft. Carson, with its "posh" 2-man rooms. Instead we stayed in the "Tent City" barracks, which are a lot like the BCT barracks, with one long room of bunks. Lucky we weren't crowded. Friday was spent at the Land Navigation course, and we retrained ourselves in navigation using a compass, given bearings and distances. It was really good training, but tiring! Each team walked thru two courses, with each course being roughly 4km once you walk to the starting lot. This is thru varied terrain, flat stretches and steep hills, open fields and thick underbrush, small streams. Not to mention the cacti and yucca plants. Do I ever appreciate those combat boots! All told, I probably walked 6 miles in basic field gear Friday. And it was fun as hell. I slept well. Saturday was much more interesting. We ge...

Well, yet another drill down. Saturday morning started off with a suprise; a company-wide drug test. And so we sat around sipping water and shooting the breeze for a few hours while everyone "got the urge." We got in a few classes, and broke for lunch. I gave one of my classes that afternoon, along with a few other people. At the end of the day, we unloaded a shipping container full of miscellanious junk, and unpacked a couple dozen large frame tents. I was informed that the next morning I would be taking a PT test, and to show up in PT uniform. Great. This morning, as promised, was the PT test. It was a suprise to me, since I figured they'd give me a couple of months to work on myself, but I guess they're going to keep on testing me at every opportunity. I don't think it really motivates me any more, it just means I'm maxing out more often and interrupting my own training. On the other hand, failing again today does make me realize I need to ramp up my consis...

Well, this weekend was drill, yet again. At least this time we stayed at Fitzsimons so we could go home in the evening. Saturday morning, we had a physical fitness test. That didn't go so well. See, since I got home in December, I think I've gone for runs a total of three times. I haven't done a single push-up or sit-up. So when we started the test, it was a real shock to my system. I failed all 3 events, and I came in overweight. You can't say I didn't exert myself during the test; at the end of the running track I spewed the water and yogurt I'd eaten that morning. The whole ordeal was a bit embarrassing. I'm really gonna have to start working out. The PT test lasted all morning. That afternoon, we mostly sat around looking for things to do. I volunteered to carry the guidon for Sunday's change of command ceremony, so I spent a little time learning that with Vaughn and Faith. Sunday morning we set up and performed the change of command for Col. Evenson...