A Meal From Home

Yesterday we had free steaks and beer from some Minnesota restaurants and live music played by a couple of bands from back home. It was fun and everyone had a great time. I met the Governor and State Senator Dick Day (although not a lot of people knew who he was). I got a photo with Governor Pawlenty and briefly talked politics with Senator Day which isn't always a good idea after having a few brews. I guess it's a good thing I didn't run into Senator Dayton. Later in the evening a group of us were hanging out by our barracks and the Minnesota Speaker of the House Steve Sviggum was out and about and walked up to us. Except for me, nobody knew who he was so I introduced him to the group. He talked with us for a while and continued on with his walk. He later showed up with the Governor and a few other Minnesota politicians. Of course that happened while I left for a few minutes. Maybe they planned it that way. It was a good experience and I'm glad that they care enough to come down here and see us off like this.


Today we had the send-off ceremony on the post parade field. I had to miss it because I needed to drive down to Keesler Air Force Base to pick-up some communications equipment that we will be needing when we go to Iraq. I have no regrets about missing it, at least I didn't have to stand out in the humidity for hours on end.
This might be my last post from the United States; I hope to continue to update this blog frequently.

Weekend Over, Back to Work

After a nice long weekend down on the beach, I had to come back to Mississippi. We spent yesterday practicing for a big ceremony that will occur on Thursday. We also posed for an "Animated Red Bull". It looks just like our unit patch that we wear on our left shoulders. The Red Bull patch represents the 34th Infantry Division. The "1" in the middle represents 1st Brigade. Today we will be having the steak dinners that will be cooked for us by a bunch of Minnesota chefs that came down here for our send off.

It's a Party on the Gulf Coast

After about a three-hour drive, a group of us checked into a condominium right on the Gulf of Mexico. It didn't take long before we just threw our stuff into our rooms and ran down to the beach and into the water. So far it's a good start to our weekend pass.

Finally a Day Off

On Tuesday I got my first day off since Christmas break. I thought things would be less intense after returning from Fort Polk. Instead, my section has been working extra hours preparing for war. I spent some of my day off by going into Hattiesburg (the city outside Camp Shelby). A few of us went to the Buffalo Wild Wings here and, well we ate some wings. I took some time to also get ready for my four-day pass that will start tonight. I'm renting a car and driving to Gulf Shores, Alabama (about 45 minutes west of Pensacola). I've rented a condo at a resort down there so I'll be spending the weekend trying to keep myself out of trouble. I'm looking forward to this break and hope to write a little about it soon.

Good Bye Fort Polk!

I said good bye to Fort Polk a couple of years ago when I shipped off to Bosnia and figured I'd never return. Who knows if this will be my last trip there but I'll be content if it is. After arriving at the end of January, setting up and coordinating communications, playing war for about 10 days and tearing everything down, it was finally time to leave.
The night before heading back to Camp Shelby, Mississippi, a group of us went to a Japanese Steakhouse (one of those where the chef cooks your food at the table). After eating we requested our check and the waitress told us that someone had taken care of it and she handed us a note. It said:

Thanks for serving.
Dustoff 75
RVN '72

This means his call sign was Dustoff 75 and served in Vietnam in 1972. He had already left the restaurant by the time we found out he picked up the tab, but that's the way he wanted it. Thank you Dustoff 75.

Just Another VD!

No I'm not talking about what soldiers got during the Vietnam War, I'm talking about just another Valentines Day.  We are about half way through our mission here at Fort Polk, Louisiana, and sometimes each day just blends into the next.  At other times it feels like the movie Groundhog Day, where every day seems to be the same over and over again.  It's times like these that you really appreciate the simple things in the civilian world.  One thing I realized I miss is being able to go home after work and watching a show or two (in my case three or four) on the TiVo (in my case TiVos).  I'm doing okay though and eventually I'll be over there where I can complain about the weather.  I wish I could write about some exciting events but they have to happen first.  When they do, I'll try to give all the details that I'm allowed to.

Super Bowl XL

Yes I know the Super Bowl was a few days ago but this is my first chance to update my blog since then. I did get a few hours off to go watch the game and throw back a couple of beers. It was a short break but well needed. We are deep into this exercise which is known as a Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) rotation.
I don't see any other breaks in action down here until our current exercise is over. I'll get a 4-day pass when I get back to Camp Shelby and I'm trying to decide whether to go to New Orleans, Pensacola or some other place within 150 miles of Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Now in Louisiana

After about a six-hour bus ride, I made it to Fort Polk, Louisiana.  I'm a part of what's called the ADVON which is a different way of saying advance team.  I'm here to coordinate and set-up communications before the rest of the brigade shows up. I will spend most of February at Fort Polk before going back to Camp Shelby for final  preparations for war.   

Preparing for the Next Chapter

The time has come where we are done with the training exercises hear at Camp Shelby.  We are now packing almost all our stuff up into big metal containers.  Some are slated to go overseas while others are going with us to Fort Polk, Louisiana.  We will be there to test our skills that we’ve been improving on since September.  It’s getting closer but I’d rather just get over there and get things over with.  These train-ups prior to deployments are the worst experiences of my military career.  

In the Middle of a Training Exercise

We are doing a training event that involves everyone in the brigade that I will be deploying with. We are running 24-hour operations which means that I'm working 12-hour shifts. I report to the operations center at 0700 and my shift ends at 1900 (7pm). I usually don't get out of there until close to 8pm since I have to brief the oncoming shift and we all have to sit through an update on major events of the day. This exercise will go on for a few more days and then we will prepare for our temporary move to Fort Polk, Louisiana.

Back to Camp Shelby

I'm now back at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. We've continued our training where we left off before the Christmas break. We are doing maneuvers to try to simulate what we will be dealing with when we get over there. We will soon have an exercise at Fort Polk, Louisiana, to test our abilities. I'll have more on that later.

A New Blog For 2006

I will continue to post to this Blog when I return off of leave in early January. In the mean time you can check out all my entries from 2005.