Hot, Hot, Hot

Wow!  I don't think I've ever been this hot.  At 4 pm this afternoon it was 117 degrees with about 10% humidity - which means you don't sweat.  We try and not go outside too much during day light hours, which run from about 5 am to 7 pm.  What is even worse are the bathrooms - they are porta-johns and its like a sweat box, I would say it gets close to 140 in there - think going to the bathroom in a sauna.

Our uniforms here are the standard issue Navy Blue shorts and with Bright Yellow Navy shirt, along with our M9's and shoulder harness (notice the mandatory reflective belt - as if someone couldn't see us coming)  I'm fairly certain that this outfit does not strike fear into anyones heart, but see for yourself below.

Should be heading out of here in the next 48 hours, the sooner the better - forecast is for 122 tomorrow!

On to Kuwait

Another early morning to get ready to sit around and wait.  First up at 04:30 to get showered and get our bags on the the truck.  Then 06:00 inspection to make sure our barracks were clean.  07:00 breakfast and 07:45 roll call before getting on the buses to go to terminal.  It was a great send off as the VFW and several other groups led us out of the base on their motorcycles with American Flags flying on the back.  We arrived at the private terminal to about 150 local citizens cheering us on.  They brought a lot of good stuff for us to take along - bibles, flags, girl scout cookies, etc.  All our instructors came out on their day off as well to see us off.  As they read off our names to board the plane the people who showed up picked up flags and made a path for us to walk through - I got a lot of handshakes and hugs.  It was awesome!

We got delayed about 30 minutes for a photo op with presidential candidate Newt Gingrich - I got a photo with him and will post later.

The first leg of the flight was short and we stopped in Maine to refuel.  Again when we got off the plane there were a dozen or so volunteer greeters to give us a hand and hugs.  The stop took about 2.5 hours.  Our second stop was in Germany and lasted about 3.5 hours and several other planes from other places were also there.  The final leg was about 5 hours (Total flying time about 14 hours) and we finally arrived at Kuwait International Airport.  However, this was not our final stop yet.  Another 1.5 hour layover before getting on a bus for another 1.5 hour ride to finally arrive at our destination - at least for a few days.  We find ourselves again in a 40 man tent, but this time instead of being 90 degrees outside it is 110!!  There are a few things here to do including a couple of gyms, movie theater and starbucks, but again I just really want to get to my final destination.  The good thing about this stop is that it begins my official 'boots on ground' time!!  179 and a wake up.

Last week of training

This final week of training at FT Jackson (Camp McCrady) was the culmination of everything we had been taught.  Unfortunately, by this time though, everyone is just ready to get out of there.  We continued to work on Convoy operations and shoot the M4's (at least on the computer simulator).  The final day was the actual convoy operations that we did twice.  The goal was to lead your convoy from start to finish and find all IED's and not take any KIA's.  I was the commander for the first attempt and we found 4 IED's (however there were actually only 2) and took no KIA's.  Success, however it only took about 20 minutes and we got up at 4:45AM and got back to base at 5:30PM - Not exactly efficient use of time.  We then got to clean our weapons and turn in the ones we were not taking - I'm only taking one, so I had to turn in my rifle, which I was happy about.  Why, you ask?  Try carrying it around 24/7 for three weeks and you will know the answer.

 Four of my new friends and I took in a movie (Hangover 2) and got a steak (Ruth's Chris) the final night and it was a good way to end the training.  Now off to bed and early morning to fly out to Kuwait.  Camp McCrady wasn't that bad and the training and Instructors were top notch, but it really seems they could have done it in 10 days instead of 20.  Oh well, hope never to have to worry about it again.

Last Liberty

The final weekend of liberty started off late as they had said we would get out early (and of course we could have, but they have this Army 'White Space' where we sit around a lot).  Finally got to see my wife and we traveled to Charleston for dinner.  It just happened to be our 1st year anniversery, so we kind of lucked out.  If was a great night and we got to hang out the next day.  Saying goodbye again was difficult.  Can't wait to get back.  Love you babe.

The surgical team - Anesthesia, General Surgery, Ortho, Anesthesia

M4 Qual

This last couple days have been pretty intense - up at 4:30 every morning.  We have spent them at different ranges firing the M4/M9 and qualifying to carry them in country.  We started out firing in an electronic range - unfortunately this was a little simpler than the real thing and I got a little too much confidence (hit 36 out of 40).  Then we grouped and zeroed our rifles, basically making sure they are firing straight and hitting what we are pointing at.  The next day we shot another 160 rounds in full battle gear seeing where our shots were hitting and missing.  Finally today we attempted to qualify on a series of pop-up targets from 50 to 300 meters.  We had three different positions (prone-supported, prone-unsupported and kneeling).  We had to his 23 out of 40 to qualify and I did, but to tell the truth the women did a lot better than the men.  We also learned how to throw a grenade and got familiarized with the 240/249 and the 50 cal, all of which we are going to fire tomorrow along with a stress and flex fire with the M4 where we are doing close quarters combat.  Its all a blast except for cleaning the weapons which can take an hour or so a day.

Weekend Liberty

Its been a while since I have been restricted from what I want to do, actually its been forever, unless you count fraternity initiation (but that is for another post).  I was able to get off base for about 6 hours on Sunday even though liberty started at 1700 on Saturday.  You are not able to travel over 100 miles or stay over night without a special liberty chit.  Not a huge deal, but certainly a drag.  I drove up to Charlotte to see my parents and we had lunch and a nice visit.  It was great to just get away from living so close with 40 other people in one room and it was great to see my parents even if it was only for a couple of hours.

Hopefully I won't have to wear this too often in Afghanistan - full body armor, helmet, knee and elbow pads, M9, M4 and camelback.  It weighs about 80 pounds total.