Off for the Weekend!
We have been released! CR is coming to Dallas this weekend to visit me. It will be the last time that I get to see him before the weeding. It will be a great relief to get out of here for a while.Today we stared off with a 5 mile Ruck March that began at 4:30 in morning. I am not all that good at ruck marches. I hate them. I find that they are a low point for me. I will never be a PT stud, but I always feel horrible about myself after one. A bright point of the match was when we went along the range for the field artillery trainees. They were doing night fire! That is some cool stuff to watch!On a more fun note, today was intro to US Weapons. I love playing with the 50 Cal. It is one of those weapons that once you fire it, everything else will feel like shooting a child’s gun. I find it strange that I love the large weapons. I also find it strange that I really like to make things explode. I don’t mean this in a strange psychotic way, I just love seeing what the weapons can do. Too bad I didn’t get branched ordinance, I could have go EOD!Blogged with Flock
Missing Things
I have been reading the e-mails from the Model United Nations conference that I was involved in. I didn’t think that I would miss it but I do. I hope there will be a time in the future that I will be able to volunteer again. I really miss conference. I loved working with the students and the other staff members. The conference was once a large part of my life. It is hard to give those things, but sometimes it is for the best. Other things have taken its place, but I still miss it around this time of year.
Labels: Cleveland, LEIMUN, MUN
How to Ghettophi a BMW…
This is a book that I should write after last weekend. My Saturday started off late due to the prior evenings festivities. So when I did get up, I decided that I would like some fresh air. What better place to get some of that kind of air than on a mountain top. With that in mind I decided to go the Wichita Mountains and drive up to the top of Mt. Scott. That is another story. On the way up the mountain I got a low coolant light. I had no other choice but to continue up the mountain, due to the fact that it was a two lane road and there was no safe place to turn. Once I got up to the summit, I waited a few minutes and took in the sights. Then I started my trip down the mountain. My engine started to over heat. I let my princess roll down the mountain and out of the wild life reserve. It finally red-lined and I stopped the car immediately. I rolled into this small roadside store that had “live rattle snakes” painted on the side of the building. 2 women were there about ready to close up and they were extremely helpful. I purchased 3 gallons of water and waited for the engine to cool down. When it did I attempted to pour water into the coolant reservoir. I wouldn’t stay. There was a huge crack along the entire side of the coolant reservoir. It was nine inches long and about 1/8th of an inch wide. Nothing was going to stay in this thing. To make things worse, I was not in an area where I had cell phone coverage. But I got out of that situation.
I got to a place where I could call a flatbed to get my baby back to town. I called one of my fellow LT’s and he took me home. The next morning, 2LT W and 2LT Mc went with me to the place where I had the car dropped off. They proceeded to take apart my baby. I had a hard time looking. They managed to get my coolant reservoir out and they we proceeded to duct tape it. We closed the gap and taped it and then replaced it. Then we filled it with enough water to get me back on base. From there I ordered a part from Ohio and then we repaired it this evening. It is funny to think that I had to duct tape my BMW. Oh…. She will never be the same.
Labels: BMW, Car Trouble, Oklahoma
Today
Today we had our second day of combatives. We learned how to choke out people. It was a good time. I fought for hours. I got my butt kicked, but I learned a great deal. I am really sore! I am not the only one. We have 3 more days of this. It isn’t that bad.
Labels: Army
Fall in Oklahoma
I have not had a really good fall season since I left the northern part of the US. It is mid October and it hasn’t even started to get cold yet. I miss the leaves turning. I long to take a wonder drive through the countryside looking at the colors.
This evening it looked like we might have a good fall storm. It seemed as if it was going to storm or at least rain, but it was not to be. All it did was threaten. It has gotten a bit colder, but that is only in the morning when it is most inconvenient for morning PT. Today was the first day that we have been allowed to wear longsleve PT shirts. It was a nice change.
A weekend in Oklahoma
This weekend I went to my first hash in some time. I went to the Texoma hash south of Lawton, OK. It was a good time. I took a virgin with me. She had a good time. The hashers were good people. I hope that I will see the pictures soon.
Today I went up to Oklahoma City to see the Oklahoma City Memorial. It was moving. The memorial alone was exquisite. The museum was also nice. There was also a large parade in town. This year marks the Centennial of Oklahoma as a state. The parade was huge. I would have stayed to watch it, but I would not have gotten back to Ft. Sill at a decent hour.
More About Graduation
I wanted to get a general update out, but there were some specific things that happened at my Graduation from OCS that were really special. The first thing was that Salena came up from Tampa to see my graduation. She didn't get to come to my BCT graduation due to the fact that she was in Japan visiting the newest addition to her family, a bouncing baby girl. She did however make it a point to come to this graduation.
Along with her Mario came from Ft. Drum to pin on one of my butter bars. He got in a little late, but he had a surprise for me. One that I would have never expected. He brought a present all the way from Michigan. The present took the form of an old friend from our Aquinas College days, Vicki!!! I opened the door to his hotel room to pick him up for dinner and all I saw was a camera in my face and Vicki standing right next to the camera. The photos were priceless.
There was a mass swearing in at 11:00 on the 30th of August and then after graduation, there were more personal ceremonies. I chose to be sworn in by my Training Officer CPT Arnold.
After the swearing in, SGT Corey H. Ringer and SGT Mario Camila pinned my 2LT bars on me.
And then SGT Ringer pinned my 2LT rank on my barrette
With the final result being a fresly minted 2LT.
