Ahh, exotic Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Or Tennessee. They had some trouble figuring that out when the base was brought online prior to World War II. Ft. Campbell was home to several heavy armor divisions during that time. Aside from that there are some really cool (and one wierd) looking aircraft just sitting around at the museum. Pictures to follow.

My unit is a Cavalry unit. It has maybe 200 people in it, if that. Also, if the title isn’t clear enough, I now have internets in my room. It’s kind fo disturbing really. I woke up this morning and went to PT and then came back, changed into ACU’s and went and ate some mediocre chow at our above average chow hall. All during that time there were no internets. When I got back from chow they were all over the place.

Beyond the internets and obviously interesting history: I’ve been driving to Huntsville, Alabama on the weekends. This weekend is a four day so I’m thinking of going to see some of the local sights (caves and stuff-not nearly as interesting as old aircraft; it’s not like you can fly a cave around).

Also-I’m reading through “Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren. I don’t agree with a lot of stuff he has done, but I was assured by a good friend of mine who knows these things that the book is one of the more concise compilations concerning purpose as related to Christianity.

PT here is hard but easy. It’s difficult, but there are so many people good at it that is becomes easy to push harder and farther. It motivates a person to excel when they are the only person not.

I love you Mom! Happy Mother’s day! I left a message on your answering machine. I hope you got it. I love you Dad! I’m praying for your knee. I love you gramma and grampa!

(Brother, sister, I love you both. Uncles, cousins (Natalie, welcome home), etc. I hope you are all well!)

19 MAY 09

Also, Tim: answer my phone calls. Meagen: Sushi, yes? I’m looking forward to it!

This is all temporary… This world I know will shortly be gone.

It mirrors sectors of my life; minutes turned to hours. When I die it will all be but a distant memory. Simply one more wisp of smoke lost in time. Perhaps this will lend to the generation of my priorities…

I focus on the details, the science, things I can feel and touch and when I do this I forget my priorities-those handed to me by my God-and I lose myself in this little torrent of time we live in.

It is simply a matter of perspective. I can look from where I stand and I remember the past, I see the present and I anticipate the future. Where I am bound contains none of these things; time is encompassed by what waits, simply another dimension in which to move…

If I attempt to rationalize where I conjecture God to stand (a foolish pursuit, but one with a few fruits) I see how He might see. He stands outside time, seeing this thread of existence we live in; knowing all, seeing all. And for some reason He subjected Himself to this limited existence we inhabit.

For the love of man, Christ died. For me and every other person on this planet. But because of His infinite nature it is not some impersonal love, but an individual love.

And I suffer most from this: I do not perceive that love because it is not in the things I immerse myself in, not in the things I see, or feel, or touch. I have been granted these things: a life to live, and a free will to affect that life. And for one purpose I have those two gifts-to seek God and His love, His promise.

I pray to God that I do not become lost once again in the things of this world, its science and things that can be touched and heard. I pray, oh God of Heaven, that you grant me this incite; that You alone are God and that You are outside this limited existence. That You love me and let me know that you love me, not with knowledge of this limited existence I have been granted to inhabit, but with the knowledge of Your love instilled by the Spirit.

I pray these words are your Will, Lord. I pray that they touch someone for Your greater glory.

In Your holy name, the great ‘I AM,’ I pray these things.

Keep me mindful of these things, Lord, God Almighty.

Amen.

09 APR 09

The last two weeks for me have bee extremely relaxing and eye opening at the same time. I’m on what is called “Christmas Block Leave” or “Exodus” and have been since the 19th of December. Since the time I left the last post and and writing this one a number of things have changed: the first one, most important because it directly affects this blog which affects the readers, is that I now have access to technology capable of communicating with the outside world on a consistent basis. The second major thing that has changed is where I am at. I am now stationed at Redstone Arsenal for AIT (Advanced Individual Training).

The one thing I have noticed about this whole military experience so far is that my family is the only thing I really miss all of the time. Other things bother me from time to time, but it’s my family I think of on a regular basis. Next to them is my cat. Beyond that everything else is pretty much business.

After leaving my sister’s house in Oklahoma I wound up staying a day longer at the base than they or I had initially anticipated. I had been given my orders and I had the expectation that I would be shipping out within the next 24 hours. They had misread the date on my orders and it would end up being 24 hours after I was initially supposed to get up and move out.

I arrived at Redstone on the 5th of November. I started classes in basic electronics a week later. I left that class two weeks after that and waited, doing details, until the 19th of December when I took a plane home. I’ve been here at home in Washington for the last two weeks and I will be flying out tomorrow night back to Redstone Arsenal. I begin my targeted classes on the 5th of January. It ought to be extremely interesting, at least more so than sweeping leaves in an empty and windy parking lot.

Timothy, always good to see you. Say hello to ‘Let for me. And Matt.

-

Cadence calling and marching are huge for getting from point A to point B in Basic. Any where within four miles you’re apt to be walking there as apposed to getting transportation. MY father says that it takes about 18 years to completely forget all cadences. So in about 2026 I will have completely forgotten all of them. There are four very popular cadences that are used all the time plus variations that are spawned throughout the cycles. A cadence isn’t a cadence on the internet… Just words, so I will spare you all the verbage that would leave you wondering how exactly they are called while marching.

Some times the cadences would take a shift to the worse and sometimes things like Chuck Norris jokes would show up in the middle of a perfectly normal cadence… Entertaining after weeks of military monotony.

I am to be on the ready line in front of my battery’s CQ office tomorrow morning at 11:20. I don’t know what my orders are or when I fly out. I think the details at this point are insignificant… You see, this transition is from something that I will hopefully never have to do again, a palpable achievement based on decisive action and personal courage. For those of you who know me you will recall that times in the past I have been rather indecisive and scatter brained about things and even taking this behaviour to such a point that it would ruin perfect opportunities that came up.

I’m out, there’s a sister to say good bye to (she’s taking kids to a party) and a monkey suit to get back into (not literally…).

Love you all, my parents, Timothy, Ponbiki.

A lot has happened in two months time… Sometimes two months will pass and it will seem like it flew by. And sometimes - as in the case of Basic Combat Training - it will go by in an extremely slow fashion and you will lie to yourself saying: “Only a few short nine weeks” or “It’s only 27 more short days” or my personal favorite “So short a time left ’til we’re done.” This was my trend during the long waiting times after a days training was done or while I was waiting for that training to be executed.

I will organize this returning post as such: PT, BRM, road marches, MOUT, NCO’s, CO’s, the battery and overall  assessment of my Basic Combat Training experience. In fact, I’ll start with the summary and mayhap help the people who don’t like long winded assessments out.

It goes like this: myself and many others in my platoon figure that a breakneck version of basic could be completed in about three weeks if the assembly line approach was taken. I do admit there would be many drawbacks to this particular setup, but in the end the soldier would hit the field faster. The battery I am assigned to (until tomorrow night or thew following day) is understaffed by almost 35%. At least two platoons had only two drill seargents of the normal three at all times. The supply office and training coordination staff were both a single person. The battery 1st SGT (the non commissioned officer in direct charge of the Drill Seargents) was changed out at week six of nine and chaos followed.

That moves me to my assessment of the battery as a whole: well done for as understaffed as they were. The Command Seargent Major of the entire training section at Ft. Sill addressed some of the issues. Apparently it was a policy from the top down that cell phones be allowed every Sunday for a few hours. It was also of interest to him that at the 95th Processing Battery ‘across the tracks’ an entire platoon was issued a single stick of deoderant. That was my platoon. We went the entire weekend with one stick.

The reason our entire platoon had one stick of deoderant is because everything else had been declared contraband: if it wasn’t issued by the Army in-processing battery it was contraband. Needless to say the Command Seargent Major was not happy.

The CO’s in the battery are pretty much on the chain of the 1st Seargent. The man is… shall we say demanding in the areas of cleanliness and discepline. Our wakeup times for the week-days were rolled back an entire half hour. I stress this single half hour because for someone who came from 10 hour sleep marathons I pulled before I came in 6.5 hours is not quite enough. I’ve been completely tired for the last three weeks (the result is a shortening of temper). I’m hoping to regain some sleep in the coming week or three… It all depends on how AIT is at Redstone.

The NCO’s (non-commissioned re some of the better officers) and Drill Seargents are excellent. So far as I can tell they are some of the best Drill Seargents on base. Once people got to the point of being actual soldiers things went pretty well. For the most part. At points in time someone would mess up and platoons would get caught in the cross-fire. About two or three days ago the battery was coming back from chow after graduation practice and we got into a smoking session (where a Drill Seargent will begin to ‘physically train’ the battery with things like push-ups, v-ups etc.). During the middle of the session he admitted to not knowing why he was smoking us… There are the good and the ok. Well… Maybe the bad. The same Drill Seargent tried to do some trick with his bike one morning when he was going home and the bike wound up halfway across the parking lot on its side. Needless to say he was being sent home for being drunk when showing up.

MOUT (Military Operations Urbanized Tactics) is the art of urban warfare. We got two exercises and a little bit of glass houses. A glass house is a door and walls represented by lines painted on the ground. We practiced entering rooms once before we went to Freedom Town. Then we cleared Freedom Town and evacuated a downed pilot (a dummy). We were ‘ambushed’ after having extracted the pilot and after most of the platoon was out of the town.

The next time we used this intro to urban combat was Liberty City: a cluster of four two story buildings made out of ‘connexes’ (train cars with doors and windows). Stupid people were playing the apposing force. One guy broke the close kill rule (if you are within 10 feet of a person you yel ‘close kill’ instead of discharging your weapon).

Road marches. Long, boring, they made me wish I had an I-pod. Nothing more to sayh here except to say that your feet hurt after a while and the first marches  your shoulders hurt sometimes. Once you figure out how the rucks work you’re good to go.

BRM… PT… Guns and exercise. I can group, zero and fire a weapon with enough proficiency to meet the minimum Army standard. I also meet the standard for Physical Training… ‘Nuff said.

I don’t know when I’ll have the opportunity to be on next… It may be a week or it may be two months. We’ll see.

Much love to you Timothy and Ponbiki. Y’all don’t know each other. But I know and treasure you both.

-Albert

My recruiter graced me with the chance to see what the inititial PT (Physical Training) would be. I have done the test twice. Both times I passed all but sit-ups. Mind that these are full sit-ups. A single repetition is from the resting position (up with your back perpendicular to the ground) down onto the ground (shoulder-blades must touch at least) and up again. The requirement is around 17 to 20. I will pass this when I get to Basic. My problem was not pacing myself properly and burning out too soon.

This was all at around noon today. The remainder of the paperwork is in the process of being cleared up. By tomorrow when I go to the recruiter’s station it ought to be mostly done. (Faxes back and forth of information from various agencies that require information and forms filled out.)

And so I wait.

Tomorrow at noon I show at the recruiters station. They bus me to The Clarion (hotel…) where I will stay the night. The next day I will go to MEPS and go through a minimized physical before shipment. Then I ship when they can ship me. This is, again, hurry up and wait. And I have been told that I had better get used to it really fast because my career in the military will be filled with this kind of thing.

This will be the last post I personally write on this blog for about two months. This two month span is Basic Training. My parents (who will soon have writers accounts on this blog) will be posting excerpts from letters I write home.

MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station) is the part that comes after the recruiting center. And it is as it says: processing. You take the information from the recruiters and take a bus to a hotel. If you haven’t taken the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) you take it before going to the hotel. Once the test is completed you are given a sealed envelope with your scores. Currently my recruiter is in possession of this sealed envelope.

Then you wait. Once everyone who is staying at the hotel have finished their test taking (I was one of the last to process in and take the test) you all get on the bus and go to the hotel. There you go to a small room where you sign an agreement that says you will pay for things you break and will not leave the premises until it is done. You are also told to drink a lot of water. You will wake at 4:45 or a similar time and eat breakfast (make it light if you are pushing your weight limit) and drink some more water. Make that a lot of water.

Board a bus (back) to MEPS and check in. This begins with a security checkpoint to make sure you aren’t armed. The people that are shipping that day will go first in this process. They are followed by everyone else who have yet to be Processed by the Station personel. Check in at the Control Desk. Then see your respective branch’s office. For me? Army. The branch office will give you a sticker with your name, social security number, and a bar code linking to a database entry on you. Soon to be added to this database entry will be an extensive medical screening, questionaires for security, etc.

Medical is next. You will be handed a few papers that actually pertain to you as a person. You will take a vision test, have blood drawn (the lady that did me was amazing, I felt almost nothing at all… though, I did get light headed afterwards because I have never lost a significant portion of my blood before), a hearing test (which is administered inside a soundproof room: you sit on a stool in a tiny shrouded cubicle wearing headphones and holding a little bomb-clicker in your hand; click when you hear anything), have your pelvic area checked for the pertinant things (turn your head and cough), take a urine test (which is why you’ve been drinking lots of water; it also helps to not have stage fright), and do the duck walk. You crouch down and walk heel to toe for five steps wearing only undergarments. Also within the duck walk part of tests you are checked for flexibility in all limbs and neck and straightness of back, etc.

Once you finish in medical its clear sailing. Well… Not really. I sat and waited in excess of four hours to begin the final enlistment paperwork. I remember a Chinese proverb I heard once that mirrors this: The last mile of a 1000 mile journy is the longest. In this case the final leg of paperwork was the longest. I found that my current standpoint on USA’s (the channel) programming is somewhat poorly scripted and their idea of a set is an imacculate, dustless environ in which there is no grit present from real life. All four or five shows I watched on that channel while waiting (amongst other things I read my Bible, chatted, watched guys play pool, etc.) matched this profile: immaculate sets with the common misuse of cinematography and poor scripting. Monk, Ugly Betty, and one other that escapes me at this moment are among the shows that I saw.

I finally got processed. In the recruiters office you probably took a ‘pre-ASVAB’ which approximates your score. From this score you are given jobs you ‘qualify’ for. You have a chance to reserve one of these jobs to expadite the enlistment process at the end. I had reserved a 15R (attack helicopter repairer). I discovered through my sister that this is a job that I would not enjoy. It was described as mostly bolting and unbolting subsystems and handing them off to someone else who would then fix them. So I gave up my reservation at this point to find a different job.

I landed a 94A (land combat missile system repair) which is exactly what it says. More on this when I actually wind up in AIT (Advanced Individual Training). I signed the paperwork. I was sent to a briefing where I waited. While I waited I looked over my paperwork. It had me down as an E-1 (private). Earlier in the recruiting portion of the enlistment I was told that I would be an E-3 because of the schooling I had completed before the recruitment process began. Seeing this discrepancy I left the swearing in briefing (before it began) and got it fixed. They gave me an updated sheet a private briefing (by a strapping young man who had more muscle than I have mass) and was given short instructions about parade rest and attention.

Then I was sworn in.

“I, Albert Latham, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”

I was at MEPS for 16 hours. I slept for 10 hours afterward.

I pray that God does help me. This is a time of transition into a completely unknown world. I would also appreciate prayer.

God bless, as we should bless Him.

Seriously now, my good sir, there is no third post. Seriously.

I have enlisted in the Army for the following reasons: my life up to this point has been rather mediocre, I had no drive, no reason to push myself. I was quite comfortable. I am seeking imbalance and discomfort with this life change I have decided upon. As with any system in existance for force or energy (in my case effort) to be generated there must be imbalance. This is true for all systems that generate usable motion or force.

I have been praying (probably not as often as I should, actually) for peace and grace as well as a clear direction. My way has been made clear so far. For this I thank God.

I am very sure about what I am doing. This goes back to that ‘mediocre’ statement. You know me well enough to know that I really am not too driven in any aspect of my life. Sure I have a ton of interests but no real drive. I got tired of being the dreamer and decided to wade into life - the military I consider to be one of the fastest ways in. In my opinion the positives out-weigh the negatives.

They pay me, they train me, they house me and then they use me for the remainder of the time (all the while paying me). I come out financially stable with marketable skills.

It begins here (well… last week some time). I ship to Ft. Sill Oklahoma for basic training. I will spend 9 weeks there and them move to Redstone Alabama for 22 weeks to do advanced training. From there it is a mystery.

God will have sway in my life. In the end His glory and His kingdom are what matter. If it makes any difference I made this decision almost immediately after reading Ecclesiastes.