It's my B-day!

Well, today is my 35th birthday. I kind of woke up a little upset. I immediately thought of the fact that it was my birthday and it served to remind me of the other events that I would miss with my family this next year. I'll miss 2 of my birthdays, 2 of my wife's birthdays, our 8th and 9th wedding anniversaries, the anniversary of when I met my wife, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and possibly my daughter's 2nd birthday. I know, a little depressing. i received a video this morning from my wife. It was of my daughter walking. She wasn't walking on her own when I left. I was both very excited and upset that I couldn't be there for such a truly once in a lifetime event. I also twisted the crap out of my ankle this morning while on a 2 1/2 mile run.

We picked up our Humvees last Saturday. That was interesting. It took us about 2 1/2 hours. We had to inventory all of the communication equipment, weapons mounts and maintenance equipment. Additionally, we had to pick up the machine guns for the Humvees. We received 1 .50 cal, 1 M240 and 1 M249. We picked up 3 Humvees total. One is like a truck, complete with a maintenance trailer, another is a soft-top Humvee and the last one is a full up-armored Humvee. I have included some pics of the event.


The first picture is of me standing next to our full up-armored Humvee. The second one is of one of my team mates. He's a CS3 (culinary specialist). He's very into this mission. We call him "Cock-Diesel". He's big into working out. So, I made him our PT coordinator! He's a good guy.

I took a couple of more pics of us about to "roll out" as we conveyed out of the motor pool on our way back to FOB CAMP ARMY STRONG. I'm sorry, I just find that a very funny name!


This week, we are learning Combat Lifesaving Skills. The first thing we learned was if under fire, and someone is hit, then keep firing. I understand the sentiment, but it's definitely a paradigm shift.

What I really can't wait for is this weekend!! We are getting 4 days off and I'm flying home to see my wife and daughter. I can't wait!!!! I know that I can't count on it, but I have this vision in my head of me seeing them at the airport and having my daughter walk to me! She is so precious.

Tomorrow, we are supposed to be learning and practicing putting in IV's. We get to practice on each other! Wow, this will be interesting. Maybe a little painful, too!. Next week is our initial hands-on practice with our weapons. We will spend a very long time in the beginning learning how to breakdown and clean our weapons and also we have to 'zero' them in for accuracy. Then we get to do some serious shooting. I've always found a great pleasure in shooting. It's about being able to accurately place a bullet from hundreds of yards away. It's truly a skill. I've always been fairly good at shooting. Should be a good week. I only wish that it came later and not right after seeing my wife and daughter. I'll probably not be in a good mood coming back to FT Riley.

Well, I'm going to wrap up for tonight. Time to get some sleep.