I can honestly say I liked this country much better when it was all on fire, at least the oil smoke blocked out the sun , it is too goddamn hot here. We were given the first 2 days here off to acclimatize and get our heads sorted out from the jet lag. It was a nice break for us and gave us some time to wander around the base a little more to find out what all was here. It gets light here around 0400 in the morning and it is not too hot around that time. It starts to get really hot around 1000 or so. And to be honest the heat is rough but would not be so bad if it were not for the evil winds of death. Usually between 1100 and 1600 the wind blows in from the desert usually around 30-40mph and it is like being in a blast furnace. You would think it would be nice to have a breeze or even some wind to cool you down but all it is is hot air blowing that is filled with sand. Seriously it is like having someone chase you down with a giant hair dryer and a sandblaster, absolutely miserable. I would like to now apologize to all the ants I have burned with a magnifying glass in my lifetime, Karma is a bitch. The chow halls here are absolutely insane, I see now how some people that deploy gain weight. There are 4 meals each day, breakfast, lunch , dinner, and midnight meal. The food is awesome which I am happy about. What pisses me off is that the chow halls here are also run by civilians and are 20x better than the ones back home. It annoys me because over here all the workers are Philipino, Indian and Pakistani and they do a much better job than the civilian American workers do in the states. My point being that it is a sad state of affairs when foreign nationals care more about their jobs and how they do them then Americans do back home in relation to feeding US troops.
The internet here absolutely sucks ass. It is all wireless and there are so many people trying to use it that it is almost impossible to log in. To top it off you have to pay for it which I think is a goddamn crime personally. I did get an awesome haircut here though, the guy shaved my head, massaged my scalp, powdered my scalp and gave me a 3 minute neck massage all for 6 bucks, pretty cool. The latrines here are all Port-a-Potties which is not too bad except when you use them in the afternoon then they are like shit saunas. Also when the wind is blowing in the afternoons you most defiantly do not want to be downwind of them. We also have shower trailers which are pretty nice considering we are in the middle of the desert. Basically they look like trailer homes and inside you have about 15 individual shower stalls and benches that run down the middle with sinks on one wall with mirrors. That is one thing I have come to miss is mirrors, sometimes it is just the small things.
Our first bit of training started on the 3rd day and consisted of a 3 day MRAP ( Mine Resistant Ambush Protection ) drivers training. I was really excited to be getting this training at first as we had been looking forward to it for some time. These are the vehicles that we are supposed to have once we get to Iraq. I say at first because very quickly during the class we all realized it was a big piece of crap. I call it the MCRAP. I am not going to go into too many details of it for OPSEC ( operational Security ) reasons. But I will say it is absolutely the most uncomfortable vehicle I have ever had the displeasure of riding in. I actually think that when I get back I may write every congressman I can get a hold of and let them know that some one pulled the wool over their eyes on this purchase ( a whopping $500,000.00 per vehicle ). For you folks back home paying taxes you should be pissed. The first day was all death by power point classes, the second day was supposed to be preventive maintained classes in the motor pool than some driving. The weather did not cooperate of course , the wind was extremely high and cut visibility down to next to nothing so instead we went back to the classroom for more classes then took the written test . So the third day consisted of all driving , 15 hours worth. We had 5 guys per truck and everyone had to have a turn driving through various obstacle courses and with different equipment. It was a grueling day sitting in the back of those things for so long. By late afternoon all the trucks were pretty much out of gas so we had to head back to base. Initially we were told that we were done but then they decided that we absolutely had to drive at night to get our certificates. I thought that they wanted us to drive with blackout lights ( special lights on all military vehicles for driving at night ) or night vision, but no, it was just so we could drive with headlights, absolutely retarded. Got back around 2100 got our certificates and promptly escaped back to the barracks before they could come up with anything else completely stupid.
On our 5th day here, Thursday the 6h we went to an IED class which was actually fairly informative. I hate to say it but you have to give it to the insurgents for creativity sometimes, that’s all I am going to say on that issue. Then Harbin and I had to go to the airfield to practice loading and unloading Blackhawk helicopters as flying in them is part of our job. We did that for a couple hours then headed off to afternoon chow. Around 1300 we had a really cool class on foreign weapons. How to take them apart and put them together and how to fire them. Did not have much else to do the rest of the day. Friday morning was really cool, we got to do a Blackhawk insertion on a mock up village. It was all very exciting although I must say that running with all that equipment in the desert sucks a lot more than doing it in Washington state, just saying. Saturday we had some more mandatory briefings and Sunday we had to do the MRAP rollover training, which did not seem to be too bad for most people in it but I was in the gunner position and it was not fun at all.
I actually had to look at my calendar to figure out what days we did what as I have no sense of time anymore, days of the week have no meaning at all these days. Everyone here is absolutely ready to get the hell out of Kuwait and get to Iraq. One of the main reasons we want to get there is we are all absolutely tired of living out of our bags. We have been living out of duffel bags and rucksacks for three long months so far.
Spent our last two days in Kuwait lounging around waiting for a flight out which was nice and relaxing but also a bit annoying as we all are absolutely ready to get the hell out of Kuwait. Our escape from Kuwait turned into a complete nightmare and that will be the subject of my next post.
One thing I would like to add. If you were ever in the mind to donate money to an organization let me suggest the USO. Those folks do an outstanding job supporting and helping us soldiers out.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
Military time
Thought I would post this up since i write with Military time in my blogs.
Military time
100am = 0100
200am = 0200
300am = 0300
400am = 0400
500am = 0500
600am = 0600
700am = 0700
800am = 0800
1000am = 1000
1100am = 1100
1200am = 1200
100pm = 1300
200pm = 1400
300pm = 1500
400pm = 1600
500pm = 1700
600pm = 1800
700pm = 1900
800pm = 2000
900pm = 2100
1000pm = 2200
1100pm = 2300
1200pm = 2400
Military time
100am = 0100
200am = 0200
300am = 0300
400am = 0400
500am = 0500
600am = 0600
700am = 0700
800am = 0800
1000am = 1000
1100am = 1100
1200am = 1200
100pm = 1300
200pm = 1400
300pm = 1500
400pm = 1600
500pm = 1700
600pm = 1800
700pm = 1900
800pm = 2000
900pm = 2100
1000pm = 2200
1100pm = 2300
1200pm = 2400
It was kind of strange leaving Ft. Lewis . I expected that it would only be our unit at the air base getting ready to leave but it turned out there were 3 different units leaving that day for Iraq and Afghanistan. We got to the hanger around 1500 and after a couple briefings were able to wander around while we waited to load the plane. The USO is a wonderful organization they were there handing out gift bags with playing cards, snacks and toiletries. They also had a little shop off the hanger with free coffee and snacks. With a final farewell from several officers and high ranking NCOs’ the time finally rolled around to load the plane, so with a bit of apprehension we walked out onto the tarmac and loaded the plane.
Boy what a trip, 26 hours of flying and airport time. We left Ft. Lewis around 1700on Thursday the 9th and arrived in wonderful Kuwait around 0100 Saturday the 10th. Talk about some serious jet lag. The flight over was absolutely brutal. The plane had seats for 420 and we only had about 300 people but because of weight distribution we all had to pack the back of the plane. This was tough as each person is carrying a large assault pack, computer bag and an M-4 rifle with attachments. To say it was a little cramped is putting it mildly. After about 4 hours of sitting in such a cramped space my knees felt like they had been opened up and broken glass had been inserted, not a good feeling at all. We started the flight with our unit of 135 and about 60 folks from another unit. Then we had to fly to Colorado and pick up 100 more people. The flight to Colorado was only a couple of hours and was not too bad. We sat there at the airplane hanger for a break for about 1 and a 1/2 hours then loaded up and took off again headed for Minneapolis /ST. Paul. We arrived there around 0200 in the morning feeling a little bit worn out. We were able to de-plane for a nice 2 hour break and were greeted by the USO. If there ever was an organization to donate money too it would be the USO. We were greeted by 7 smiling ladies who handed out Burger King cheeseburgers and cold cokes. They had books that folks could take for free and all sorts of snacks and such. I was humbled that these folks took time out of their lives to meet us at the airport at such a late hour and take care of us the way they did. We left Minneapolis around 0400 for our flight to Shannon airport in Ireland for the first long leg of our journey. I had stayed awake Wednesday to Thursday night for the most part so when we boarded the plane I fell asleep and woke up when the wheels touched down in Ireland. We were able to de-plane while they refueled for several hours. Because of course it being Ireland the main section of the airport has a huge bar in it. It was a trip back in time for me as my unit stopped at that same airport on our return flight from Desert Storm. Of course the terminal was brand new and completely different from my last visit which had been 18 years previous. I chose to skip the beer as I have already checked the box of having a draft Harp and Guinness in Ireland. Instead I went with some nice hot Irish coffee. The prices were outrageous and I am now the proud owner of several Euros which I will now have to carry with me for a year. I honestly do not remember what time it was that we landed in Ireland as I was a bit out of sorts having traveled backward in time and being jet lagged and confused. After a nice break and several beers drank by most we got back on the plane for our final leg to Kuwait.
The flight to Kuwait took about 7 hours and it felt like I was in the 13th ring of hell. I am accustomed to flying and traveling but being in such a cramped space for so long pretty much had everyone extremely annoyed by the time we finally landed in Kuwait. Landing in Kuwait was a surreal experience for me. The last time I saw that airfield and terminal it was all pretty much on fire and the skies were blocked by oil smoke. This time around they had a new terminal and the runways were not cratered from cluster bombs. We got in around 0100 which was actually a blessing as it was only about 85 degrees out at that time. I was defiantly feeling weird about the whole experience , I would not say I was having flashbacks or anything of that sort but there was defiantly a weird vibe about the whole thing. For one thing I could not believe I was back there getting ready to go fight in another war in that region. . We unloaded the plane on the tarmac and loaded some buses that took us to a little rest area that had bins of ice water and some latrines. We were able to take a break and stretch our legs for a bit then we were loaded back up onto the buses for our trip to the FOB we were going to. We had to stop at al saleem airfield to drop off the troops that we had picked up in Colorado then we were off to Camp Buehring which was the base that we would be staying at for our hopefully short stay in Kuwait. All in all we spent about 2 hours on the bus which was annoying after our joyous airplane trip.
After finally getting onto base we drove to a briefing area and unloaded the buses. We were allowed to run over to the chow hall and grab breakfast which was awesome because all we had eaten in the last 30 hours had been airplane food. After chow we had to go through some briefings about the FOB rules, most of which are stupid in case you were wondering. We also had to have a briefing where they tried to convince us that Kuwait is a combat zone, it did not work we still don’t believe it. After the briefings of which 90% of them I cant remember because they gave them to us after we had all been traveling for 30 hours we got back onto the buses and headed over to our barracks area. The barracks are pretty awesome here, air conditioning and electric lights. Basically they are just huge steel support tents with plastic covers. A very different experience from my last deployment. We unloaded the truck that had all of our bags on it and moved into the barracks. Most people dropped their bags and racked out immediately , it was late afternoon by this time. Surprisingly I was not able to sleep so my buddy Harbin and I went a wandering. It was hotter than hell and a bit of a shock to the system but we forged forward because we had heard there was a starbucks on base and we are both coffee hounds. Sure enough there is a Starbucks here along with a Burger king, taco bell and a KFC. We wandered around for a bit then headed back to the barracks where I promptly fell asleep for about 12 hours, it was awesome.
Boy what a trip, 26 hours of flying and airport time. We left Ft. Lewis around 1700on Thursday the 9th and arrived in wonderful Kuwait around 0100 Saturday the 10th. Talk about some serious jet lag. The flight over was absolutely brutal. The plane had seats for 420 and we only had about 300 people but because of weight distribution we all had to pack the back of the plane. This was tough as each person is carrying a large assault pack, computer bag and an M-4 rifle with attachments. To say it was a little cramped is putting it mildly. After about 4 hours of sitting in such a cramped space my knees felt like they had been opened up and broken glass had been inserted, not a good feeling at all. We started the flight with our unit of 135 and about 60 folks from another unit. Then we had to fly to Colorado and pick up 100 more people. The flight to Colorado was only a couple of hours and was not too bad. We sat there at the airplane hanger for a break for about 1 and a 1/2 hours then loaded up and took off again headed for Minneapolis /ST. Paul. We arrived there around 0200 in the morning feeling a little bit worn out. We were able to de-plane for a nice 2 hour break and were greeted by the USO. If there ever was an organization to donate money too it would be the USO. We were greeted by 7 smiling ladies who handed out Burger King cheeseburgers and cold cokes. They had books that folks could take for free and all sorts of snacks and such. I was humbled that these folks took time out of their lives to meet us at the airport at such a late hour and take care of us the way they did. We left Minneapolis around 0400 for our flight to Shannon airport in Ireland for the first long leg of our journey. I had stayed awake Wednesday to Thursday night for the most part so when we boarded the plane I fell asleep and woke up when the wheels touched down in Ireland. We were able to de-plane while they refueled for several hours. Because of course it being Ireland the main section of the airport has a huge bar in it. It was a trip back in time for me as my unit stopped at that same airport on our return flight from Desert Storm. Of course the terminal was brand new and completely different from my last visit which had been 18 years previous. I chose to skip the beer as I have already checked the box of having a draft Harp and Guinness in Ireland. Instead I went with some nice hot Irish coffee. The prices were outrageous and I am now the proud owner of several Euros which I will now have to carry with me for a year. I honestly do not remember what time it was that we landed in Ireland as I was a bit out of sorts having traveled backward in time and being jet lagged and confused. After a nice break and several beers drank by most we got back on the plane for our final leg to Kuwait.
The flight to Kuwait took about 7 hours and it felt like I was in the 13th ring of hell. I am accustomed to flying and traveling but being in such a cramped space for so long pretty much had everyone extremely annoyed by the time we finally landed in Kuwait. Landing in Kuwait was a surreal experience for me. The last time I saw that airfield and terminal it was all pretty much on fire and the skies were blocked by oil smoke. This time around they had a new terminal and the runways were not cratered from cluster bombs. We got in around 0100 which was actually a blessing as it was only about 85 degrees out at that time. I was defiantly feeling weird about the whole experience , I would not say I was having flashbacks or anything of that sort but there was defiantly a weird vibe about the whole thing. For one thing I could not believe I was back there getting ready to go fight in another war in that region. . We unloaded the plane on the tarmac and loaded some buses that took us to a little rest area that had bins of ice water and some latrines. We were able to take a break and stretch our legs for a bit then we were loaded back up onto the buses for our trip to the FOB we were going to. We had to stop at al saleem airfield to drop off the troops that we had picked up in Colorado then we were off to Camp Buehring which was the base that we would be staying at for our hopefully short stay in Kuwait. All in all we spent about 2 hours on the bus which was annoying after our joyous airplane trip.
After finally getting onto base we drove to a briefing area and unloaded the buses. We were allowed to run over to the chow hall and grab breakfast which was awesome because all we had eaten in the last 30 hours had been airplane food. After chow we had to go through some briefings about the FOB rules, most of which are stupid in case you were wondering. We also had to have a briefing where they tried to convince us that Kuwait is a combat zone, it did not work we still don’t believe it. After the briefings of which 90% of them I cant remember because they gave them to us after we had all been traveling for 30 hours we got back onto the buses and headed over to our barracks area. The barracks are pretty awesome here, air conditioning and electric lights. Basically they are just huge steel support tents with plastic covers. A very different experience from my last deployment. We unloaded the truck that had all of our bags on it and moved into the barracks. Most people dropped their bags and racked out immediately , it was late afternoon by this time. Surprisingly I was not able to sleep so my buddy Harbin and I went a wandering. It was hotter than hell and a bit of a shock to the system but we forged forward because we had heard there was a starbucks on base and we are both coffee hounds. Sure enough there is a Starbucks here along with a Burger king, taco bell and a KFC. We wandered around for a bit then headed back to the barracks where I promptly fell asleep for about 12 hours, it was awesome.
Monday, July 6, 2009
4th of July in Seattle
Whew what a weekend!
Apparently the Army decided it was okay to give us another pass, so we had Saturday and Sunday off as part of the 4th of July weekend. I was kind of bummed out at first because when I left Michigan on the previous weekend on that 4 day pass I decided to leave all my civilian clothes back at home. At first I was not going to do anything but after watching all the guys pour out of the barracks with destinations unknown I decided there was no way I was just going to hang out on base for the weekend. So I caught a ride to the main PX ( post exchange = Army's version of walmart ) and bought some shorts and a T-shirt. When I got back to the barracks I still had no idea what I was going to do but I knew that I would be absolutely pissed with myself if I stayed on base on my last night of freedom before heading off to war. So I called my friend Heather who lives in Seattle hopped in a cab and went to up to see her. The cab ride up there was unbelievably nerve racking as the cab driver had this horrible habit of over correcting with the steering wheel. Even when we were going straight down the highway she kept moving the steering wheel back and fourth. I felt like telling her I was not in the Navy and to stop making me feel as if I was on a boat in rough seas. After a harrowing hundred and thirty dollar cab ride I arrived at Jarret and Bugs ( another Heather so I will call her by her nickname in this post ) house.
They were having a BBQ and were kind enough to let me join my friend Heather there. I was a little nervous because Heather and I had not seen each other in close to 10 years but we picked right up where we left off before and had a great time. After several jello shots, beers and some awesome hamburgers Jarret, Bug, Clayton,Emily, Heather and I headed out to go to a block party that Heather knew about. On our way to the party the city started their fireworks show so we stopped to watch them. It was very cool, they had this huge barge in the middle of Union lake and the choreographed music was being played on a local radio station. So you had this awesome fireworks show and what seemed like hundreds of radios playing this music during the show it was really cool. After the fireworks we made our way down to the block party which was really what seemed like a 2 block stretch of residential streets blocked off for the event. Apparently it is hosted by a friend of Heathers and seemed to be quite a blowout. Unfortunately it was winding down by the time we got down there but it looked like it had been going pretty strong since early in the afternoon. They had mechanical bull rides and some sort of ramp that landed in a wading pool ( I never did figure out what the were using to launch themselves into it ) and of course mass quantities of alcohol. After hanging out for a bit and watching Heather talk to damn near everyone on the street ( seriously I think she knows everyone in Seattle) we scored some road beers and started heading back the way we came to link back up with Bug and Jarret who we seemed to have lost somewhere along the way. We met up at the local yacht club where Heather works and decided it would be cool to go hang out on the dock for a bit. We started to walk out on the dock but there was a boat moored at the end and we were a little nervous about going out there and disturbing them. Of course heather was not nervous about it since she worked there and went out and talked to them. It turns out they were extremely cool people and had no problem with us hanging out on the dock. They were so cool in fact that they gave us home made Ice cream that they had made and these really awesome cupcakes. After talking with them for a bit they decided to take their dog for a walk. As soon as they left the idea was brought up that we should go swimming. * side note: Heather and I have a long history of late night swimming with large groups of people with usually little to no clothes on.* So sure enough before you know it we are all in the lake in our underwear. It was absolutely awesome and felt great. After our midnight swim Bill and Priscella ( the boat owners) returned and after an awkward moment of getting dressed in front of them we all headed back to Jarret and Bug's house. We were all exhausted by this point so Heather and I headed back to her house to crash out. We walked and she forgot to mention the fact that her house was on top of a mountain, seriously I thought I was in San Francisco.
I enjoyed a lazy Sunday with Heather and Emily starting with an awesome breakfast at an awesome restaurant ( guess what, Heather knew the manager, go figure :) then a quick stroll through one of the many local street markets. I needed a ride back to Ft. Lewis so Heather borrowed a friends car and gave me a ride back. We arrived at Ft. Lewis with plenty of time to spare but I was unaware of the rules of having a visitor on base. It was so unbelievably stupid I am still in awe. I understand that they need to have base security and all that but you would think that someone with a military ID would be able to vouch for someone with a valid drivers license. No, that is not the case, after arriving at the gate I am used to coming onto base from we were informed that Heather had to have a visitors pass to enter the base. I was getting a bit annoyed after talking to the guard for a bit and told Heather it was no big deal I would just walk to my barracks. But oh no, I was told that No I was not allowed to walk onto base from the gate and we had to go to the Main gate. We drive 2 miles down the highway to the main gate to get Heather a pass to give me a ride to my barracks which were several miles away. After waiting in line at the "visitors center" we finally get to a service window where they wanted enough documents to make your head spin. By this time I was already late for formation and I went outside to make a phone call but of course my phone battery had died so no phone call. Then I was going to take a cab but of course I call them and it is a 45 minute wait. By this point I was absolutely pissed so I just decided to walk, apparently you are allowed to walk onto post from the main gate. So after a quick goodbye to Heather I start hoofing it. Thankfully after having run a ways a woman that had been sitting in the visitors center while I was there pulled up and offered to give me a ride the rest of the way. End result, missed formation, lots of push ups and harassment ( good natured) and a counseling statement which is really just a slap on the wrist.
So besides the stupidity at the gate it was easily as Clayton put it " the best time I have had in years" and it was. I honestly cannot remember the last time I have had such an awesome spontaneous night out like that. Definatly a memory I will carry with me for years to come.
So I would like to send out a heartfelt thank you to Jarret and Bug for their awesome hospitality, and to Clayton and Emily for being such awesome people and of course to my friend Heather for letting me hang out and have such a great night out in Seattle before I leave for Iraq. I would like to give a another thanks to Clayton who served in Iraq in the Navy with E.O.D. ( explosives ordinance disposal ) it was really cool to hang out with someone who has been there from the perspective of someone that is going there.
So I am dedicating this post to "The Lake Union Six" thanks again and I look forward to seeing you all again when I return from my current glorious adventure.
Apparently the Army decided it was okay to give us another pass, so we had Saturday and Sunday off as part of the 4th of July weekend. I was kind of bummed out at first because when I left Michigan on the previous weekend on that 4 day pass I decided to leave all my civilian clothes back at home. At first I was not going to do anything but after watching all the guys pour out of the barracks with destinations unknown I decided there was no way I was just going to hang out on base for the weekend. So I caught a ride to the main PX ( post exchange = Army's version of walmart ) and bought some shorts and a T-shirt. When I got back to the barracks I still had no idea what I was going to do but I knew that I would be absolutely pissed with myself if I stayed on base on my last night of freedom before heading off to war. So I called my friend Heather who lives in Seattle hopped in a cab and went to up to see her. The cab ride up there was unbelievably nerve racking as the cab driver had this horrible habit of over correcting with the steering wheel. Even when we were going straight down the highway she kept moving the steering wheel back and fourth. I felt like telling her I was not in the Navy and to stop making me feel as if I was on a boat in rough seas. After a harrowing hundred and thirty dollar cab ride I arrived at Jarret and Bugs ( another Heather so I will call her by her nickname in this post ) house.
They were having a BBQ and were kind enough to let me join my friend Heather there. I was a little nervous because Heather and I had not seen each other in close to 10 years but we picked right up where we left off before and had a great time. After several jello shots, beers and some awesome hamburgers Jarret, Bug, Clayton,Emily, Heather and I headed out to go to a block party that Heather knew about. On our way to the party the city started their fireworks show so we stopped to watch them. It was very cool, they had this huge barge in the middle of Union lake and the choreographed music was being played on a local radio station. So you had this awesome fireworks show and what seemed like hundreds of radios playing this music during the show it was really cool. After the fireworks we made our way down to the block party which was really what seemed like a 2 block stretch of residential streets blocked off for the event. Apparently it is hosted by a friend of Heathers and seemed to be quite a blowout. Unfortunately it was winding down by the time we got down there but it looked like it had been going pretty strong since early in the afternoon. They had mechanical bull rides and some sort of ramp that landed in a wading pool ( I never did figure out what the were using to launch themselves into it ) and of course mass quantities of alcohol. After hanging out for a bit and watching Heather talk to damn near everyone on the street ( seriously I think she knows everyone in Seattle) we scored some road beers and started heading back the way we came to link back up with Bug and Jarret who we seemed to have lost somewhere along the way. We met up at the local yacht club where Heather works and decided it would be cool to go hang out on the dock for a bit. We started to walk out on the dock but there was a boat moored at the end and we were a little nervous about going out there and disturbing them. Of course heather was not nervous about it since she worked there and went out and talked to them. It turns out they were extremely cool people and had no problem with us hanging out on the dock. They were so cool in fact that they gave us home made Ice cream that they had made and these really awesome cupcakes. After talking with them for a bit they decided to take their dog for a walk. As soon as they left the idea was brought up that we should go swimming. * side note: Heather and I have a long history of late night swimming with large groups of people with usually little to no clothes on.* So sure enough before you know it we are all in the lake in our underwear. It was absolutely awesome and felt great. After our midnight swim Bill and Priscella ( the boat owners) returned and after an awkward moment of getting dressed in front of them we all headed back to Jarret and Bug's house. We were all exhausted by this point so Heather and I headed back to her house to crash out. We walked and she forgot to mention the fact that her house was on top of a mountain, seriously I thought I was in San Francisco.
I enjoyed a lazy Sunday with Heather and Emily starting with an awesome breakfast at an awesome restaurant ( guess what, Heather knew the manager, go figure :) then a quick stroll through one of the many local street markets. I needed a ride back to Ft. Lewis so Heather borrowed a friends car and gave me a ride back. We arrived at Ft. Lewis with plenty of time to spare but I was unaware of the rules of having a visitor on base. It was so unbelievably stupid I am still in awe. I understand that they need to have base security and all that but you would think that someone with a military ID would be able to vouch for someone with a valid drivers license. No, that is not the case, after arriving at the gate I am used to coming onto base from we were informed that Heather had to have a visitors pass to enter the base. I was getting a bit annoyed after talking to the guard for a bit and told Heather it was no big deal I would just walk to my barracks. But oh no, I was told that No I was not allowed to walk onto base from the gate and we had to go to the Main gate. We drive 2 miles down the highway to the main gate to get Heather a pass to give me a ride to my barracks which were several miles away. After waiting in line at the "visitors center" we finally get to a service window where they wanted enough documents to make your head spin. By this time I was already late for formation and I went outside to make a phone call but of course my phone battery had died so no phone call. Then I was going to take a cab but of course I call them and it is a 45 minute wait. By this point I was absolutely pissed so I just decided to walk, apparently you are allowed to walk onto post from the main gate. So after a quick goodbye to Heather I start hoofing it. Thankfully after having run a ways a woman that had been sitting in the visitors center while I was there pulled up and offered to give me a ride the rest of the way. End result, missed formation, lots of push ups and harassment ( good natured) and a counseling statement which is really just a slap on the wrist.
So besides the stupidity at the gate it was easily as Clayton put it " the best time I have had in years" and it was. I honestly cannot remember the last time I have had such an awesome spontaneous night out like that. Definatly a memory I will carry with me for years to come.
So I would like to send out a heartfelt thank you to Jarret and Bug for their awesome hospitality, and to Clayton and Emily for being such awesome people and of course to my friend Heather for letting me hang out and have such a great night out in Seattle before I leave for Iraq. I would like to give a another thanks to Clayton who served in Iraq in the Navy with E.O.D. ( explosives ordinance disposal ) it was really cool to hang out with someone who has been there from the perspective of someone that is going there.
So I am dedicating this post to "The Lake Union Six" thanks again and I look forward to seeing you all again when I return from my current glorious adventure.
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