Stole the idea to do this from my fellow 2LT Deej Jimerson. Hoping it'll be a good way for me to spend some time reflecting and letting my family and friends know what I'm doing day to day in the Army. I wish I'd started this back when I was first commissioned so I could have captured LDAC and BOLC memories/vents. But such is life. So I guess I'll start With the day I left BOLC.
As excited as I was to graduate BOLC, the main reason I was excited for it was I go to see my Mom again. I'll freely admit I'm a mommas boy so it was great that she was able to fly in and watch me graduate. I knew she was excited to see me, well at least she was until she had to help me speed pack my car. I definitely didn't inherit her patience. After I finally got off the graduation stage and said my goodbyes to my friends, mom and I got on the road to drive down to Fort Hood.....I love my mom to death but its a good thing our trip was only two days because we probably would have killed each other. She has the uncanny ability to see car wrecks before they happen and brake lights from over 10 miles away. When we finally got to Hood, we stayed with my Mom's friend, Angie, which was awesome. So nice to have home cooked food again. She took us to San Antonio too which was great.
After a few days there, my mom and I found an apartment for me. Just a little one bed one bath. But I got it for a great price in a good neighborhood and only like 5 minutes from post. So I was really happy. Got all the furniture and a nice new flat screen TV which I love. Enough about the apartment though. After a few days of helping me get stuff settled I had to drop my mom off at the airport. It sucked having to say goodbye to her, especially since I probably wont be home until Thanksgiving. I'm sure work will keep me busy though, so hopefully it'll fly by.
After dropping my mom off I finally started exploring base. Good god I cannot get over how huge this place is. The road that has all the motor pools on it is over 7 miles long. After spending 8 months between North Ft. Lewis and Fort Leonard Wood, plus living at Ft. Drum for 11+ years, I thought I was used to military base sizes and traffic. But holy hell Fort Hood is insanely huge and busy. I'd been warned but nothing prepares you for it if you haven't seen it yourself. As the days went on I got a little more used to the traffic and figured out what roads to avoid and when. It'll still take more time to find this traffic normal but not a bad thing.
When I finally started in processing it was surprisingly easy. As an officer I didn't have to go to any formations or organized PT. I just had 2-3 hit times that I was required to go to, the rest of them I got done on my own time in about 3 days even though I was given 8 days to do it.
At the Commanding General's Brief, I got to meet my Brigade Commander and Sergeant Major. They only talked to the LT's coming to their brigade for about 5 minutes, but they did tell me what unit I would be going to. Turned out to be 6th Squadron, 9th Cavalry, the Armored Reconnaissance Battalion for 3rd Brigade Combat Team. I was intimidated but excited. I was even more intimidated/excited when I went home that night and researched the unit and found out they were in the Sinai, Egypt. So there was a possibility I could be deployed once I was done in processing.
One of the last things I had do for in processing was Suicide Prevention training, which the Army calls Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training, or A.S.I.S.T. I thought it would be stupid or irrelevant, but I was beyond wrong. It was very engaging and informative, and I learned a lot. It was upsetting watching senior officers, especially a Major on his way to a Lt Colonel slot being dismissive and annoyed to even be at the training. Hopefully none of subordinates ever have suicidal thoughts because he will not be a help to them.
Well I think that covers the first few weeks well. I hope to start posting these on a weekly basis of what I do/what happens at work. Hopefully it'll be a good way to decompress from work and keep people updated on how I'm doing.
No comments:
Post a Comment