March 31st-April 4th

     I let myself get behind on posting again, but I think I'm keeping better track of events now than I was before so here goes for this week.
     Monday
     The week started off by the unit receiving our new Command Sergeant Major, CSM T. He's an old school tanker, pretty sure I heard him say he'd been in 27 years and had just gotten to Hood after spending 2 years in Camp Casey, Korea. He definitely embodies the stereotypical CSM behaviors/attitude. Seems squared away but a bit of a hard ass too, in a good way.
     Later on I finally got time to sit with Cpt B and just talk. We went to a little dive burger joint off base in a rough side of Killeen, but I was stuffed on a pretty good burger and fries for 5 bucks so I was ok with it. Cpt B and I discussed college and BOLC stories for a little while before heading back to work. All in all a good day.
     Tuesday
     This was a really long and rough day. Started out with my computer shitting the bed and shutting down my account so I had to run back and forth to Brigade HQ's S6 office at least 4-5 times to try and get my account reinstated. It eventually got fixed but it just drove home how much I truly hate army computers and anything involving them.
     The other big issue of the day was trying to get two of our vehicles dispatched (able to leave the motorpool) so Chief M could pick up parts to repair some of our downed vehicles. I had to try 3-5 times to get Maj L to sign them. He kept finding problems with the dispatches, which I get need to be fixed but he made me take 3 trips instead of 1. Then when I finally got the dispatches fixed he said he wasn't signing them anymore and his replacement Maj C would be signing them. By the time I got in touch with Maj C and got him to sign them, it was 1530 and Chief M had lost the entire workday to work on his vehicles. Needles to say he and I were both annoyed and had a good venting session with each other.
     Wednesday
     I was going to try and talk about the normal stuff that happened in the beginning of the day but it seems pretty pointless now. Obviously this was the day that the shooting happened on base. I was almost out the door at 1645 when, as I was packing my bag, I heard one of the Sgt's in the hallway say "Uh I just got a text saying there's an active shooter on base and the base is on lockdown". Naturally everyone in the building came out and walked outside to see if we could hear anything. It was Cpt B, a Sgt, 2 Pfc's and myself left in the building. As we got outside we heard police sirens and the base siren system screeching out "SHELTER IN PLACE". A few NCO's out in the road were yelling at random soldiers to get in doors and eventually yelled at us to go inside too. So the Sgt and Pfc's went around locking all our doors and windows then we all sat in my office and kept an eye on the news. We eventually found a local news channel streaming online and watched coverage. I started getting texts from a bunch of family and friends freaking out thinking I was in danger. I found out later I was more than 15 blocks away from the incident and never was close to danger. Also got a call from my ex checking on me so I definitely felt appreciated that so many people were concerned about me. Eventually they gave us the all clear and I left my building at 2100. It took me until 2230 to get to my buddy 2lt H's house. All in all a very long and stressful day, but I was safe which was the important thing.
     Thursday
     Because of the shooting Wednesday, PT was canceled for Thursday and reporting in time was 1000. When we got into the office we got the word that the next two days were stand down days, meaning no training allowed, and we had to complete some tasks set down by the commander of the base General Milley. Thursday everyone on base had to have their vehicles searched, civilian and soldiers alike. I had mine searched by Cpt B. No big deal. Everyone also had to fill out a SLRT (cant recall the meaning of the acronym) but its basically a quick survey asking about emotional and psychological health. Sad to say it but the Army was definitely in cover there ass mode. Since it was still early release day we got out at 1500 and I got out of work after only 5 hours.
     Friday
     Started the day off by finding out we were still in cover the Army's ass mode and was told we had to inspect ever one of our soldiers barracks rooms. Thankfully as Rear D, we only had about 10 rooms to check. I got to tag along with CSM T and 2 other NCO's while we inspected half of the rooms. The barracks on Hood are actually pretty nice to me. Didn't find anything outstanding except for a few knives in one Pvt's room, but they were legal. It was interesting watching CSM T interact with the lower enlisted. He was able to find a way to connect with all of the,=m. He talked about collecting knives and mixing music with one and playing Xbox One with another. He really does seem to care about his subordinates even though he is still pretty new to the unit.
     After the barracks checks not much else needed to be done before final formation. I was able to have a pretty long discussion with both CSM T and Chief M. Got to learn more about them and their experiences and crack some jokes/trade stories. It was a good way to end a stressful week for all of us.