Military vs. Civilian Friends...

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Tell you not to do something stupid when drunk.


MILITARY FRIENDS: Will post 360 security so you don't get caught. 

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Call your parents Mr. and Mrs. So-and-so. 

MILITARY FRIENDS: Call your parents mom and dad.


CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Hope the night out drinking goes smoothly and hope that no one is late for the ride home. 

MILITARY FRIENDS: Know some wild stuff will happen, set up rally points and an E & E route.


CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Bail you out of jail and tell you what you did was wrong. 

MILITARY FRIENDS: Will be sitting next to you saying, Damn, we screwed up but, hey, that was fun!"


CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Borrow your stuff for a few days then give it back. 

MILITARY FRIENDS: Steal each other's stuff so often nobody remembers who bought it in the first place.


CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will listen to your relationship problems and hope it works out for you. 

MILITARY FRIENDS: Will listen to you over a long hard road march, and will help you straighten it out better than Dr. Phil.


CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Know a few things about you. 

MILITARY FRIENDS: Could write a book with direct quotes from you.


CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Might try to hit on your girl behind your back. 

MILITARY FRIENDS: Have spooned with you in the field more than your girl has, and would never even think about doing that.


CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Would knock on your door. 

MILITARY FRIENDS: Walk right in and say, "I'm home!"


CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will wish you had enough money to go out that night, and are sorry you couldn't come. 

MILITARY FRIENDS: Will share their last dollar with you, drag you along, and try to work free drinks all night.


CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Want the money they loaned you back next week.

MILITARY FRIENDS: Can't begin to remember who owes who money after taking care of each other for so long.


CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will tell you "They'd take a bullet for you." 

MILITARY FRIENDS: Will actually take a bullet for you.


I don't usually post stuff like this and there are definitely civilian friends who fit the military friend mold, but some of this stuff is hilariously true.

What's Been On My Mind

Today's post shall be a conglomeration of what I've been thinking about today. Three very random topics to most people, but very important to me.

First, I'd like to discuss the dangers of PT. Every weekday morning I get to drag myself out of bed to go do PT. It's summertime in Oklahoma and all ground can be classified as well-watered grass, dead grass, or dust. PT is done in a mixture of dust and dead grass. There are a few people who like to avoid the dirt as much as possible. I can partially understand why; sweat and dust makes mud. But I would prefer it if we did PT in the dust. Today, I got cut by the grass. I didn't notice it until someone pointed it out, but now it hurts. And I wish people were a little more willing to get dirty in the name of safety.

Next, I will move on to Gatorade. I love the stuff. I mix my own and there's a few colors that are practically inhaled when I get my hands on them. I now have another product to add to my Gatorade 'like' list. Pro Recover in chocolate flavor. It's considered a protein shake and tastes like a really thin chocolate milkshake. I'd had some of the fruitier flavored Recovers before and wasn't that impressed because its a milk-based product and I don't associate milk and fruit flavor mixed together. Chock it up to my wonderful 4-year-old experimentation of mixing milk and orange juice and then having to drink it.

Finally, I've been thinking a lot about the Tottenham Riots. When the news first came up I laughed a little; simply because I have a strong hatred for Tottenham Hotspur. Now I'm a little frustrated. I compare it to hooliganism without the football element. And to me, that makes it completely stupid and pointless. Plus, matches are being postponed because of the violence and I find that not cool because going without football is sad. I also had the thought about how it will affect other countries impressions a year before the 2012 Olympics (I love the Olympics). I guess I'm not the only one wondering that because I've seen a few news articles on it.

He Went Where?!

One of the several reasons I was drawn to Arsenal when I first became a fan was a certain French player known as Thierry Henry. Actually, his skill was probably the only reason I started tracking Arsenal and then I fell in love with other aspects of the club.

Anyways, a few years ago the legendary Henry moved to Barcelona, a semi-favorite team of mine, and although he was good, Barcelona has a lot of stars and Henry didn't shine like at Arsenal.

This summer I was in basic training for the army. A soccer fan stuck without soccer news in a World Cup transfer window. I knew I was bound to miss some transfers, but I thought I had been pretty much caught up back in September (had a few surprises there, but none too drastic).

Yesterday I found out I had not been completely caught up. While I was learning to be a soldier, Thierry Henry transferred to Red Bull New York. The MLS. The US. There must not have been a lot of fanfare about it because it took me six months to find out.

I guess Henry's move shows that US soccer has a long way to go. Yes, we can get excited over David Beckham, but Henry's career is just as illustrious. And he's actually won a World Cup Trophy.

I don't know if I can accurately describe the shock that came over me with the news of Henry's transfer. I now finally realized why I hadn't been hearing about him at Barcelona. He wasn't there. He's in the US. You can probably figure out what I'm gonna try to do with some of my summer with Henry playing in the MLS......

My Life Be Like Ooh Aah

Every once in a while I like to share little things that I have learned and experienced. Moving to a new place and leaving a familiar one has definitely made for some of these moments.

Although Ft. Sill is a field artillery post, it never quite occurred to me that they would actually shoot off artillery frequently. Fortunately I am a fan of the fireworks that only go boom.

Ft. Sill is not a walker friendly post as far as I have experienced. Good thing I’m good at playing chicken when it comes to crossing roads to get to a better spot on the other side….

There are white tail deer in Oklahoma. I’ve seen them.

The army gives 2-hour delays for bad weather too. I’ve got one tomorrow.

I am more likely to get windburn here than any other place I’ve lived before.

27, 28, 36-hour days are no big deal to me now. And I can do them back to back with only a few hours of sleep in between them. Sgts, I know you loved to tell us about how you’ve had to do that, but I have too. And it was probably just as stressful because you were there.

I can fall asleep just about anytime and anywhere as long as I don’t need to be alert for something.

2 Months of being around people 24/7 makes you really good friends. 5, or even 7 months of that means you’re practically family.

Songs=memories. ‘Nuff said.

I need to come up with a few more hobbies to have for discussion. The majority of people have no clue about Arsenal or their greatness.

Update on Life

Thursday morning I had my last training graduation and was released to the world to be an official official soldier. The afternoon was filled with madness as my entire platoon tried to finish out-processing and leave. Friday morning I cleared my room at the barracks and signed out of the company.

By 1600 I was in the not quite lovely Ft Sill, Oklahoma. The final plane ride over included some guys ready to start basic training and I wish them the best of luck. The Lawton airport is even smaller than the one in my hometown; something I thought wasn’t possible….

I was assigned a room in temporary housing and I start in-processing Monday morning. I can’t wait to officially get to my unit. There isn’t a lot to do here. Not a lot off post; the cabbie only really pointed out the casinos and the mall. My only glimmer of hope is that the Main PX and Commissary are much larger than the ones in Arizona. The Burger King is right inside the PX instead of being somewhere on the other side of post. There is actually a Cinnabon (if you haven’t experienced a Cinnabon I feel sorry for you). AND the PX sells baseball cards. I still have a soft spot for them and I think I might try to grow my collection again.

Arsenal play tomorrow in a FA Cup match. I realized today that if Arsenal can keep up their good form and win instead of losing they will have the opportunity to play at Wembley for 3 finals.  They’re guaranteed to go to the Carling Cup final and there’s still a shot at the FA Cup and Champions League finals. Just one trophy would be amazing, but winning all three finals would be even better.

Digressing a bit to English TV, did you know there is a list of sporting events that must be played on free channels? I think that is really cool and I am going to have to research if the US does anything like it.

And now back to soccer, but to the Spanish league. Sevilla FC drew with some other team today down a player and down a few goals. I’ve hardly ever seen a scenario like that happen. Despite the fact that I’m alright with Sevilla (we’ve met them a few times in the Champions League) and I admire their gusto today, when a team has had a player red carded and sent off I like to see the team with more players overrun the offending team. But it did make for an exciting half of football…

I think that’s all I have to say for now. It was random, but did you really expect anything else from me?

Moments that Matter

The past week or so has been really long and tiring and tough. But I've had a lot of fun and some real peaceful moments throughout it. I thought I'd share some of what I learned, saw, and experienced.

1. It is possible for me to go 111 hours with only 11 hours of sleep mixed in. It sounds crazy, but I'm kind of proud of it. And going over 24 hours is possible too because I did it twice in that time period.

2. 15 straight hours of sleep does wonders.

3. Where I'm at in Arizona is very mountainous and absolutely gorgeous. I feel so fortunate to be where I'm at. There's nothing like staring at the foothills and mountains with an amazing sunset in the background and seeing more stars in the sky than you thought possible.

4. I trip over the most obvious things. Like my body armor on the floor. Or my PT jacket. You'd think I would see them and move, but I don't.

5. Ben Folds. I've discovered I really like his stuff. Its no thanks to the duet he did with Street Corner Symphony on The Sing Off. The song got stuck in my head and I went to find more. Then I discovered the biggest gem possible for someone like me. It all started when Nick Hornby mentioned a Ben Folds song in his book Songbook. It has turned into a Nick Hornby/Ben Folds album. Nick Hornby writing, Ben Folds doing the music. It was so cool. The lyrics were very much typical Hornby and I loved it. If you go to check it out, beware some cussing. But then again, thats typical of both Hornby and Folds.

6. The Lazy Song. Bruno Mars. K'naan helped write. 'Nuff said.

7. Moments That Matter. Its a Corbin Bleu song.

Perks

There was something I didn’t realize would be a perk when I moved out here to Arizona. I guess it should have been obvious, but living for 11 year in Pennsylvania can do funny things to you.

Almost all of the change I get is D mint change. Produced by Uncle Sam in Denver, Colorado. Living on the east coast means a majority of the change is produced in the Philadelphia mint. There aren’t a lot of D coins that make it to where I was. It was something special to pick up a D coin. At least it is for me. It was special for me as a little kid in Nebraska and even more special in PA. Now I get to feel special a lot with all the change I get and find.

PS- I find a lot of change here. Kind of Surprising for a military base…..

and Arsenal lost today. Thats all on that topic.

Rainbows

Tuesday was an interesting, cool day. I had a dental appointment at 0720 and was out of the office by 0735 as army class 1 dental status. Hooray for army efficiency. At mail call at the end of the day I got my Arsenal shirt that I got off of e-bay. It's a 2003-2004 home shirt WITH a Champion's League patch on it. The patch was a sweet little bonus for me.
Probably the coolest part of the day was when we were forming up after school. It has been a little stormy here in AZ and a storm was just clearing out. There was a full, clear, 180 degree rainbow in the sky. And there was a partial one right above it. It was so beautiful it almost made me want to go find the pot of gold at the end.
Today we received our new barracks assignments. I'll post more about that some other time, but let me say we all feel like we're moving into the Hilton, they're that nice.

4 Songs, 2 Blankets, 3 Fillings, 1 Partizan-3 Arsenal

Today was an interesting day. Yesterday my company had training late, so we were allowed to sleep in until a 0630 linen turn in instead of a 0400 linen turn in and pt after that. So although I wasn't in my bay all day I had 2 blankets.

This morning when I woke up I was informed that I had a dental appointment at 0800. I was expecting it sometime because everyone has to go, but I didn't know it was today. When I arrived and got seated in the nice dentist chair I was informed I was getting 3 fillings. So now I have 3 fillings and a sore mouth. I guess thats what an hour in the dentist chair will get you.

On to an even more random thing. I own 4 different versions of K'naan's song 'Wavin Flag'.
1. The original
2. The one featuring will i am and David Guetta
3. The Coca-Cola World Cup celebration one
4. The Coca-Cola World Cup celebration featuring David Bisbal singing in Spanish
They're all really good. But I do feel a little dorky for having 4 different versions of one song. But then again, its normal for me to have 2 or 3 different versions of a song.

Arsenal played a Champions League game today against Partizan Belgrade at Partizan's stadium. May I say that its an embarrassment to Partizan to lose 3-1 on home turf, in front of a home crowd, with 10 men. Arshavin continues to impress, scoring the opening goal, and Chamkah is showing he was a good pick-up scoring another goal. Sebastien Squillaci ( I think we picked him up this summer with few others. I wouldn't know much about transfers after the World Cup because of basic) added Arsenal's other goal. Tomas Rosicky actually played a whole game. Thats a good sign considering the past few seasons and his escapades, but good proof of TR7 being 500% back will be if he starts or at least plays Sunday in the Chelsea game. And there's a good chance of that considering all of the injuries we have right now.

Here comes the really dorky part of my post. You may have wondered why it looks like I can't count down from 4 properly. I can. I'm just a dork who enjoys the 4231soccer formation. It was my brilliant brain that decided to make the post somewhat coincide with the formation.

Sign of a Victory

There are only three songs ever that I have bought after listening to the for the first time.
1. Bad Day by Daniel Powter
2. Smile by Uncle Kracker
3. Sign of a Victory by R. Kelly

Sometimes you just know that a song is amazing. And one day I was sitting on a bus coming back after a long day at a range. The wonderful bus driver had some station on and this song came on. I had never heard it before, but it sounded like it belonged in a World Cup soundtrack, it sounded like R. Kelly, and it had those wonderful cliches like in "I Believe I can Fly". What a surprise that all three of those things were true. R. Kelly produced the song for the 2010 Word Cup soundtrack.

Now I shall tie it in to AIT.
Today my platoon did a nice 3 mile road march. It was just us, our weapon and a 25 lb pack. It was so easy, but I guess almost anything could be considered easy after 10 miles in full gear. Sign of a Victory was stuck in my head and I was singing it all through the march.

Its so beautiful here in Arizona. I could just stare up at the clouds all day; especially at the beginning and end of the day when the sun turns them colors. It must have something to do with being a mile up. And the mountains are wonderful and the stretching flatness and ridges of the area. I's cool to see the storms and clouds in the mountains. And I love being in the heat even though its starting to cool down a bit ( that translates into the 80's during the day instead of the 90's).

What I learned in BCT Land

-Almost every difficulty is 90% mental
-Its harder to throw a grenade than in the movies than what they show. It's harder to do a lot of things than what they show in the movies. And after basic you know what is going on in movies and you critique it.
-Moving and shooting is a lot of fun.
-Run every comment through the internal hamster before saying.
-Being dependable earns you respect, but it also means you end up with extra duty while covering for people.
-Attention to detail. I can't say that one enough.
-It is possible to go 2 months with jello and chocolate milk as your only desserts.
-Adapting to change makes you 500x stronger.
-Don't trust the DFAC menus: you'll be disappointed when they don't have whatever the menu said they would.
-It is possible to sleep IN, not ON, your bed and still make it quickly in the morning.
-Sleep deprivation sucks.
-2 months without soccer news is a long time and it is a big deal; especially during a World Cup and a post-World Cup transfer window and kit changes.
-Dripping beads of sweat is possible on a daily basis. SC had one of the hottest summers on record.
-Every drill sergeant says their way is the correct way. Sometimes you change methods based on who is around.

The Best Cookie I Ever Had

Step, heel, step, heel, step, heel, step. My tray was parallel to the marching surface and I was at chow hall attention. 9 weeks into basic training and my platoon and company was finally allowed to eat desserts. My luck meant there was never any desserts left by the time I got through the line. But that one fateful evening, my luck changed. There were M&M cookies. That was the best cookie I ever ate. It was just a packaged,generic cookie, but 9 weeks without one made it taste wonderful. I know I've tasted better cookies, but deprivation makes everything taste better. Jello and chocolate milk can only last one so long. And don't even get me started on the day there was breaded shrimp for lunch. I ate mine and someone else's.

In other news, Arsenal drew with Sunderland 1-1 today. Tomas Rosicky came on as a sub for Cesc Fabregas who was injured. I love Rosicky, but I hope Fabregas's injury isn't too serious. He's a vital part of Arsenal right now. Nebraska absolutely kicked Washington's butt in college football. I got grape tomatoes from the commissary and they are amazing. Tomorrow is Sunday and I have nothing planned except to go to chapel.

Answered

Remember that post the other day about God keeping his promises? Well, I have a story from basic that God keeps his promises and answers prayers. The night before the 12k full gear foot march God and me were talking. I wasn't too sure I would be able to make it because full gear meant carrying around half of my bodyweight. The next morning I woke up with the Backstreet Boy's song "Yes I Will" in my head. The chorus part that says "Yes I will take your hand and walk with you." God walked the entire 12k with me. I don't know if I would have made it without him. I made it with the wonderful mega-huge blisters on my heels. I got my answer. And we got to change into pt's early that day.

Promises

The only good message I heard in chapel in basic was given by a chaplain candidate at the beginning of my week 6. It was taken form Joshua 14.6-15 and discussed Caleb's waiting 45 years for his promised land. The chaplain's 3 points went something like this:
-Stay Positive
-Stay Patient
-Stay Persistent
It's crazy to think that Caleb waited 45 years to get his promised land. He watched his generation die but still kept going. It must have been tough to watch everyone you know die. Anything I went through in basic couldn't have been as hard as what Caleb went through. So I too, could stay positive, patient, and persistent in my prayers. God keeps his promises.

Chapel in basic was interesting. At 0930 there was a Bible study that was a lady going through a dvd series on the basics of Christianity. At 1100 real chapel started. We sang, mostly really simple choruses like "Lord I Lift Your Name On High" and the chorus to "How Great is Our God". Then we had a short devotional type message. There were several times I didn't agree with how the text was used and sometimes I didn't get the point of the message. Then there was the week It was basically a candidate talking about how she wouldn't have been in the army if it wasn't for God. At the end of the service there was a altar call for salvation and rededication. The first few weeks there were loads of people going up for both sides, but as the weeks progressed most went up for rededication. Chapel wasn't much for the good spiritual diet, but when you barely have time to think its about all you can manage.

Guess Who's Back

Two and a half months and I'm back and hopefully posting more. Basic was a lot of fun, but hard at the same time. I definitely wouldn't do it again if I had the choice. I'm in AIT now and have a laptop to post from. A mac to be specific. I'll write more later about my experiences at basic. I was so happy to hear of the World Cup results a week after they happened and I got so excited when I was able to see the Arsenal results last week.

Memorial Day

I am an American Soldier.

I am a Warrior and a member of a team. I serve the people of the United States and live the Army Values.

I will always place the mission first.

I will never accept defeat.

I will never quit.

I will never leave a fallen comrade.

I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my warrior tasks and drills. I always maintain my arms, my equipment and myself.

I am an expert and I am a professional.

I stand ready to deploy, engage, and destroy the enemies of the United States of America in close combat.

I am a guardian of freedom and the American way of life.

I am an American Soldier.

This is the Soldier's Creed. It is a wonderful creed to live by. It's also Memorial Day. Less than a month until I leave for Army Basic Training. I want to say thanks to everyone who has served before me and HOOAH! to everyone I will be serving with and to those who come after me.