Dear friends and family,
It's been a couple of weeks since I began pre-deployment training. It has been mostly hot and dry, but there have been a few slightly muggy days and a couple of not-so-hot (in a good way) days. I have tried, as much as possible, to expose myself (lol, that sounds bad out of context, doesn't it? Ermm, in hopefully wise measures) to the heat--walking somewhere instead of taking a bus/shuttle, talking on the phone with family (Jen and Grandma mostly) outside instead of in my room, etc.
The first few days were spent meeting members of my new unit, inprocessing and drawing deployment gear (battle armor, updated uniform components, a transceiver (in case I get lost on a mission overseas!) and stuff like that.
I had considerable time off on those days and spent it getting my stuff unpacked, learning the lay of the land, conversing with unit members on what the unit has gone through since mobilizing in April, taking in a couple of movies at the post theater (Captain America and Rise of the Planet of the Apes, both wonderful movies, IMO). I've also finished a decent read lately, The Hunger Games, and now I'm commencing with the rest of the trilogy of books. Hunger Games could be a "great" book, but I haven't finished my internal evaluation yet. I enjoyed it, but I'm not sure to what extent and my mind contended with certain things as I was reading. I would love if any of you would send book suggestions, so I can load up my kindle before I head across the pond.
For those of you who don't know that I'm a singer/guitarist/songwriter, I'll be working on a little music while abroad, but to a much diminished extent, since I won't have my typical gear, but just a laptop and a mic maybe. Still, I hope to possibly do something like build a web site with a "best of" track list from all the musical projects I've been involved over the years, just to have some fun and keep some of my web skills fresh.
I've been running and doing "prison-yard-style" workouts in the evenings. There is a gym close by, but I usually prefer to workout outside.
After inprocessing was finished I began helping my unit with our first of two "validation" exercises--two-week events that determine whether a unit is ready to perform its mission overseas yet or not (ostensibly, but no units ever fail these...) The first exercise, of which we are in the midst, takes place in a highly secured building affectionately called "Area 51". While I'm on shift there I am bereft of my phone, kindle, ipod and all that. :( I've taken the opportunity to work on my SSG (E-6) packet during down-time there--everything I can do in that regard without a computer, that is. All computer gear in the exercise building is for official use only.
I'm enjoying many things about the mob (pronounced "mobe") so far and I think I've fallen in with a good unit and that we're on a good mission. If anyone is still in the dark, we'll be in Kuwait. I'm not sure what I can say about the mission yet. I'll be checking on that. For those that don't yet know, I work in IT.
I dearly miss home and each of you is a part of home to me. It has been hard to adjust to this new environment (though it feels a lot like some of my other extended periods away in the Army) and just the idea that I'll be gone from home and away from loved ones, friends and heck, Puget Sound so long. At times I've felt lonely or frustrated that I wasn't hearing from friends, but I know that everyone has their own life and this is a new and shocking experience for me and my time-table for desiring contact has to be different than everyone else's. Which isn't to say I haven't been hearing from folks. I hope you know what I mean. It can just be a lonely, disorienting thing to be somewhere else so quickly and for so long with so many changes to your lifestyle.
Warmest regards,
Mike
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