The morning went surprisingly well, as we only had one Soldier sleep in (luckily my text message woke her up in time to still make the bus on time). We nearly had another BM award nominee when we had to return to the hotel to retrieve someone else’s laptop. Then the bus and truck drivers took us to Lackland Air Force Base; too bad that wasn’t the airfield from which we were flying out. OK, so maybe things didn’t go THAT well after all.
We eventually did make it to Kelly Field and found our plane. Mr. Alexander and 1SG Worley gave their briefing on the results of the command climate survey, and a load crew was dispatched to “palletize” our equipment and luggage. Instead of leaving before 0900 (what the flight crew was hoping for) it was well after 1000 when we finally lifted off.
So here we are, crammed into “jump” seats like sardines still in the net. We’re facing each other, and someone should get a picture of our boots … there isn’t any space at all from boot to boot down the aisle. Some are snoozing, I’m being a geek on my computer, and we even have some crochet-ing going on. We’re quite the bunch. :+)
Since we took off later and the flight was longer than anticipated, touch-down was a bit after 2pm local time instead of noon. We dismounted the plane and walked into … 95 degree temperatures. However, this time I didn’t even break a sweat. After some brief negotiations the forklift driver who unloaded our pallets of gear agreed to drive them over to the band hall for us (saving an hour or more of equipment movement). Everything was unloaded and staged in the band hall within about the next hour, at which point we were dismissed.
It was REALLY nice to be home with everyone at last, and there were surprises for me every time I turned around. Ceana had weeded the whole yard, Kaeli made special cookies, we played games and had a grand time all together. Hopefully getting back to “real life” won’t take away very much of that special time together.
Showing posts with label Army. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Army. Show all posts
Monday, August 16, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
AT Day 14 – Tourist Time
Trying to beat the crowd, I started laundry about 6:00 in the morning. Seemed to work well as I didn’t have to wait for any of the machines.
The Riverwalk boat tours were supposed to start about 9:00, so a few of us walked down to catch the first launch. On our way we saw some canoeists on the river; apparently today was the annual “Ford Canoe Challenge,” a charity fundraiser. As we walked down the river, we saw teams of people paddling canoes up and down the channel, apparently being timed. We eventually found that the boat tours would start later than normally scheduled, so instead we walked over to the Alamo.
I got some of the typical tourist shots, and we took a short walk through the main mission building. A couple of us listened to a historical talk about the Alamo and surrounding missions, and their part in the war with Mexico. It was fascinating to hear that the actual battle only took 90 minutes, or maybe only 60. In the end all the men were executed by Santa Ana. General Sam Houston rounded up his own army, and remembering the Alamo was part of what helped Houston’s army defeat Santa Ana’s, even though they were outnumbered by more than 2:1.
We returned to the boat tour ticket line, but they still hadn’t opened up yet. I felt bad for the driver and ticket agent who had to endure a rather rude gentleman and his wife who were more than a little bit upset at having to wait, and that the restrooms were still locked. Anyway the tour was good, and our guide imparted quite a bit of good information about the area, some of the historic buildings, development of the Riverwalk, and some of the construction that supported the Worlds’ Fair (known as the “Hemis Fair” since it was a small one) held in San Antonio in 1968.
Looks like the afternoon will be spent packing and finishing off evaluations. Tomorrow we’re supposed to leave the hotel about 6:00, and hopefully we’ll get home without any incidents!
The Riverwalk boat tours were supposed to start about 9:00, so a few of us walked down to catch the first launch. On our way we saw some canoeists on the river; apparently today was the annual “Ford Canoe Challenge,” a charity fundraiser. As we walked down the river, we saw teams of people paddling canoes up and down the channel, apparently being timed. We eventually found that the boat tours would start later than normally scheduled, so instead we walked over to the Alamo.
I got some of the typical tourist shots, and we took a short walk through the main mission building. A couple of us listened to a historical talk about the Alamo and surrounding missions, and their part in the war with Mexico. It was fascinating to hear that the actual battle only took 90 minutes, or maybe only 60. In the end all the men were executed by Santa Ana. General Sam Houston rounded up his own army, and remembering the Alamo was part of what helped Houston’s army defeat Santa Ana’s, even though they were outnumbered by more than 2:1.
We returned to the boat tour ticket line, but they still hadn’t opened up yet. I felt bad for the driver and ticket agent who had to endure a rather rude gentleman and his wife who were more than a little bit upset at having to wait, and that the restrooms were still locked. Anyway the tour was good, and our guide imparted quite a bit of good information about the area, some of the historic buildings, development of the Riverwalk, and some of the construction that supported the Worlds’ Fair (known as the “Hemis Fair” since it was a small one) held in San Antonio in 1968.
Looks like the afternoon will be spent packing and finishing off evaluations. Tomorrow we’re supposed to leave the hotel about 6:00, and hopefully we’ll get home without any incidents!
AT Day 13 – It’s All Politics
This morning everyone got to sleep in a bit before an 0830 departure. One group went to the Alamo to set up for a Jazz Combo and CAMO performance, while the rest of us went to the Quadrangle, the most historic part of Ft. Sam Houston. The historic buildings were already the headquarters for US Army South, and now US Army North is also moving in. The ceremony was the organization of the new headquarters battalion. So we set up adjacent to what is now a clock tower at the center of the square facility, amidst the freely-roaming peacocks, chickens and other birds. A few minutes later they released the deer herd. After his capture, Geronimo was briefly held within the Quadrangle. He and his group refused to eat the white man’s food, so they provided animals for them to hunt. Apparently the animals have been allowed to live on the grounds ever since.
The ceremony was relatively short, although it FELT like a long time since we were sitting in direct sun. The presiding authority was a LTG (3-star general) who we later heard would be our commanding general if we were ever to deploy. Mr. Alexander made some very good political contacts today with some very important folks.
The bus made a brief (well, not that brief actually) stop at the commissary to allow folks to pick up food for the afternoon barbeque. The hotel allows guests to use their grills and patio, and for us they even opened up the breakfast bar (they don’t serve dinner on Friday nights). Everyone bought WAY too much food, and we had some real culinary wannabe experts in the group. There were incredible steaks, pork, veggies, and even BBQ breadsticks!
The Commander and 1SG held a meeting with the Senior Staff to go over some of the results of the Command Climate Survey which was done last week. They looked for trends in the comments, and came up with some good responses to address those concerns. The Commander also wrote his “Commander’s Intent” that will be disseminated to the band, outlining his goals and priorities. It should help clear up some of the confusion and questions people have had, and should be a good guide going forward.
A few folks worked on year-end evaluations, which will hopefully result in everyone going home on time on Sunday!
The ceremony was relatively short, although it FELT like a long time since we were sitting in direct sun. The presiding authority was a LTG (3-star general) who we later heard would be our commanding general if we were ever to deploy. Mr. Alexander made some very good political contacts today with some very important folks.
The bus made a brief (well, not that brief actually) stop at the commissary to allow folks to pick up food for the afternoon barbeque. The hotel allows guests to use their grills and patio, and for us they even opened up the breakfast bar (they don’t serve dinner on Friday nights). Everyone bought WAY too much food, and we had some real culinary wannabe experts in the group. There were incredible steaks, pork, veggies, and even BBQ breadsticks!
The Commander and 1SG held a meeting with the Senior Staff to go over some of the results of the Command Climate Survey which was done last week. They looked for trends in the comments, and came up with some good responses to address those concerns. The Commander also wrote his “Commander’s Intent” that will be disseminated to the band, outlining his goals and priorities. It should help clear up some of the confusion and questions people have had, and should be a good guide going forward.
A few folks worked on year-end evaluations, which will hopefully result in everyone going home on time on Sunday!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
AT Day 12 – Winding Down
This morning we had another morning ceremony scheduled. I was never able to talk to my Point of Contact (POC), but late last night I realized that he had emailed me and asked me to call. Too bad that I don’t receive email on my phone, and I didn’t see that message until well after 10pm. I decided to cross my fingers that things hadn’t changed since he didn’t mention anything in the email. So it shouldn’t have been a surprise that when we got to the ACS building, the folks at the desk knew nothing about any graduation ceremony. So we re-packed the van while I tried to call the POC, but got no answer. SFC Tuggy suggested I ask the folks in the ACS where Blesse Auditorium was located, since he remembered talking to someone about that venue. We got directions and headed down the street. (I suppose that’s the reason we always try to arrive at least an hour early … you never know when you’ll be at the wrong location!) We found the helicopter, building, and finally the auditorium. Nobody was there, but it was obviously set up and seats were labeled for a graduation.
The ceremony itself went fine, even though we got the script about 5 minutes before we started playing and had to make a few changes. Good thing we’re so flexible. The class was comprised of doctoral candidates in a military / Baylor University partnership program for physical therapists. According to the speeches the program is currently ranked 5th out of several hundred programs in the nation. We got several compliments about “live” music being so much better than someone running an iPod or having no music at all.
After returning to the band hall we read through new music for about 2 hours. SSG Cameron has his eyes on a relatively new Tichelli piece that will be a real challenge to pull off. Unfortunately the biggest challenge will be to convince some of the section leaders that we should even give it a try … there are a few who are quick to criticize and offer negative opinions. I suspect that following that heavy-duty music with a read-through of cheesy Disney tunes might have tempered their initial reluctance, but we’ll see. He’s also recommending “Scenes from the Louvre” which I remember playing in high school or with an honor group way back when. I suspect many in the band have already played it, since SSG Cameron seemed quite surprised at how well the reading session went.
After lunch the group packed up the truck for perhaps the final time this tour. We do have a couple of things going on tomorrow, but most of the large equipment won’t be unloaded again until we’re putting it on the C-130. We had our first medical mishap of the trip, with someone’s finger getting mangled a bit. Hopefully his recovery will be swift, although he won’t be playing his instrument for a few weeks or even months. We also did most of the cleanup of the building, so it’s possible many of the band members have seen that building for the last time. I think we’re all itching to get home.
The afternoon has been spent helping people with computer glitches, more ratings, counseling, etc. I’m thinking an early bedtime might FINALLY happen. I guess we’ll see how many more emails, texts and calls I get. :+)
The ceremony itself went fine, even though we got the script about 5 minutes before we started playing and had to make a few changes. Good thing we’re so flexible. The class was comprised of doctoral candidates in a military / Baylor University partnership program for physical therapists. According to the speeches the program is currently ranked 5th out of several hundred programs in the nation. We got several compliments about “live” music being so much better than someone running an iPod or having no music at all.
After returning to the band hall we read through new music for about 2 hours. SSG Cameron has his eyes on a relatively new Tichelli piece that will be a real challenge to pull off. Unfortunately the biggest challenge will be to convince some of the section leaders that we should even give it a try … there are a few who are quick to criticize and offer negative opinions. I suspect that following that heavy-duty music with a read-through of cheesy Disney tunes might have tempered their initial reluctance, but we’ll see. He’s also recommending “Scenes from the Louvre” which I remember playing in high school or with an honor group way back when. I suspect many in the band have already played it, since SSG Cameron seemed quite surprised at how well the reading session went.
After lunch the group packed up the truck for perhaps the final time this tour. We do have a couple of things going on tomorrow, but most of the large equipment won’t be unloaded again until we’re putting it on the C-130. We had our first medical mishap of the trip, with someone’s finger getting mangled a bit. Hopefully his recovery will be swift, although he won’t be playing his instrument for a few weeks or even months. We also did most of the cleanup of the building, so it’s possible many of the band members have seen that building for the last time. I think we’re all itching to get home.
The afternoon has been spent helping people with computer glitches, more ratings, counseling, etc. I’m thinking an early bedtime might FINALLY happen. I guess we’ll see how many more emails, texts and calls I get. :+)
AT Day 11 – Grading Day
This morning started out with a decent run around the Riverwalk loop and up to a set of locks and dam they use to control the flow. Even at 5:15 it was still quite warm, and I probably lost several pounds of water before I got back. Need to keep that exercise habit going for sure.
Much of the morning was dedicated to completion of our yearly evaluations (NCOERs), something that traditionally gets turned in to the state way too late each year. This year will be different as the 1SG decreed that they will ALL be done before folks are excused from annual training. Pretty good incentive! A few of us also attended an introductory sound reinforcement class by SFC Tuggy. It was probably the run, but I had a real problem keeping awake. In between snoozes I picked up enough to realize those guys on the sound crew have to know a LOT of technical stuff to be able to do a good job. SFC Tuggy told me he’s attended FIVE military courses to get to where he’s at now. I’m not sure too many of us will be able to pick up the basics from just an introduction, and typically when we’re setting up for concerts there is not enough time and there is too much pressure to allow new people to go through the setup. I’m guessing one or more people are going to have to go through those sound courses too.
Because I was recently promoted I needed to get my ID card replaced. The offices in Oregon are not convenient to my work or home, so I made an appointment to get it taken care of on base. It was pretty cool to actually make an appointment online, get a confirmation, and know I would be in-and-out within a 20-minute window. It took some effort to FIND the building, but I arrived and was allowed in early, and the whole process was very smooth. Glad I was able to get that taken care of. Too bad Rory and the girls will have to get new cards too (didn’t realize my promotion would invalidate their ID’s too).
Mid afternoon we loaded up our gear and headed to a town called Floresville about an hour away. I was able to use that time to complete one of my ratings (taking a positive step towards being allowed to leave AT on time) for one of my squad leaders.
The concert venue was a retirement center, and the original plan was for us to play underneath a large canopy tent. While walking through the center we caught the local weather, where they reported that the “heat index” (some combination of temperature and humidity) was 107! Fortunately we were able to convince the concert band leadership to move our “stage” to a location inside an interior courtyard that was completely shaded at concert time. The folks at the center were VERY hospitable; they had set up extra shade, prepared dinner for us, provided water and other drinks, had advertized the concert in the local paper, and seemed genuinely happy to have us there. Those are the best kinds of concerts!
The actual crowd ended up being relatively small, but I think that was probably due to the heat index. But we played anyway, putting on the best show we could. Most of the audience were residents of the living center, many in wheelchairs or scooters. They were a great audience, and many were dancing in their chairs in some of the more up-beat or big band jazz tunes. One of our Specialists was allowed to do a juggling routine while the band played a song called the “Circus Bee” which was pretty comical. After the concert most of us got to meet those who had attended, and got a sampling of how happy everyone was who attended. Awesome!
Another rating was completed on the way back to the hotel (yay for laptops!) so I am optimistic that the evaluations will in fact be completed and I may not get “stuck” waiting for others to finish their paperwork before we are released on Sunday. I’m really looking forward to being home, even if there is a “heat wave” going through Oregon this weekend. 92 in Oregon will be MUCH better than 107 in San Antonio.
Much of the morning was dedicated to completion of our yearly evaluations (NCOERs), something that traditionally gets turned in to the state way too late each year. This year will be different as the 1SG decreed that they will ALL be done before folks are excused from annual training. Pretty good incentive! A few of us also attended an introductory sound reinforcement class by SFC Tuggy. It was probably the run, but I had a real problem keeping awake. In between snoozes I picked up enough to realize those guys on the sound crew have to know a LOT of technical stuff to be able to do a good job. SFC Tuggy told me he’s attended FIVE military courses to get to where he’s at now. I’m not sure too many of us will be able to pick up the basics from just an introduction, and typically when we’re setting up for concerts there is not enough time and there is too much pressure to allow new people to go through the setup. I’m guessing one or more people are going to have to go through those sound courses too.
Because I was recently promoted I needed to get my ID card replaced. The offices in Oregon are not convenient to my work or home, so I made an appointment to get it taken care of on base. It was pretty cool to actually make an appointment online, get a confirmation, and know I would be in-and-out within a 20-minute window. It took some effort to FIND the building, but I arrived and was allowed in early, and the whole process was very smooth. Glad I was able to get that taken care of. Too bad Rory and the girls will have to get new cards too (didn’t realize my promotion would invalidate their ID’s too).
Mid afternoon we loaded up our gear and headed to a town called Floresville about an hour away. I was able to use that time to complete one of my ratings (taking a positive step towards being allowed to leave AT on time) for one of my squad leaders.
The concert venue was a retirement center, and the original plan was for us to play underneath a large canopy tent. While walking through the center we caught the local weather, where they reported that the “heat index” (some combination of temperature and humidity) was 107! Fortunately we were able to convince the concert band leadership to move our “stage” to a location inside an interior courtyard that was completely shaded at concert time. The folks at the center were VERY hospitable; they had set up extra shade, prepared dinner for us, provided water and other drinks, had advertized the concert in the local paper, and seemed genuinely happy to have us there. Those are the best kinds of concerts!
The actual crowd ended up being relatively small, but I think that was probably due to the heat index. But we played anyway, putting on the best show we could. Most of the audience were residents of the living center, many in wheelchairs or scooters. They were a great audience, and many were dancing in their chairs in some of the more up-beat or big band jazz tunes. One of our Specialists was allowed to do a juggling routine while the band played a song called the “Circus Bee” which was pretty comical. After the concert most of us got to meet those who had attended, and got a sampling of how happy everyone was who attended. Awesome!
Another rating was completed on the way back to the hotel (yay for laptops!) so I am optimistic that the evaluations will in fact be completed and I may not get “stuck” waiting for others to finish their paperwork before we are released on Sunday. I’m really looking forward to being home, even if there is a “heat wave” going through Oregon this weekend. 92 in Oregon will be MUCH better than 107 in San Antonio.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
AT Day 10 – “Semper Gumby”
Late last night I sent a few emails to our leadership asking about updates to this week’s schedule. The response was to meet early in the morning to discuss things. We barely got started on the details when it was time to load up the bus and head to the band hall. The meeting continued for another hour or so, and during that time we got TWO new job requests! We had just figured out the logistics of getting the band to the Alamo on Friday morning when we got word that Army North is “standing up” a new brigade here on post, and requested musical support for the ceremony. Of course it’s scheduled for the exact same time as the Alamo performance. The dignitary will be a 3-star general, so that ceremony moves to the top of the list of priorities for the day. In our new system of small musical performance teams, we have the flexibility to send two smaller groups to the Alamo and still provide a small ceremonial band for the local ceremony. Score! We also heard that Army North was on the verge of buying plane tickets to bring the band from Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri before they sent the request to us. Double score! The second request was for a bugler to travel with the honors team to HOUSTON. That means a 3.5 hour (each way) travel time … incredible that there isn’t an honors team (or two or three or more) closer to that site. But hey, we’re flexible, available, and probably over-eager to cover everything we can while we’re here!
There was still enough time to do a run-through of the music for the afternoon performance before we loaded the van and headed out. Since I wasn’t 100% sure where the Army Residence Community (ARC) was located we drove to the site first, then stopped for lunch at Bill Miller’s, a local fast-food BBQ place. Wasn’t the greatest, but it was fast.
We arrived at the ARC a little more than an hour early and were greeted very warmly by everyone we talked to. That included our contact (the activities leader), folks behind the front desk, even the grounds keeper! Since we were there so early I got to talk to several residents before the show started. One lady had worked as a teacher at Kennedy School in Portland years ago, before it became a McMennamin’s hotel. She told me a story of being back in Portland on vacation, reserving a room at her old school, and the staff actually found out which now-renovated room had been her classroom. They set it up with the old chalkboard set up and wrote “Welcome Back Mrs. Toft” for her. Pretty special. Two other ladies (sisters) told me stories of their time living at Vancouver Barracks when they were just 8 or 9 years old. Nice to have “ties” to people in your audience!
The 234Five (today it was a brass quintet) started the show, and I tried to do the announcing. I managed to get my own rank wrong, and stuck my foot in my mouth by asking people to “Stand up or wave or whatever you’d like to do when your service song is played” … fortunately that got a bit of a laugh instead of groans or frowns. I did tell people that being from Oregon, we were still getting used to the weather … the “severe sunshine.” Later I talked about how much we loved Oregon, and how I was sure they loved Texas. I quickly realized it sounded like we definitely did NOT like Texas (which isn’t necessarily true) so I recovered by letting them know that we were “Learning to love Texas, too.” A few flubs, a few zingers, so I guess I came out even. The music went OK for the most part, and we heard that quite a few people were singing along with the George M. Cohen medley. We got some “oohs” and “aahs” when I announced we would play “It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got That Swing” by Duke Ellington.
The saxophone quartet played the second half with some pop (Beatles), classical (Debussy), a rag, march (Liberty Bell) and one or two other selections before finishing with the Stars & Stripes Forever. The people were VERY appreciative and gave a standing ovation before mingling with us for awhile.
Our host took us on a quick tour of the facility, which is rather impressive. It’s a gated community with full medical facilities, workout room, pool, outdoor ponds, physical therapy and staff, several dining rooms, sun lounge on the top floor, library, activities center, auditorium, and a whole lot more. Many residents live in “cottages” that they have purchased, and are able to decorate both inside and out (landscaping) to their personal liking. Others live in the 13-story “tower” structure that was more like apartments, which have a GREAT view from their balconies. Several hospital-type wings care for those who need the most help. Only military officers (any branch) with more than 20 years of service or their spouse are eligible, and they have about a 2-year waiting list to get in. There are about 600 residents, and we had about 120 of them there for our concert! The place is so popular they are adding room for about 300 more people.
The evening was spent finishing off the schedule, writing up award recommendations, crawling through emails, and more administrative stuff. Pretty good, busy, productive day.
There was still enough time to do a run-through of the music for the afternoon performance before we loaded the van and headed out. Since I wasn’t 100% sure where the Army Residence Community (ARC) was located we drove to the site first, then stopped for lunch at Bill Miller’s, a local fast-food BBQ place. Wasn’t the greatest, but it was fast.
We arrived at the ARC a little more than an hour early and were greeted very warmly by everyone we talked to. That included our contact (the activities leader), folks behind the front desk, even the grounds keeper! Since we were there so early I got to talk to several residents before the show started. One lady had worked as a teacher at Kennedy School in Portland years ago, before it became a McMennamin’s hotel. She told me a story of being back in Portland on vacation, reserving a room at her old school, and the staff actually found out which now-renovated room had been her classroom. They set it up with the old chalkboard set up and wrote “Welcome Back Mrs. Toft” for her. Pretty special. Two other ladies (sisters) told me stories of their time living at Vancouver Barracks when they were just 8 or 9 years old. Nice to have “ties” to people in your audience!
The 234Five (today it was a brass quintet) started the show, and I tried to do the announcing. I managed to get my own rank wrong, and stuck my foot in my mouth by asking people to “Stand up or wave or whatever you’d like to do when your service song is played” … fortunately that got a bit of a laugh instead of groans or frowns. I did tell people that being from Oregon, we were still getting used to the weather … the “severe sunshine.” Later I talked about how much we loved Oregon, and how I was sure they loved Texas. I quickly realized it sounded like we definitely did NOT like Texas (which isn’t necessarily true) so I recovered by letting them know that we were “Learning to love Texas, too.” A few flubs, a few zingers, so I guess I came out even. The music went OK for the most part, and we heard that quite a few people were singing along with the George M. Cohen medley. We got some “oohs” and “aahs” when I announced we would play “It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got That Swing” by Duke Ellington.
The saxophone quartet played the second half with some pop (Beatles), classical (Debussy), a rag, march (Liberty Bell) and one or two other selections before finishing with the Stars & Stripes Forever. The people were VERY appreciative and gave a standing ovation before mingling with us for awhile.
Our host took us on a quick tour of the facility, which is rather impressive. It’s a gated community with full medical facilities, workout room, pool, outdoor ponds, physical therapy and staff, several dining rooms, sun lounge on the top floor, library, activities center, auditorium, and a whole lot more. Many residents live in “cottages” that they have purchased, and are able to decorate both inside and out (landscaping) to their personal liking. Others live in the 13-story “tower” structure that was more like apartments, which have a GREAT view from their balconies. Several hospital-type wings care for those who need the most help. Only military officers (any branch) with more than 20 years of service or their spouse are eligible, and they have about a 2-year waiting list to get in. There are about 600 residents, and we had about 120 of them there for our concert! The place is so popular they are adding room for about 300 more people.
The evening was spent finishing off the schedule, writing up award recommendations, crawling through emails, and more administrative stuff. Pretty good, busy, productive day.
Monday, August 9, 2010
AT Day 9 – Shamu!
Had one more round trip to the post last night to help get the bus driver back home, but that meant getting back WAY too late. Morning arrived right on time, meaning way too early, so I packed up all my clothes for the day and headed out to get the van. The quintet would have left on time except one of the trumpets was in someone else’s room, and that someone apparently didn’t want to wake up. We were about to wake up Mr. Alexander (would have been a BAD idea) to get permission to have the hotel staff open the door for us, but the sleeper finally woke up and the trumpet was secured. Why it was in that room, I have no idea.
We stopped by the band hall and somehow crammed in the tuba and euphonium with everything else already in the van. The next obstacle was getting around post with several of the main roads blocked off for people doing physical training (PT). We finally found a way to the building … a very dark and locked place. Three of the members decided to head over to the dining facility for breakfast since we were obviously not going to be involved in a ceremony any time soon. Awhile later we noticed someone in ACU’s walk up to the building, so we approached him to see if he had additional information. It was the chaplain who had been tasked to be part of the ceremony, and he had been told it would start at 0700. (It was probably about 0630 at the time). Phone calls to our contact persons went unanswered, so we continued to wait.
About 0700 someone opened the building. That same someone didn’t have the week’s schedule and couldn’t confirm any details about the ceremony. We did walk through the auditorium (with no chairs or podium set up) and joked that we could gather the other 234Five members and have a little rehearsal time. Finally we talked to someone who said she had been told that the unit’s travel was delayed, and that the ceremony would take place later in the week. Since we didn’t yet have first-hand confirmation we decided to wait a bit longer. By the time we got back to the van, the other members had returned from lunch and the 1SG had talked to the Chaplain, who offered to go to the office of one of our contacts and wait for her to arrive. We did finally get a confirmation phone call that the ceremony will be delayed, but they currently don’t know the new date or time.
So we drove over to the band hall and got there just about the same time as the rest of the unit. Tasks for the morning included unloading the Jazz and other equipment from the van, loading all the concert band stuff on the truck, and preparing the van to carry passengers. That all went fairly well … I think I only strained two muscles in my arm while helping to carry our HUGE percussion cabinet down the exterior stairs. All packed, we headed down the road to SEA WORLD.
I didn’t realize until later tonight that the NCIOC had emailed instructions for finding Gate 4 last night. However, we guessed it would not be a main entrance so we followed the signs to the admin and receiving area. Sure enough, there was Gate 4. We didn’t think we were THAT far ahead of the bus and equipment truck, but after about 15 minutes we finally made contact with them on the phone. Apparently they had decided to take the main park entrance (not following the directions sent by the person who happened to be on the bus) and we had to talk them in. Since we were on the back service roads they got an escort vehicle for us to follow, and eventually we were allowed to back our truck right up to a gate into the public part of the park.
It took some time, but finally a decision was made to place the band on a patch of rolling lawn, IN DIRECT SUNLIGHT, at the entrance to the Shamu Stadium. It felt like the temperature was about 300 degrees and it was only 10am! Given instructions to be ready to play at 1100 we were turned loose to change into our uniforms. The park staff who were assigned to us were VERY helpful, and found us an air-conditioned changing room, provided cold water, got clearance for us to use the loading dock in an adjacent theater, and basically helped wherever they could.
1105 came around and about five people were in their seats. (1SG was NOT happy.) By about 1110 we were finally playing a cut-down set list. At first we had a captive audience of people who were waiting in line to enter the Shamu Stadium for the 1200 show, but after they opened the gates people got little more than a few bars here and there. That was probably OK, because we couldn’t hear the rest of the band very well (I couldn’t anyway), it was so hot nobody could stay in tune (brass go sharp and woodwinds go flat … BAD), and the sun was so blazing it was hard to follow the conductor. But we gave it a good shot and then finished playing after about 30 minutes.
In exchange for playing our mini concert the park gave us some reserved seating for the Shamu show. As the show started they made a big announcement about Sea World’s support of the military, and their program currently in place which gets military members in for free. They also had all military (past and present) stand up for an ovation, and they put a live shot of our band members up on the big screen. The show was actually pretty cool, with lots of showing off the orcas, synchronized tricks, the ever-popular splashing of the audience, and the very erratic but fun “performance” of their newest calf. I did what I could to get a few movie and still shots that Rory and the kids will hopefully enjoy.
When we left the stadium to start tearing down the equipment and instruments, we found that a few of our members had decided to skip the show and put almost all of the concert band equipment away! That was a cool thing for them to do, and certainly helped get the rest of the band members ready to either return to the hotel or be released to enjoy the park quite a bit earlier than they would have otherwise. It was still a hot and difficult task, but things were packed back up in pretty good time.
Turned out that almost half the band members decided NOT to stay, mostly due to the extreme heat and how tired many people felt. Others (including myself) decided not to use the free entry promotion since we’re hoping to take families later in the year. So we loaded up and I drove home a vanfull of sleepers.
Only had to make two more round trips to the band hall to pick up drivers … I’m more than ready to hand these keys to someone else tomorrow. :+)
We stopped by the band hall and somehow crammed in the tuba and euphonium with everything else already in the van. The next obstacle was getting around post with several of the main roads blocked off for people doing physical training (PT). We finally found a way to the building … a very dark and locked place. Three of the members decided to head over to the dining facility for breakfast since we were obviously not going to be involved in a ceremony any time soon. Awhile later we noticed someone in ACU’s walk up to the building, so we approached him to see if he had additional information. It was the chaplain who had been tasked to be part of the ceremony, and he had been told it would start at 0700. (It was probably about 0630 at the time). Phone calls to our contact persons went unanswered, so we continued to wait.
About 0700 someone opened the building. That same someone didn’t have the week’s schedule and couldn’t confirm any details about the ceremony. We did walk through the auditorium (with no chairs or podium set up) and joked that we could gather the other 234Five members and have a little rehearsal time. Finally we talked to someone who said she had been told that the unit’s travel was delayed, and that the ceremony would take place later in the week. Since we didn’t yet have first-hand confirmation we decided to wait a bit longer. By the time we got back to the van, the other members had returned from lunch and the 1SG had talked to the Chaplain, who offered to go to the office of one of our contacts and wait for her to arrive. We did finally get a confirmation phone call that the ceremony will be delayed, but they currently don’t know the new date or time.
So we drove over to the band hall and got there just about the same time as the rest of the unit. Tasks for the morning included unloading the Jazz and other equipment from the van, loading all the concert band stuff on the truck, and preparing the van to carry passengers. That all went fairly well … I think I only strained two muscles in my arm while helping to carry our HUGE percussion cabinet down the exterior stairs. All packed, we headed down the road to SEA WORLD.
I didn’t realize until later tonight that the NCIOC had emailed instructions for finding Gate 4 last night. However, we guessed it would not be a main entrance so we followed the signs to the admin and receiving area. Sure enough, there was Gate 4. We didn’t think we were THAT far ahead of the bus and equipment truck, but after about 15 minutes we finally made contact with them on the phone. Apparently they had decided to take the main park entrance (not following the directions sent by the person who happened to be on the bus) and we had to talk them in. Since we were on the back service roads they got an escort vehicle for us to follow, and eventually we were allowed to back our truck right up to a gate into the public part of the park.
It took some time, but finally a decision was made to place the band on a patch of rolling lawn, IN DIRECT SUNLIGHT, at the entrance to the Shamu Stadium. It felt like the temperature was about 300 degrees and it was only 10am! Given instructions to be ready to play at 1100 we were turned loose to change into our uniforms. The park staff who were assigned to us were VERY helpful, and found us an air-conditioned changing room, provided cold water, got clearance for us to use the loading dock in an adjacent theater, and basically helped wherever they could.
1105 came around and about five people were in their seats. (1SG was NOT happy.) By about 1110 we were finally playing a cut-down set list. At first we had a captive audience of people who were waiting in line to enter the Shamu Stadium for the 1200 show, but after they opened the gates people got little more than a few bars here and there. That was probably OK, because we couldn’t hear the rest of the band very well (I couldn’t anyway), it was so hot nobody could stay in tune (brass go sharp and woodwinds go flat … BAD), and the sun was so blazing it was hard to follow the conductor. But we gave it a good shot and then finished playing after about 30 minutes.
In exchange for playing our mini concert the park gave us some reserved seating for the Shamu show. As the show started they made a big announcement about Sea World’s support of the military, and their program currently in place which gets military members in for free. They also had all military (past and present) stand up for an ovation, and they put a live shot of our band members up on the big screen. The show was actually pretty cool, with lots of showing off the orcas, synchronized tricks, the ever-popular splashing of the audience, and the very erratic but fun “performance” of their newest calf. I did what I could to get a few movie and still shots that Rory and the kids will hopefully enjoy.
When we left the stadium to start tearing down the equipment and instruments, we found that a few of our members had decided to skip the show and put almost all of the concert band equipment away! That was a cool thing for them to do, and certainly helped get the rest of the band members ready to either return to the hotel or be released to enjoy the park quite a bit earlier than they would have otherwise. It was still a hot and difficult task, but things were packed back up in pretty good time.
Turned out that almost half the band members decided NOT to stay, mostly due to the extreme heat and how tired many people felt. Others (including myself) decided not to use the free entry promotion since we’re hoping to take families later in the year. So we loaded up and I drove home a vanfull of sleepers.
Only had to make two more round trips to the band hall to pick up drivers … I’m more than ready to hand these keys to someone else tomorrow. :+)
Sunday, August 8, 2010
AT Day 8 – Day of Rest (?)
Thinking it would help solve my transportation issue for church, I volunteered to be the duty driver for today. The first task was driving SFC Tuggy, his wife and 1SG Worley to the airport so they could pick up a rental car and attend a “mega church” service in town. I returned to the hotel just in time to take the day’s bus driver back to the base to pick up the bus. Next stop was the golf course for 3 unit members and a guest. While filling the gas tank I got a call from the golf crew saying the course was booked solid until after 11am, so they wanted to return to the hotel and return at a later time. During our 1-hour “layover” at the hotel I was able to re-research my church options online, so I thought I still had a good shot. After dropping off the golfers I was on my way to the San Antonio 10th Ward Sacrament Meeting. Or so I thought.
The trip took just about as long as I had planned, and I arrived at the chapel just a few minutes after 11:30. It didn’t take long to realize this was one of the “typical” chapels with a U-shaped hallway around the chapel and cultural hall, so I was able to find the back chapel doors and step inside. However, instead of just having started the 10th Ward Sacrament Meeting, I listened to the ward’s young women give very brief updates (in Spanish) about girls’ camp, followed by their camp director. It sounded like a great camp experience and the stories were fun. But not only was I too late for the Sacrament, but they were also at the very END of the meeting. We sang the closing hymn, “Haz El Bien” (Choose the Right) and they split up for Sunday School.
Being a rather pale person I was easy to pick out, and it didn’t take too long for the missionaries to introduce themselves. When I mentioned I had used the ward website I got a big {sigh} and an explanation that they had been trying to get that updated for months. I had actually attended the Spanish-speaking Las Palmas ward, but there would be an English-speaking YSA Sacrament Meeting about an hour later. No problem – I followed the small stream of people headed to class.
I found myself seated in the Spanish-taught Gospel Principles classroom. When we got started there were about four members, but that grew as the hour went on. When the teacher said we were going to start with a hymn and looked like she was just going to lead off a capella, I offered to play the piano instead. She seemed to think that would be good, but tried to apologize because she had never led music with piano accompaniment before.
The class was about Personal Responsibility and the importance of work. I did quite well so long as I kept my mouth shut … understanding the conversations, following along in the manual, everything went well until I tried to give a comment. I managed to mess up the name “Sunday” by talking about how we try not to work on “Sabado” (Saturday), but the teacher was very nice and didn’t point out that glaring mistake. I think I made up for the blunder by accompanying the closing song for her. :+)
The YSA Branch Sacrament Meeting was VERY quiet, and I had a bit of trouble staying awake. I really could have used that rest hymn part-way through to help wake me up (why is it called a “rest hymn” again?), but it seems that the second talk (most of which I missed, since it didn’t seem all that long to me) left only about 8 minutes for the final two speakers. So I managed to attend about 2.5 meetings before getting back on the road.
Sometimes I manage to annoy Rory with my desire to take different roads and routes, even when I’m going to the same destination. Instead of going back to the hotel the way I had traveled to the chapel, I ended up on the “scenic route.” This was one of those times when I just let myself go wherever for awhile, then armed with a map I would make my way back along a different road. San Antonio is “ringed” with several roads at varying distances from downtown, and I really only needed to use the inner-most ring to get back. However, I found that I was headed out on a “spoke” towards the second ring, so I figured I’d take the loop and see what was out there.
Unfortunately, when I was just about as far away from the golf course as I could be on that 2nd tier ring, I got the phone call from the Commander’s golf group that they would be ready to be picked up in about 15 minutes. So it was back up I-35 / I-10 to FSH, through base and to the course. I wasn’t keeping track, but they said they weren’t waiting for me for TOO long. Quick trip up to the airport to drop off their guest, then back to the hotel.
I had about an hour before I got the call I suspected would be coming. About half of the band rode the bus to a water park about 45 minutes away (www.shlitterbahn.com), and I knew they were all going to meet at 5:00 to decide whether to come home at that time or stay until the park closes at 8:00. Most decided they wanted to stay, but some really weren’t interested so I was asked to come pick them up. Good thing I don’t mind driving, and it’s also a good thing only six wanted to return early since that’s all the room available in the van.
So I guess I got some “rest” if not rehearsing meets that definition. There won’t be too much rest tonight, since I have to be on the road at 0530 for a brass quintet job on post.
The trip took just about as long as I had planned, and I arrived at the chapel just a few minutes after 11:30. It didn’t take long to realize this was one of the “typical” chapels with a U-shaped hallway around the chapel and cultural hall, so I was able to find the back chapel doors and step inside. However, instead of just having started the 10th Ward Sacrament Meeting, I listened to the ward’s young women give very brief updates (in Spanish) about girls’ camp, followed by their camp director. It sounded like a great camp experience and the stories were fun. But not only was I too late for the Sacrament, but they were also at the very END of the meeting. We sang the closing hymn, “Haz El Bien” (Choose the Right) and they split up for Sunday School.
Being a rather pale person I was easy to pick out, and it didn’t take too long for the missionaries to introduce themselves. When I mentioned I had used the ward website I got a big {sigh} and an explanation that they had been trying to get that updated for months. I had actually attended the Spanish-speaking Las Palmas ward, but there would be an English-speaking YSA Sacrament Meeting about an hour later. No problem – I followed the small stream of people headed to class.
I found myself seated in the Spanish-taught Gospel Principles classroom. When we got started there were about four members, but that grew as the hour went on. When the teacher said we were going to start with a hymn and looked like she was just going to lead off a capella, I offered to play the piano instead. She seemed to think that would be good, but tried to apologize because she had never led music with piano accompaniment before.
The class was about Personal Responsibility and the importance of work. I did quite well so long as I kept my mouth shut … understanding the conversations, following along in the manual, everything went well until I tried to give a comment. I managed to mess up the name “Sunday” by talking about how we try not to work on “Sabado” (Saturday), but the teacher was very nice and didn’t point out that glaring mistake. I think I made up for the blunder by accompanying the closing song for her. :+)
The YSA Branch Sacrament Meeting was VERY quiet, and I had a bit of trouble staying awake. I really could have used that rest hymn part-way through to help wake me up (why is it called a “rest hymn” again?), but it seems that the second talk (most of which I missed, since it didn’t seem all that long to me) left only about 8 minutes for the final two speakers. So I managed to attend about 2.5 meetings before getting back on the road.
Sometimes I manage to annoy Rory with my desire to take different roads and routes, even when I’m going to the same destination. Instead of going back to the hotel the way I had traveled to the chapel, I ended up on the “scenic route.” This was one of those times when I just let myself go wherever for awhile, then armed with a map I would make my way back along a different road. San Antonio is “ringed” with several roads at varying distances from downtown, and I really only needed to use the inner-most ring to get back. However, I found that I was headed out on a “spoke” towards the second ring, so I figured I’d take the loop and see what was out there.
Unfortunately, when I was just about as far away from the golf course as I could be on that 2nd tier ring, I got the phone call from the Commander’s golf group that they would be ready to be picked up in about 15 minutes. So it was back up I-35 / I-10 to FSH, through base and to the course. I wasn’t keeping track, but they said they weren’t waiting for me for TOO long. Quick trip up to the airport to drop off their guest, then back to the hotel.
I had about an hour before I got the call I suspected would be coming. About half of the band rode the bus to a water park about 45 minutes away (www.shlitterbahn.com), and I knew they were all going to meet at 5:00 to decide whether to come home at that time or stay until the park closes at 8:00. Most decided they wanted to stay, but some really weren’t interested so I was asked to come pick them up. Good thing I don’t mind driving, and it’s also a good thing only six wanted to return early since that’s all the room available in the van.
So I guess I got some “rest” if not rehearsing meets that definition. There won’t be too much rest tonight, since I have to be on the road at 0530 for a brass quintet job on post.
AT Day 7 – Pure Theatre
Since I can afford to shed (more than) a few pounds, I started my day on the treadmill while the rest of the band enjoyed their PT-less morning. I really need to get back into the habit of early morning exercise sessions anyway. I’ll probably have a few more chances to work on re-establishing that good habit over the next week.
Since I had been at the Arneson River Theatre the day before, I volunteered to accompany the Jazz Band leader in going down a few minutes early just to make sure everything would be ready when the rest of the crew and band arrived. We used a construction area to park (nobody was working there on Saturday), walked up the Riverwalk and found that the theater was LOCKED. A security guard just happened to be coming out of the adjacent building, but said he couldn’t open it up for us. He did help us track down the area’s maintenance man, who did come down and open up the gates.
The Theatre is basically a wooden platform on the inside part of a bend in the canal, with a historic backdrop of a set of bells (I’ll find out what their significance is when I take the boat tour) and a small building that is sometimes used as changing rooms. There is a stone-arch walkway over the river to the seating area on the opposite bank, arranged as an amphitheater. (According to the boat guides, the arched walkway played a role in the movie “Miss Congeniality” if anyone has seen that show.)
Not too much later the setup crew arrived and they started hauling equipment up to the stage. During setup the weather was warm, but the stage itself was still in the shade. From a temperature standpoint it would have been nice to play during the morning hours instead of noon. At the time I figured the later time would give us a better chance at gaining a larger audience, since there weren’t really that many people on the Riverwalk yet. However, by noon the sun was blazing down so even though quite a few people walked or floated by, not that many actually stayed.
Before the performance I made a quick search for a hat shop since my “oopsie” haricut left the top of my head with very little protection from the sun. Another Platoon Sergeant, Shannon Michael, accompanied me since she had been through the mall on a previous day. Good thing too, since she ended up being the one to pick out the hat (I really don’t like shopping) and it seemed to get positive reviews from other band members. Oh, and my head didn’t get sunburned. :+)
The Jazz Band did very well, ESPECIALLY considering how hot and bright it must have been for them. In more ways than one that band was HOT! Packing up went well and our system of shuttle vans got people back to the hotel air conditioning ASAP. Our original plan was to round up a crew to unload all the band equipment and put seats back into the van so it could be used tomorrow. We finally changed our minds and decided to just leave the gear in that van since we also had a rental van, and most of the band was planning to go to the large water park up the road on Sunday anyway. That change was being put out when the shuttle driver found three of us on the sidewalk, and we picked up another four on the way to the hotel. Being from the Pacific Northwest we’re such wimps when the sun comes out.
After lunch I had planned to ride back to the PX with the 1SG to pick up some supplies. Instead I got called into an ad-hoc meeting with the 1SG and SFC Tuggy, who wanted to know the details of why we (I) had decided not to unload the van, how transportation was going to work on Sunday, etc. While we were making sure all details had been covered, SFC Michael joined in to ask about getting her uniform altered before Monday’s job. Since it was already Saturday afternoon and our next performance is on Monday morning, options were limited. By that time a group of golfers had taken the rental van, so we were left with the GSA that was still packed to the gills with instruments. Since I also needed to get new rank sewn onto my jacket, I offered to drive the two of us to see if we could find someone to do the alterations on short notice. We also got tasked to drop off Mr. Alexander’s blues jacket for some minor sewing reinforcement.
SFC had talked with “Al’s Laundry,” had been told they would be open until 5pm on Saturday, and they could get it done for her by Monday morning. Unfortunately she couldn’t get them to answer their phone at 3:30. Instead she wanted to try the on-post clothing shop, which worked out for me too, since I needed to purchase the new rank. We found the alteration shop and were pleased to see it was still open. We weren’t so pleased when they said they could have everything done for us by NEXT FRIDAY. As we were about to leave they offered to do a “rush job” and get it ready by Monday afternoon. While that would have worked fine for the two jackets, the pants were needed earlier.
Right next door was the place to purchase rank. Thankfully it was right up front and easy to find. I was about to head to the checkout stand when I took a closer look. “Does this look blue to you?” When I held up the E-7 rank next to the other ranks hanging on the wall, the trim DID look blue, even though all the others were definitely green. Then I noticed the fine print on the package: GLD/BLU. The others were GLD/GRN. Oops, someone had apparently placed rank for blues jackets with all the rank for the A’s. I started going through the hanger of rank and found GLD/BLU after GLD/BLU. I was about to give up when the VERY LAST PACKAGE showed GLD/GRN. Yay! When talking about it later, we think that was probably because the Army is doing away with the green A’s uniform and going to a new color scheme for which they will use the blue rank. Other Soldiers are also reporting problems finding uniform parts. In fact, after this week we may never wear the green uniform ever again! But we were on a mission by this point.
The ladies in the on-post alteration shop suggested we try Kim’s which was located “just outside the main gate.” Since we had only ever used one gate we asked if that was the one, but we were told that wasn’t it. Instead of turning left at the light we needed to keep going. When we followed that direction we did end up at another gate, but it definitely did not look like a MAIN gate at all. In fact, it looked much smaller than the one we had been using all week. After driving off the post we found ourselves in a residential area. A few blocks away we came to a more industrial part of town, but driving up and down that street we couldn’t find any place called Kim’s. I figured we were west of the post, so I found a road along the south edge until we came to “New Braunfels.” It definitely used to be a gate on and off the post, but was currently barricaded off. We did find a couple of closed laundry and alterations shops in the immediate vicinity, and our hopes went up when we found one that was still open and promised same-day alterations. Unfortunately they were scheduled to close within the hour, and the seamstress said she was currently working on an alteration that needed to be done that day. Anything else would be done no earlier than Monday mid-day, too late for SFC Michael.
We still had time to drive to Al’s before their purported closing time, so SFC Michael plugged the address into her iPhone and off we went. We passed run-down places, abandoned buildings, a whole row of bail bonds businesses, and were not feeling that great about even being in that part of town until we found Al’s! Too bad the sign on the door said their Saturday hours were 8-3, not 10-5 like she had been told on the phone.
One last try: SFC Michael called the next place on her Googled list. She actually talked to someone, and asked if they were still open. Then she asked if they could do a same-day alteration. Then she explained the change. Then she asked me if we could get there in the next 15 minutes (I had no idea where we were going yet). Success! When we got to the correct address (back on “New Braufels” again), we pulled into the parking lot for a transmission service / alterations place. The “shop” was a single room with a lovely older Mexican lady who was ready to make the changes. They were VERY nice to let us come so late on a Saturday and still make the change while we waited. Interesting thing while we were there … a young man came in to pick up a pair of black jeans that he had left to have heavy starch added. The lady at the checkout apologized that this pair didn’t take the starch as well as other pants had, but he seemed OK with that. After he left, she came over to show us the tag she had clipped off of his pants, a price tag that said $920! She told us she was scared to even TOUCH the jeans, much less try to add heavy starch!
The next adventure was a trip with the 1SG back to the PX. He wasn’t able to complete his purchase because they were completely out of the one thing he really wanted to buy. After getting a semi-interesting life story of the salesman I mentioned that the 1SG just has “one of those faces that people trust” and feel like they can open up and talk to him about anything. I think he mentioned it’s actually more of a curse sometimes …
We made a quick stop at the band hall to drop off some personal instruments so they wouldn’t be in the baking-hot van all day, then a quick stop at the commissary for my introduction to unpronounceable meats and cheeses at the deli.
After all that I still got back to the hotel in time to walk back to the theater on the Riverwalk for the Noche Fiesta program. The local Kiwanis Club has some involvement in this fundraiser for local kids’ support groups or charities (can’t remember … that’s bad of me). The program itself is billed as a variety show, but mostly was music and dance from Spain, Venezuela, southern US, Mexico, etc. There were a few vocals, some “dance lessons” involving some audience members, and a really good Mariachi band. The dancing was great, the costumes INCREDIBLE, music was top-notch. Overall, a VERY good $10 ticket for 1.5 hours of great music and entertainment.
AT Day 6 – Recon
Today was a bit slower pace than many others. We did some PT in the morning, with a run through a park near the Alamodome and Convention Center. Even at 0630 the outside fountains were on and one of our guys ran through the waterfall multiple times I suppose to try to “cool off.” :+)
Morning rehearsals were dedicated mostly to the Jazz Band in preparation for tomorrow’s concert down on the Riverwalk, and a Combo gig tonight. We did get one hour of Concert Band and three of our Quintet members were able to run through a few things, but mostly it was a rest-my-lip-with-a-cold-sore kind of day (hate those sores).
After equipment was staged for the Monday concert band job and the Jazz band stuff packed sardine-like into the government van, most were released for the evening. I went down to the Riverwalk with SFC Tuggy and SGT Cook for dinner, but on the way we stopped at the theater. The sound technician for the evening show was setting up, so my companions got some good information that should help our setup tomorrow.
Dinner was also “work time” to discuss upcoming job details and working on some paperwork. I have a feeling today was a short breather before a mad rush of stuff coming up next week.
Morning rehearsals were dedicated mostly to the Jazz Band in preparation for tomorrow’s concert down on the Riverwalk, and a Combo gig tonight. We did get one hour of Concert Band and three of our Quintet members were able to run through a few things, but mostly it was a rest-my-lip-with-a-cold-sore kind of day (hate those sores).
After equipment was staged for the Monday concert band job and the Jazz band stuff packed sardine-like into the government van, most were released for the evening. I went down to the Riverwalk with SFC Tuggy and SGT Cook for dinner, but on the way we stopped at the theater. The sound technician for the evening show was setting up, so my companions got some good information that should help our setup tomorrow.
Dinner was also “work time” to discuss upcoming job details and working on some paperwork. I have a feeling today was a short breather before a mad rush of stuff coming up next week.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
AT Day 5 – Look in the Mirror
My plan to go for an extra run this morning (I could stand to lose a few pounds, and all the yummy food down here isn’t helping any) was completely foiled by doing laundry late last night. At least that’s my internal excuse. A lamer – but still true – excuse is that my old body is still hurting from the combatives training we did the other day.
We got to the band hall a bit late this morning, but soon found out there were some minor changes to the schedule. The first hour was dedicated to concert band sectional time, which was a bit difficult with so many of the rehearsal spaces locked up. My “section” ended up being just myself and another player, so we literally set up in the middle of a hallway and honked away. I do think we got a few things improved.
The rest of the morning we got to rehearse our brass quintet. The two trumpet players had played through quite a few of the marches yesterday, and had a list of those they thought would be reasonable to get ready for our ceremony and concerts next week. We even had a bit of time to read through some stuff that had been found in our library, but never opened. We might get a bit more unscheduled time tomorrow, now that I’m looking at the details on the schedule.
As happens in many organizations, we have fallen victim to a number of negative “issues” that were resulting in rumors, backbiting, lack of respect, and other negative things that while not major on their own, when looked at collectively are becoming more and more significant. So the First Sergeant called an NCO meeting for all E5’s and above, without the commander. He mentioned that he hoped it would be a relatively quick meeting, where things could be discussed and then we could get back to the schedule of the day. I suspect he really knew better, and it did end up taking ALL of the afternoon rehearsal slot until it was time to leave the building. There were quite a few issues discussed, everyone who wanted to had their say, and I hope some new perspective and maybe even a breakthrough or two were attained. Time will tell.
Our combatives training continued this afternoon in the oven / gymnasium. After a quick warmup we moved immediately into drills designed to get from a position of weakness (ie having the opponent sitting on top of you) to one of strength. Our instructor went through the technical steps of how to grasp the arms, positioning your legs, rolling so you are now on top, and then how to break what is expected to be a leg lock around your body. It was a lot of steps, but a real eye-opener for those of us who haven’t been exposed to wrestling or martial arts training. Once again, everyone who was there did a great job participating and working and trying to practice the techniques.
After cleaning up, the 1SG and commander met with the senior staff to discuss one of the issues brought up during the NCO meeting. Oregon state policy is that E7’s and higher (to include the commander) lodge in their own room when traveling. Typically all other Soldiers pair up two to a room. For this trip, however, there was an oversight somewhere that resulted in the State not allocating any money at all for our Annual Training. So part of carving out the money for these two weeks also involved a VERY small budget for lodging. The command staff traveled to San Antonio weeks ago to meet with the MEDCOM band, work out many of the details and issues (ie what equipment we could use, keys to the building, vehicles, etc) and also to check out potential lodging options. They found quite a few really BAD options that would fit within our budget and meet the State’s standard room allocations. There was one option that was MUCH better than the rest: free breakfast every day, free dinner 3 nights a week, free laundry service, within easy walking distance of the Riverwalk, full kitchenettes, and much more. The only problem was the total cost. However the hotel did suggest that they had several 2-room suites with two beds in one room and a hide-a-bed in a second room, as well as two separate bathrooms. Thus we could put three people in a single room and come in under budget. That was agreed upon … and then the State decided they were going to contract with the hotel directly instead of letting us make the arrangements. Somewhere along the line a change was made, and when we got here we found that the 3-Soldier rooms were actually standard rooms, and when the hide-a-bed is pulled out there is very little extra room at all. Plus getting three people through the shower in a timely fashion has become a problem. At the same time that many Soldiers were lodged in this way, others (myself included, as an E-7, as well as people who had family travel with them) were in single rooms.
During our meeting the commander decided that we would re-distribute the room assignments, to include him sharing his room with the 1SG and the E-7’s will also share with other Soldiers. Unfortunately all of this will likely also result in the exclusion of families when we travel out-of-state in the future, unless they are willing to completely pay their own hotel costs. It also means that the Soldier who did not comply with any of the time-sensitive directives about bringing family members ended up in his own room anyway, while the Commander is ending up sharing a room. I hope that irony (mockery, really) isn’t lost on this or any other Soldier in the unit.
The night finished off well with dinner on the Riverwalk. A few of us went to an Italian place where I ordered the house special: spinach-stuffed chicken with mushroom sauce, garlic mashed potatoes and veggies. The Riverwalk is a set of canals running around downtown with sidewalks, restaurants, art, and more. Tour boats travel around the loop; sometimes they carry live musicians, others had dinner guests, but most were just packed with tourists going along for the ride. Next time I’m down there (while in civvies) I really need to take my camera …
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Day 4 – This is normal?
The San Antonio Riverwalk is a gorgeous stone walkway along a canal system that winds around the center of town, and is lined with restaurants, trees, bridges and art. All of that went by at jogging speed in the dark this morning. Maybe I’ll get a chance to see it in the daytime before we leave.
For the morning concert band rehearsal we were joined by several members of the regular MEDCOM band, several of whom have also offered to perform with us. With only one rehearsal remaining before our upcoming performance, things are going pretty well.
I sat in with the Woodwind Quintet after lunch while James was busy, and then I had a few minutes to do a bit of maintenance on my horn. Tomorrow the Brass Quintet will have our last chance to go through our music. All the MPTs will be performing on a mass concert, so we’re all scrambling for rehearsal time in preparation.
The last scheduled activity was a tour of the CFI (Center for the Intrepid), a “state of the world” rehabilitation facility for severely wounded soldiers. The center was literally DONATED by more than 600,000 Americans, and in the words of the visionary behind the project those private dollars would “build twice the facility in half the time and for half the cost” of a government-funded project. I don’t know about the details of that quote necessarily, but the CFI IS an impressive facility based on the tour we received.
One lab is a motion sensor room right out of motion detection facilities used for CGI movies or video games. They can scan exact movements of Soldiers in their rehabilitation, and help correct any issues. They are also collecting a lot of data for future rehabilitation methods, and sharing their results with the other two similar military facilities.
Another room is filled with a “dome” structure equipped with a 6-degree-of-motion platform on which the Soldier stands, and then is fully-immersed in any number of scenarios. He/she might be in a city street, on a battlefield, or even snowboarding. The whole system allows the participant to practice balance, reaction, and develop reflexes based on “live” scenarios.
Their hydro rehab is being used for therapy more than at any other facility. They even have kayaks specially fitted for those with physical limitations, and a continuous wave generator on which Soldiers can actually practice boogie boarding. They feel (and I’m sure they are right) that this sort of therapy is much more interactive and engaging than simply lifting weights, and still accomplishes the physical strengthening and other rehabilitation objectives.
Other parts of the facility include a working apartment without handicapped modifications so they can practice what life might be like “in the real world” after their stay. In another room they can practice driving a simulated car, and the therapists can develop prosthetics to allow the Soldier to be able to drive again. Another room is set up as an indoor virtual shooting range. The indoor athletic track and weight facilities are all specially developed for this unique program. At all stages the goal is to return the Soldier to his/ her unit or back to a more normal life, and helping develop whatever prosthetics, programs or other prescriptions might be necessary. The whole facility was VERY impressive, and it’s very nice to know our severely-wounded Soldiers have such a facility to help them regain independence, confidence, and reintegration.
Dinner tonight was at a rather HUGE Mexican restaurant, and then I set to work doing laundry.
For the morning concert band rehearsal we were joined by several members of the regular MEDCOM band, several of whom have also offered to perform with us. With only one rehearsal remaining before our upcoming performance, things are going pretty well.
I sat in with the Woodwind Quintet after lunch while James was busy, and then I had a few minutes to do a bit of maintenance on my horn. Tomorrow the Brass Quintet will have our last chance to go through our music. All the MPTs will be performing on a mass concert, so we’re all scrambling for rehearsal time in preparation.
The last scheduled activity was a tour of the CFI (Center for the Intrepid), a “state of the world” rehabilitation facility for severely wounded soldiers. The center was literally DONATED by more than 600,000 Americans, and in the words of the visionary behind the project those private dollars would “build twice the facility in half the time and for half the cost” of a government-funded project. I don’t know about the details of that quote necessarily, but the CFI IS an impressive facility based on the tour we received.
One lab is a motion sensor room right out of motion detection facilities used for CGI movies or video games. They can scan exact movements of Soldiers in their rehabilitation, and help correct any issues. They are also collecting a lot of data for future rehabilitation methods, and sharing their results with the other two similar military facilities.
Another room is filled with a “dome” structure equipped with a 6-degree-of-motion platform on which the Soldier stands, and then is fully-immersed in any number of scenarios. He/she might be in a city street, on a battlefield, or even snowboarding. The whole system allows the participant to practice balance, reaction, and develop reflexes based on “live” scenarios.
Their hydro rehab is being used for therapy more than at any other facility. They even have kayaks specially fitted for those with physical limitations, and a continuous wave generator on which Soldiers can actually practice boogie boarding. They feel (and I’m sure they are right) that this sort of therapy is much more interactive and engaging than simply lifting weights, and still accomplishes the physical strengthening and other rehabilitation objectives.
Other parts of the facility include a working apartment without handicapped modifications so they can practice what life might be like “in the real world” after their stay. In another room they can practice driving a simulated car, and the therapists can develop prosthetics to allow the Soldier to be able to drive again. Another room is set up as an indoor virtual shooting range. The indoor athletic track and weight facilities are all specially developed for this unique program. At all stages the goal is to return the Soldier to his/ her unit or back to a more normal life, and helping develop whatever prosthetics, programs or other prescriptions might be necessary. The whole facility was VERY impressive, and it’s very nice to know our severely-wounded Soldiers have such a facility to help them regain independence, confidence, and reintegration.
Dinner tonight was at a rather HUGE Mexican restaurant, and then I set to work doing laundry.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
AT Day 3 – Trained Killers (or not)
Last night was a bit rough. The air conditioner in my room isn’t working (oh, poor baby!) even though the fan blows all the time. I called and told the front desk late last night. This morning I reported it again, as they seemed to indicate they weren’t aware of the problem. I was hoping they could get it fixed while we were gone during the day.
The morning started with concert band rehearsal, which was good for us. We haven’t had much time for that group now that the Army is emphasizing the smaller performing groups so heavily. We do have a few performances this week (Sea World and the on-base humongous medical “mall”) to prepare for. After that I helped work with the WWQ2 (second Woodwind Quintet) who I don’t think had ever met before. Their horn player was receiving training as a bus driver, and I was available to help out. We selected some “standard” stuff from the main group’s stack of music and plowed through it. I think it was a good experience for the new players, giving them a taste of what it’s like playing in a small group. That, of course, was the point. Plus we are planning to have ALL the MPTs perform next week, even the secondary or tertiary ones. The WWQ also has a concert performance co-scheduled with the Jazz combo, and the leader of that group asked if the WWQ2 could also perform with them. Should be fun!
Today was my first experience a the dining facility, which is a far cry from what I experienced during basic training. You pay your $4.25 and then get to choose from main dish (dinner-type) entrees, fast food, “healthy choice” (not sure what that is, actually), ethnic, or a host of other prepared foods. Drinks, desserts, salads, it’s all there in buffet style. Fortunately we got to the facility early enough to have a place to sit; other Soldiers who arrived only a few minutes after our group were forced to sit on the tales outside. I suppose most people around here are more used to the heat than we are.
I got a flurry of phone calls to let me know the redeployment ceremony had been changed from this Saturday to next Monday. Our regular tuba player already has another commitment so we broke in (or maybe “broke down”) the 1SG by having him sit in for most of the afternoon rehearsal session. We also had a substitute player on the trombone part, which was another good experience for him. I’ll need to put together a final music list in the next day or so because we’ll only have one more dedicated BQ rehearsal before that ceremony.
(I’ve been toying with the idea of giving our group a name. Since we never really know who will be playing, or even which instruments might be used, or whether those instruments will be brass, what does everyone think of calling ourselves the “234 Five”? BRASS QUINTET just might not be appropriate all the time.)
After rehearsal we met in the day room to watch a few minutes of the Army’s introduction to modern combatives. It’s interesting that up until just this year they were still teaching bayonet tactics at Basic Training, even though I don’t think they ever issue bayonets to anyone, ever, anymore. Today’s close-quarters fighting will require hand-to-hand skills, so they are taking pieces of lots of different martial arts and other fighting techniques, integrating those skills with physical fitness training, and rolling it all into an integrated program. It’s actually quite intense, involved, and there are several stages of qualification and certification. One of our E5’s attended the course and is certified (level 1 I think) so he is now passing along some of those things on to us. There was significant anxiety about this training from many of our members, who tend to be musicians, desk jockeys, students, etc. Not many of us are really “built” for close-quarters fighting.
After the video we rode the bus over to the large, non-AC gymnasium where they had wrestling mats set up for us. The uniform was our ACU (regular field uniform) with the top turned inside-out, and no boots. After a bit of jogging (forward, sideways “skips” and backwards) we moved into some neck stretches. The ones on our backs were pretty benign, but then we did some where we were in a kneeling position, put our heads on the mat, then went up to our feet. Supported by our feet and heads (and sometimes hands for stability) we lunged forwards and back to stretch our necks. Then the same was done starting from our backs, then arched backwards so we were on our feet and heads again. Seemed a bit scary at first, but everybody was fine.
What followed were a series of practiced movements such as the “shrimp drill,” “bear crawl,” “alligator crawl,” forward rolls, and much more. All of us were spent physically. The “bear crawl” involved kneeling above your partner who wrapped his legs around your back, and his hands locked behind your neck. Then the person on top got up on his hands and feet and crawled, carrying the partner, across the mat. The “alligator crawl” is a modification of the wheelbarrow that we all did at pioneer parties or family reunions, except at each “step” the person on the mat does a full pushup as well. The scariest one for me was doing the various forms of forward rolls, which involved “falling forward” but as you tip over, you tuck your head down and roll over onto your back. I’m the kid who never dared to do a front flip on the trampoline growing up, so it took a few tries to get over the fear of landing on my head, breaking my neck and being paralyzed for life. Of course it ended up being quite simple, although I think my neck might be feeling a bit sore right now.
I was proud of ALL of us for participating, and especially those who had more vocally expressed their trepidation earlier but were doing their very best, and even saying they wanted some coaching from peers who had been through the training recently so they could get the movements and exercises done correctly. We were certainly wiped out by the time that was over.
Upon arrival at the hotel I found that my room’s AC STILL was not working. When I called the front desk they said the maintenance guy had already gone home, but they would call and have him come back. So while waiting for him to arrive I thought it best not to get in the shower and miss his arrival. (It also meant I got to eat dinner heated up in the microwave again, but that’s OK.) The first guy came, pulled the panel off the wall, and turned everything off. The compressor had been running for several days straight since the thermostat was set at a reasonable temperature but the room temperature was always much higher, and the equipment was quite hot. Turns out he has a similar situation in another room, so he went over there while waiting for my AC unit to cool off. After a re-start we waited for about 30 minutes, but the room temperature didn’t go down at all. He has called the AC company, and had a second maintenance guy stop by, but still no luck. It’s possible the AC company might still come out tonight, but it sounds like they have had similar problems in several rooms lately and have had to change out the compressor capacitor, which of course aren’t kept in stock here in San Antonio. Thus they might have to order parts from Dallas or further away. We’ll just have to see what happens; it’s 9:30 now and I’m not really wanting to stay up too much longer waiting for this to get resolved.
But complaining about it doesn’t help anything.AT Day 2 – “Nice place. Stay out.”
Fortunately I woke up without needing the alarm clock. Unfortunately the clock said 7:32, and we were meeting at 7:45. Glad I got that too-short haircut after all, so I was able to jump into my uniform and get to the bus with a few minutes still to spare.
This being the first day at Fort Sam Houston, we were certainly anticipating a few “hiccups” in the schedule. The first was for our command staff, who left the hotel early to make sure everything was ready for the rest of the band’s arrival. Too bad the resident band doesn’t typically show up until 9:00, well after our arrival time. We decided to go ahead with our safety and other general briefings outside, but were “saved” when someone showed up earlier than normal (for them) and let us in. The briefings took place inside the building which had been running the AC all weekend long … VERY nice. Quote of the briefing: “Blue flowers are people too.” We got some good reminders about heat injuries and how to avoid, identify, and treat them. Hopefully we’ll all drink way too much water and be smart in our activities so that won’t be an issue.
Be broke into two groups and a few of the resident band members took us on a tour of the facility. Theirs is perhaps THE largest band facility in the Army system, set up on two floors of a historic building. They have a large rehearsal room (might have been a ballroom in the building’s past), large admin area, library, separate room adequate for the Jazz band, day room (plenty big enough for our entire band for any future briefings), and that’s just the upstairs. Downstairs they have their instrument lockers, repair shop, changing rooms, and 5 or 6 small group rehearsal rooms. There’s probably more that I’m just not remembering right now. The leaders of all the groups were pretty happy to hear they have designatred rooms for Woodwind Quintet, vocals, combo, Brass Quintet, and others.
Since our large instruments were shipped on the back of a flatbed truck had wasn’t due to arrive until later in the afternoon, we had scheduled an instrument-less drill band (marching) just to help train our people on things such as turns, starts & stops, etc. Just before going out, we got the call that the truck with our instruments was in fact on post. So we loaded into the bus, expecting to drive over to the warehouse to transfer our gear into an equipment truck. Another call was made, and the truck instead was able to drive right up to the band hall. So we had “fun” unloading and carrying stuff into the building … remember that the main rehearsal rooms were all on the second floor? Historic buildings don’t have things like loading ramps or elevators. I think we only had a few pulled muscles, scrapes and bruises from that PT session.
Some of us had left our instruments back at the hotel since nobody really knew what the security or rehearsal situation would be, so that group rode back to the hotel in a van. We managed to get lost on the way back, so we stopped for lunch on the way. The selected establishment was Schilo’s Deli, a german delicatessen with “Since 1917” on their sign. I just got a grilled ham & cheese on rye, which was OK, and then we made our quick stop at the hotel.
When we got back after lunch we were informed that many of those rehearsal spaces pointed out during the tour were in fact going to be off-limits. Part of that was due to a bad situation they had when two National Guard bands came through for a recent backfill and basically trashed / lost / took some of their percussion equipment. So the room with the drumsets and almost all of their equipment was off-limits to us. In addition, some of the band members going on leave had put their personal gear into the lower-level rehearsal rooms, which were then locked. There was no interest in consolidating all that gear into a single room so we could use the others. The library is also off-limits. But hey, it IS the biggest band facility in the system … too bad we can’t use it. We did the best we could, which at times meant groups spread out in the halls or three separate rehearsals going on concurrently in the main rehearsal room. Not sure how long that can last.
One of the main goals of this AT is to get people playing on their instruments A LOT. The MPTs (separate musical groups) are given dedicated rehearsal time, and everyone else is supposed to round up whoever else is available and make MORE groups. For one of the rehearsal sessions I took part in a group comprised of 2 flutes, oboe, tuba, 2 bassoons and 2 horns. We acquired a set of ceremonial music written in 6 parts with various transpositions to allow quite a number of possible combinations. Certainly something that could be used “in a pinch.”
The final rehearsal hour I did Brass Quintet, and we were informed that the group had been assigned a new request for a redeployment ceremony (troops returning from an overseas deployment) on Saturday morning at 6:00am. Due to other rehearsal conflicts we didn’t quite have the “regular” group together, but were fortunate to have a bassoon player covering the tuba part. We probably would have needed one or two more to make up the same balance we typically get from the regular player; that’s due to the nature of the instruments, not any lack of effort on the part of the bassoonist! :+)
A quick stop was made at the commissary (grocery store) so people could stock their fridges back at the hotel. A bit later an MPT leader meeting was called to discuss how things were going so far, and what things could be improved as go forward over the next few days. That was followed by a quick senior staff meeting. I was fine with cooking some of my frozen dinners and trying to get to bed early. Would have worked except I also tried to catch up on email, blogging, voicemails, and some work details.
AT Day 1 – “Leaving on a jet plane (or two, or three)”
In a moment of weakness I volunteered to drive the shuttle van from our band building over to the airport for the group leaving on the early flight. Call time was 6:15am. So of course I should have expected the 5:00am phone call from someone who was at the band hall and wanted to make sure he hadn’t missed his ride. After the early morning run I thought I’d get a few more minutes of sleep, but instead got a phone call from another Soldier needing a ride FROM the airport back to the band hall to pick up baggage. No biggie; we packed up a few minutes earlier than we had planned, made the extra trip, printed the Sunday bulletin for Rory, and then she dropped me off at the airport. That’s when it really started sinking in that I’d be away from her for 2 weeks straight.
ALMOST everyone arrived at the airport on time (the straggler did make it eventually) and the ticket counter line didn’t take TOO long to get through. The TSA line was amazing, but we were able to clear on the other side of the airport and the cross back over to our gate. Everything seemed to be going well so far.
The first leg of the flight stopped in Albuquerque. There was some exciting weather going on (no rain, just clouds) and apparently some wind; the touch-down was probably the roughest I’ve ever been a part of, but we did make it to the jetway. All but 40 people got off the plane while the rest of us stayed in our seats, and they replenished the sodas and snacks. After those who needed to board were also in their seats, the captain came onto the intercom to say there was a mechanical issue that needed to be addressed before we could leave. A guy in a small pickup drove up and was apparently poking around outside. He never got his ladder down, and I didn’t see him take any tools or anything at all. A few minutes later the captain came on the intercom again to say that when the food truck had pulled up, apparently they had bumped the plane hard enough (I didn’t notice anything) to leave a small dent. The captain was sure this would be a paperwork issue and we’d be on our way soon. However, it was only a few minutes later that he returned to the intercom to let us know we needed to deplane and we’d be put onto another one. Fortunately we only needed to go a few gates down the hallway, to where a huge group of people were already lined up and ready to board their plane. Instead they started calling our names and we walked to the front of the line and onto the plane, all without having to show ID or boarding passes or anything. It was really quite strange.
Our next leg was to Dallas, and now we were quite a bit late; too late to make our connecting flight. However, we were told that the new crew we got in Albuquerque was also scheduled to service our final leg into San Antonio, so they wouldn’t be leaving without us! The layover in Dallas didn’t last too long before we were allowed to board and were ready to get underway. The captain gave the following weather report: “They’re having a cold front down in San Antonio right now, as it’s only 97 degrees.” Another interesting comment was overheard from a rather frazzled and obviously-tired stewardess who was taking drink orders from our people a few rows ahead: “That is disgusting! I’ll make it anyway; I don’t care.”
Apparently the other half of the band was also delayed significantly during their layover in Las Vegas. Finally everyone arrived, checked in, and should have gone straight to bed. Instead I tagged along with the Commander, First Sergeant and SFC Tuggy in going to Denny’s for a late dinner. The service was really quite slow, but it was nice to have some “real food” to eat.
Monday, August 2, 2010
AT Day -1, “Ups and Downs”
Traditionally we have an all-day drill on the day before our AT. This year we shipped out all our large instruments, music, and other large cases on Wednesday. Thus we didn’t have any music scheduled AT ALL for the whole day. First order of business was getting me promoted. Rory was there but didn’t quite get the prompting from the Commander to rip the old rank off my uniform. He tried a couple of times to get her to just tear it off my shirt, but finally gave up and did it himself. That piece of Velcro went flying back into the crowd and almost hit the guy taking pictures of the event. “UP!”
After some pre-AT briefings, SFC Tuggy let the band know about the family situation of one of our members; his dad has been missing since last Sunday, and a full-on search-and-rescue operation was ongoing, including departments in two counties and a National Guard helicopter. “DOWN.” A prayer group was convened by some in the unit, asking for quick resolution to the situation and a positive outcome.
The rest of the morning was spent listening to our FABULOUS First Sergeant (who happens to be sitting next to me on the plane right now while I'm writing this and is looking over my shoulder every so often) give the traditional yearly medical briefings. It was more interesting this year because of his extreme lack of sleep. Many of us on the back row were asking things like, “Has he given the ‘gravity is your friend’ quote yet?” or "If they have an extra knee, wriest or elbow where it's not supposed to be, pretty sure it's a fracture." Adding that bit of comedy and clever wordsmithing sure helps the time pass quickly.
During the day I was approached by one of our members who had recently decided to fly his wife to San Antonio, but now found himself without a room by himself. Apparently he had assumed that someone assigned a room to himself would gladly join another room with two other junior members and let him have the room instead. Nope. Next he tried talking to several others assigned as singles (including myself) to see if we would bunk together so he and his wife could have a room. At first I thought that would be fine, but thinking about it later I realized that other Soldiers’ spouses were not coming on this trip precisely because they did not / could not get their plans arranged in time, nor make timely notification to the unit (various reasons), and therefore had not received a reserved room. Therefore I could not in good conscience treat this Soldier differently than anyone else and make it easy for him to bend the rules, when others could not. To make matters worse he decided to go straight to the Commander for relief, rather than communicate through the proper channels. Ultimately the Commander came to the decision that he would not order other Soldiers to change their arrangements to accommodate another’s inability to communicate his plans in a timely or appropriate manner. While I’m glad that was the decision, I am disappointed for this Soldier and his wife who might end up having to cancel her trip (therefore being treated the same as others who also could not make arrangements on time) or have to pay for their own room out-of-pocket (which would be the responsible way to live with his decision). “DOWN.”
After some building cleaning we grabbed a quick lunch and changed into more formal uniforms for the retirement ceremony of one of our senior sergeants. He served for 37 years and did everything from cook school to being a drill sergeant to serving in the band in many capacities. His influence was profound and lasting; he will be missed.
Between the end of drill and before dinner I got the phone call we had all been dreading: our unit member’s father had been found, but deceased. The speedy resolution to the situation was, I am sure, a small blessing. But I can only imagine how devastating losing a father must be. The proper phone calls were made, information exchanged, plans changed. Definite “DOWN.” I also heard that a Command decision regarding the lodging situation had been made, and not to this Soldier’s liking. While I agree with the decision, the whole situation has become another “DOWN.”
In the evening we met with some old friends (they’re not THAT old, actually) for dinner. She had recommended a few restaurants taken from someone’s online ranking list, and we decided to try the #1 place on the list: Andina (www.andinarestaurant.com). Rory called the Peruvian place to see about a reservation. “Sure, we take reservations! The earliest I can get you in is 10:00.” After choking a bit Rory instead asked whether there was ANY possibility they would take a walk-in. “Well, if you show up here on our door at 5:00 we probably won’t turn you away.” Deal ... "UP."
We found a teeny-tiny parking spot in a teeny-tiny parking lot off of a teeny-tiny road in downtown Portland. However, SCORE! Someone had paid for their parking but forgotten to take their ticket. Too bad we had also already paid for ours, but our friends made use of the extra receipt.
They seated us downstairs in the Courtyard. Yes, you read that right. The building has a skylight installed, and three floors down (in the basement level) it’s still open and they have set up some tables in a courtyard style. I think the waitress was native South American (maybe even Peruvian) and she talked about all the traditional dishes as if she had learned about them from her grandmother. Her accent in both Spanish and English was flawless, and she was certainly passionate about the menu. So much so that she talked me into ordering the special: hammered beef steak topped with mushroom pate and sunnyside-up (“UP”) duck egg, with a side of fried bananas. Rory ordered a traditional lamb dish, as well as a purple root and chicken salad appetizer. The food lived up to the billing of being #1 in the city.
The rest of the evening was spent getting ready for the following day, including packing, finalizing the Sacrament Meeting bulletin, emails and more. So many details … I’m sure I forgot something important!
After some pre-AT briefings, SFC Tuggy let the band know about the family situation of one of our members; his dad has been missing since last Sunday, and a full-on search-and-rescue operation was ongoing, including departments in two counties and a National Guard helicopter. “DOWN.” A prayer group was convened by some in the unit, asking for quick resolution to the situation and a positive outcome.
The rest of the morning was spent listening to our FABULOUS First Sergeant (who happens to be sitting next to me on the plane right now while I'm writing this and is looking over my shoulder every so often) give the traditional yearly medical briefings. It was more interesting this year because of his extreme lack of sleep. Many of us on the back row were asking things like, “Has he given the ‘gravity is your friend’ quote yet?” or "If they have an extra knee, wriest or elbow where it's not supposed to be, pretty sure it's a fracture." Adding that bit of comedy and clever wordsmithing sure helps the time pass quickly.
During the day I was approached by one of our members who had recently decided to fly his wife to San Antonio, but now found himself without a room by himself. Apparently he had assumed that someone assigned a room to himself would gladly join another room with two other junior members and let him have the room instead. Nope. Next he tried talking to several others assigned as singles (including myself) to see if we would bunk together so he and his wife could have a room. At first I thought that would be fine, but thinking about it later I realized that other Soldiers’ spouses were not coming on this trip precisely because they did not / could not get their plans arranged in time, nor make timely notification to the unit (various reasons), and therefore had not received a reserved room. Therefore I could not in good conscience treat this Soldier differently than anyone else and make it easy for him to bend the rules, when others could not. To make matters worse he decided to go straight to the Commander for relief, rather than communicate through the proper channels. Ultimately the Commander came to the decision that he would not order other Soldiers to change their arrangements to accommodate another’s inability to communicate his plans in a timely or appropriate manner. While I’m glad that was the decision, I am disappointed for this Soldier and his wife who might end up having to cancel her trip (therefore being treated the same as others who also could not make arrangements on time) or have to pay for their own room out-of-pocket (which would be the responsible way to live with his decision). “DOWN.”
After some building cleaning we grabbed a quick lunch and changed into more formal uniforms for the retirement ceremony of one of our senior sergeants. He served for 37 years and did everything from cook school to being a drill sergeant to serving in the band in many capacities. His influence was profound and lasting; he will be missed.
Between the end of drill and before dinner I got the phone call we had all been dreading: our unit member’s father had been found, but deceased. The speedy resolution to the situation was, I am sure, a small blessing. But I can only imagine how devastating losing a father must be. The proper phone calls were made, information exchanged, plans changed. Definite “DOWN.” I also heard that a Command decision regarding the lodging situation had been made, and not to this Soldier’s liking. While I agree with the decision, the whole situation has become another “DOWN.”
In the evening we met with some old friends (they’re not THAT old, actually) for dinner. She had recommended a few restaurants taken from someone’s online ranking list, and we decided to try the #1 place on the list: Andina (www.andinarestaurant.com). Rory called the Peruvian place to see about a reservation. “Sure, we take reservations! The earliest I can get you in is 10:00.” After choking a bit Rory instead asked whether there was ANY possibility they would take a walk-in. “Well, if you show up here on our door at 5:00 we probably won’t turn you away.” Deal ... "UP."
We found a teeny-tiny parking spot in a teeny-tiny parking lot off of a teeny-tiny road in downtown Portland. However, SCORE! Someone had paid for their parking but forgotten to take their ticket. Too bad we had also already paid for ours, but our friends made use of the extra receipt.
They seated us downstairs in the Courtyard. Yes, you read that right. The building has a skylight installed, and three floors down (in the basement level) it’s still open and they have set up some tables in a courtyard style. I think the waitress was native South American (maybe even Peruvian) and she talked about all the traditional dishes as if she had learned about them from her grandmother. Her accent in both Spanish and English was flawless, and she was certainly passionate about the menu. So much so that she talked me into ordering the special: hammered beef steak topped with mushroom pate and sunnyside-up (“UP”) duck egg, with a side of fried bananas. Rory ordered a traditional lamb dish, as well as a purple root and chicken salad appetizer. The food lived up to the billing of being #1 in the city.
The rest of the evening was spent getting ready for the following day, including packing, finalizing the Sacrament Meeting bulletin, emails and more. So many details … I’m sure I forgot something important!
AT Day -2, “Lucky Sevens”
Today started out … at work. In the flurry of effort to finish off a major project, I ended up staying in the office until about 4:30am. I was able to get ALMOST everything done, and fortunately the rest of the team was able to finish off the last few items and get the project delivered later in the day. I wasn’t the only one working WAY too many hours the last week or two, so I know others were just as relieved as I that everything got finished off.
After a brief nap, Rory and I finished packing and tried to head out on our “date day” with breakfast at a local restaurant. Unfortunately we weren’t able to get away until 11:17 (yes, I was watching the clock) so we decided to start on our list of errands.
A few days earlier I had looked up the phone number for the local military ID office. Last time we tried to walk in, we found that the information on the website was incorrect, so I figured that by talking to a “real person” I could positively verify the correct hours. At that time the female Specialist told me that this was the last week their office would take Friday walk-ins, so I figured we were set. We were told on Friday that the office does NOT do Friday walk-ins, hasn’t done Friday walk-ins for MONTHS, and they didn’t have any female employees working during the past week. Fortunately they relented and Rory got her card done. (I’ll have to get mine re-done now that they decided to promote me, but not until after August 1 when the promotion is effective).
Next we headed through Salem and stopped at the pet store, looking for fish food. I jokingly suggested we stop in the grooming salon and see if they could shear my hair for me, since I had forgotten to get that taken care of the day before. Even better, Rory noticed that immediately adjacent to the pet store was a cosmetology school. While I looked for fish pellets she confirmed that the school did take walk-in “subjects” for their students to work on, and for only $9.99!
The cosmetology school was quite the place. There were mannequin heads galore with all different styles of hair for the students to practice on. Apparently they also practice tattoo art, including each others’ bodies and the floating deadheads. I was assigned a guy who had been at the school for 6 months. As we were talking I asked for the cut to be “quite short on the sides and back” and even had him re-do it after the first pass with the clippers. We talked about getting ready for my upcoming military duty among other things. Apparently the “short” and “military” took hold in his mind and the first pass over the top of my head with the clippers changed my plan. I went from “short but comb-able” to a definite “high and tight.” He then proceeded to spend nearly an hour (less if you ask Rory) working on “the line” around my head, using all sorts of clippers and attachments and even squeezing my head to tighten the skin and make the hair stand up differently. (We found several “Dr. Seuss” hairs sticking straight up on the top of my head later, but there certainly wasn’t any line!) He actually thanked me for coming in to give him some good practice, since mine was a “rare haircut.” Rory joked (I think it was a joke) that it should have been kept that way … RARE.
On our way towards Portland we realized I had forgotten to borrow one of the girls’ cameras. We thought we might just stop in at Fry’s and window shop for prices on a small camera, as well as one with simple video capability. It had been awhile since the last time I visited, and that place is HUGE. We did find the display of digital cameras (do they make any other kind?) and the cheapest one takes 10 mega-pixel photos, includes video, has image stabilization, does panoramic shots, and more. We paid over $400 just a few years ago for a camera with fewer features; Fry’s wanted $59 for this one. Rory hadn’t eaten anything yet during the day, and after paying for the camera we walked right next to a food shop right inside the building. They hand-made her a chicken wrap (even chopped up the veggies right then and there), and she also got a non-dairy fruit smoothie that was actually quite good. I never would have thought to go looking inside an electronics superstore for a decent lunch, but then again, I don’t get out very often.
We arrived at the hotel a bit later than originally planned, but after getting our stuff unloaded we still had time to drive part of the Historic Highway in the lower part of the Gorge, and stopped by the Vista House. This was apparently built as a rest area when the old highway was first built, and is a circular stone structure with a great view from the top of the cliffs. Only had time for a few pictures before continuing on to our real destination, our Sternwheeler Dinner Cruise.
The cruise got booked as a “make up” for missing our actual anniversary the week before due to work. The company uses a small dock on the Columbia River to moor the rather cool-looking boat. Our table was situated next to a window which gave us a GREAT view. (I use the word “table” rather liberally, as it was only barely large enough to hold our two plates and cups.) The server came around to introduce himself and get our initial order. Rory really debated whether to go for the salmon dinner, since she likes that fish only if it’s cooked perfectly. Any dryness or mushiness just ruins it. In the end she “lived on the edge” and ordered the fish while I got the tenderloin medallions. We made short work of the shrimp appetizer, and then the fun started.
Of course Rory had her camera at the table and was shooting through the disgustingly filthy window. In spite of the animal droppings she got some great sun shots off the water. Eventually we walked outside onto the deck where she could continue shooting sans grime. It wasn’t too much longer before we were told that dinner had been served, so we headed back inside. I went in to eat; Rory did not. While I enjoyed some VERY good beef and potatoes, Rory continued taking pictures. She attached the macro lens and got shots of our “Romance Package” cider’s bubbles in some keepsake glasses. She took pictures of food, water, sunsets, sunbursts, clouds, landscapes, and much more. When I was about done eating and she still hadn’t started, I couldn’t help but to take some pictures of her taking pictures.
She reported that the salmon was PERFECT, and by the end of the night was even saying it was the best she had ever had. She also liked the bites of beef I shared. I must have drank ¾ of the cider by myself, and ate WAY too much of the very yummy bread. I’d say it was about a 3-pound kind of meal.
It was very easy to talk with many of the people on the boat, and welcomed people from North Carolina, Michigan, Iowa, Oregon and more. The icebreaker for many of them was the camera they were using, and Rory would strike up a conversation or offer to take pictures. Too bad she didn’t have a stack of business cards to hand out, and she did have one lady almost offer to hire her to take pictures of her online offerings if she lived closer!
We cruised down the gorge for awhile, and I got some great shots of the Bridge of the Gods and some of the viaduct structures of I-84. Rory even humored me and took some photos of those things, too. I thought the sternwheeler was really very interesting; it was truly the only means of propulsion for that vessel, no side thrusters or backup propellers. The weather was perfect, not too hot or cold at all, and there wasn’t even any wind! Well, not while we were headed east anyway. As we made the turn at the top of the route we found that apparently we had been moving almost exactly the same speed as the wind, and now we got to fight it. There were some pretty funny pictures of people’s hair being blown straight back.
As dessert was being served they announced over the ship’s intercom that several people on board were celebrating anniversaries. The table in front of us were at number 27, the table behind us were at 7, and we were on year 17. Lucky 7’s! We then overheard someone at another table talking about how his granddaughter was SO proud that she was celebrating her 6-month “anniversary” of dating her boyfriend. “6-month anniversary??? What is that … LINT?”
Rory ordered the “chocolate overload” cake, which I thoroughly enjoyed finishing for her. (She’s not doing so well with sugar these days.) My New York style cheesecake was also great. They got some awesome reviews from Rory on their comment card, and we definitely recommend that cruise to anyone and everyone!
Almost immediately after getting back to dry land and the truck we saw a flash of light in the sky. At first I thought it must have just been the exterior mercury lamps turning on, but it became VERY apparent that there were some great electrical flashes in the sky. As we drove down I-84 the lightning came faster and more powerful, putting on a great show. We even hit a small cell of rather thick rainfall. Then just like that, it was gone again and our great weather was restored.
Not everything went exactly as planned, but it was great to spend the day with Rory!
After a brief nap, Rory and I finished packing and tried to head out on our “date day” with breakfast at a local restaurant. Unfortunately we weren’t able to get away until 11:17 (yes, I was watching the clock) so we decided to start on our list of errands.
A few days earlier I had looked up the phone number for the local military ID office. Last time we tried to walk in, we found that the information on the website was incorrect, so I figured that by talking to a “real person” I could positively verify the correct hours. At that time the female Specialist told me that this was the last week their office would take Friday walk-ins, so I figured we were set. We were told on Friday that the office does NOT do Friday walk-ins, hasn’t done Friday walk-ins for MONTHS, and they didn’t have any female employees working during the past week. Fortunately they relented and Rory got her card done. (I’ll have to get mine re-done now that they decided to promote me, but not until after August 1 when the promotion is effective).
Next we headed through Salem and stopped at the pet store, looking for fish food. I jokingly suggested we stop in the grooming salon and see if they could shear my hair for me, since I had forgotten to get that taken care of the day before. Even better, Rory noticed that immediately adjacent to the pet store was a cosmetology school. While I looked for fish pellets she confirmed that the school did take walk-in “subjects” for their students to work on, and for only $9.99!
The cosmetology school was quite the place. There were mannequin heads galore with all different styles of hair for the students to practice on. Apparently they also practice tattoo art, including each others’ bodies and the floating deadheads. I was assigned a guy who had been at the school for 6 months. As we were talking I asked for the cut to be “quite short on the sides and back” and even had him re-do it after the first pass with the clippers. We talked about getting ready for my upcoming military duty among other things. Apparently the “short” and “military” took hold in his mind and the first pass over the top of my head with the clippers changed my plan. I went from “short but comb-able” to a definite “high and tight.” He then proceeded to spend nearly an hour (less if you ask Rory) working on “the line” around my head, using all sorts of clippers and attachments and even squeezing my head to tighten the skin and make the hair stand up differently. (We found several “Dr. Seuss” hairs sticking straight up on the top of my head later, but there certainly wasn’t any line!) He actually thanked me for coming in to give him some good practice, since mine was a “rare haircut.” Rory joked (I think it was a joke) that it should have been kept that way … RARE.
On our way towards Portland we realized I had forgotten to borrow one of the girls’ cameras. We thought we might just stop in at Fry’s and window shop for prices on a small camera, as well as one with simple video capability. It had been awhile since the last time I visited, and that place is HUGE. We did find the display of digital cameras (do they make any other kind?) and the cheapest one takes 10 mega-pixel photos, includes video, has image stabilization, does panoramic shots, and more. We paid over $400 just a few years ago for a camera with fewer features; Fry’s wanted $59 for this one. Rory hadn’t eaten anything yet during the day, and after paying for the camera we walked right next to a food shop right inside the building. They hand-made her a chicken wrap (even chopped up the veggies right then and there), and she also got a non-dairy fruit smoothie that was actually quite good. I never would have thought to go looking inside an electronics superstore for a decent lunch, but then again, I don’t get out very often.
We arrived at the hotel a bit later than originally planned, but after getting our stuff unloaded we still had time to drive part of the Historic Highway in the lower part of the Gorge, and stopped by the Vista House. This was apparently built as a rest area when the old highway was first built, and is a circular stone structure with a great view from the top of the cliffs. Only had time for a few pictures before continuing on to our real destination, our Sternwheeler Dinner Cruise.
The cruise got booked as a “make up” for missing our actual anniversary the week before due to work. The company uses a small dock on the Columbia River to moor the rather cool-looking boat. Our table was situated next to a window which gave us a GREAT view. (I use the word “table” rather liberally, as it was only barely large enough to hold our two plates and cups.) The server came around to introduce himself and get our initial order. Rory really debated whether to go for the salmon dinner, since she likes that fish only if it’s cooked perfectly. Any dryness or mushiness just ruins it. In the end she “lived on the edge” and ordered the fish while I got the tenderloin medallions. We made short work of the shrimp appetizer, and then the fun started.
Of course Rory had her camera at the table and was shooting through the disgustingly filthy window. In spite of the animal droppings she got some great sun shots off the water. Eventually we walked outside onto the deck where she could continue shooting sans grime. It wasn’t too much longer before we were told that dinner had been served, so we headed back inside. I went in to eat; Rory did not. While I enjoyed some VERY good beef and potatoes, Rory continued taking pictures. She attached the macro lens and got shots of our “Romance Package” cider’s bubbles in some keepsake glasses. She took pictures of food, water, sunsets, sunbursts, clouds, landscapes, and much more. When I was about done eating and she still hadn’t started, I couldn’t help but to take some pictures of her taking pictures.
She reported that the salmon was PERFECT, and by the end of the night was even saying it was the best she had ever had. She also liked the bites of beef I shared. I must have drank ¾ of the cider by myself, and ate WAY too much of the very yummy bread. I’d say it was about a 3-pound kind of meal.
It was very easy to talk with many of the people on the boat, and welcomed people from North Carolina, Michigan, Iowa, Oregon and more. The icebreaker for many of them was the camera they were using, and Rory would strike up a conversation or offer to take pictures. Too bad she didn’t have a stack of business cards to hand out, and she did have one lady almost offer to hire her to take pictures of her online offerings if she lived closer!
We cruised down the gorge for awhile, and I got some great shots of the Bridge of the Gods and some of the viaduct structures of I-84. Rory even humored me and took some photos of those things, too. I thought the sternwheeler was really very interesting; it was truly the only means of propulsion for that vessel, no side thrusters or backup propellers. The weather was perfect, not too hot or cold at all, and there wasn’t even any wind! Well, not while we were headed east anyway. As we made the turn at the top of the route we found that apparently we had been moving almost exactly the same speed as the wind, and now we got to fight it. There were some pretty funny pictures of people’s hair being blown straight back.
As dessert was being served they announced over the ship’s intercom that several people on board were celebrating anniversaries. The table in front of us were at number 27, the table behind us were at 7, and we were on year 17. Lucky 7’s! We then overheard someone at another table talking about how his granddaughter was SO proud that she was celebrating her 6-month “anniversary” of dating her boyfriend. “6-month anniversary??? What is that … LINT?”
Rory ordered the “chocolate overload” cake, which I thoroughly enjoyed finishing for her. (She’s not doing so well with sugar these days.) My New York style cheesecake was also great. They got some awesome reviews from Rory on their comment card, and we definitely recommend that cruise to anyone and everyone!
Almost immediately after getting back to dry land and the truck we saw a flash of light in the sky. At first I thought it must have just been the exterior mercury lamps turning on, but it became VERY apparent that there were some great electrical flashes in the sky. As we drove down I-84 the lightning came faster and more powerful, putting on a great show. We even hit a small cell of rather thick rainfall. Then just like that, it was gone again and our great weather was restored.
Not everything went exactly as planned, but it was great to spend the day with Rory!
FTX Day 5
Qualification Day
Today's mission: get everyone qualified on the M-16 using the "pop-up" range. Large ranges with targets that pop up from behind mounds of dirt are not that common, so many units have to resort to shooting at stationary paper targets. Today we got to use the more intense option.
After getting everyone's weapons sighted ("zeroed") properly we moved up to the big range. At each of 16 points a Soldier either laid on the gravel or got down into a foxhole (cement manhole, actually). Those that chose the foxhole often found a variety of interesting critters ... slugs, spiders, cockroaches, even a frog! 20 rounds were fired at one or two targets at distances varying from 50m to 300m away, which usually would go down if they were hit. Then another 10 shots using an "unsupported" position, ie without sandbags. The final 10 were fired from a rather shaky "kneeling" position. For a unit that usually qualifies with VERY high scores, imagine our disappointment when we heard numbers ranging as low as 5 (out of 40!). Very few shot the required 23 to qualify.
After chasing the deer off the firing range and eating some lunch we continued with the exercise. I finally did get 23, but many were not so fortunate. As a backup plan we moved down to the paper range and got everyone qualified like we usually do. It was then that someone remembered we were supposed to change the rear sights on the weapons when firing at targets ACTUALLY 300m (not just 25m on a paper target) away. Drats! Well, at least we all qualified in some fashion or other.
Not much else to report, apart from getting everything cleaned up. We did bathrooms, indoor training facilities, barracks, ranges, outdoor facilities, vehicles, weapons and more. Finally it was time to load up the bus and head home. Hopeing for a quick return, everyone was warned there would be no "potty stops" so they had better take care of business early. Would have been OK until someone with appropriate authority told the bus driver he needed to take care of an "MRE Bomb" ... and NOW. Thus one person was allowed the needed break, and we continued on.
The whole exercise was certainly new, unique, and a learning experience. It's unclear whether we will try again, or whether some unit members might actually choose to quit rather than go again. I guess we'll deal with that when the time comes. In the mean-time, AT is right around the corner! San Antonio, here we come!
Today's mission: get everyone qualified on the M-16 using the "pop-up" range. Large ranges with targets that pop up from behind mounds of dirt are not that common, so many units have to resort to shooting at stationary paper targets. Today we got to use the more intense option.
After getting everyone's weapons sighted ("zeroed") properly we moved up to the big range. At each of 16 points a Soldier either laid on the gravel or got down into a foxhole (cement manhole, actually). Those that chose the foxhole often found a variety of interesting critters ... slugs, spiders, cockroaches, even a frog! 20 rounds were fired at one or two targets at distances varying from 50m to 300m away, which usually would go down if they were hit. Then another 10 shots using an "unsupported" position, ie without sandbags. The final 10 were fired from a rather shaky "kneeling" position. For a unit that usually qualifies with VERY high scores, imagine our disappointment when we heard numbers ranging as low as 5 (out of 40!). Very few shot the required 23 to qualify.
After chasing the deer off the firing range and eating some lunch we continued with the exercise. I finally did get 23, but many were not so fortunate. As a backup plan we moved down to the paper range and got everyone qualified like we usually do. It was then that someone remembered we were supposed to change the rear sights on the weapons when firing at targets ACTUALLY 300m (not just 25m on a paper target) away. Drats! Well, at least we all qualified in some fashion or other.
Not much else to report, apart from getting everything cleaned up. We did bathrooms, indoor training facilities, barracks, ranges, outdoor facilities, vehicles, weapons and more. Finally it was time to load up the bus and head home. Hopeing for a quick return, everyone was warned there would be no "potty stops" so they had better take care of business early. Would have been OK until someone with appropriate authority told the bus driver he needed to take care of an "MRE Bomb" ... and NOW. Thus one person was allowed the needed break, and we continued on.
The whole exercise was certainly new, unique, and a learning experience. It's unclear whether we will try again, or whether some unit members might actually choose to quit rather than go again. I guess we'll deal with that when the time comes. In the mean-time, AT is right around the corner! San Antonio, here we come!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
FTX Day 4
Hold on tight!
After another great breakfast we headed out with our platoons for a full day of training. 3rd PLT started at the Land Navigation (Land Nav) course where we spent a few minutes getting everyone's 100-meter pace count. We were still waiting for land nav supplies, so we took a few minutes talking about some of the standard squad movement techniques that we were hoping to use during the day. In theory you move your group differently if you are just out for a stroll versus being under enemy fire. Since we had also been tipped off that setting ambushes would be part of the "activities" of the day we got started on that task when our supplies arrived. So we essentially touched on about 4 hours worth of classes in that first 30 minutes.
With 10 people in our platoon, I had planned to at least split into two groups for land nav practice. I thought that plan might have been thwarted when we only got one compass and two maps, but several in our group had the iPhone compass app. Beyond just the simple compass, they also ended up with an app that gave military grid coordinates for where we were at, and allowed them to post the series of points we were given as part of our course. Part of me thinks that's "cheating" but in reality the whole world is moving to digital devices and GPS. Anyway, we split into our two squads and headed out on the course laid out by the commander.
The squad I went with was given two points that when connected by a straight line, went right through a small patch of Scotch Broom plants. Having had the pleasure of fighting my way through that a few days earlier, I was admittedly applying some pressure to the squad to just "Go on in!" After several offsets to get around the stuff, SSG Velasquez finally relented and in we went. The stuff was so tall that at certain points we were maintaining contact only by voice since we couldn't see more than about 2' in front of us. Other times the lead man would hold his rifle straight up and the rest of us would sight on it to keep together. After emerging onto a road it became apparent that was possibly not the best decision. While pushing our way through, SSG Velasquez' alergy defenses were overcome and he started breaking out in hives on his neck. Fortunately we were able to get him some Benadryl, which eventually did take care of the swelling, but it also wiped him out for most of the rest of the day. Others in the unit had allergic reactions throughout the day as well. Anyway, with "dead reckoning" training out of the way, the rest of the course was completed by "terrain association" from the roads. Good thing we didn't have enemy hunting us, being out in the open like that. We did get some good practice, and even found that some of our azimuths had been plotted incorrectly the first time and needed to be corrected. Overall it was good practice.
After meeting up with the other squad we took an early lunch before getting a bit more practice on setting an ambush. The full-time staff volunteered to be the opposition and gave us a few minutes' head start. As was the intention, I had already participated in three failed and one successful ambush so we had a head-start. We were able to get everyone in place, check to make sure they couldn't be seen from the road, and instructions were passed about the ambush initiation. (While setting up, we saw what we later confirmed to be a black-tailed deer, with quite the impressive rack!) A few minutes after getting into place, someone came walking down the road ... from the wrong direction. We knew there were other units and even civilian campers in the area, and since we were expecting several people to be walking along, the ambush was not triggered. Turns out it was SFC Skelton out taking pictures. (He gave away several ambushes earlier in the week.) Very soon after that I started hearing more noise, again from the wrong side. I couldn't quite figure out what was going on, since all our people were in place and should have been keeping quiet. But that didn't last too long before we finally had our quarry walk into our trap. The feedback we got was that nobody was seen early this time, which was of course the whole idea!
While standing there in the road talking about that ambush, some rather dirty-faced folks popped out of the trees and started yelling "Bang bang you're dead!" Apparently when the full-time staff came walking down the road, another platoon was coming from the other direction. They set up a second ambush just down the road from ours (without knowing we were there), and when our ambush was sprung and they realized they might be waiting in the weeds for a long time, they got bored with the wait and made their move. Oh, and I am POSITIVE that gunk on their faces must have been the only reason nobody saw them. :+)
Next we headed over to the EST for some familiarization & practice on the weapons. We were able to run both "zero" and "qualification" ranges to remind folks of what we'd be doing the following day with the fully-functional M16s. Since we don't typically fire on a range with "pop-up targets" it was good to practice watching for that movement, revising aim support and sighting, watching for multiple targets, etc. The rest of our time was spent playing ... er, PRACTICING various scenarios. For example, we defended against troops in the desert, in a night raid, against helicopters, in the fog, an industrial area, and suburban setting. We weren't necessarily "training" with all the sectors of fire, communications, etc, but maybe next time. We did try out the SAW, shotgun, grenade launchers and even the 50-caliber machine gun.
After an early dinner all three platoons stopped back at the barracks to pick up MILES gear (laser sensors and transmitters) and printed orders for the evening. Each group was dropped off at an "undisclosed location," then given a series of missions to accomplish. The WAR GAMES were supposed to have the platoons engaging each other, using squad movement tactics, setting ambushes, etc. Our first set of points took us south from the drop-off point according to the points we plotted on our map, but while rounding the first bend we saw signs stating "DANGER: IMPACT AREA". Our iCompass users were sure about the direction we needed to go, but SFC Tuggy stopped us and said we definitely need to go North (he had written up the directions). So we traveled up the road until we found a land nav marker and read the coordinates from the post, which indicated we indeed needed to travel SOUTH. That prompted enough questions to finally pull out SFC Tuggy's map to double-check the instructions. And then we realized THE MAPS WERE BASED ON DIFFERENT COORDINATE SYSTEMS. So all the instructions were based on grids that did not match up with the maps each platoon had been issued.
During this pause in the exercise, SFC Tuggy also asked whether we had turned on the MILES transmitters. "You have to turn them on?" It took about 10 minutes to give up on that idea. It's comforting to know you can't be killed.
So we decided to press on, thinking that perhaps if everyone was using the same edition of the map that we had, it was still possible we might run into each other as planned. Considering we are THE BAND, I thought we did reasonably well with our bounding and covering and moving down the road. Our first and second missions (according to the map we were using) went off without ever seeing another person. At one point we did hear a firefight off in the distance. We were later told that the other two platoons had indeed run into each other, but that was pure coincidence since one of the groups was NOT where they were supposed to be.
We started setting up our ambush (per our orders) when SFC Tuggy came up to let us know there had been a change in plans. Instead of following through with the original orders, the other two platoons had been given our position and had been instructed to hunt us. So instead of having anything close to the 3:1 ideal advantage for setting an ambush, we would be at least even strength. Whoever we ambushed would then join with us, and together we would wait for the third platoon to arrive and then take them out.
The ambush was set up along the junction of two roads (since we didn't know from which direction either group might be coming) plus extra vigilence on our rear. The full-time staff was still wandering around in the area, and seemed to take up an observer position on a nearby hill. So that was a clue that something was about to happen. Then one of my people saw someone peek over the hill across the road from us. Then we started hearing noise from down the road on our right. We maintained our position and concealment, waiting for the right time to open up the ambush, but by that time nobody wanted to be out walking along a road knowing there were others laying in wait somewhere.
Suddenly there was a truck driving up the road, which had happened several times since the exercise had begun. This time, however, it was being used as cover by another platoon (sneaky!) so they could take up fire against the group coming over the hill. They started firing on each other before anyone got to our "kill zone" but when the firing really got going we joined in too. Turns out the platoon to our right also spotted the group coming over the hill, and they took up hasty positions. When the hill group didn't continue coming down, they decided to press the issue and jumped into a firefight. All we had to do was stand up and shoot them all in the back. The two platoons who were supposed to be hunting us instead found and killed each other. Success! From his vantage point on the hill across the street, SFC Tuggy watched the whole thing unfold and later declared it was "one of the funniest things [he had] ever seen."
The last mission was for the three platoons to work together to try to take a heavily-fortified position on a hill occupied by the full-time and command staff. It was an obvious suicide mission, since they had great visibility. It also turns out they had the commander who only had to say "You in the trees, you're dead." (He never misses.) Would have been nice to have working laser gear.
Anyway we had one platoon (the dirty-faced ones) who for some unfathomable reason WANTED to cross that swamp and try to flank the hill. The other two platoons decided to quickly march up the main road, then split into two groups with one going up the middle through the trees, and the other coming around on the right. The plan was for all three platoons to attack at the same time, hopefully from at least three different directions.
As we approached a hill we saw people walking around. That prompted us to split into our two groups, and my squads took to the trees for cover. When we got to what I thought was a good position we still had 5 minutes before the appointed time. That's when the commander (who was a sniper on the hill) started announcing who was now dead. Those who hadn't been singled out returned fire and probably killed he and SPC Woolfe, but the commander had the final say and just wouldn't die. :+)
Now bodyliess, a few of us walked up to the top of the "hill" we were about to assault. It turned out to be a little berm in front of a significantly larger hill. So without grid coordinates or the opportunity to do a little recon, we would have been assaulting the wrong target. But then again, there were at least two members of the opposition there. SGT Cook opened up with the SAW from a position on the hill (he probably didn't know we were already dead), and the other two groups finally started the assault. Without working MILES gear, those who couldn't hear the commander never died. The secondary reason for the mission, namely to shoot off all the ammunition so we wouldn't have to turn it back in, came to fruition.
The rest of the evening was spent storing gear, dealing with heavy-duty allergies, getting everyone back to the barracks and eventually into bed. Overall most people seemed to have a good time using some of the skills we had practiced. And some people just plain enjoyed getting dirty and smelly.
After another great breakfast we headed out with our platoons for a full day of training. 3rd PLT started at the Land Navigation (Land Nav) course where we spent a few minutes getting everyone's 100-meter pace count. We were still waiting for land nav supplies, so we took a few minutes talking about some of the standard squad movement techniques that we were hoping to use during the day. In theory you move your group differently if you are just out for a stroll versus being under enemy fire. Since we had also been tipped off that setting ambushes would be part of the "activities" of the day we got started on that task when our supplies arrived. So we essentially touched on about 4 hours worth of classes in that first 30 minutes.
With 10 people in our platoon, I had planned to at least split into two groups for land nav practice. I thought that plan might have been thwarted when we only got one compass and two maps, but several in our group had the iPhone compass app. Beyond just the simple compass, they also ended up with an app that gave military grid coordinates for where we were at, and allowed them to post the series of points we were given as part of our course. Part of me thinks that's "cheating" but in reality the whole world is moving to digital devices and GPS. Anyway, we split into our two squads and headed out on the course laid out by the commander.
The squad I went with was given two points that when connected by a straight line, went right through a small patch of Scotch Broom plants. Having had the pleasure of fighting my way through that a few days earlier, I was admittedly applying some pressure to the squad to just "Go on in!" After several offsets to get around the stuff, SSG Velasquez finally relented and in we went. The stuff was so tall that at certain points we were maintaining contact only by voice since we couldn't see more than about 2' in front of us. Other times the lead man would hold his rifle straight up and the rest of us would sight on it to keep together. After emerging onto a road it became apparent that was possibly not the best decision. While pushing our way through, SSG Velasquez' alergy defenses were overcome and he started breaking out in hives on his neck. Fortunately we were able to get him some Benadryl, which eventually did take care of the swelling, but it also wiped him out for most of the rest of the day. Others in the unit had allergic reactions throughout the day as well. Anyway, with "dead reckoning" training out of the way, the rest of the course was completed by "terrain association" from the roads. Good thing we didn't have enemy hunting us, being out in the open like that. We did get some good practice, and even found that some of our azimuths had been plotted incorrectly the first time and needed to be corrected. Overall it was good practice.
After meeting up with the other squad we took an early lunch before getting a bit more practice on setting an ambush. The full-time staff volunteered to be the opposition and gave us a few minutes' head start. As was the intention, I had already participated in three failed and one successful ambush so we had a head-start. We were able to get everyone in place, check to make sure they couldn't be seen from the road, and instructions were passed about the ambush initiation. (While setting up, we saw what we later confirmed to be a black-tailed deer, with quite the impressive rack!) A few minutes after getting into place, someone came walking down the road ... from the wrong direction. We knew there were other units and even civilian campers in the area, and since we were expecting several people to be walking along, the ambush was not triggered. Turns out it was SFC Skelton out taking pictures. (He gave away several ambushes earlier in the week.) Very soon after that I started hearing more noise, again from the wrong side. I couldn't quite figure out what was going on, since all our people were in place and should have been keeping quiet. But that didn't last too long before we finally had our quarry walk into our trap. The feedback we got was that nobody was seen early this time, which was of course the whole idea!
While standing there in the road talking about that ambush, some rather dirty-faced folks popped out of the trees and started yelling "Bang bang you're dead!" Apparently when the full-time staff came walking down the road, another platoon was coming from the other direction. They set up a second ambush just down the road from ours (without knowing we were there), and when our ambush was sprung and they realized they might be waiting in the weeds for a long time, they got bored with the wait and made their move. Oh, and I am POSITIVE that gunk on their faces must have been the only reason nobody saw them. :+)
Next we headed over to the EST for some familiarization & practice on the weapons. We were able to run both "zero" and "qualification" ranges to remind folks of what we'd be doing the following day with the fully-functional M16s. Since we don't typically fire on a range with "pop-up targets" it was good to practice watching for that movement, revising aim support and sighting, watching for multiple targets, etc. The rest of our time was spent playing ... er, PRACTICING various scenarios. For example, we defended against troops in the desert, in a night raid, against helicopters, in the fog, an industrial area, and suburban setting. We weren't necessarily "training" with all the sectors of fire, communications, etc, but maybe next time. We did try out the SAW, shotgun, grenade launchers and even the 50-caliber machine gun.
After an early dinner all three platoons stopped back at the barracks to pick up MILES gear (laser sensors and transmitters) and printed orders for the evening. Each group was dropped off at an "undisclosed location," then given a series of missions to accomplish. The WAR GAMES were supposed to have the platoons engaging each other, using squad movement tactics, setting ambushes, etc. Our first set of points took us south from the drop-off point according to the points we plotted on our map, but while rounding the first bend we saw signs stating "DANGER: IMPACT AREA". Our iCompass users were sure about the direction we needed to go, but SFC Tuggy stopped us and said we definitely need to go North (he had written up the directions). So we traveled up the road until we found a land nav marker and read the coordinates from the post, which indicated we indeed needed to travel SOUTH. That prompted enough questions to finally pull out SFC Tuggy's map to double-check the instructions. And then we realized THE MAPS WERE BASED ON DIFFERENT COORDINATE SYSTEMS. So all the instructions were based on grids that did not match up with the maps each platoon had been issued.
During this pause in the exercise, SFC Tuggy also asked whether we had turned on the MILES transmitters. "You have to turn them on?" It took about 10 minutes to give up on that idea. It's comforting to know you can't be killed.
So we decided to press on, thinking that perhaps if everyone was using the same edition of the map that we had, it was still possible we might run into each other as planned. Considering we are THE BAND, I thought we did reasonably well with our bounding and covering and moving down the road. Our first and second missions (according to the map we were using) went off without ever seeing another person. At one point we did hear a firefight off in the distance. We were later told that the other two platoons had indeed run into each other, but that was pure coincidence since one of the groups was NOT where they were supposed to be.
We started setting up our ambush (per our orders) when SFC Tuggy came up to let us know there had been a change in plans. Instead of following through with the original orders, the other two platoons had been given our position and had been instructed to hunt us. So instead of having anything close to the 3:1 ideal advantage for setting an ambush, we would be at least even strength. Whoever we ambushed would then join with us, and together we would wait for the third platoon to arrive and then take them out.
The ambush was set up along the junction of two roads (since we didn't know from which direction either group might be coming) plus extra vigilence on our rear. The full-time staff was still wandering around in the area, and seemed to take up an observer position on a nearby hill. So that was a clue that something was about to happen. Then one of my people saw someone peek over the hill across the road from us. Then we started hearing noise from down the road on our right. We maintained our position and concealment, waiting for the right time to open up the ambush, but by that time nobody wanted to be out walking along a road knowing there were others laying in wait somewhere.
Suddenly there was a truck driving up the road, which had happened several times since the exercise had begun. This time, however, it was being used as cover by another platoon (sneaky!) so they could take up fire against the group coming over the hill. They started firing on each other before anyone got to our "kill zone" but when the firing really got going we joined in too. Turns out the platoon to our right also spotted the group coming over the hill, and they took up hasty positions. When the hill group didn't continue coming down, they decided to press the issue and jumped into a firefight. All we had to do was stand up and shoot them all in the back. The two platoons who were supposed to be hunting us instead found and killed each other. Success! From his vantage point on the hill across the street, SFC Tuggy watched the whole thing unfold and later declared it was "one of the funniest things [he had] ever seen."
The last mission was for the three platoons to work together to try to take a heavily-fortified position on a hill occupied by the full-time and command staff. It was an obvious suicide mission, since they had great visibility. It also turns out they had the commander who only had to say "You in the trees, you're dead." (He never misses.) Would have been nice to have working laser gear.
Anyway we had one platoon (the dirty-faced ones) who for some unfathomable reason WANTED to cross that swamp and try to flank the hill. The other two platoons decided to quickly march up the main road, then split into two groups with one going up the middle through the trees, and the other coming around on the right. The plan was for all three platoons to attack at the same time, hopefully from at least three different directions.
As we approached a hill we saw people walking around. That prompted us to split into our two groups, and my squads took to the trees for cover. When we got to what I thought was a good position we still had 5 minutes before the appointed time. That's when the commander (who was a sniper on the hill) started announcing who was now dead. Those who hadn't been singled out returned fire and probably killed he and SPC Woolfe, but the commander had the final say and just wouldn't die. :+)
Now bodyliess, a few of us walked up to the top of the "hill" we were about to assault. It turned out to be a little berm in front of a significantly larger hill. So without grid coordinates or the opportunity to do a little recon, we would have been assaulting the wrong target. But then again, there were at least two members of the opposition there. SGT Cook opened up with the SAW from a position on the hill (he probably didn't know we were already dead), and the other two groups finally started the assault. Without working MILES gear, those who couldn't hear the commander never died. The secondary reason for the mission, namely to shoot off all the ammunition so we wouldn't have to turn it back in, came to fruition.
The rest of the evening was spent storing gear, dealing with heavy-duty allergies, getting everyone back to the barracks and eventually into bed. Overall most people seemed to have a good time using some of the skills we had practiced. And some people just plain enjoyed getting dirty and smelly.
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