Sour Swinger Predominantly follows my Army & Iraq Deployment. Also has some Geek, School, and other talk.

Hard to believe that only a week has gone by.  It feels like I’ve been down in Camp Shelby forever.  Delta Company has been kept busy from sun up to sun down though the pace has been decent.  Lack of Internet speed still plagues me however I haven’t had much free time to utilize it.

Wake up times has varied but seems to average at about 0500.  The weather continues to be hot and the thunderstorms are magnificent.  Almost everyday yielded rain and lightening.  These storms are rather large and come in with great force however clear up rather quickly.  Suffice to say, I’m tired of getting soaked to the bone.  As the Army likes to say, “If it ain’t raining, you ain’t not training.”

This week consisted of a lot of little classes on minor things.  These include NBC, CCO, rifle marksmanship, IMT, grenades, radio/satellite communication,  first aid and so forth.  The most fun being IMT.  Unfortunately most of the classes have been very boring and redundant because its simple things we already know.  It was like being back BASIC training.  Imagine taking a driving course designed for 16 yrs olds after you’ve been driving for 8+ years. That’s kind of how some of us feel.

From talking with the XO, these classes are required for deploying soldiers.  This whole process cuts down on the initial train up many reserve/guard members see.  It covers the easy basics to avoid situations like Jessica Lynch (I’m using her name for reference to the convoy’s predicament then Jessica herself). If anything were to happen overseas, soldiers can’t come back and say Uncle Sam didn’t teach me this or that.  Especially for simple things such has how to handle a jammed rifle.

Many of us were selected to get CLS (Combat Life Saver) certified.  The classes were at night and took 4 days to complete.  All of us who went successfully made it.  Being CLS is like being half a medic.  You learn how to give basic medical help but only enough to stabilize a casualty until a medical station can be reached.   Injuries I’m certified to handle: cold/hot injuries, serious gun shot wounds, blown off limbs, collapsed lungs, etc.  The most interesting part is learning how to stick someone for an IV.  It’s easier than you think and is fun to watch all the mishaps.   It literally becomes a bloody mess.

I could say more, but am loosing sleep to post this.  Will hopefully be able to post again shortly.

You can view all the pics from week 1 here.

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The start of AT (Annual Training) has begun.  Typically, AT is the two weeks required by National Guard and Reservist.  Since I’m lucky Stryker Infantry, the AT is 3 weeks.   This year it’s at Camp Shelby, Mississippi.  This is the first big test for how I will blog during active/continuous training.  Suffice to say, it will be very difficult.  There is no time off and days can be rather long.  Time is money and the Guard doesn’t want to waste either.

Day 0 consisted of the entire movement down to Mississippi.  In the Army, we start counting days at zero.  For those programmers, think of it as a zero based array.  Anyway, the day started fracking EARLY!  First formation was 0400, which meant I had to get up at 0200.  I only managed 2 hours of sleep.  Most everyone suffered the same lack of sleep.  Some didn’t’ get any.

Following first formation was last minute bag packing, loading up on the bus, and a 1.5 hour bus ride to the air port.  It’s common for the Army to fly troops via commercial for many reasons.  One being it’s cheaper.  I’ve only flown in an airplane this large once before.  We managed to fit 2.5 companies.  Technically its 3 however Delta company is only the size of a large platoon.

Army manpower was used for loading all the cargo.  Everyone was authorized one duffel bag, one ruck sack, one assault pack, and an optional laptop.  The process of loading was slow but the job was done and we all squeezed on board.  It’s a rather odd feeling seeing assault rifles, shotguns, and pistols on a commercial plane.  I had a tough time fitting both my laptop and rifle under the seat.

The flight down took 2.5 hours.  Once arriving, the Mississippi hot and humid air hit you like a ton of rocks.  It was in the 90s that day with near 100% humidity.  Unloading the cargo was a bitch.  Putting it into a back of semi was even worse.  I lost count of the number of water bottles I chugged.  An hour was lost due to the time zone change.  By this point, I had been up for 8 hours and it was only 1000 in the morning.

After the airport was another 1.5 hour bus ride to get to Campy Shelby.  When we got to our barracks, we unpacked, and made ourselves at home.  The barracks themselves are pretty nice.  Since our company is so small, just about everyone got a whole bunk to himself.  The only thing missing is the bathroom and showers.

For some reason the bathrooms are in a separate building about 200 meters away.  Its shared among several other barracks housing the other companies.  This proves to be a huge nuisance.  Wake up in the middle of the night to pee?  Gotta go take a walk.  Need to take a shower?  Gotta go take a walk.  Wanna brush your teeth? Gotta go take a walk.  It gets annoying.

Our evening was interrupted by a severe thunderstorm.  Though it only rained for a couple hours, the base was flooded pretty bad.  I’m sure its all normal for Mississippi.  They got channels dug all over place to direct the flooding.  It was pretty amazing to watch the change.

Internet access has been the biggest problem for me.  My Sprint Mobile works but the signal is very weak.  Sometimes dropping in the middle of browsing.  I only get 19 kb down and 10 kb up.   I won’t be able to upload any pictures or videos until I return in 3 weeks so for now, these posts will be text only.  Also, my ability to keep up on my internet RSS readings and email is very limited.

You can view all the pics from week 1 here.

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My cousin Vicky once told me that only 1 in 10 blogs ever make passed the two month mark. I thought that was interesting. They say the same thing about businesses. Wonder if there is any correlation on why? Unfortunately some of my friends’ blogs have kept with this statistic.

Running a blog takes time and constant dedication. It took me a bit to get into the swing of things but eventually set up a great habit during school. Every morning before class, I’d check out the blogosphere, and try to write a post if I could.  Usually dedicating 1 to 2 hours for this process.  Since summer I found my schedule (and internet availability) thrown way out of whack. This inconsistency has dramatically lowered the number of posts I do.

Phil Zajicek
I met Phil through my Uncle’s nanny.  Phil is a successful professional cyclist who races with Health Net.  He set up a blog back in March 2006 for fans to follow his cycling career.  What was once a healthy blog has now become no more.  I talked with Phil in May and asked why he hasn’t posted to his blog.  I shouldn’t post the answer…but….screw it.  In short his fiance, Liz, did not like the idea of him blogging and put her foot down.  He’s no longer allowed to blog.  Judging by how he answered (Liz was in the vicinity), I believe this was a sore topic between the two.  What’s bad is that Liz found out about his blog because of me.  I’m sure she would have eventually learned of it, however I feel like the guilty messenger.  Had I known what her reaction was going to be, I most certainly would not have said anything.

Vegan For A Month
This blog was set up by friends, Eric and Brian.  It was only meant to last a month.  A bet was set on whether Brian could go vegan for a month.  Only a few posts were made about the journey and no conclusion was ever posted.  First two weeks were pretty good for the blog.  Knowing Brian, he successfully completed the bet.

Nondeterministic Thoughts
Famous Steev’s blog.  Following his great success on my blog, he decided to create one of his own.  I was sad to see him go but happy to see him take the next blogging step. Unfortunately he never went anywhere with it.  He only made three posts and all back in March.  I enjoyed the two very much (One was an about me post).  Two months have gone by and all is quite there.  I most look forward to seeing a return of Steev.  My finger’s are crossed.

Refuse To Loose
My blogging influence convinced friend, Mike, to start blogging again.  I figured he would make it passed the two month mark since he used to blog all during high school.  Though he only posted 3 times back in April, he hasn’t quite hit two months since his last post though has hit two months since he started.  I’m including him here, hoping he’ll realize its time to make a post.  Lets go Mike!  You got till the end of the month till your blog is considered closed for business.

For a few years now, I’ve been faithfully using AllTunes to download music from AllOfMP3 (now MP3Sparks). First trouble began when credit card companies would no longer accept payments for AllOfMP3. However I was still able to make direct credit card purchases through Chronopay. Even when AllOfMP3 was shut down and no one was able to download music, I still found myself unrestricted. By this past Christmas it became harder to refill my balance. I had to go through CMPASS which in turn accepted money through Paypal. It was a pain, but I managed to refill my balance. In addition, I managed to setup a new account with money as a gift to one of my cousins.

Now, here I sit frustrated that I can no longer refill my balance. For some reason Paypal can longer be used. I tried payment through SMS, but my phone carrier does not like that. Direct phone calls are not accepted in the US and a wire transfer will cost $35…not worth it especially since I have to do it in $10 increments.  Exhausted after extensive searching and tries, I’m finally throwing in the towel.

Does this mean I’ll now pay $1 dollar per DRM infected song…FUCK NO!

Music is not worth that much, especially with such restrictions. I’ve learned of some other alternative sites: MP3Fiesta, MP3Sales, SoundsBox. Over the next week, I’ll check them out. If I can’t find a suitable replacement, I’ll be forced to return to piracy.

UPDATE: 21 Jul 08: I’ve gone ahead and created accounts with said three alternatives.  Began purchasing and conducting evaluation.  Will post a review soon.

UPDATE: 14 Sept 08: I know, I’ve been lazy as hell but an upcoming Iraq deployment will do that. I’m about half-way down. Will finish review before I ship out in a couple days.

If you haven’t read yet, I talked about the drill events here.  To sum up, it was short and boring.  Only have one brief video of using a humvee to pull out the stuck fork lift.  You can see all my military YouTube videos here.

Humvee Tugs Fork Lift

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This month, drill flew by in a blink of an eye.  The hours were short and we only had to report for two days.  We haven’t had a drill like this since our ADA days.  To those who don’t know, my unit used to be B 1/213th Air Defense Artillery.  Those were the easy days.  Anyway, since drill was so dull and short, I hardly took any pictures.  Plus this posting will be fairly short.

Saturday was class room instructions all day.  We started with a safety briefing to remind us not to do stupid things.  This was in direct response to the severe Stryker accident HHC caused.  I talked about it in last months posting.  The rest of the day was spent in an Iraqi Basic class…aka learning the Arabic language.  I left knowing three things.  Shalom means peace, thumbs up is equivalent to the middle finger, and its not uncommon (nor considered gay) for males to hold hands.  I’m always blown away when I hear about their culture, especially with how they treat women.  I doubt I’ll pick up the language as I can’t even speak English correctly.

During all this classroom, one by one we also donated blood.  Twenty plus soldiers were willing to donate.  Awesome!  This is the second time the mobile blood bank was asked to come by.  Their last visit was just as successful.  Since our armory doesn’t have any AC, it was nice to walk out of the heat and into a cool RV.

Sunday involved packing the conex and more spray painting of our duffel bags.  We spent the entire day outside and the temperature was +90 degrees!  Good training for the desert.  The fork lift continually getting stuck in the rocks was the most eventful part of the day.  We needed to use a humvee to pull it out.  In the afternoon was an equipment check and pack for AT.

You can see all the drill pics here.

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My cousin is big into hiking.  She’s been awaiting Joe’s visit to Virginia to meet up with him.  She blogged about the whole visit here.  She also mentioned him briefly here.  You can see all the photos she took of him here.  Joe gave me a call that day, but unfortunately I was hiking that day and didn’t have my phone with me.  I returned the call, but (no surprise) got voice mail.  Left him a message wishing him continued luck.  Joe also started his online Journal for the hike.

If you’re just tuning in, Joe Frambach is raising money for Gilda’s Club Western Pennsylvania by attempting to hike the Appalachian Mountain in 100 days.  If you haven’t yet, you can donate via that flashy little display at the top left of my blog.  Click here for more details.