Getting Short I Guess

Wow it's hard to believe that we've been mobilized for over 9 weeks and have been here for just over two months. This week was the transition week and that meant except for the M240B Machine Gun Range which was a makeup range, we have been spreadout all over the place doing various training. All the officers and senior NCO's have been working on Microsoft Training (Word, Excel, Power Point and Access) since that is a key skill for us to have in the box. I guess that I am not able to just breeze through all the training since I am a Star Office user at Sun and don't tend to do much microsoft at home. The remainder of our logistics crew were receiving Ammunition Training to include, tracking, ordering, handling and storing. Additionally they spent time at the Ammunition Supply Point (ASP) and the Ammunition Holding Area (AHA). Several started some of their Material Handling Equipment (MHE) forklift training. Before you know it we will be out of here and in the box doing what we are supposed to do supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom as advisors to the Iraqi Army. Today for PT we did a 4 mile road march with full battle rattle except for the helmet. It was a great way to end the week in terms of PT.

Tomorrow we have our Task Force Formation where the Soldiers get promoted, receive any awards and the Old Man (TF Commander) gets a chance to speak to the troops. Right after that we will be doing some crew drills and walking through the various scenarios that more than likely occur during next weeks Mounted Combat Patrol (MCP). We will be creating and updating some of our crew drills so when conduct the practical exercises and the life fire on Thursday we will be ready to react correctly. After that we are free until early Monday morning, so it will be a decent weekend in terms of time off. Most of us will be staying on post since only one or two folks rented a car for the weekend.

I just got back from our Task Force meeting and when I stepped outside after the meeting I was greeted to a rip roaring Kansas thunderstorm with all the works, lightening, thunder wind, heavy rain and about 2 inches of water standing in the road. I forgot what these thunderstorms are like since we never get these in California at least not in the bay area. To top that off there is a tornado warning about 15 miles from here, I haven't seen Dorothy or the wicked witch of the west yet so that must be good then!

Here's a shout out to my friends at Sun especially those in ACF who have to be working long and hard this weekend since it's quarter end and that usually means the culmination of 5-6 weeks with no weekends off in order to get all the orders out the door and to the customers, in order to make those targeted revenue numbers!