3 weeks at Ft. Bliss

OK, so I've been at Ft. Bliss for 3 weeks now.  I have had nothing but the run-around while I've been here and am feeling incredibly frustrated.  I have told everyone I've come into contact with that I have not had time to settle my household goods yet, meaning that I need 10 days (as is customary) to settle my home, etc.  So, my plan was to start my 10 days today (Monday).  I don't know why I even try to plan things out, it never turns out the way I thought it would.  The latest SNAFU is regarding my Permissive TDY paperwork.  I was informed today that I should've completed the paperwork last week to have it signed by today.  Of course, when I told the staff at the company that I needed to take my permissive TDY, I was told that I complete the paperwork once I had finished my in-processing at the hospital.  I've been working on that since last Tuesday and had my final steps today.  Needless to say, I'm irritated.

My final day on in-processing on Ft. Bliss, I met a woman who is an elite athlete.  She does triathlons at the "world" level!  How amazing is that?  She started doing tris in her twenties.  She is now in her early 40's.  She swims 5 days a week, 2.5 miles, and 2 of those days her swim time has to take less than 2 hours.  I get bored swimming half a mile.  I cannot imagine swimming 2.5 miles.  Talk about dedication?!

I also saw a physician about my ankle.  Silly me, I thought I would see this person, have some x-rays taken to see if the ankle had healed, and get a consult to start Physical Therapy.  Again, what I plan on never turns out.  Instead, I was told that I had to see Orthopaedics.  Luckily, I ran into a Captain who turned out to be the Officer In Charge of the Ortho clinic.  He had me stop by Friday morning and scheduled me to see a physician in 2 weeks.  I was hoping I could've gotten everything done and stopped wearing the CAM walker, but no such luck.  The good thing is that I've continued to do exercises such as swimming and doing the recumbent bike.  We'll see how screwed-up things get once I actually see an Ortho Doc.

Otherwise, things are status quo down here.  Each night, I fall asleep listening to the guy in the apartment above me snoring.  That's really great!  )-:  I had almost forgotten how crappy apartment living is.  I guess it's a reminder that I shouldn't take for granted what I have.  The good news is that I have my internet modem now and my wireless router, so I have been watching "Lie to Me" through Netflix every night.  Since I don't have a TV, that's my alternative.  I've read 3 books, close to 1500 pages, in the past week.  Amazing how much reading you can get done when you have nothing else to do.

Sorry this is such a bummer blog.  I'm just really feeling annoyed with how things are turning out.  My classmates will be done with Officer Basic on Friday.  Here I am, though, in El Paso, no furniture, haven't worked a single shift in the ICU yet, and I still need to finish Officer Basic. 

I just keep hoping that things will start getting better soon.

Until then, take care, everyone!

--DV

An updated Army Installation

You know, a lot has changed since Jorge was stationed in El Paso, back in 2000.  Unbelievable!  Here are some facts for you:

• Ft Bliss will triple in size by 2012, growing to over 35,000 troops.
• 2/3 of the Army's budget for improvements to bases is allocated to Ft. Bliss, this equals $3 billion!
• El Paso is the second safest city in the U.S. (per capita).
• El Paso is the 6th fastest growing city in the U.S.
• Last year, Ft. Bliss had $1 million of construction each day!
• Ft. Bliss is the only installation that has the space to allow for firing of long-range missiles, such as Patriot, etc.

I'm amazed by how much the installation has grown.  It's absolutely incredible and I haven't even seen the biggest part of it.

If you get a chance, check out the PX on post.  It's called "Freedom Crossing."  It's the only one of its kind throughout the military.
http://www.freedomcrossingatfortbliss.com/

I found an apartment on Monday.  It will be more than big enough to suit my needs.  There are 2 pools on the property and you can see the mountains in Mexico from my living room window.  I think it will be a nice place to live.  I move in on Friday.  I can't wait.  I also found a new bed.  That will be delivered on Friday, so I can sleep on a decent mattress for the first time since I left Wisconsin.  My back will definitely appreciate that.

The mattress in my hotel is so bad, I actually slept in the recliner on Saturday night into Sunday morning.  Happy Mother's Day, right?  Every morning, I wake up and walk to the bathroom hunched over from the pain in my back.  The great thing about the new mattress is that there is a 90-day guarantee on it.  If my back doesn't like it, I can switch it out with a different model.  That's a really good peace of mind.

Not too much else going on down here.  It's just day after day of briefings.  Boring!  I will finally be done with in-processing on the 17th of May.  Can you believe that it takes that long?  I still don't know when I'll be able to come back to Wisconsin, but I'm hoping it will be towards the end of next week.  Time will tell.  I can't wait to see Jorge and Shadow! 

Jorge puts Shadow on the phone with me, nearly every night.  I can hear her panting.  He tells me that she's been sleeping in the suitcase he brought down to San Antonio.  How cute is that?  (-:

I hope you are all doing well.  I'll send an e-mail when I finally have a phone number and address.

Love to everyone!

--DV

El Paso, TX

I arrived in El Paso yesterday.  The drive was pretty easy.  It amazed me to finally see the desert and the beautiful mountains.  I even enjoyed the multiple dirt devils I saw.  One literally ran into my car and moved me all over the road.



Look at these colors!



I checked into a Holiday Inn.  I figured that I deserved a little bit of splurging on myself after spending nearly 5 weeks sleeping on a mattress as soft as a rock and with a roommate who sleeps with the TV on.  After taking a nice hot shower to erase the road weariness from me, I stood at the sink to brush my teeth.  All of a sudden, I heard a bang and felt water splash onto my foot.  When I looked down, I realized that the pipe running from the sink to the wall had completely come disconnected and was lying on the floor in a puddle of mucky black water.  So, I spent the evening with the having a maintenance man fix my sink.  Lucky me!

I went on base today and signed-in.  I will start my in-processing tomorrow at 0845.  We'll see how the day goes.  I met the Head Nurse of the ICU today, too.  He didn't really know anything about me, but I was able to let him know that the Deputy Chief Nurse (who outranks him) knew I was coming.  Jorge's buddy, Barry, works in the Radiology Department, so I swung by to see him.  Unfortunately, he wasn't in the office today.  I'll try him again later this week.  Won't he be surprised to learn that I'm in the Army? 

I'm staying in an extended stay hotel/motel, so I went to the PX and Commissary today to get some staples.  Tonight's dinner was turkey sausage and spaghetti with a nice bottle of Cabernet.  Tomorrow will be leftovers, but that's still better than dining facility dinner!  (-:  It was really nice to be cooking again, even if it was only on 2 burners.

I will keep all of you posted as I try to figure out what the plan is down here.  I'm hoping that I will find an apartment relatively quickly and be able to spend a good amount of time in Wisconsin.  We'll see how that works out.  Worst case scenario, I'll just hang-out at an apartment with a new bed and no other furniture until I can get home and drive down here with Jorge and some of the furniture I wanted to bring down.  Don't worry, I'm definitely going to find a place that has a pool!  (Hint, Hint!  I would love company.)

I hope all of you are doing well.

--DV