Another week done!

I can't begin to tell you how much fun I had this past week!  It was a blast!

It started on Sunday evening when I learned how to play "hearts."  It's a fairly standard game for military personnel to play in the field.  Every day was something fun with a game of hearts or rummy (sp?) in the evening.  Monday was the 9 mm pistol range.  That was a lot of fun.  I've never fired a handgun before.  We had pop-up targets so that was even more interesting!

Shoot em!

I learned how to do some of the combatives training that LJ is certified in.  That's quite a work-out.  It's 2 hours of crawling through or dragging yourself through a tire pit and learning moves for close-proximity self-defense.  Very hard stuff, but a lot of fun. 

Tuesday was the "dreaded" gas chamber.  It was soooo weak!  I was just cracking up at all of the people who were freaking out about having to go in there.  Really?  I guess they didn't remember that we're in Officer Basic and that the gas chamber is going to be a piece of cake.  Not a single person threw-up or walked out of the chamber with snot down to his/her knees!

We did a land navigation course on Wednesday.  It was so hot that I was literally able to wring the sweat out of my hair when I got back.  My new friend was my partner.  She wasn't doing too well by the end.  Poor thing.  Of course, having points that are 1000 meters apart from one another didn't help very much. 

We went to the virtual convoy simulator on Thursday.  That was a blast!  It's a $1 million (at least) video game.  Amazing!  After that was the humvee simulator that flips you upside down and you have to crawl out of whatever door isn't locked.

Rollover! Rollover! Rollover!



Do you think he enjoys his job?

 After that, we did an actual convoy.  I was a truck commander so that was interesting.  It was a great time and, I think, we all learned something.

Friday was even more fun!  Because I am prior service, I got to be part of OpFor, the enemy forces.  I was part of a 4-person team.  Our job was to be the enemy and attack a squad of people as they went through our lane.  For the first 2 squads, I played a pregnant local who was going into labor in the middle of the road.  My job was to lure people to me and then "take them out" with an IED.  The second group that came through, we added a sniper up in the tree.  Cool!  The final group was a little different.  One of my team members used to do drama in high school, just like me.  We mixed it up and made it a domestic dispute.  Our acting was so real that the instructor came over afterwards and told us that he was getting a little disturbed and thought it was real.  Too funny!

Of course, there was a lot of down time, too:

Our new tent at Club Med! (Checking-in)

Playing Hearts!

 I got my toes painted.

There's time for texting.

There's time for napping.

Friday night was a chilled evening.  A few of us rented some movies, ordered a pizza, and drank a beer in the TV area in the lobby.  That was a great way to wrap-up the week. 

Six of us went tubing on Saturday.  It was 108 degrees, so being in the water really felt great.  It took about 2 hours to go down the river and we had a lot of laughs.

Today was laundry day.  My clothes stink so much from being in the field and all of the sweating I did, I actually washed them twice!  Crazy.

We head back to the field tomorrow at 0400.  UGH!  3 more days in "Club Med."  I can't wait!

I hope you're all doing well.  I'm thinking about my sisters and their families as they're dealing with Hurricane Irene.  I'm sending you all plenty of pink light.

--DV

1 week down!

One week of "Club Med" has been completed.  I spent the whole week trying to motivate everyone else while they were complaining about everything.  Each evening I would tell people something like this, "Tonight's meal will consist of surf and turf and a lovely old vine Zinfandel."  Most of the time, people would look at me and say, "How do you know that?"  I would smile and tell them that I didn't, but in my mind, that's what we would be having in my mind.  After dinner, I would come back to the tent and talk about how wonderful the lobster tail was.  Some would look at me with a quizzical look.  By the end of the week I had everyone else following along, to include many of the guys.  I would also joke about the spa treatments we would be having that evening.  Whenever it was dusty in the back of a 2 1/2 ton truck, I would proclaim that it was the exfoliation treatment prior to our spa treatment, just to prepare the skin effectively.  Again, by the end of the week, I had people going along with me.  I even had people going along with one of my favorite car games from my childhood, "I'm going on a trip and I'm bringing a _____."  We changed it to be, "I'm going to the range and I'm bringing a _____."  It's amazing what strange things people came up with, like a cartoon-covered camel for C.  We got all the way through the alphabet before getting to the range.  It was a lot of fun!





Home away from home!

Whenever people would complain, I would remind them that it could have been so much worse.  Just think about all the soldiers who get nothing but Meals-Ready-To-Eat (MRE's) for weeks at a time.  They don't get iced water for their canteens.  They don't sleep in tents, on cots, etc.  They don't get a shower, even if it's only once a week.  It could be so much worse!  Oh yeah, we could have people shooting at us, too!

All in all, I had a fun time.  It was incredibly hot every single day.  Record-setting temps!  The heat didn't affect me too much until Thursday.  It wiped me out and I took an hour nap back in the tent.  We had a lot of heat casualties, though.  One person has become my pet project.  I found her on the land navigation course, in the middle of the road.  Her battle-buddy had left her.  What the heck are these people thinking?  The next day, at the zero range for M-16, she had another heat issue.  Poor lady, she's drinking plenty of water, eating correctly, staying in the shade.  She has been down here for only a week and is coming from Philadelphia.  It definitely doesn't get that hot where she lives.  I had to ride in the ambulance back to our base camp, to make sure she was OK.  Then, I had to go to the clinic with her, too.  Everyone kept assuming that she wasn't staying hydrated, but she was going to the bathroom more often than I was.  When the medics finally checked her temperature, after about 30 minutes of me cooling her down, she had a temp of 99.5.  I can only imagine what it had gotten up to. 

So, I didn't get too many pictures, but here are a few for your enjoyment:


Fine dining at Club Med!  Notice my hot sauce?




Learning about the M-9 9mm pistol



Charley's Angels have nothing on me!

 While I was out of touch with the rest of the world, life continued to happen.  My middle sister, Lori, had to deal with the death of her dog.  I'm so sorry about Cassie's loss!  What a great dog Cassie was.  She was Lori's first kid and I know that she will be sorely missed.  My friend Karen had a loss in her family, too.  Her Aunt passed away and Karen didn't find out in time to attend the funeral.  Karen, I'm sorry for your loss, too.

We also found out that Shadow has torn her CCL (which is like the ACL).  She needs surgery in order to get near what she was prior to the injury back in March.  Our biggest motivator for doing the surgery is knowing that she is putting additional stress on her uninjured hind leg, putting her at risk for damaging that one!  UGH!  We have scheduled the surgery for when I return to Wisconsin after Officer Basic.  I can be there for the operation and help Shadow during the first week of recovery.  My poor puppy.

Not too much else going on down here.  I return to the field on Monday morning and our first thing to do is the 9 mm range!  That'll be fun and scary.  We actually walk down the range at one point.  Not too intimidating if you are protected on either side, but this is an outdoor range and there will be people walking next to you from the class.  I don't know anything about hand-guns, but there are people here who are clueless!  Just keep your fingers crossed that nobody shoots themselves or their classmates.

I hope you are all doing well.  I will try to take more pictures next week!

Take care and stay cool!

--DV

Darn you, Murphy!

One of my new platoon-mates put it correctly this morning. . . the Officer Basic Gods have it in for me.  (-:

I spent half of the night in the bathroom.  I don't know what I ate that bothered my belly so much, but most of yesterday afternoon my intestines were in knots.  I, maybe, got 3 hours of sleep last night.  I got to the PT field this morning and prayed that my GI distress was over so I could get through my PT test.  I was about to do my push-ups and it hit me again.  It hit me after my sit-ups, too.  Luckily, I didn't have any issues during my run.  I was able to finish my 2 miles in 18:43.  Better than 2 weeks ago and better than my last run time in April.  Maybe it was the fear of needing to find a bathroom that spurred me into running a bit faster.  (-:  I did not do as well on my push-ups and sit-ups, but I did well enough to pass the test!  That's all I care about.

All in all, I realize that I'm a very lucky person.  I have great neighbors who are helping to care for Shadow.  I have great friends who keep me in mind and wish me luck in my endeavors (thanks for the call, Karen).  I have great family members who love me and support me.  I have a great husband who's holding down the fort while I'm gone.  Whenever things get rough, I remind myself of how lucky I truly am.

I hope that each of you realize how lucky you are, too!

I'll let you know how the field went this weekend.  I hope I get some great pictures!

Take care!

--DV

Getting ready for the field!

I have all of my gear packed and ready for the field.  I'm really looking forward to getting this part of my training over with.  As long as I don't do something to hurt myself again, I should be just fine!  We get to go to the M-16 range this week.  I LOVE the smell of gun powder.  Does that make me weird?  I am bringing my camera, so I should be able to share some photos with you.

I learned Friday that I have to take a PT test Monday morning.  Bright and early!  0430 for my test.  I'm hoping it'll be a little bit cooler at that time.  During the heat of the day, it feels more like 115 degrees with the humidity.  Part of me is wondering if I will be able to do better than my last PT test on August 2nd.  Another part of me just wants to pass.  It will be, after all, my 4th PT test since March 25th.  As an officer, your point score doesn't even matter.  It just matters that you passed or not.  We'll see.  I went for a nice swim today, 1/2 mile.  It felt good to be in the pool.  I haven't done any swimming for at least a month.

After my swim, I went to a movie theatre to watch "The Help."  It was an excellent book that I read about 2 years ago.  I was really looking forward to seeing the movie.  Unfortunately, the movie was sold-out by the time I got to the box office window.  Maybe I'll try again tomorrow?  I was really looking forward to this theatre because you can order food and beverages during the movie.  I was going to enjoy a nice burger and a beer while watching the movie.  Since my PT test is Monday, I will have to change that to a salad instead if I go tomorrow.  Maybe I'll just wait until next weekend.  That will be something to look forward to and it will get me through the expected record-breaking heat that is supposed to hit next week.  I'm tired of constantly smelling like sweat!  (-:

I cannot tell you all how much I'm enjoying my Nook!  I bring it everywhere with me.  I know I won't run out of things to read when I'm in the field!  (-:  For any of you who love to read, like I do, it's such a great investment!

Not too much else is going on.  It's kind of lonely being in my position.  I don't know anybody yet, except for my room-mate.  I'm not part of the class that's currently going on and I'm not part of the Reservists who came on Thursday.  Oh well!  Once I get to the field, I'll get to know people in my platoon.  I enjoyed the people in my class when I was last here so much, it's hard to think that I'll become as close to these people as I was.  We'll see.  You know what they always say, "The Platoon that sweats together stays together!"  (-:

I hope you are all doing well!

Take care.

--DV

I'm baaaaaccckkkk!

Ah, I made it back to San Antonio yesterday.  After driving 570 miles, I decided to go for a run after checking into my hotel.  I drove on post and ran around the same track we use for our PT tests.  I don't know what my problem was!  I ran my first mile in 8:20!  Then the 102 + humidity heat and 570 miles hit me and my second mile was significantly slower.  I haven't run that fast in years!  It felt good and I think my legs appreciated a chance to stretch out after being in the car.

I have my room and have met my room-mate.  She seems nice and doesn't sleep with the TV on!  Thank God!

Before I left El Paso, a couple of things happened that I wanted to share with you all.  Last weekend, we had hardly any patients.  If the government wants to look at cutting spending, they could start in the ICU!  We had 4 patients and 11-12 nurses!  Can you believe that?  I didn't have my own patient from 1000 Saturday until around 1600 Sunday.  I tried to keep busy by reading policies, looking things up on-line, helping other nurses, etc.  It was brutal!  Monday wasn't much better, but we, at least, had a few more patients.  It was my final day of orientation, so that was great!  On Saturday, one of the nurses, who was off, brought in a puppy she was bringing to her sister.  What an adorable little guy!  He was 8 weeks old and probably no longer or heavier than Snowflake was!  He was sooooo cute and really made me miss Shadow.

On Monday, my final day of orientation, I found a butterfly near the entrance to the hospital.  I helped it off of the concrete and onto a pretty flower since its wing had been damaged.  For those of you who know me, you'll recognize the significance of this butterfly.

Now, I'm just hoping nothing happens to deter me from completing these last 5 weeks of Officer Basic. 

I hope you are all doing well!

--DV

The "B" strikes again!

Here's some surprising news for all of you who know me.  My wretched, horrible step-mother informed my youngest sister that she is selling our grandparents' home.  Oh yeah, actually, it's my great-grandfather's home, which he built as a wedding gift for my great-grandmother.  Remember the 20-year-old will my Dad left?  Everything went to the rotten b and now she's decided to get rid of the only thing left.

I bet all of her rotten friends are giving her thumbs-up for her meticulous manipulation of our father's legacy.  Man, if I was a gold-digger, I would be interviewing her for tips.  She's pulled this off perfectly.  Way to go!

Moving on to another topic. . .my car needed more work yesterday with the power-steering.  When I picked it up, I realized that there was absolutely no power steering whenever I decelerated.  I brought it back and learned that the power steering pump was shot, too.  There's just too much corrosion from all of the salt in Wisconsin.  Since they needed to work on the car today (and I had to be at work at 0630) one of the managers offered to pick me up and bring me to work.  I asked if he was going to abduct me and leave my dead body in the desert!  He promised he wouldn't.  Since I didn't have any other options, I said yes.  He picked me up this morning with a nice pastry from a Mexican bakery and drove me to work.  After the car was fixed, they drove my car to the hospital and called me with the location of my car.  I never thought I would get service like that from a Firestone store!  I will definitely be calling Firestone Corporate on Monday to give a testimonial for my experience!  Perhaps they saw how much money I've spent this year at their stores and figured I deserved some special service.  Hee Hee Hee!

LJ took his MCAT today.  Everyone, keep your fingers crossed that he did well!  I hope you did, Little Dude!

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying your weekend.

--DV

Getting ready to return to Ft. Sam Houston

I survived Tuesday's events!  I passed my PT test and actually improved in both the push-ups and the sit-ups.  I was very pleased with that.  I didn't improve on the run, but I still passed.  It was 88 degrees at 0430 when I got out of my car.  By the time the run started, it felt even warmer.  I have gotten so used to the dry heat that any humidity really is noticeable.  It was very humid, by El Paso standards, and you could feel the sweat on you just standing still!  I know, it's nothing like what you are all dealing with.

I had my DA photo taken.  I think it turned out well.  If I can ever get into my account, I'll send it attached to e-mail for all of you to see.  It's so uncomfortable getting into the dress uniform.  UGH!  Plus, I wore high heels.  That's never fun, especially for someone who has broken her ankle twice.  Yes, every single step is taken carefully.  (-:

While Jorge was here, I had to take my car into the shop for some much needed work.  There was quite a bit of corrosion due to the salt in Wisconsin, so some of the bearings in the engine that control the drive belt and the serpentine belt needed to be replaced.  I also need to get the power steering fluid canister and hoses replaced.  I will do that tomorrow.  Another grand spent on the car!  Needless to say, I don't have many options, since I need to drive 400 miles next Wednesday.

Speaking of which, I packed my stuff today, except for some last minute items.  I still don't have my orders, but I'm going to check e-mail at the hospital tomorrow.  It's crazy to think that the approval for the orders needs to be done by my Troop Commander who was the person I went to in the beginning of all of this.  She has had it in her inbox since Monday and she hadn't signed it as of Wednesday.  Talk about waiting until the last minute.  Geez!  At least I know that I'll be ready once she finally signs it.  I work this weekend and Monday, then have Tuesday to pack the car and then I'll leave on Wednesday.

Not much else is going on.  The stomping guy from the apartment above me moved out last weekend.  It's really nice not having to hear him snore, pee, walk, etc.  We'll see what kind of upstairs neighbors I gain while I'm gone.  Oh, the joys of living in an apartment.

I hope you are all doing well.  Jorge tells me he picked 4 dozen tomatoes from the garden today.  You should all stop by and get some!

Have a great day and weekend!

--DV

What a great visit!

Jorge returned to Wisconsin today.  )-:  We had such a nice time together.  I was able to take Friday off from work (what a nice surprise) and we were able to enjoy a lot of relaxing, quality time with one another. 

Barry came over on Saturday and my tenderloin was a hit!  I sent him home with all of the leftovers so he was quite pleased.  Jorge and I had salmon on Sunday evening.  That was super yummy.  It was fun to cook in my little kitchen with Jorge at my side.

We also picked out a Nook for me on Sunday.  I kept lamenting about running out of books and how I was almost panicking about what I was going to do in the field.  I've been inhaling books lately and can go through 2 novels in 3 days!  Spending 3 weeks in the field (minus the weekends of course) will give me a lot of time to read, and I knew I couldn't bring that many books.  I am pleased with my Nook and need to spend a bit of time trying to figure out exactly how to work it.  I've already put several books on it.  Did you know that there are over 1 million books you can download for free?  That's amazing to me.

I take my PT test tomorrow.  That should be fun.  I just want to pass and get it over with.  It's going to be a long day, though.  The PT test is at 0445.  When I'm done, I have to shower and get to work.  Then, at 0900, I have to take my photo for my promotion packet.  That is in my dress blues.  After that's done, it's back to work until 1900.  I get to work on Wednesday, also, so I'll be pretty tired by the time that 12-hour shift is done.  UGH!

So, here's a little timeline for all of you.  I am leaving on the 10th (assuming I get my orders by then).  I report on the 11th.  I will make sure I get a mailbox when I'm there and will send my address.  We will go to the field the following Monday and return on Friday.  I can still receive mail in the field, so don't worry about me not getting things.  I should be done on the 20th of September.  I'll keep all of you posted as things get closer to my departure date.

I hope everyone had a great weekend.  I know I did!  (-:

Take care!

--DV