Eco and Cool

It's about time that the major car manufacturers are starting to design cool looking cars that get good gas milage. Chevy just came out with a concept vehicle called the volt, and I'm on board. I'm tired of the idea that an electric car has to look like an egg with wheels. It also helps the idea of selling this country on getting more out of our energy consumption.

Everyone that knows me knows that I'm no tree hugger, but I'm also not stupid. If a beautiful car can get twice the gas milage of an ugly one, why wouldn't I buy it? Part of the problem with moving to an eco-friendly economy is that it isn't cool. When all cars are electric, or close, the only choice will be based on what people want in their automobiles, pretty much like it is now.

However, if car companies want to gain that edge on the competition now then they need to start giving consumers something they'll want to drive now, not because they're helping the environment but because the car is cool. Let's start making saving energy stylish. Maybe the Liberals would get more people on their side.

Missed it by that much...

I was helping a buddy of mine check on renting a car over Christmas leave. I went online the other day(Mon) and checked. Found some good deals with a military discount. The time was getting short and we had to get back to work so he could not complete the transaction.

He went back online yesterday to finish the process of renting a car only to see the prices jumped about three times as much as the day before. I'm familiar with the idea of supply and demand but phew! I know we make a lot of money in the military, ;-) but that's just too much!

BBBrrrr!

Wow, that was a short winter! This is my first winter in North Carolina, the last having been spent in Afghanistan and certainly not as nice as it is here. Last week we saw temps in the 50's for highs, bbrrr cold. Now it seems we're back to the low 80's. Thank goodness, that was close. Don't want to see that again.

Attack of the Parade!

Saturday morning I decided to do my duty for the environment and properly get rid of the my old computer that has simply refused to work for me any more. I went online and found the nearest disposal place that would take it. The landfill was near downtown Fayettville, which tells you how big Fayettville is. I took a direct route to the landfill but thought I would go through downtown to see if any new places had opened up on Hay Street.

Downtown Fayettville was closed off due to a parade of some sort. I now have to take detours past the parade route, along Hay street in an area that I have not been through before. I take a trip past a round-about and toward a parking lot area near the Amtrak station. There were cars everywhere and I found myself pulling up behind two cars that appeared to be waiting for parking spots.

I decided to move around them and get out of this dead end search for a way out. Just as I slid to the left and began to pull around, I noticed a horde of people carrying a banner moving my way. The parade was coming straight at me! Aaaahhhh! I put the car into reverse and backed my way out of the parking lot. I eventually followed detours back out of downtown just barely surviving my encounter with a real live parade.

How many people can say that?

Trapped by an Open Door

It’s amazing how things catch us without chaining us down. I’m currently the assistant armorer in my company. We have but one set of keys for the arms room. If one person leaves with the keys the other has to stay with the room. An open door but no way out. It gets frustrating having to stay in a room knowing you could leave at any time. You are not held at gunpoint but aware that if you leave, the responsibility of loosing anything is on you.

Sometimes responsibility stinks.

Photo by Gordon L Wolford

Zonk!

This morning as we stood out behind the company building in 35 degree weather, we asked ourselves why in the world did we join an organization that would have us outside in shorts and a long sleeve shirt on a day like this. I thought about it and the only reason is that we're stupid.

The good news is that the First Sergeant yelled out the rarely used term, Zonk. By announcing this, we're able to get the heck outta there for a free day of not having to do PT in the morning. What a good feeling that is! Gotta do it tomorrow but at least I'm off today.

Happy Thursday.

'Call me sometime when you have no class'

Like the Rodney Dangerfield reference, I'm about to turn in my paper for my final. It'll be nice to have my first class out of the way. I'm already signed up for the next one in January. Go college!

Let's run

Oh yea. Since I failed the four mile run time by about 15 seconds I had to do some Saturday morning. I also now have to do remedial PT every afternoon, which stinks. On the other hand my leg doesn't hurt too much after the run and maybe if I do more light running the muscles will strengthen up.

Leg

Latest update on my leg and the ongoing effort to heal the stress fracture...ain't working. Unless I run on my own and not with the group I can't heal it up. There's too much pressure trying to keep up with the younger guys.

Right now I'm looking at a P2 profile which doesn't keep me from deploying but doesn't look good on the resume. I don't know if they'll keep me in the current battalion or not. We'll find out in the coming weeks.

college

Doing good so far. Next week I'm turning in my last paper for English class. This gives me three more credits for a grand total of four credits toward my degree. Yeah! I'm on my way.

Already signed of for an Introduction to Computers course. (Shouldn't be too hard for me, but it's on the list of requirements)

The goats are just a funny picture of animals who have nothing better to do.

Army White Noise

What is it about the end of the weekend in the military that frustrates us so much? It is the promise of Physical Training coming the next day. The bulk of injuries in the Army appear to be focused on the legs. Not really a surprise to someone whose leg won’t heal because he is constantly on them running and marching. Does anyone in the military hierarchy think that maybe we shouldn’t be running so much?

I understand that we need to keep physically fit but how about in moderation? To those who would join the military later in life, make sure you can do a lot of running. PT is the white noise of military life, the constant, even above deploying and getting shot at.

The PT in the morning is pretty much the main reason I will not be re-inlisting. My old body can’t keep up with those who are younger or who have spent their entire lives in the Army.

Specialist

Haven't got my official rank yet but at least I'm being paid the Specialist rate. So I got that going for me.

Too many Leaves

This Thanksgiving weekend I came up to stay at my parent’s house while they are away. It’s so much nicer than hanging around a loud barracks building. I haven’t been in a house or other dwelling with a yard for quite some time. I thought I would get out and do some raking of leaves. You know help out the parents a little.

What is it about the trees that they seem to want to throw down more leaves only after you’ve finished that area? The thing was, I really didn’t mind. It’s the kind of work that one likes to do in taking care of a house, at least one who doesn’t have his own house yet. Barracks life gets boring when you have nothing to do outside like yard work.

Maybe I can get one of those small plots of grass they sell in stores and I can rake that.

It’s All In How You Look At It.

I recently read a book by Alan Weisman called ‘The World Without Us.’ In it Mr. Weisman uses his observations of what has gone on in the world once humans have left an area to explain what would happen if we all disappeared tomorrow.

He takes us into a setting in which New York’s subways would be reclaimed by nature within days. We also see what happened to a portion of a city in Cyprus that has been abandoned for close to thirty years due to politics, where plants have begun to take hold in the middle of the streets and the beach is reclaiming the coastal hotels. After talking to engineers and people in the know Alan Weisman has discovered that the earth will take over with little effort.

I know that the author intended to make us think that we are in fact destroying the planet with factories and cars and just plain living. However, after reading this book it simply made me realize that there is pretty much nothing we could do to prevent the earth from retaking our cities. In fact we are constantly fighting daily to keep buildings from falling over, roads from cracking and bridges from falling down(recently unsuccessfully).

It truly is amazing how two people can see things so differently.

Writer's Strike

Recently in Hollywood the writers and storytellers have decided to strike. They’ve been shortchanged in the money that DVD’s make nowadays. TV shows get put on DVD and make more money than they used to in syndication. However the writers are not seeing any of that money. Which is a shame since it’s the writers who do most of the creating, without them there is no story.

It is the creativity of the writer that makes the story happen. It’s their hard work and time that help to make so much money for all kinds of people both behind and in front of the camera. When an actor walks off the set they can be replaced, the same with just about everyone else involved with the production.

The writers aren’t doing this out of greed as though they are not making enough money. The argument is that for all of the hard work they’ve done they don’t see the profit that everyone else sees. The actors who robotically repeat the lines written by someone else see plenty of the money, but not the creators.

I see the same argument in all creative endeavors. Writing, Music, TV, Movies and the list goes on. I would love to get a lot of free things from the Internet, but in my view its hard to justify getting something for free when someone else has worked hard to produce it. That’s how they make their money. If I like what they put out then they deserve to charge for that service. Just like if I pay for someone to fix my computer. It’s just a different service.

I’ll miss new episodes of my shows but I have to support those who do all the work even though I don’t see them.

Blogging

The problem with not having a deadline for blogging is that I don't have a deadline for blogging. I don't have to get on a computer and post anything when I don't feel like it.

Last week was kinda boring. We just went out to the range and qualified with our weapons. It's pretty much an all day thing that includes a lot of sitting around and waiting with a few minutes of shooting thrown in for fun.

I've also been ill from the flu shot that we all got. It seems to me that actually getting the flu would have been better than the flu shot. I would have gotten rid of it by now. Of course being sick makes me not want to do a whole lot.
Do I still love my job?

Sanctuary

The Garden of Eden probably never had any stereos in it. I’m pretty sure of that since it would have been considered a sanctuary, a place where one can sit in quiet and contemplate life and do some writing or carry out some other creative exercise. I wish I had one of those around here. The nearest one for me would be my parent’s house up in Thomasville, two hours away. It’s so nice and quiet out in the middle of nowhere, well almost nowhere. In any case it’s not the barracks.

Barracks living is in many aspects worse than living in an apartment. In fact it’s kind of like living in a college dorm where most people are there to have fun and not to learn. I have no problem with people wanting to have fun, but when I’m trying to sleep at two in the morning the music and drinking get a little out of hand.

Having a place to rest and recover is important. One needs to be able to get away from everyone once in a while, especially when you spend nearly 24 hours a day with them. I’d move off post if it weren’t so convenient to be in the barracks. I’m already here and don’t have to waste time driving off post.

Sometimes being in the military is truly a surrendering of freedoms. I’ll be glad to get mine back.

I'm alive.

It was a three hour and forty minute trip but I did the 20k without falling out. My body hates me but I won't have to do it again for at least a year. Got the blisters on the feet but the newer boots kept them from getting too bad.

The course was along a road that is outside the secure area of the base. It's about three miles straight with a hill put in for 'fun', then a right turn and three more miles (although I question the measurement). Then we get our names checked off and turned around. A mile into the return I could have slept-walked back. My right leg began throbbing but the pain went away after I passed the three mile turn.

Then there's the flashing red light where two roads meet and signals the end. The problem is that you can see it two and a half miles away. 'Hey, I'm getting close.' Thirty minutes later... 'Hey, I'm getting close.' Thirty minutes later... 'Where the @#$%& is the end?! Eventually I got to the end sat down and passed out until everyone the got back.

Step Off

Four hours to go till we do our 20K. 12 miles of rucking fun. I like to think of it as golfing without the clubs, ball and with a 35 pound back pack on. We start at about nine and finish about three hours later. On the plus side, we'll have tomorrow off.

Do Soldiers like Deployment?

It is an interesting question to anyone outside the military, especially to families of soldiers. Do soldiers like to get deployed? Why would anyone rather be in a foreign country away from the luxuries of America and from their families?

It was strange to come back from Afghanistan and begin getting used to garrison life again. I found myself wanting to be back in Lagman and doing what I was trained for. Back here in the rear we do a lot of exercise to keep ourselves in shape, we keep up on the maintenance of our vehicles and weapons and we do a lot of jump training. Not me of course.

Now, we don’t use those vehicles over seas and all of the jumps are kinda useless since we wouldn’t jump into Iraq or Afghanistan anyway. Basically we’re doing a whole lot of stuff that doesn’t really help us when we deploy. There’s training on Wednesdays and we go to the range. But we’re not doing our jobs, and getting paid like we’re not doing our jobs.

Deployment offers us the opportunity to do what we expected to do when we joined up. We can also earn a lot more; the government doesn’t take out any taxes when we’re over seas. And of course we can’t spend it as fast over there either. There is also the sitting around. We do a lot of that here. We sit around a lot over seas too but we can read, play games or do other things. When we sit around here, it’s because we’re waiting to be released for the day, despite the fact that we have nothing more to do. It becomes very boring and monotonous. Even to the point where we would rather be deployed than here stateside. It explains why the Army has such a hard time keeping people. It may be a strange thing but many people I talk to would rather be deployed.

God's Video Store

While over in Afghanistan I was doing PT (excersice) in the morning with my squad and Sgt Smith was demonstrating the neck chop on Sgt Wilson who was not expecting it. The look on his face was classic. He gave a shocked glance and a ‘what were you thinking?’ turn of his head. It was a sight I’ll never forget but would love to see and be able to show other people. When I get to Heaven I’m heading right for the video store. The one where I can rent all the times that I want to see again since my brain isn’t as clear as a DVD. What videos will you rent?

Moving On

While surfing the Internet the other evening I put in my Blog title to see what else was out there. I came across another blog by the same name. Interested in finding out what this gentleman had to say I read the first post. It seems that he believes the President lied to us about a number of things. Naturally as I read on I realized that he leaned to the left politically and thinks a certain way. His viewpoint and I'm sure many others are skewed in a particular direction. I wanted so much to tell him and everyone else who think the same way that just because you disagree with how someone else sees the world, it does not mean that they are lying to you. It means they see the world differently. But of course everyone knows that if you say something over and over again it becomes true by nature of repetition.

This really isn’t how we need to work together in this world. I may not have agreed with the last President but I did not believe that he lied about foreign matters in order to get his way. But of course I’m willing to see both sides of the story. Sometimes things go our way and sometimes they don’t, elections being one of them. Once it’s over we need to get back to solving the problems addressed in the campaign. Let’s move on.

I wonder if I should change my blog name...

Summer Evening in October?

North Carolina really isn't that bad now that I've been here a while. Sometimes it's pretty cold in the morning but you don't want it to be too hot when you're running. In the afternoon we get way too hot wearing the uniform and working. However in the evenings, certainly on Saturdays it seems to be near perfect, or as perfect as it can get here in Fayettville. Sometimes I like to imagine myself and the adults with whom I use to hang out all sitting at an outdoor cafe taking it easy and talking about life.
It's a little bit harder to do right now since everyone I know here now is under 22 and more into drinking themselves into a coma. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices. I'm sure I'll be doing those things again when I'm out in a couple of years. Until then, here's to those beautiful summer evenings in October.

Getting It Done

Contrary to popular belief by certain folks that most people in the military joined because they were stupid, we in fact never stop learning. Sure it's not quantum physics or abstract art, but we do learn how to better handle situations and lead. It almost seems like an instantaneous switch when you're put in charge of people. I think most of it comes from the fact that it's now your responsibility to get things done and you don't want to go back to those above you and have to explain why it isn't.
Kind of a trial by fire situation. If you play with fire, you're going to get burned. Usually you get the detail done and with very minor burns. Suffice it to say by the time someone gets out of the Army they'll know how to take charge and get the job done.

Broncos who?

Wow! The Colorado Rockies are joining the Avalanche in showing the Denverites that there is more than one professional sports team in Denver. Okay so maybe I’m just a bandwagon jumper, somebody’s got to do it or there would be a fool driving an empty wagon around town. That would be silly and who wants that. Go Rocks!

In the beginning...

Can't believe I have my own Blog. I guess this means I'm hip and with the times. Now that I've used the terms, 'Hip' and 'With the times', I've showed my age. I don't care. This will be a great way of getting information about what's happening in my life to all of you who care, and I know you do. Stay tuned.