So more on my "wonderful" deployment training #1. So frozen everything, training on three inches of wonderful ice. Everyone has some kind of frost bite somewhere on them, and it is negative some odd degrees. Oh and we had to have some random officer come out three hours later and tell us that we will not be training on this day, since we are parked on three inches of ice.
So we did finally finish all of our training, convoy ops, ground movements and the other stupid things we always did. This training took a total of about 45 days and we hated every minute of it. So not a lot of details on this training because we all hated it and didn't get any pics or video so we don't have to remember it.
So we didn't get any time back home in Germany, but we did stop in Germany for what we thought we were going to be in for two hours, it ended up being an entire thirty minutes. Great way to piss off a lot of people going downrange and say that can't see their family.
So we then make like the 8 some hour flight to f***ing Kuwait. Just to do more training, bu8t this time we are actually in the desert for two weeks. We do training on IED recognition, Convoy ops, and just about all the same shit we did in Jersey. So my next blog will be on some of the things i did while i was actually downrange.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Germany oh yeah!
Ok, so I left off in Germany just found an apartment 10 minutes from base, in the city of Ramstein-Meisenbach. Well now i need to talk to the housing office and get some temporary furniture until I can find my own. We had nothing furniture wise, not even a bed to sleep on. Well lucky for me I found a furniture store that sells used furniture and happened upon the biggest bed I have ever seen. It was bigger than a California King, how I know we still have the old mattresses, and a Cal King bed frame they don't fit, and it pisses me off. So i found the furniture, and now i need to concentrate more on getting the wife out here to Germany. Still working on her passport and getting my orders amended, this is the hardest thing ever to do when you are halfway across the world from your wife.
Well lets speed up just a little here, I finally got the wife out to Germany and we instantly became friends with the Landlords, the whole time she was gone the landlord was feeding me. So now the wife is in Germany but I have no car to get around, not a problem. So I look through the classifieds, and the "lemon lot" on base for a used car. Well i found an '88 BMW 7 Series, I am rollin' in style, except that this car has no heat or air conditioning. The guy told us it was broken and I had the money to get it fixed, 200 euro for the part, 200 euro to get it installed. Well we get it fixed and we get on a normal work schedule, so I get qualified as a Security Forces Member. I work for about six months and now find out i will be deploying in January, so i start working on everything to deploy. I have computer based training (CBT's), legal stuff, and sending the wife back to the states. Well the time has come to deploy and I have no idea what we are doing, all we know is we are going to Ft. Dix, New Jersey. Yes, this is an Army base and we are being trained by Army and Air Force personnel.
So a little background on Jersey during the winter, it is so cold there the trees freeze, literally. The water freezes and our vehicles are frozen every morning when we wake up. We have to use hammers and anything else we can find to pry doors open and chip off the ice so we can mount our weapons. So there is you next teaser, more on my deployment training next time. Enjoy
Well lets speed up just a little here, I finally got the wife out to Germany and we instantly became friends with the Landlords, the whole time she was gone the landlord was feeding me. So now the wife is in Germany but I have no car to get around, not a problem. So I look through the classifieds, and the "lemon lot" on base for a used car. Well i found an '88 BMW 7 Series, I am rollin' in style, except that this car has no heat or air conditioning. The guy told us it was broken and I had the money to get it fixed, 200 euro for the part, 200 euro to get it installed. Well we get it fixed and we get on a normal work schedule, so I get qualified as a Security Forces Member. I work for about six months and now find out i will be deploying in January, so i start working on everything to deploy. I have computer based training (CBT's), legal stuff, and sending the wife back to the states. Well the time has come to deploy and I have no idea what we are doing, all we know is we are going to Ft. Dix, New Jersey. Yes, this is an Army base and we are being trained by Army and Air Force personnel.
So a little background on Jersey during the winter, it is so cold there the trees freeze, literally. The water freezes and our vehicles are frozen every morning when we wake up. We have to use hammers and anything else we can find to pry doors open and chip off the ice so we can mount our weapons. So there is you next teaser, more on my deployment training next time. Enjoy
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Military Life Continued...
First off sorry everyone I have been quite busy lately with work and other stuff.
So I read over my previous blogs and realized once again i missed some stuff I had to deal with in Tech School. So one of the big things I missed, was the wonderfully fun obstacle course. We had about 15 different things to go through, the first was a rope hanging over a small pool of water. It was not good if you missed the other side, you got to spend the rest of the day soaked. Some other obstacles were the weave, you have to climb over and under the logs that slowly get higher off the ground. We had to climb a 3 foot and about 6 foot wall, we had to climb a net hanging about 8 feet. I believe there were more but right now I can't quite remember them all.
The next thing I missed was going to Camp Bullis this is where we trained for field conditions. We did convoys, mock bases, and defending ourselves against "attackers." This is also where I bought a ps2, yea i know they are way out of style now. But I mention this because after our two weeks out there I went back to Lackland to finish my training. The day I returned moving all my stuff back to my room, I regretfully found out another airman stole a master key from an instructor. I know you all know where this is going, I didn't even get one day to play my PS2 before that jackass stole it, still in the box, with the receipt. So I filed a report and nothing happened with that, no refund no nothing.
Well finally a week later we finally graduate from tech school, I receive my badge and beret. I go to the main office to get my orders, and find out I don't have any orders yet. (bleep, bleep, bleep) I get to stay here for who knows how long doing small tasks like cleaning until i get orders. Well about three days later I finally have orders, and as you all know I am going to Germany. What you all didn't know is they didn't know what base I was going to, Ramstien or Vogelweh. So I pack up my shit and get ready to go to Colorado, for Recruiters Assistance Program (RAP). I get to spend two weeks with my recruiter helping to recruit new people. It was more like two weeks of vacation, I handed out fliers, sat in his office and was bored. Oh and as you all know this is when I married Candice. Well now I also have to get all the paperwork done to get Candice to Germany with me. We had to register her in the program to say we were married, get her a passport, and get my orders changed to include her. Well this was too much to do in the time I had so I had to leave, I had a specific time I had to be in Germany.
Well I arrive at Frankfurt, and no military person is there to meet me, they said they would be there. By the way I am in my Blues, and looking stupid because I have no idea where to go. Well lucky for me a retired military member was also going there and offered me a ride, thank god. Well I get my stuff and take the like two hour drive to Ramstien, they drop me off at the desk, and I find out they don't even know what base I am supposed to be at. So after sitting around for god knows how long, someone finally helps me and puts me in a hotel room. I in-process and start house hunting, finding a place to live for the next two years. Well I found one about ten minutes from base. The landlord speaks English and that's all i could ask for. Well this is gonna be a short blog for now got some running around to do. Next time its on the rest of my fun getting Candice to Germany.
So I read over my previous blogs and realized once again i missed some stuff I had to deal with in Tech School. So one of the big things I missed, was the wonderfully fun obstacle course. We had about 15 different things to go through, the first was a rope hanging over a small pool of water. It was not good if you missed the other side, you got to spend the rest of the day soaked. Some other obstacles were the weave, you have to climb over and under the logs that slowly get higher off the ground. We had to climb a 3 foot and about 6 foot wall, we had to climb a net hanging about 8 feet. I believe there were more but right now I can't quite remember them all.
The next thing I missed was going to Camp Bullis this is where we trained for field conditions. We did convoys, mock bases, and defending ourselves against "attackers." This is also where I bought a ps2, yea i know they are way out of style now. But I mention this because after our two weeks out there I went back to Lackland to finish my training. The day I returned moving all my stuff back to my room, I regretfully found out another airman stole a master key from an instructor. I know you all know where this is going, I didn't even get one day to play my PS2 before that jackass stole it, still in the box, with the receipt. So I filed a report and nothing happened with that, no refund no nothing.
Well finally a week later we finally graduate from tech school, I receive my badge and beret. I go to the main office to get my orders, and find out I don't have any orders yet. (bleep, bleep, bleep) I get to stay here for who knows how long doing small tasks like cleaning until i get orders. Well about three days later I finally have orders, and as you all know I am going to Germany. What you all didn't know is they didn't know what base I was going to, Ramstien or Vogelweh. So I pack up my shit and get ready to go to Colorado, for Recruiters Assistance Program (RAP). I get to spend two weeks with my recruiter helping to recruit new people. It was more like two weeks of vacation, I handed out fliers, sat in his office and was bored. Oh and as you all know this is when I married Candice. Well now I also have to get all the paperwork done to get Candice to Germany with me. We had to register her in the program to say we were married, get her a passport, and get my orders changed to include her. Well this was too much to do in the time I had so I had to leave, I had a specific time I had to be in Germany.
Well I arrive at Frankfurt, and no military person is there to meet me, they said they would be there. By the way I am in my Blues, and looking stupid because I have no idea where to go. Well lucky for me a retired military member was also going there and offered me a ride, thank god. Well I get my stuff and take the like two hour drive to Ramstien, they drop me off at the desk, and I find out they don't even know what base I am supposed to be at. So after sitting around for god knows how long, someone finally helps me and puts me in a hotel room. I in-process and start house hunting, finding a place to live for the next two years. Well I found one about ten minutes from base. The landlord speaks English and that's all i could ask for. Well this is gonna be a short blog for now got some running around to do. Next time its on the rest of my fun getting Candice to Germany.
Friday, July 16, 2010
My Life Again
So I left off at the end of my basic training. But I forgot to mention some small things about my beginning. First off when I went to the recruiter to sign up, I was given no incite what so ever into the military or my career field. I always thought that was the recruiters job is to tell you what you getting into, I guess not they are just there to meet a quota.
So now basic is over i got the weekend off to enjoy Texas, didn't do much. I went to sea world, wandered had some fun. Then I went to the river walk, those from this area know what I'm talking about. Well while wandering around I started thinking about how to propose to my now wife. Well I didn't get a chance to actually do anything due to short amount of time. So I went to tech school, which was a bus ride across base from basic to the "Jail House." We call it this because there are bars everywhere making it look like a jail house. There are other reasons I will get into later, so now for the next 13 weeks of wonderful training. I finally get to learn my specific job. Everyone goes to basic here, but only security forces do their training here.
Well the first month or "phase 1" we start with the basics, a lot of book work and classroom learning. Oh and we are not allowed to leave the base, at all. Oh we also have to be in uniform any time we leave our room. Sorry not gonna be able to hit a lot of detail because i don't remember what we did each week. But i will give you an idea of all the training we did. Well the next month or so we begin phase 2 we are allowed to leave base, but have to be in uniform. We get more into the physical part of training, we check Id's at the gate we learn to search vehicles and people. We also learn self defense, and get the basics on weapons and other equipment we might use. We learn how to respond to certain calls, like domestics, or something that involves an investigation, such as a murder.
Ok well now we got about two weeks done, we enter phase three we are allowed to wear civilian clothes on base but still have to wear our uniform off-base. We now go to more in depth training and deployment training. We go to Camp Bullis now for two weeks, this is another base near by wear we get to stand in a room of tear gas. We walk in with the mask on and take them off in the room full of gas, say our name and city we grew up in. Once we do that we can leave the chamber and air out our now burning clogged pores. Think of a room full of pepper spray and multiply it by 10 and it burns that much. So now that's over, and we go to the firing range shoot M-16 rifles, and M203 grenade launchers. We also shoot the big machine guns the M-249 and the M-240B. The we go to another range and are able to throw two hand grenades, not as big of a boom as i thought.
The next is we get to go out to the field flash bangs, blanks, yelling, and all this time you are wearing full chemical warfare gear. We are learning how to report chemical attacks if it were to ever happen. So while out here on the weekend I was able to go to the river walk again. This is where everything began to fall into place for me, I was able to go to that store and get that special gift my wife never expected from me. Now most of you know what I am talking about her engagement ring and our wedding rings. The whole time I am doing this by the way she knows I want to get them because I told her I was looking. She never knew that I had the rings almost two weeks before I even got home. So we continue our training, and finally graduation comes around I finally get my badge and Beret. My only problem was I had no orders to my next base, I was stuck at lackland. So i think it was two days later my orders finally came in and i looked up the squadron and it was Ramstein AB, Germany. So I go home and this is the end of this blog the rest you all can now wait in suspense for hahaha.
So now basic is over i got the weekend off to enjoy Texas, didn't do much. I went to sea world, wandered had some fun. Then I went to the river walk, those from this area know what I'm talking about. Well while wandering around I started thinking about how to propose to my now wife. Well I didn't get a chance to actually do anything due to short amount of time. So I went to tech school, which was a bus ride across base from basic to the "Jail House." We call it this because there are bars everywhere making it look like a jail house. There are other reasons I will get into later, so now for the next 13 weeks of wonderful training. I finally get to learn my specific job. Everyone goes to basic here, but only security forces do their training here.
Well the first month or "phase 1" we start with the basics, a lot of book work and classroom learning. Oh and we are not allowed to leave the base, at all. Oh we also have to be in uniform any time we leave our room. Sorry not gonna be able to hit a lot of detail because i don't remember what we did each week. But i will give you an idea of all the training we did. Well the next month or so we begin phase 2 we are allowed to leave base, but have to be in uniform. We get more into the physical part of training, we check Id's at the gate we learn to search vehicles and people. We also learn self defense, and get the basics on weapons and other equipment we might use. We learn how to respond to certain calls, like domestics, or something that involves an investigation, such as a murder.
Ok well now we got about two weeks done, we enter phase three we are allowed to wear civilian clothes on base but still have to wear our uniform off-base. We now go to more in depth training and deployment training. We go to Camp Bullis now for two weeks, this is another base near by wear we get to stand in a room of tear gas. We walk in with the mask on and take them off in the room full of gas, say our name and city we grew up in. Once we do that we can leave the chamber and air out our now burning clogged pores. Think of a room full of pepper spray and multiply it by 10 and it burns that much. So now that's over, and we go to the firing range shoot M-16 rifles, and M203 grenade launchers. We also shoot the big machine guns the M-249 and the M-240B. The we go to another range and are able to throw two hand grenades, not as big of a boom as i thought.
The next is we get to go out to the field flash bangs, blanks, yelling, and all this time you are wearing full chemical warfare gear. We are learning how to report chemical attacks if it were to ever happen. So while out here on the weekend I was able to go to the river walk again. This is where everything began to fall into place for me, I was able to go to that store and get that special gift my wife never expected from me. Now most of you know what I am talking about her engagement ring and our wedding rings. The whole time I am doing this by the way she knows I want to get them because I told her I was looking. She never knew that I had the rings almost two weeks before I even got home. So we continue our training, and finally graduation comes around I finally get my badge and Beret. My only problem was I had no orders to my next base, I was stuck at lackland. So i think it was two days later my orders finally came in and i looked up the squadron and it was Ramstein AB, Germany. So I go home and this is the end of this blog the rest you all can now wait in suspense for hahaha.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
My Life
So more on my wonderful military life. I joined for one reason and one reason only, to support my wife and some day family. Well to start as you all read in my other post the Military has changed. Military life for me started in about July of 2005 when I "signed the dotted line." I entered the delayed entry program to ensure that I got the job I wanted. On Jan 10, 2006 I got on a bus and rode to the military processing center in Denver. From that day forward my life has forever changed. I then got on a bus and went straight to D.I.A, I never really new what to expect when I joined. So I fly from Denver to San Antonio. When I arrived I don't really remember the ride to Lackland AFB, but I was nervous as non-other. Well we finally arrive on base, and got a real good idea of what military life was like. The first thing I saw when we finally stopped driving was a Military Training Instructor (M.T.I) and the first thing he said was "get of my bus you have thirty seconds, move." So we all hurry off the bus still get yelled at by now multiple MTI's. That was the scariest thing I have ever experienced. Oh did I mention this is at like 10 pm, and I have been up all day, since about 6. So we finally get all formed up and they show us are beds it is about 11 or 12 now, we were very happy to finally see a nice bed. Well we thought a bed would be nice until about 3 am they come in yelling and screaming, telling us to get up and get against our lockers.
So this goes on for a couple days and finally we are getting used to the lack of sleep, we have uniforms, our first haircut, for guys we get shaved bald, we know how to clean our bays (will explain). Oh and all the civilian clothes, and fun stuff you ll take for granite, is shoved in a closet and left for the next six weeks. So we are advancing nicely we all have specific jobs: clean bathroom, align beds, sweep floor, laundry crew, and many more. So I was the hangar monitor, I had to make sure everyone had the right amount of hangars in the lockers everyday. We all also had to be door guard, this is were the instructors love to yell. The guards job is to verify ID's and only allow authorized people in the bays. Well if you were the dumb one who let the wrong one in well we all got to do a lot of PT for it. Well I never fell for that even when someone tried to hide and get in. Well we also had locker and bed inspections, more fun and yelling. Well if you haven't figured it out yet any time you did something wrong you did PT and got yelled at. Well me, being not so good at cleanliness failed all but one of my inspections go figure. The class actually voted to see if I should stay or not, well they voted for me to stay lucky me. Well on week 5 I was recycled, sent back, temporarily to week 0, this sucks. More getting yelled at and more PT, well the week is finally over and I return to my original flight in time for graduation. Oh by the way this was basic training an entire six weeks. This was just the beginning of my wonderful military life.
Well I will continue on the rest of my training (tech school) on my next post thanks for listening and hope this gives you some incite.
So this goes on for a couple days and finally we are getting used to the lack of sleep, we have uniforms, our first haircut, for guys we get shaved bald, we know how to clean our bays (will explain). Oh and all the civilian clothes, and fun stuff you ll take for granite, is shoved in a closet and left for the next six weeks. So we are advancing nicely we all have specific jobs: clean bathroom, align beds, sweep floor, laundry crew, and many more. So I was the hangar monitor, I had to make sure everyone had the right amount of hangars in the lockers everyday. We all also had to be door guard, this is were the instructors love to yell. The guards job is to verify ID's and only allow authorized people in the bays. Well if you were the dumb one who let the wrong one in well we all got to do a lot of PT for it. Well I never fell for that even when someone tried to hide and get in. Well we also had locker and bed inspections, more fun and yelling. Well if you haven't figured it out yet any time you did something wrong you did PT and got yelled at. Well me, being not so good at cleanliness failed all but one of my inspections go figure. The class actually voted to see if I should stay or not, well they voted for me to stay lucky me. Well on week 5 I was recycled, sent back, temporarily to week 0, this sucks. More getting yelled at and more PT, well the week is finally over and I return to my original flight in time for graduation. Oh by the way this was basic training an entire six weeks. This was just the beginning of my wonderful military life.
Well I will continue on the rest of my training (tech school) on my next post thanks for listening and hope this gives you some incite.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
My Life
Hey Everyone,
You all write so much about your lives and yet I have nothing on my life and how it has been. Most of you even my close family think you know a lot about my life and you do but most don't really know what I'm dealing with.
So I guess I will start today with the beginning of my life or what i can remember. The earliest I can remember is my surgery at the age of three I think... not sure. I had bladder surgery because one of my tubes were twisted and not connected properly. The only thing I remember is waking up in the middle of it with like five doctors hovering over me and looking down to see three tubes sticking out of my abdomen. Well not the best thing to remember from my childhood. I remember living in a small two bedroom apartment before our aunt picked us up for good. Further details of that is personal and sorry you have to know the family for those details.
So I grew up in Lakewood, Colorado, and enjoyed almost everything about it. I love playing soccer and if it weren't for that I would have never met my best friend Curtis. Him and his family are the main reason I am still sane. I have now him since at least the fifth grade when we played on the same soccer team and quickly became really good friends. From that day forward we were almost inseparable, he showed me things I would have never been able to do from rollerblading, jet skiing, flying, and many other things. So I went through school doing classes I still regret... marching band.... I was never big on that but I loved music, i could only do music if i did that. Well I graduated High School in 2004 and began college the next winter. Was doing good in class until....I met my girlfriend....now wife. I ended up spending more time with her than in class. By the way I will never regret that choice, I know it was the best choice I ever made. Well as a result I was kicked out of my aunts house because i spent more time with her than anyone else. You all have heard the stories, I would literally walk for five hours just to go see her... she lived up north. I would Rollerblade, walk, ride a bike, or ride the bus. As I was saying I would do anything to be with her and still am.
So we were raised by our Aunt for most of our lives. She did everything she could to make us work more than everyone else in the house. In those days I hated every minute of it, but every day I think more about it I am thankful for everything she did to us from treating us different to us feeling like her slaves doing all the chores. I also hated that she was always checking are grades at school... she worked in the computer lab. So now I have come to learn that without all those jobs and shit I would not be here today.
So after being kicked out I moved around with her from job to job backing back my loans for school. Finally we settled in Aurora with her dad. I began working at Safeway, and went from a bagger/cart pusher to the merchandiser who set up the end displays on the aisles and displays by the entrances. Well during this time Candice and I thought about me joining the Air Force as her dad did. Well after a couple days we decided I will, I had no intention of ever joining. The only catch for her was I got to choose the job I wanted, thus I am now a Cop. For all you who don't know we are called Security Forces. Well six years later and many pay grades higher... now E-5... I am enjoying my life in the Military.
Well this is all for today.... the next chance I get I will put in more details for you all and show you what I really do in the military and some things we are personally going through. You all think its hard for you just wait.
You all write so much about your lives and yet I have nothing on my life and how it has been. Most of you even my close family think you know a lot about my life and you do but most don't really know what I'm dealing with.
So I guess I will start today with the beginning of my life or what i can remember. The earliest I can remember is my surgery at the age of three I think... not sure. I had bladder surgery because one of my tubes were twisted and not connected properly. The only thing I remember is waking up in the middle of it with like five doctors hovering over me and looking down to see three tubes sticking out of my abdomen. Well not the best thing to remember from my childhood. I remember living in a small two bedroom apartment before our aunt picked us up for good. Further details of that is personal and sorry you have to know the family for those details.
So I grew up in Lakewood, Colorado, and enjoyed almost everything about it. I love playing soccer and if it weren't for that I would have never met my best friend Curtis. Him and his family are the main reason I am still sane. I have now him since at least the fifth grade when we played on the same soccer team and quickly became really good friends. From that day forward we were almost inseparable, he showed me things I would have never been able to do from rollerblading, jet skiing, flying, and many other things. So I went through school doing classes I still regret... marching band.... I was never big on that but I loved music, i could only do music if i did that. Well I graduated High School in 2004 and began college the next winter. Was doing good in class until....I met my girlfriend....now wife. I ended up spending more time with her than in class. By the way I will never regret that choice, I know it was the best choice I ever made. Well as a result I was kicked out of my aunts house because i spent more time with her than anyone else. You all have heard the stories, I would literally walk for five hours just to go see her... she lived up north. I would Rollerblade, walk, ride a bike, or ride the bus. As I was saying I would do anything to be with her and still am.
So we were raised by our Aunt for most of our lives. She did everything she could to make us work more than everyone else in the house. In those days I hated every minute of it, but every day I think more about it I am thankful for everything she did to us from treating us different to us feeling like her slaves doing all the chores. I also hated that she was always checking are grades at school... she worked in the computer lab. So now I have come to learn that without all those jobs and shit I would not be here today.
So after being kicked out I moved around with her from job to job backing back my loans for school. Finally we settled in Aurora with her dad. I began working at Safeway, and went from a bagger/cart pusher to the merchandiser who set up the end displays on the aisles and displays by the entrances. Well during this time Candice and I thought about me joining the Air Force as her dad did. Well after a couple days we decided I will, I had no intention of ever joining. The only catch for her was I got to choose the job I wanted, thus I am now a Cop. For all you who don't know we are called Security Forces. Well six years later and many pay grades higher... now E-5... I am enjoying my life in the Military.
Well this is all for today.... the next chance I get I will put in more details for you all and show you what I really do in the military and some things we are personally going through. You all think its hard for you just wait.
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