Just another day...

I've decided to add another entry to my blog today, as my second post of the week in assumption that the forth coming days will become very chaotic. Final preparations are in order, as well as the struggle of cramming loads of gear into 3 bags. The difficulty is comparable to that of fitting a blue whale in a sardine can... ok, maybe that's a bit exaggerated, but to think our personal combat gear alone weighs in excess of 85 lbs, then add in 6 uniforms, socks, shirts, extra boots, civilian attire and all of your personal equipment, including laptop, camera and other gear and packing turns out to be a week long process. Talk about a tight squeeze.

I digress. Today was a typical day... I woke up at 0600, got dressed and ate breakfast, then made my way to the arms storage room to help load m4 carrying racks onto a truck that unfortunately never showed up. After that I went to the military i.d. processing center, where there was a 2 hour line. I got starbucks instead and waited for my ride to come back.

While waiting I was approached by a sergeant major who asked me if I was in the french army because I was wearing my peacekeeping beret. I laughed at that, but nearly died when a sergeant asked if we were a new special forces group... umm no. everyone was rather curious about our odd burnt-orange berets (look for a picture of me wearing my beret in the near future). Then I came back to the billets and continued packing and went to lunch.
That brings me to now, where i am sitting on my bed typing away on my new blog. I'll probably take a nap.

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I fell asleep in the middle of typing my blog, as expected. The wait is starting to become tedious, but at least I still have solid means of communcation with certain people back home. Tonight I plan on finishing my packing, making a few phone calls, and laying down to watch a movie. I just got a package from home with Wawa Iced Tea and my favorite Phillies t-shirt... talk about an amazing package. I'm thoroughly excited to drink my Wawa beverage. Ok, time to beat someone in online checkers are head to the gym. Boring post, yes I know. Picture today is from way back at the beginning of december... That's Specialist Pashley and I during Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Warfare training... never a fun day in the army.