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.

Time to start a Blog...

Prior to leaving the state of Pennsylvania, my Mommy told me I should start a blog to document my travels. I really wasn't too keen of the idea, in fact, I practically ignored it all together. The idea has come up time and again since I left in late November, but I still had no desire to create one. It wasn't until I found numerous unanswered e-mails littering my inbox in the past week, that I finally put some thought into it. I don't really think I like the idea of having my information publicly displayed on the internet for millions to see, but I've finally come to the conclusion that this is the best means of keeping everyone back home up to date on my very exciting journey to Egypt, however impersonal it may be. Thanks Mom.

So here it is... my first blog post? I guess that's what it's called. I have to admit, I've never read a blog, nor actually seen one, but at this point it's pretty much self-explanatory. I'm going to commit a part of my new daily schedule to at least brainstorming ideas as to what I plan on writing on here each week. I refuse to make this any more boring than it has to be, if I'm taking my time to write, it better be worth it to you (the reader). Hopefully it'll be worth the effort. Oh, and don't worry, I will still e-mail you if you decide to e-mail me, just don't expect too hasty of a response... I take forever to write anything.

This is our final week here in the United States of America... wow, that sounds weird. I haven't spent more than roughly 3 total weeks of my life outside of the country, and here I am about to depart for the duration of the year. To a country on the continent of Africa no less. After 2 LONG months at Fort Lewis, we're finally moving on to the main event. I look at life in the military like being on any sports team... training is the same as practice, and deployment is like the game... the only difference being we practice a lot more and rarely actually get to play the game. Going to Egypt is the big game. Game faces on and battle drills memorized, we're ready to go. It's about time we escape the monotony of the wait. After receiving Anthrax and Smallpox vaccinations today, I am officially ready to depart, aside from the fact that I can hardly move my arms now. I sympathize for everyone born before 1972, who I now join in having an ugly scar on the upper arm.

I added a picture of the sunrise while we were in Yakima, Washington at the Army Training Facility for our 10 day FTX (field training exercise) to symbolize the beginning. I'll work on a regular update schedule, hopefully I stick to it. Feel free to tell others to check out my blog and see what I'm doing from time to time.

Also, feel free to e-mail me: thomasnace@gmail.com