Ahhhh

I'm pretty sure this is a woman thing BUT something that always makes me feel better is being productive. I was bummed missing the bestie and I decided to get my mind off of it by packing and laundry. I leave for mission early Monday morning and don't get tomorrow off so while everyone did the Halloween party thing I packed and listened to some country music =) It was helpful. I got most of my packing done, all my laundry done and my bed smells great and I'm snuggled up in it writing this. Today I spent wayyyy too much time on Pinterest but I am so okay with that. I can't wait to get home and just be human again. But, I have enjoyed getting so organized with my military stuff. I am going to make a list of the patches that I need tomorrow...my goal is to get them sewn on everything I have before I leave. I wish they would let us sew it on all our stuff, pcs and jackets. Still sooo excited for 68W school, that will for real be a dream come true. Anyways, going to read just thought I'd talk about what keeps me sane sometimes =) Goodnight you guys.

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Saturday Blues

Well. Dropped Mr.Frame off on Thursday, as well as Eddie. They are both in Memphis for 2 days until they get to go and demobilize. Glad they're home. It was very sad to see them go though. I really don't know what to do with myself...I want to run but it's sooo ugly outside and I hate running inside...I can't do it, it's awful. Going to figure out something though, I'm bummed and missing them =( I'm going on mission next week so that will keep me busy. Got lots of preparing to do! I'll post more later, promise promise!


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Busy Days

Today is Friday, which means tomorrow is Saturday and then I will be off! Haha, I'm really looking to sleeping in =( I didn't sleep a wink last night, I think I was anxious about a lot of things, Frame, PT Test, our class we have to teach today, getting enough sleep. It was just all jumbled up. Passed my PT Test, it was pitiful, well I guess not pitiful, but definitely just okay. My run went really well, I was shocked! I timed myself the other night and was like 10 seconds over what I needed. Today, I had more than a minute to spare. I'm still trying to get into the habit of getting up and running in the am, then running at night also. Maybe getting up early 3 days a week would be a good start...I really HATE waking up early, I could be sleeping! Even though I am soooo much of a morning person, I just hate making myself get up, I like just waking up feeling good. In other news, I lost 6 pounds. Which, is after like 1 week of running. I'm sure if I keep it up it will just drop right off, almost anyways. Haha. Work got CRAZY busy randomly. Cannon and I broke up our week into how we were going to build our continuity book/powerpoint class and then yesterday we were supposed to put the finishing touches on it and we got 6 packets! ALL of which were wrong. It required a lot of work to straighten it out. And its still pretty messy. Anyways, class was rescheduled until tomorrow since our NCOIC has to be somewhere this afternoon. So, PT test was done, felt better, class was rescheduled, can definitely get more and better sleep tonight and Frame, well he finally got back from mission last night so I feel better just seeing him, to see him less stressed out really. He will be going home and he's dreading that, because of everything back there, but I know its so much better for him, and that's good to know. I have GOT to upload some pictures. And take more. We had our first softball game of the season last night! And we WON! Yes, we actually won! And not by forfeit! Hahaha. It was really fun, we laughed the whole time and we won. And, personally, I think that team was better than us. Skill-wise. We had them laughing though, we laughed and we won. And we were missing at LEAST 4 starters. Yea, it was nice. I'm eating dinner with one of the softball umpires tonight...actually, the Navy guy that put on the league. He sent me an e-mail last week, asking if I was going to take him out to pizza and I told him Frame and I and him and Ben (another softball umpire) could do a double-date. Hahahaha. Well, I don't think he ever invited Ben and Urtula (Navy guy that ran the last softball league) e-mailed me to make sure we were still on...he never e-mailed or mentioned Frame. But uh, Frame will definitely be coming, not going to dinner just Urtula and me...idk why, just don't want to, weirds me out maybe? Not really Urtula, just eating dinner with him alone. So, I get off at work at 6pm, will go run with Frame, we'll head to go and order the pizza and eat with Urtula. Then him and I might go to the MWR or something. So, everything should be downhill for the weekend, thank goodness. That is all for now!

Productive Evening

Things picked up tonight...got a lot accomplished. Cannon and I have to be the first to present our class...SHOCKING. I got us smoked because when our NCOIC said, "well spc cannon, since you and spc smith want to be so enthusiastic and sarcastic, you two get to teach your class first." To which I loudly and clearly sarcastically said, " gee cannon, didn't see THAT one coming!" andddd then we got dropped, he wasn't happy but it was worth it =) got two loads of laundry done, ran two miles, had dinner, cleaned out my wall locker and recovered some ACUs and name tapes to get sewn on them. Still pumped for 68W school!!! And I have FRACUs I can take and not get dirty ACUs from training. So cool =) Frame should be back soon, I miss him, ready for my friend again. Night all!

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Tuesday Slump

Its Tuesday. 2:20 in the afternoon and I feel like I'm going to dieeeee. Okay, not really, but I am incredibly sleepy. I have got to go to bed earlier. I even took a nap at lunch for an hour and I'm still just dragging my behind. I have guard duty alllllll night tomorrow night and I am dreading it. Its so difficult to try to have a habit of going to by by 10pm, getting up at 5am and then all of a sudden in the middle of the week you have to stay up all night until 5am, when you're used to waking up at that time! Then I have to be at work at 11:30am the next day. I swear my NCOIC is the only one in this Brigade who gives us the policy that we get 1 day off. All the other sections give their soldiers a half day, so they can take a nap and be more apt to stay up all night, then give them the next day off so they can recover and get some sleep! Hell, I know a few sections that give them that day before and the day after off. I would have to work till 6pm, then be at guard duty at 6:45pm, then stay awake till 5am, sleep for 5 hours, get up and be at work by 11:30am. It is the most God-awful thing. Haha. There's just 2 things that make life unmanagable for me, 1) lack of sleep and 2) lack of shower. 2 things that the Army love to deprive you of. It happens...but I feel like if I have the OPPORTUNITY to get both, why should it be hard to get it? Ughhh! Anyways. Trying to figure out how to work this so I'm not dragging through the work day tomorrow, I'd like to jump right back onto my 10pm, 5am schedule. Oh wait, I have to, I have a PT Test Friday morning. Dangit! I gotta run tonight. I didn't this morning, totally slacking. I think I'll time myself tonight, time myself in the am then rest the remainder of Thursday. Well, probably sleep in tomorrow and give myself a full 24 hours off before the test. Yeaaaa. Good idea Jamie. Yuck. Alright, not much to say just complaining! Sorry guys =)

Monday Madness

Hokay so like my Monday started way too early but I needed to get up at 5:30am (yes, I know I'm in the Army and I refuse to use military time as a habit) and run. Not just because I have a PT test Friday, because I'm totally not promotable till next year, but because I'm going to 68W school when I return!!! For all you non-army peeps, that's combat medic school!!! It has the highest failure rate of ANY Army job...what a challenge! Andddd it's just something that I've always wanted to do. Anywho, been hyper all day, I blame my run! Miss my Framer, I'm worried about him =( Ran 1.7 miles this morning, planned to run tonight but just had too much going on. That'sssss it. Night y'all!


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Endorphins =)

Okay first off, I am INCREDIBLY excited to be doing this on my iPad =)))))) secondly, today has been quite the day. My best friend may be going home early because of an unfortunate situation back at home. It makes me incredibly sad...I would have to process his packet because that's my job and it would just suck. I think the worst part is 2 nights before he got news of all this stuff, I had a dream I had to send him home...he laughed it off as did I, and told me that I was a "tard". Haha. But now we're both freaked out =( however, I know this definitely isn't the end of our friendship, I want him to be home so his heart and mind is at ease. That's what's important. I just enjoy his company so much, he makes this place bearable everyday for me and is my ray of sunshine...he always says that about me, but it's really the other way around. I am incredibly fortunate to have him as a friend. Seriously. Anyways thats the sad stuff from today...we'll see how it plays out. Now for the good stuff! I ran twice today, for a total of 6.2 miles in the last 2 days! Impressive, considering I seriously have NOT been running, but likely R&R a couple of times. This morning I wasn't hydrated so I was hurting some and got dizzy as soon as I stopped. I have a bad habit of running feeling fine and then stopping, feeling as though I'm about to pass out. I don't prepare my body, number one, and two, I don't pay attention and know when to stop. So, I dragged my behind back to the barracks and just relaxed, had lunch, took a top to get my name tape and rank sewn on, then relaxed till about 5:40pm and went to run again. This time with like 15 people on the track, blah! It wasn't too bad, at my 1 mile mark I passed this girl, she didn't seem happy about it, the next mile she was actively trying to catch me, I was thinking, "ha! I dare you girl!" lol! Normally, I just don't care, but tonight I was all about it. I felt a lot better from hydrating and stretching and I was feeling competitive when she was busting here butt to pass. It's good for me, right? So I felt good, going to run in the am with the lt and at night with someone I never thought I'd want anywhere with me. I won't say names, but I really, STRONGLY disliked this girl. I had little respect for her. But, a couple of missions on the road made for some forced bonding, so to speak, and she really does have some areas of her life together, a lot more than I originally thought. Pt being one of them, so, I'm excited, I feel I can learn lots from her. Probably just some big misunderstanding of her from the beginning. I mean, who am I to judge? I could care less, she inspires me in some ways and I'm game to learn from her =) So, the running helped me so much on a difficult day for me. I feel fine and I know I will be fine =) yay for friends and endorphins =) I still didn't edit my pics, but I will soon. Goodnight all! Oh, did I mention I LOVE my iPad?! =)))))))

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Convoys and iPads

Okay, haven't been on in a while soooo let's get crackin =) Went on R&R, it was good, nice vacation, well-needed 9 months into the deployment, needless to say. Came back about 2 weeks ago and immediately was asked if I wanted to go on mission...uhhh....DUH!!!! So we were out for 5 days in Iraq, I loved it. I'll post some pics later, probably will edit them tonight and upload, I'm pretty behind on all the "resilency" stuff in my life. I.E. photos, blog, organized wall locker, PT, organized desk, personal e-mail...haha all the stupid stuff that makes me feel better when its accomplished. I'll talk about the mission first, while its still fresh in my mind.

First off, not sure that I've discussed any "missions/convoys" yet, I'm 99% sure I have not. I can't give away too many details about what we do regularly, like the order of march and when we go, how we travel, etc. I'll keep it light but as informative as possible. A little background about my convoy experiences. I have been on 3 thusfar. I loved it. Every single time. When we first got here, my NCOIC said that we would not be going on missions, it was not our job. Well, the first time I went out was for a day thing so I volunteered my day off to go. Did that and it was great. Over time, our Colonel started making it known that he wanted everyone wishing to go on convoy to get the chance. So, I was permissed with my first real trip north. I did not run with a typical CLP (Convoy Logistics Patrol), I ran with an escort team with gun trucks. So, I went as the "medical" personnel. And ACTUALLY had my first patient. One of the guys got incredibly sick and we ended up having to make a pitstop for about 5 hours to give him nausea medicine and 2 liters of IV fluids...which is a TON. Basically, he got sick and I was doing typical first aid (applying a cool compress, loosening the restrictive areas of clothing like boot blousers and trying to settle his stomach). Once he was throwing up water, I told the COL we needed to stop and why. Our COL is a nurse, so he is extremely familiar with all of that and understood. We stopped, at what is still my favorite FOB, and he was administered IV fluids. To get an idea of just how sick he was, imagine being in a 10 x 6 room with no windows, no airflow and EVERYBUMP hitting it hard. He cleared 2 medics out of the room when he started throwing up...my whole truck almost lost their lunch too. It was gross, but I didn't care, it was exciting, so to speak =) It was a long day and we came back, Frame took me to dinner at the chowhall and we hit the road again. We went to 5 FOBs, got to see each for about 1 or 2 days. I really enjoyed it. That was in July, my first convoy.

Its been a real fight to get on convoys, have gotten SO MANY excuses from my NCOIC (can't afford to loose you, some people haven't been on mission yet that want to go, you already went out, thats not your mission) etc etc etc. MY defense is this: I've never fallen behind on my work, I get it done fast, on time and done well, not just barely scraping by. Also, for all of my section who "wanted to go on mission", when I was pushing for this big time back in May, no one was helping, backing me up or contributing, so I didn't care that they hadn't been out when they didn't really want to go from the beginning and didn't help get the changes made. My job, is a joke, I rarely have anything to do (hence why I'm doing this at work as we speak) and my OIC, NCOIC can go, so why can't I? They have way more important jobs, why can't a little E4 go? It is not my mission, but as long as I can accomplish my mission, who cares what additional tasks I take on AS LONG AS I GET MY MISSION DONE. Anyways, all my defenses.

Came back from R&R and SFC Weeden (the convoy commander for these PSD missions) specifically went and asked for me, as they needed another female for the other girl going out on mission...alot of crap and pissing contests later, I got to go! =) And this was not just up to Balad and back...it was to an area where route clearance is not done because it is a "hot" area...we had to have IP/IA escorts going through these small villages, the villagers were giving us the finger and yelling at us to slow down...it was a tiny taste of what things were like probably prior to the "winning the hearts and minds" propoganda. Those Soldiers were literally walking around having things thrown at them, always in the way of danger. These days, its a lot calmer and the Iraqis seem to be either more supportive or have ignored our presence. Either way, it was clear that we were hated at the areas we went through. At one point, my truck got stuck on a powerline and our gunner had to climb on top to remove it and the village went from hustling and bustling to so quiet you could hear a pin drop. When you go through training, they teach you that when that happens, something bad is about to take place. The villagers locked their gates, doors, windows, everything. We were stopped for less than 2 minutes, it cleared out that quick. That was eerie. Then we continued on to our final destination. At this FOB, there are Iraqis that train there, its almost completely handed off to them and we had to walk around in Amber status with our weapons. The command feared that there could be an attack from the Iraqis within post. Then we headed back. I loved it. I love convoys...its so so so so incredibly dangerous, I understand that. But its also what I was trained to do. Yes, I'm trained to do Army paperwork, but we are taught that we are combat Soldiers first, that is our base of being a Soldier. So, its refreshing to really be living the real thing...not to be doing what I do in the States, only getting paid more. You have less time to worry about superficial things. You focus on taking what you need and knowing your life-saving training. They work hard and get more down time. Train to standard, not to time. Averaging 4 1/2 hours of sleep a night was fine, because it was exciting to get out. Thats my convoy stuff =) Love it.

Other random sidenotes, I'm going to start doing book reviews on here I think. Posting articles about things that interest me. I bought an iPad and a watch! The watch, doesn't SOUND too exciting, but it really is. I hate watches...they're uncomfortable and I have a cell that I can just look at in the states. HOWEVER. Being places that don't have clocks, and not having a cell phone here, I need a watch. So I got one, I love the idea of it. Hopefully it won't irritate me like watches seem to do for me. Plus, Frame will be exstatic because he won't have to tell me what time it is all the time. Hahaha. He's on mission right now, just left yesterday...BOO.

iPad!!!! I got a used generation 1 iPad...kindda to test it out, I really got it for a steal $380, and its a year old. I. LOVE. IT. I never thought I would...but its perfect. I'll probably end up packing up my computer and sending it on home. The iPad is incredibly convienent for travel...better than a laptop that you have to start, restart, etc. The battery life is shorter also on a computer, so my iPad conviently plays movies longer without charge, good for travel. I wouldn't want to do school work or a post this long on an iPad, but its great for travel, on the go entertainment. I had to be up at 4am for a 2.4 mile run this morning and I played with my iPad until I was literally falling asleep with it on my chest. I adore it. I'm off tomorrow and I foresee mucho naps and iPad time. Laundry is all done, Frame is gone on mission and I have not a care in the world. Might go swimming, who knows? Oh. Yes. Its only 1045am and I wish I were off work right now to play with it...sigh. Lol! Frame might have to find a new battle buddy, I may spend the rest of deployment with my iPad! Hahaha. I have a PT test next Friday...haven't worked out. At. ALL. We will see how THAT goes. Also, a blogger who I love does a "this week in photos" with a little photo and caption at the end of the week for all 7 days...I will probably do that. Love the idea. That's all for now guys, too lazy to type more. Hope everyone is enjoying their weekends!