Day 5

Went through CIIF/CIF today. Got a whole new issue of high speed PTs and 4 sets of ACUs as well as 2 new pairs of boots, one hot and one cold weather. We also handed in our passes to the cadre for this weekend. I'm really looking forward to having the weekend off (no alcohol here =/). The cadre were saying that we are supposed to start land nav training tomorrow morning. Not really looking forward to getting lost in the cold, but I'm really stoked to start training again. Most of the guys finished SRP and everything else yesterday and today, but a handful of us got screwed by the PA/clinics and late appointment/consultation scheduling. I don't blame them because they try the best that they can do speed us along, but I don't think that they are prepared to deal with the volume of soldiers that pass through their stations. Oh, there are a couple of REFRADs now (released from active duty). Some are going to be medboarded out, while others are just being released back into the IRR. I think the policy was to have them out by the end of the 25 day mobilization, but the story is that some people wrote/called their congressmen/women and complained about the slow process. Now, the cadre try to process them and have them back home within 5-10 days. Hopefully the physician will write me my second waiver tomorrow. I'm sort of looking forward to this deployment and I'd be pissed if I dropped everything at home to fly all the way out here to just go back a week later. Anyhoo, it's getting a little late so I think I'm going to smoke, check the football game scores, then turn in for the night. Got a long day tomorrow.

P.S.

For the IRR guys who are reading this blog, please show up with some sort of lease agreement that is NOTARIZED. The finance office is really anal retentive about that notarization. Also, you do not have to bring all of your uniforms/gear. You will be provided with the basics that you need to complete training and deploy. You are definitely welcome to bring your old gear and uniforms, but that just means that you will be flying out of SC with extra duffles. Bring your patches and stuff and an IRR SSI patch if you really want to (I did because I didn't want to be confused with those basic recruit bastards). I wish I just brought a weeks worth of civies and my patches only though. I've got like 8 sets of ACUs and 2 complete sets of APFUs complete with high speeds and whatnot. Oh, bring an iPOD/books/laptop/portable entertainment because you WILL be sitting around for hours for the first 3-5 days. Um, if I remember anything else, I will definitely post it on this blog. I'll try to keep you guys filled in. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I'll try to get some pictures uploaded sometime soon. I took a bunch but never did get around to actually uploading it and linking it (wifi is really slow at night).