Day 14

Hey all,

What to say about the past few days. Tuesday was a paperwork morning, the nice thing was that it was relatively quick, we had to be in formation at 0630, from there they shuttled us to what used to be the conference center where we did paperwork, and more paperwork, and then just to be sure, a little more paperwork. I actually managed to get done there around 0945 which meant that I was off to the next stop, uniforms. Oh but wait, apparently 6 months ago, the Army told the Navy that they would no longer issue BDU's for Navy going to Honduras, no one got the word. Fortunately I had bought that one pair in MN, and a set of boots in San Diego. I called the 1-800 number to get a couple more sets FEDEX'd to me at Ft. Benning, so once I get to Honduras all I have to do is get the stuff sown on. Then I just have to wait for the Navy to reimburse me...

Wednesday was a painfully long day starting at 0620, but part of it was kinda interesting. All of the training happens a 1/4 mile from the main base of the organization, what they call "up on the hill" in a tent that must be 80 feet by 200 feet, at a minimum. 8 huge airhandlers, and with comforatable accomodations like a line of port-a-potties a little ways off. In a little tent off to the side, the staff brings up 8 big Igloo coolers, filled with water, gatorade and coffee. Yes, I am used to getting coffee out of a pot, but that keeps is warm and cooks it down to a sludge, in the Navy it proves your manhood. But no, the pansies in the Army just put it in a cooler to keep it warm, no cooking it down. We started the morning with Improvised Explosive Device and Unexploded Ordinance Training, including a stroll through IED Alley, repleat with trip wires, grenades and car bombs. After a lunch (which was either an MRE or something from the Roach Coach, I opted for the Roach Coach) we did about 6 hours of first aid training, no kidding we went to about 1910. We were dying. Apparently the Army hasn't heard of the concept that the ability to learn drops off after about 7 hours.

Thursday morning we had the opportunity to wake up a little earlier and at 0530 check out our guns. There I was pistol safely in my holster (which meant no going into the barracks for a bathroom call) and we sat there until 0640. We went back up to the hill and started our training day with tactical training. I'm not sure how it sounds, but it actually was kinda fun, we started out with crawls, both a low crawl with the face on the ground and the almost low crawl where you could actually put your head up to see where you were going. We the moved on to combat running, or something to that effect, it was a bunch of barriers, we were in teams and you moved obstacle to obstacle your partner covering you while you ran for 3-5 seconds, then you would get in position to cover him, at the end, we tossed a grenade at the "enemy" a platic dummy. We then moved on to an obstacle course where we were paired up, started out throwing a smoke grenade to create a screen to move in an area where there was no cover, then we had to make it under a barb wire fence and over a sand back wall, checking all of them for booby traps. (For what it was worth, I threw the smoke grenade and did better than the Army guy ahead of me, not bad since it was only the second time I had thrown a grenade.) We then moved on to patroling, we would be walking one direction and the instructor would call out that there was an eneny to the left (or right, or behind, or in front) and we had to practice bringing the rifle to a shooting position. After doing that, we went into a double wide trailer that had a computerized M-16 simulator. We then headed back into the big tent for instruction on our 9mm pistols; taking them apart, cleaning, aiming, shooting, all the fundamemtals. On our way out the door enroute to the shooting range, we we able to pickup a tasty lunch of, MREs, Meals-Ready-to-Eat. I opted for Menu #14, Vegetable Manicotti. It contained the following: Crackers, Peanut Butter, Ranger Bar (a little dry but not bad) Mixed Fruit (tough to open, some ended up onthe ground, some on my trousers, some I actually ate), the Vegetable Manicotti (okay), and for desert: a Pumkin Pound Cake. The whole thing had something like 1200 calories, it also had a spoon, napkin, little bottle of tabasco, and after dinner chewing gum. The gun range was fun to shoot, it had seven targets that would pop up and disappear, so you had to pay attention; as opposed to the Navy where it is one target right in front of you. The easy part was that you started out with a familiarization fire of 10 rounds, then you had 40 rounds with which to shoot 30 targets, not bad, if you missed one, you had another round to hit it with. In the end I scored 27 of 30, expert marksman, now I just have to find a way to translate the Army qualification into a Navy qualification. Oh, did I mention it started raining right as we (the last group) were waiting to go onto the range? The hold up was that we had to borrow helmets, an Army requirement for shooting. Once we returned to the main building (a 20 minute ride) we had to clean our guns and then check them back in, a final formation and that wrapped up the day. All I wanted was a warm shower.

Friday should have been a nice easy day of a little paper work. We actually did get to sleep in, we didn't have to show up until 0900. I slept so late I almost missed breakfast, I made it with about 3 minutes to spare. We then had to make our flight arrangements, this meant a 20 minute shuttle ride across base, wait in line for 30 minutes, then work on it. We finished that up around 1145. We fly out early Monday and should be soaking up the Honduran sun by early afternoon. The Army Captain that had been down there for 9 months told me that the approach to the airport is quite spectacular. Apparently they had to shave the top of a mountain off to make room for the approach, you come in so low, you can make out the expressions on peoples faces below you. If there is any comfort, it is that we are flying American Airlines, at least they are supposed to be regulated by the FAA and NTSB (I stop from editorializing about the last 6 years of governance). After we made the flight reservations, we had to run around, two guys needed to finish up at medical, then pick-up medications, then we checked out (when I say we, I mean the group of Navy guys). By this time it was about 1530 and three of us had decided to get rental cars for the weekend off. The nice thing is that the car will make it easy to get to the airport at 0500 Monday morning. Last night was a evening of errands, going to the base exchange, Barnes and Noble for a couple of Travel books, and one last pedicure before leaving the US. (I do wonder if there are Nail places in Honduras?).

Today I went to the Columbus Museum here in town, a pretty decent museum, a great exhibit on the history of the area, and then a really good exhibit of contemporary drawing. Then I explored downtown, an area that appears to be struggling. The city has spent lots of money into rehabilitating some old textile mills, I'm not sure if they are going to be housing or offices. They also have a real nice riverwalk down close to the river, which was really quite low, I shot some pictures and will have to download them when I get to Honduras (I may just post them on MySpace). I then headed north to see the little White House (FDR's vacation house, where he died) and then Callaway Gardens, a private nature preserve (if you ever go, it free to those posted at Ft. Benning). It really was nicely landscaped. Had I known, and if it were warmer (it was only in the low 50's) I would have gotten there earlier in the day to rent a bike and tool around a bit.

Tomorrow is yet to be seen, hopefully church, then back early to pack and sleeep. The next time I E-mail, it will be from Honduras.

For all I have seen with the Army, it wasn't just us Navy guys (or Air Force) that were frustated with the Army process, the Army guys were too. There was a Segeant Major that was there during the week and then at the travel office and he apologized for the Army and said that he was recommending changes. The Army guys seem almost to be used to it, they, and all of us, realize that the end goal is a noble one and those in the process are given limited resources in which to complete an impossible task: get a large group of a wide variety of people ready to go to a wide variety of locations (Iraq, Afghanistan, Djibouti, Kosovo, Germany, Honduras) in only a week.

Evan