"Good God...back in hell again!"

Let's get some of this past stuff out of the way. This deployment began back in early May, in Staunton with the HQ of the 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT). We left Staunton on a Friday. The day wasn't bad, but it certainly wasn't great. Dad, Kat and Lauren were there to see me off. This was a little different for me b/c we didn't do a huge hullabahoo when I deployed with the 276th Engineers. That time we simply rolled out of Richmond enroute to NJ...quietly. This time, we had a huge formation with all our family around us. We did this on the Armory drill floor so the dignitaries could say their pieces, and again outside as roll call was conducted for us to board the busses. It was hard to say goodbye to my family...again. Especially my baby girl. I know I've chosen this life, but when you know that you're going to miss so many firsts in your child's life, the burden is that much harder to bear. And anyone who knows me knows that I cannot handle seeing my wife cry. It's one of the few things in my life that I truly have a hard time dealing with. And, yes, my wife was crying her eyes out. She's an emotional woman.

Anyways, we flew out of Charlottesville into Gulfport enroute to our mobilization station of Camp Shelby, MS. I don't remember much of that flight b/c I was asleep or listening to my ipod. I've been told that I made a helluva impression on some of our soldiers who had never met or worked with me before. I was being my sarcastic self about the flight attendants little preflight briefing (imagine that), so one of the flight attendants challenged me to do the safety briefing. Well, who I am to turn down a harmless dare? So...I did it. And for a first time, I did pretty good...with some help from the head flight attendant of course. I had the entire plane laughing, so it was well worth the embarrassment. Basically, that ended up being the most fun I had from the time the plane landed until well into the Shelby experience.

I pretty much knew what to expect for a mobilization, but this experience was a lot different. With the Pentagon's new policy of 12 month mobilizations from time of mobilization until the time of demobilization, the standard 3 month mob station train up was seen as insufficient. So the HQ of the 116th IBCT got be an experiment for 1st US Army. We compacted a 3 month training set into just 35 days. At Ft Dix, we had lots of free time at night, and at least 1 or 2 days of no training every week. At Shelby, we had very, very busy days, everyday of the week, with little to no down time for "personal maintenance". In hindsight, it was a good primer for what I'm going through here. Anyways, one thing that apparently has not changed since my first go round is that the training is packaged, in a military style of teaching...very dry, boring, and not always consistent from training event to training event. There are innumerable gripes I have with this mobilization train-up, but what's the point. My post training comments have been sent up and we'll see if anything comes of them. One thing I can and will openly complain about is the cultural awareness training we had to take. the military put us through 3 different "death by PowerPoint" sessions trying to teach us how to be culturally sensitive. Then the last week we were there, our intel office managed to secure us one day of training with some Iraqi/Muslim ex-pats (a man and a woman). Lord have mercy!!! We learned more about being culturally aware and what to do, what not to do, how to identify something/someone bad, how to react to locals at Entry Control Points (ECP), etc. then we learned in our entire time at Shelby. Sometimes, the best trainer is not from the military. I just can't understand why the military always has such crappy training, especially from organizations whose sole purpose is to train soldiers.

So, the training was what I would rate about 2 out of 5. It could've been much, much better. Heck, almost all the trainers were soldiers who had just come back from Iraq or Afghanistan, but they were forced to train from the 1st Army training curriculum, and not teach what they experienced. At least that's what they said. AND, what they were teaching was 6-12 months out of date. Anyone who knows anything about Iraq knows that tactics are changing about every 3-6 months, so we're being taught yesterday's news. I think we had one training site where the Officer in Charge (OIC) said to hell with their curriculum and taught us based off his very recent experiences. That was good training. Oh yeah...and I truly enjoyed the combatives and close quarter combat (CQB) training. I thought I had forgotten what little Akido I knew from when I was a teenager, but wow...that stuff stays with you when you need it. Learned a lot of how to control a captive without seriously hurting them. I'll be sure to use them on the kids when they're older and unruly. LOL!! (I’m just kidding….seriously hon…just a joke!)

Well, a lot happened at Shelby but now looking back it was all so irrelevant. Had a great visit from Kathy and Lauren down to ole Miss area. Got off base and hit some of the area restaurants. It was so much nicer compared to NJ where we couldn't find anything within a mile of the base. Friggin town even had two super Wal-marts. How nuts is that?!! Anyways, Kathy and Lauren got to come onto post and meet some of the soldiers. Wow, was Lauren a hit!! Little cheese that she is!! Everyone kept saying the same thing. “She looks just like you!” DOH! Poor little girl…cursed to look like me for the rest of her life. Someone, please tell me puberty will be her saving grace and she’ll look more like her mother!!

The last few days after Kat & Lauren left were uneventful. At Ft Dix on the first deployment, we had someone stab another soldier b/c he was drunk and stupid. This time, we had an NCO get so drunk that he passed out in the middle of the street. Oh…did I mention that there is a NO ALCOHOL policy in effect for all mobilized troops. But that was the only real issue we had. Everything else was only about the uncertainty of when we would fly. When that day did come, we packed up onto busses and drove all the way back to Gulport. Mississippi decided to give us one last HUGE rain shower. I mean, it was a massive rainfall. But, like most monsoon type rains in America, it stopped within 15 minutes of beginning, and then we got the MS humidity and heat. It was great!!! You would think being out of Shelby would’ve alleviated the crazy stuff from happening. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand you’d be wrong. When we got to the airport, we discovered that from the time we left Shelby til the time we got to Gulfport, one of the soldiers lost her ID card. No card…no fly. We had to do some serious haggling to get her onto the plane and convince the mobilization team that we would take care of her ID in Kuwait. So, we board the plan, and lo and behold…we fly to Ft Dix, NJ…my hated old deployment site. Turned out we were there to pick up the Maryland Brigade HQ that was supposed to take our mission, and we were supposed to take their mission. As of now, I still don’t know if we got the better end of that deal, b/c they went to Camp Victory where they never get mortared or rocketed. Then again…they don’t get to work with the Dept of State. Needless to say, our flight over the big pond was cramped. Two full Brigade HQ’s on a single 757. It was packed, with no extra room on the plane.

We got to make a stop in Shannon, Ireland, where I made some phone calls on my cell phone. Why? Oh, b/c I could. And it was cheaper than paying the $3/minute for a pay phone. I was looking for some decent souvenirs, but damn!! The Shannon airport had very little that I liked or thought would work for K&L (and knick-knacks aren’t my bag). We weren’t there long, just enough to get fuel and supplies. Then we were off again. Now, anyone who says that airplane food sucks…you…are…right!! On this flight, which basically took us 19 hours total with stops, they fed us 6 times, and it all was crap! The little heat-em-up meals in the tin container…like a cheap TV dinner…were not tasty. Of course…they weren’t MRE’s either!! We got to Kuwait about 0300 local time, and the first thing I said when I stepped off that plane was “Good God...back in hell again!” Of course the heat was worse then I remembered…