Day: April 10, 2009

Day: April 10, 2009
Weather report: looks like it rained a little last night, very humid. Today is overcast and in the 70’s (rained on us in formation) thunderstorms expected for tonight. (READ THE END OF THE REPORT FOR TODAY!)

Drove by the might towers again on the way to sign-in at BLDG 2748, they don’t look as intimidating in the daytime. The training field is covered with cages and very little grass. Looks like some sort of cattle yard. If you would see some of the contraptions that are used to simulate exiting aircraft, being inside the aircraft, and how to properly land out in the public, you would really think you were at a cattle processing yard. With the amount of soldiers they are going to train during the next three weeks, I imagine we will be treated like cattle. Checked-in to Airborne School at 0846 and met the National Guard Liaison, SGT Williams. It was a neat experience, I was the only Guard/Reservist there at the time and was checked-in first. I was then released until 1100 hrs to do whatever until the orientation begins and we visit our Company Training Area. All the signs say that we will be part of Bravo Company, we’ll see. Called and checked-in with my family and they are getting ready to travel to Barnwell, SC to visit with family and friends for Easter. Seems like every two or three years, I end up in a military training school during the week of Easter.

Check-in again into the company area around 1130 hrs and we waited, and waited, and waited for the Airborne Instructors to show up. They made there grand appearance around 1215 hrs. One of the instructors briefed us on the dos and don’ts of the course and they all became “Black Hats”. Airborne Qualified Instructors, they all wear black baseball style hats with there Airborne Wings on the top with the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment oval behind it and their rank, stay bright near the bottom. “From this point forward the only words out of your mouth when asked a question will be ‘Clear/Not Clear’ and you will follow it with Sergeant, Airborne”, said SSG Airborne Kendrick. You will have three phases of airborne school to complete this course. Phase one, ground week; phase two, tower week; and phase three jump week. They then divided us into officers, enlisted and Joe’s (E-4 and below) for roster numbers and platoon assignments. Officers area assigned the letter “A” followed by three numbers, NCOs’ are assigned the letter “N” followed by three numbers, and the Joe’s just have three numbers. Females are pretty much the same but only have the letter and two numbers. I was assigned to Bravo Company, 1st Platoon, 4th Stick, roster number N264. We then met the Battalion Commander LTC Ring, he is the scary kind that will sneak up and kill you in the night (Ranger, Airborne, and all the other special schools you can think of). He even had a special briefing with all the Ranger Legs after our meeting. He went through the regular school talk about no drinking and driving, no fraternizing, and no gambling. We then met First Sergeant Airborne Lacuna. He went through the same stuff and told us what he expected of the legs during the course and gave us several reasons for dismissal from Airborne School. By-the-way we are all “dirty nasty legs” until we make our fifth jump and become Army Parachutist Qualified and pin on those silver wings. When we thought all the briefings were complete, CPT Jessup, the Company Commander shows up and wants to give us a safety briefing and talk some more. At this point we are exhausted from all the information that has been put out and the fact that it started raining several minutes ago and we are still out in it. He finishes finally and then they ask for everyone that drove to Ft. Benning to come to the side. They conducted a vehicle inspection on each and every car, truck, jeep, and van that was now in the airborne training area. Guess they didn’t want anyone to have any excuses for being late for any of the formations. We made it to sign for our gear. If you were staying in the barracks you had to sign for everything that you were going to touch; pillow, pillow case, wall locker, rack, mattress, linen, blanket, helmet, and canteen. For those of us lucky enough not to be staying in the barracks we only had to sign for a helmet and the canteen. After all that confusion we met our platoon instructors; SFC Campbell, SSG Kendrick, SSG Binger, and SGT Thibou, they are assigned to train all 120 of us in 1st PLT. We also have the privilege to host to foreign nationals in our platoon, CPT Sa’ad Baghdadi from Jordon and CPT? from Kuwait.

You have now entered the training class of 22-09, Bravo Company. The platoon sergeant will assign CQ duty then you will be dismissed for a three day weekend, you are all on pass but cannot go outside a fifty mile radius. I was pissed off! First CQ duty on the weekend and then them getting a three day weekend over Easter and we being stuck here. Welcome to the military. What a refresher in active duty military training and lifestyle. When the CQ roster was completed I was no where on the list. Turns out the OCS class just graduated and were cycled into airborne school and were all put on the roster first. The officers were now the CQ Duty and the E4’s and below were the runners and stairwell guards. I got out of it, this is the first time in my military career that I did not have to be on CQ or guard duty. Maybe there is something to finally making it to E7 and above. It has paid off this far, we will see how it turns out in the next few days. We were also told that any of us that have, those high speed sneak up and kill people, dog tag silencers that they need to be cut-off, removed, or get a new set. They are another of the policies that are not allowed at airborne course. They would not release us until we stenciled our roster number on the front and back of our helmet, one for our canteen, and one for our PT shirt for the APFT. Of course they were not prepared for the task they obligated us for and did not have enough materials for us to use. I am going to purchase 2” stencils and do mine tomorrow.

Almost forgot! Had to go by new PT shorts because I, like everyone else, cut the lining out of the shorts to wear boxer briefs or spandex underneath, turns out you can’t do that here. Must have the liner in the shorts or they will NO GO you on the APFT and you will be recycled into the next class. Bought a new pair of boots that will be more comfortable for the course, now that we MUST run (double time) everywhere we go, because we are dirty nasty legs and cannot stroll through the airborne training area like qualified personal. Went to the commissary and picked-up a few things for my room to eat. Raisin Bran cereal, bottled water and Gatorade packets to pour into them, gogurts, popcorn, granola bars, milk, oatmeal pies (for some quick energy), and some fresh pineapple.

Talked with Amanda about the hurry up and wait status of the military and how they ruined Easter weekend by checking us in three days early. Maybe it will get us moving faster on Tuesday for the APFT and get us into the training quicker. I counted the steps on the way up to my room today with my grocery purchase, 42 steps one way. I should have buns of steel when I come home from that.

TORNADO! Wow, I saw my first tornado today around 2140 hrs. Trees are coming down, power lines down, wind is very intense and hail was falling. These are all news reports on WTVM storm team coverage. They are saying we are between storms. All the rain, wind and lighting have stopped as quickly as it started. The lighting was a fantastic show of dancing across the sky; it was a wonderful spectacle to observe. The intensity of the storm was amazing. SIRENS, SIRENS, SIRENS are going off all over the post and they sound like an air raid on the post. I know what they felt like in WWI and WWII when the sirens went off. They stopped briefly and now the emergency sirens from the police and fire department are sounding. There was hail the size of dime to nickel size. Flash flooding has been reported in the downtown area and they are reporting the sever weather is in effect until 2359 hrs. The thunderstorm on post expires at 2245 hrs. As I continue to listen to the T.V. and have my window open slightly, sirens from emergency vehicles and thunder continue to drown out any other normal sounds. They just reported that all the windows at the Lowe’s building have been blown out. Pictures from viewers keep coming in and they are unbelievable. They are also reporting that over 2,800 people are without power at this time. I did not lose power, however the power at the Wachovia and street lights around the building went out. Nothing else of interest to report at this time, I was watching 300 on HBO when the storm knocked off the cable and that is when this all started. Leonitis was fighting the Persians in the hot pass when the storm hit. Now all I can watch or listen to is WTVM and it is fuzzy. They just said that the rate of rain if it would have stayed put would have been 9” per/hour, that’s crazy. The storm has past! All is calm, except for some lighting.

It is 2218 hrs and the sirens are going off again. The wind has changed direction from the last storm. The weather service has just issued a tornado warning for Columbus, GA and it appears to be directly over Fort Benning. It has begun to rain again and it is increasing in size and force. Storms appear to be popping up all over the place from Alabama to Georgia. The sirens here continue to blast out a very ire sound and the rains show no sign of letting up. The storm looks to be directly over the post and it thundering away. Looking out the window just now the sidewalks are flooding and the streets look like small rivers running through the parking lots here at Olson Hall. The storm has just increased in strength again and making all kinds of noise. The American Flag flying at the Wachovia Bank across the way is standing straight out. The thunder just scared the crap out of me. I was typing away and listing to the news reporter and it crackled very loud. WOW! That was a tremendous shock. The sirens have started up again and the weather report just said over 3,000 people in the Fort Benning area are out of power and the GA power company is reporting around 150,000 from Columbus to Macon to Chattahoochee Counties. We just got the ALL CLEAR here and now I am going to try and get some rest. The rain has stopped, the sirens have silenced and the lighting is off in the distance. It is 2250 hrs.

Well that didn’t last long the siren is back in full force. There is no visual sign of a storm or any other signs of a storm coming in the near future. They are talking about circulation in the upper atmosphere on the weather report but nothing that is able to be noticed by the average person.

It has been a very eventful day and I am very tired and in much need of some rest.