So tomorrow I leave for the Army's Basic Mountaineering Course (BMC). It's two weeks of learning to climb class 1-3 ascents, field craft, knot tying and cold weather survival. There are other pieces to this as well but those are the big learning points. I am really looking forward to this course, not only for career progression but because I have always wanted to get a god professional mountaineering course. There is a second level course available called the Assault Climber's Course In that course you learn more advanced techniques for conducting operations in which you are independent of the main force. This a ways off but I hope to get it done before leaving Alaska. My next course after BMC will be the Cold Weather Leaders Course. That will be sometime in January or February though so I have some time to recover after this course. LOL
Well, I better get some rest; I have a long 15 days ahead of me. Wish me luck and I'll let you know how it goes in a couple weeks.
Monday, August 3
Thursday, July 30
I was truly amazed this week. First let me give you a little back-story...
Last week I was informed that I would be part of a "Party-planing" committee, yep get your laughs out now. My part in this committee would be to get prizes for the raffle. Oh, and the party is this Friday; so I basically had 10 days to come up with prizes that people would actually give a shit about enough to bring in canned goods and get raffle tickets for them.
So I started contacting people that I knew who may possibly have an inkling of a connection with someone, somewhere in Anchorage. This consisted of:
Dillon, my brother-in-law who used to work for KWHL
Jenna, my sister-in-law who works for Charlie's Produce
Robert, my father-in-law who used to work for Sadler's
So, with this tiny bit of something I began patrolling the business of Anchorage hoping for a scrap, of a piece, of a morsel of something. I seriously would have been happy to get a bootleg CD from the radio station at this point. I mean, honestly, how did they expect me to come up with legitimate prizes in 10 days. That's including the weekend!!
Well, here we are. Tomorrow is the party [Oh by the way, this is an Organizational Day for the Warrior Transition Battalion. We are the unit on Fort Richardson who helps care for wounded Soldiers from deployments or who have complicated medical conditions that a regular unit can't take care of. So, needless to say, there are a lot of high ranking eyes watching how we do our job.] and I have managed to gather the following prizes:
-2 2 person passes to the Kendall Hockey Classic
-2010 Seawolves Basketball season tickets
-2010 Seawolves Volleyball season tickets
-2 $25 gift certificates to Moose's Tooth or Bear's Tooth
-2 $25 gift certificates to The Glacier Brewhouse or Orso's
-$50 gift certificate to the Army/Air Force PX
-2 one month Gold membership passes to Alaska Club
-A leather recliner/rocker from Sadler's
-A Pioneer Amplifier and 10" Subwoofer from Pyramid Audio
-4 sets of trekking poles from REI
And the morning show team of Deanna and Jim Robbins from KBRJ are coming out to DJ for us
I mean wow!! That is amazing. I want to make it clear that I in no way take credit for all of this, I really suck at "properly interacting" with other people (just ask my wife). The real power behind this outpouring of generosity is this town's support of the military. They may not agree with why the Army does what it does; but they definitely support the individual Soldiers and respect the sacrifice that they have made.
Thank you Anchorage!
Last week I was informed that I would be part of a "Party-planing" committee, yep get your laughs out now. My part in this committee would be to get prizes for the raffle. Oh, and the party is this Friday; so I basically had 10 days to come up with prizes that people would actually give a shit about enough to bring in canned goods and get raffle tickets for them.
So I started contacting people that I knew who may possibly have an inkling of a connection with someone, somewhere in Anchorage. This consisted of:
Dillon, my brother-in-law who used to work for KWHL
Jenna, my sister-in-law who works for Charlie's Produce
Robert, my father-in-law who used to work for Sadler's
So, with this tiny bit of something I began patrolling the business of Anchorage hoping for a scrap, of a piece, of a morsel of something. I seriously would have been happy to get a bootleg CD from the radio station at this point. I mean, honestly, how did they expect me to come up with legitimate prizes in 10 days. That's including the weekend!!
Well, here we are. Tomorrow is the party [Oh by the way, this is an Organizational Day for the Warrior Transition Battalion. We are the unit on Fort Richardson who helps care for wounded Soldiers from deployments or who have complicated medical conditions that a regular unit can't take care of. So, needless to say, there are a lot of high ranking eyes watching how we do our job.] and I have managed to gather the following prizes:
-2 2 person passes to the Kendall Hockey Classic
-2010 Seawolves Basketball season tickets
-2010 Seawolves Volleyball season tickets
-2 $25 gift certificates to Moose's Tooth or Bear's Tooth
-2 $25 gift certificates to The Glacier Brewhouse or Orso's
-$50 gift certificate to the Army/Air Force PX
-2 one month Gold membership passes to Alaska Club
-A leather recliner/rocker from Sadler's
-A Pioneer Amplifier and 10" Subwoofer from Pyramid Audio
-4 sets of trekking poles from REI
And the morning show team of Deanna and Jim Robbins from KBRJ are coming out to DJ for us
I mean wow!! That is amazing. I want to make it clear that I in no way take credit for all of this, I really suck at "properly interacting" with other people (just ask my wife). The real power behind this outpouring of generosity is this town's support of the military. They may not agree with why the Army does what it does; but they definitely support the individual Soldiers and respect the sacrifice that they have made.
Thank you Anchorage!
Monday, July 27
July 27, 2007
July 27, 2007...that is a date I may never forget.
No, I hope I never forget.
It was on that day that I lost two very good friends. One a mentor; one a fellow Squad Leader.
Major Thomas Bostick was an amazing Soldier and an awe inspiring leader. He was the kind of commander that the saying, "Lead from the front" was made for. You know how people say "I would never tell my men to do something that I would not do." Well, MAJ Bostick actually did that. That's one of the reasons he was killed that day; he was in the middle of the fight, controlling his men and fighting right next to them. He was killed instantly when a RPG hit him directly in the chest. One of my men, SPC Sultan, was acting as his radio operator at the time and lost his eye as well as getting a large piece of shrapnel in his arm.
SSG Ryan Fritsche was on an observation mission when his team came under attack at the same time. He was killed instantly by an insurgents bullet when he was shot in the head. His team was forced to leave his body temporarily as they were being overun by a large number of fighters. They returned a few hours later to find his body at the edge of a cave. The Afghan fighters had stripped him of equipment but had left his body with arms crossed.
I feel horrible because the person I am thinking about more than those two today is one of my best friends. My partner up until that fateful day, SSG John Faulkenberry. He is alive. He was shot in the leg by a sniper with an armor-piercing round. It shattered his femur and cut his Sciatic nerve in half. I was 15 feet away when it happened and two years later I still see it happening like it was yesterday. We had just placed MAJ Bostick's body in the back of a vehicle to be taken back. John yelling at me he had been hit, running down the hill to him as i saw blood gush out of the back of his leg. Cutting of his pant leg and seeing a hole...a hole! He had been hit with an AP round and it looked like a pool ball had gone through his leg. From that point, until I put him in the back of the truck he had just arrived in minutes before, everything is a blur. I only know what happened based on what my Soldiers nearby and my Platoon Leader told me later.
So here I am, two years later with these memories still in my head. And just like last year, I woke up this morning feeling John's limp leg in my hand again. All day long trying to fight the urge to walk out of the office, get in my car and drive to the nearest bar and drink myself into a coma so I don't have to think or talk or feel.
Now it's the end of the day and I've been writing this since I got up this morning.
Now it's the end of the day and I just came back from a 30 minute session with a heavy bag trying to beat the pictures in my head away.
Now it's the end of the day and I still have John's blood on my pants and MAJ Bostick's blood on my shirt.
No, I hope I never forget.
It was on that day that I lost two very good friends. One a mentor; one a fellow Squad Leader.
Major Thomas Bostick was an amazing Soldier and an awe inspiring leader. He was the kind of commander that the saying, "Lead from the front" was made for. You know how people say "I would never tell my men to do something that I would not do." Well, MAJ Bostick actually did that. That's one of the reasons he was killed that day; he was in the middle of the fight, controlling his men and fighting right next to them. He was killed instantly when a RPG hit him directly in the chest. One of my men, SPC Sultan, was acting as his radio operator at the time and lost his eye as well as getting a large piece of shrapnel in his arm.
SSG Ryan Fritsche was on an observation mission when his team came under attack at the same time. He was killed instantly by an insurgents bullet when he was shot in the head. His team was forced to leave his body temporarily as they were being overun by a large number of fighters. They returned a few hours later to find his body at the edge of a cave. The Afghan fighters had stripped him of equipment but had left his body with arms crossed.
I feel horrible because the person I am thinking about more than those two today is one of my best friends. My partner up until that fateful day, SSG John Faulkenberry. He is alive. He was shot in the leg by a sniper with an armor-piercing round. It shattered his femur and cut his Sciatic nerve in half. I was 15 feet away when it happened and two years later I still see it happening like it was yesterday. We had just placed MAJ Bostick's body in the back of a vehicle to be taken back. John yelling at me he had been hit, running down the hill to him as i saw blood gush out of the back of his leg. Cutting of his pant leg and seeing a hole...a hole! He had been hit with an AP round and it looked like a pool ball had gone through his leg. From that point, until I put him in the back of the truck he had just arrived in minutes before, everything is a blur. I only know what happened based on what my Soldiers nearby and my Platoon Leader told me later.
So here I am, two years later with these memories still in my head. And just like last year, I woke up this morning feeling John's limp leg in my hand again. All day long trying to fight the urge to walk out of the office, get in my car and drive to the nearest bar and drink myself into a coma so I don't have to think or talk or feel.
Now it's the end of the day and I've been writing this since I got up this morning.
Now it's the end of the day and I just came back from a 30 minute session with a heavy bag trying to beat the pictures in my head away.
Now it's the end of the day and I still have John's blood on my pants and MAJ Bostick's blood on my shirt.
Saturday, July 25
Webcomics...for when you have an entire afternoon to waste.
A little smattering of funny for everybody this morning. Try not to waste all weekend with them:
Married to the Sea
Politically Unemployed
Tree Lobsters
Buttersafe
Tiny Sepuku
Rupert & Me
Brandywine
Married to the Sea
Politically Unemployed
Tree Lobsters
Buttersafe
Tiny Sepuku
Rupert & Me
Brandywine
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