Arrived

A quick note to let you know that I have arrived (minus all of my checked lugged) in Kuwait. I'm at the Ali Al Salem Air Base. Interesting place. Haven't had much time to explore; though I don't think there's a whole lot to explore here. Basically got here, checked in, shown to my tent and grabbed one of the beds. There's probably 10 of us in there. Grabbed some food at the DFAC (Chow Hall) and stopped over at the MWR tent. MWR tent is where they have phones, computers, TV, etc. Gotta run.

Packed up

Here's a little picture of most of my gear that I have packed up. It sure isn't going to be fun to lug it all around. In fairness, only like 1/3 of 1 seabag is my personal clothes and stuff. The rest is all issued gear, and it all weighs more than enough.

So again, I'll pick up my orders at 10am tomorrow. Then come back to the hotel, check out and head for the airport. I think my flight departs at 120pm or something. Most of the flight is on United, which I have a lot of frequent flyer miles with, so it shouldn't be too bad.

It'll take me two or three days to get to Kuwait, get settled in and find a computer or phone to make contact again. I will do that as soon as I can. Until then, bon voyage!

Itinerary

Well, I finished checking into MARCENT today. I had blood drawn first thing in the morning and the results in the afternoon showed that everything checked out okay. My medical screening was completed with a couple of surveys and a check of the vitals (my cholesterol and blood pressure were even somehow okay).

The important news is that I received my flight itinerary. I'm scheduled to depart Jacksonville, NC Friday afternoon (via commercial airline). After stops in Atlanta and Washington-Dulles, I should arrive in Kuwait Saturday (31 Oct) evening. They said from there I should expect to spend about 5 days in Kuwait awaiting a military flight into Kabul.

Tomorrow I will drive down to Cherry Point to get the rest of my gear (will call first and hopefully it's ready). Other than that, I just have to call in Wed and Thurs and then show up at 10am on Friday to pick up my orders.

MARCENT Check-in

I checked into the MARCENT LNO office this morning. Overall, it was a bit anticlimatic, as I just got yet another check-in sheet to complete. First it turned out I didn't have all the signatures I needed from Cherry Point. So the morning was spent driving the 2.5 hours roundtrip to Cherry Point and another hour or two tracking down the people I needed to find. And I will need to go down to Cherry Point at least once more (either tomorrow or Wednesday) to exchange some gear.

After that, I returned for my medical/dental screening. I received my second Anthrax shot and completed an audiogram. First thing tomorrow (after 12 hours of fasting), I need to go get blood drawn so they can test my lipids or something. Thankfully my dental was all complete. Once they get the blood test results in the afternoon, I should be all done with 'checking in'.

Tomorrow afternoon I will also get an 'admin audit'. That's where they officially check me in here, update all the administrative databases and hopefully tell me a little more of what's going on.

Basically, nothing's official until I get my check-in finished and everything turns out well. If it does, I'm planning on a Thursday (29 Oct) departure from here. I'd fly commercial into Kuwait City, do another check-in (receive my pistol and some more gear) and await a military flight into Kabul. They said maybe 5 days in Kuwait. We'll see; I have to finish this check-in first.

Moved to Camp Lejeune

Today I checked out of the BOQ at Cherry Point, exchanged rental cars in New Bern and checked into the Lejeune Inn on base here at Camp Lejeune. My phone number here is 910-451-3041. I'll be here for a few days; here's a picture of my room.

I know that I have to check into 'MARCENT LNO' office Monday at 8am. I hope to find out some other details then. They'll be checking all of my paperwork and training and finish up anything else I need. So, that's about it for now.

Rifle range and TBI

Alright...Monday I went down to Camp Lejeune again to finish up my rifle qualification. It's called 'Table 3' and consisted of firing a total of 110 rounds from the M4 rifle at 25 yards or closer. Once we started shooting, it only took maybe 15 minutes to complete. With the safety briefs, explanations and the drive down and back, it ended up being a pretty full day. I'm posting a small picture of the range. I know it's not very good...I'm not going to be 'that guy' taking pictures of everything.

On Tuesday, I again traveled down to Camp Lejeune to complete a computerized brain test. Basically they test basic functions like responsiveness, short-term memory and speed so that they have a 'baseline' test in the system. Then if I ever encounter a concussion or PTSD during the deployment, they'll test me again and compare the two tests. Once I found the testing room at Lejeune, the test only took about 10 minutes to complete.

Today (Wednesday), I didn't have anything scheduled. I ended up exchaning my digital camera at Wal-Mart, shopping at the Exchange (on-base store), organizing some of my gear and stopping at Medical. I had to stop at Medical because I had paronychia. Basically they just stabbed the heck out of my finger and squeezed some fluid out of it. Good times (not really). I tried to post a video of my room (taken with my new camera) here, but it took forever to upload. So I posted it on youtube and you can view it by clicking here.

Tomorrow I will run the Combat Fitness Test (CFT) at 8am. And that's all that is officially on the schedule for tomorrow.

Lazy weekend

So Friday night I headed up to the Norfolk, VA area to see the Bannisters. It was a good night of visiting with April, Tony and their two beautiful daughters. Tony and I managed a few beers while discussing way too much work. Anyway, good times; thanks.

Saturday I returned back to Cherry Point. Watched the Iowa Hawkeyes keep their undefeated record going. Other than a short run and a birthday call to my Pops, pretty quiet day.

Today has been even more worthless for me. Just enjoying a full slate of NFL games, including a 59-0 Patriots beatdown.

Up next on my schedule is my last day at the rifle range tomorrow. I have to meet up at the armory at 6am and head down to Camp Lejeune for a full day of shooting. It's not scored this time, so just need to get it done. Then Tuesday I'll head back down to Camp Lejeune for some sort of neurology testing. Basically they get a 'baseline' of your brain functions so that they can test for concussions and other things after the deployment. Takes less than an hour, but an hour drive each way and it should take most of the day. That's about it for now.

Training requirements

I'm trying to set up this little blog and see if I can keep it updated in order to keep you all up to date. IA is Individual Augmentee; what they call my six-month deployment to Afghanistan.

I arrived here at MCAS Cherry Point on 28 September or so. During the past few weeks, I've been busy with the following:

- Rifle range qualification (two days of classes here at Cherry Point, five days of firing at Camp Lejeune)
- Medical checkup (Anthrax vaccination, records check)
- H.E.A.T. trainer (demonstrates evacuating an overturned vehicle)
- Gas chamber (put on the gas mask and equipment and experience a little CS gas)
- Swim qual (attained level 2; swam a bit with a bunch of gear, maybe 15 foot jump, etc)
- Dental checks (got a cleaning and a few fillings)
- Gear issue (checked out plenty of stuff to take with me)
- Online classes (general classes I needed to complete)

I think that's about it thus far. Next week I have one day scheduled at the rifle range to complete that training, a trip to Camp Lejeune for a neurology assesment, completing the Combat Fitness Test and completing my medical stuff (Phyiscal Health Assessment, second Anthrax shot and checking out records).