It’s been an entire month on Active Duty

November 10, 2006 11:34 pm by Ray Moser.

Hi Folks.  It’s been an entire month since I’ve been put on Active Duty.  So far, the Army has stuck lots of needles into me, told me about big spiders and snakes, and have spun tales of great diseases to be wary of.   Seriously, we all passed the medical.

 Next, we spent some time on primary marksmanship, and then qualified on the range.  We day qualified, then fired our weapons with our gas masks on and then qualified night firing.  This really isn’t easy.  I have no idea how all the bad guys do drive-bys at night.

Another thing the army wants us to do is learn how to live in tents, so to do that, they sent us out into the field for 9 days.  Imagine this, it’s colder than hell, no hot showers and the heater craps out in the middle of the night.  Thankfully, one of the guys from Chicago went to Clothing sales with me and I bought a bunch of under-armor clothing and this is exactly how I kept warm. 

 Of course, in-between all of this, we received equipment issue, got up to date on Military law, rules of engagement and Afghan culture.  

 In early November, the lot of us traveled to Ft. Gordon for some training needed prior to going out of country.  We expect to finish this training prior to Thanksgiving and then take a few days to go home and see our families at Thanksgiving.  We do not anticipate any more time off from training to see our families, so at least I plan to make the best of it.

The rules here at Ft. Gordon are a little relaxed and we are allowed to go off post unlike Ft. Dix.  However, we still are not allowed to inbibe in Alcohol.  Not that it matters for me.   Most people know that I am an avid drinker of micro-brewed beers and I do not plan to see any until Thanksgiving.  To get off post even for a little bit is a nicety in my opinion.

 I have to leave now because my laundry is almost finished and Carlos Mencio (on TV) is too funny and keeping my concentration level to a minimum.

 Peace to all. 

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