Flashbacks to Fort Lewis

When I saw this:

I had a wild flashback to my time spent at Fort Lewis, WA. Notice it's dark, raining, 57 degrees and my car is in park in the middle of the road.

I do not miss the traffic and weather at Fort Lewis!! So when it happens here at Fort Campbell, I'm so sad!! I thought I ran away from all that.

Whenever I start to get nostalgic about Fort Lewis, and I think I want to go back, days like this happen and I'm reminded why I'm glad I left.

Busy Busy Busy

I feel like I'm running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Except I'm not in any pain. I imagine that would hurt quite a lot.

What I am is BUSY. I feel like everyone wants a piece of me right now and there just isn't enough Jackie to please the crowds.

Between buying a house long distance, a puppy who refuses to potty train, a platoon that desperately needs me, a top secret clearance packet that never seems to end, a CID packet that takes me all over the place, a messy boyfriend and clearing Fort Lewis, I'm totally tapped out!

Of course, there are still medic things to be done during the duty day as well. And by "medic things" I mean playing in the motorpool with field ambulances that are older than me. If I thought could sneak out of this unit without doing one more BII layout, I was crazy. Stupid ambulances and their stupid emergency road side kits.

I sign out of Fort Lewis on the 25th of February. Hopefully I will be able to catch a relaxing break on the 40 hour trek to Fort Campbell... with my unpotty trained puppy and messy boyfriend in tow.

The CSH? I Think Not!

Admittedly, January hasn't been an active month of blogging. It's been an active month of stupid bullshit gifted to me from the Army which has consumed most of my free time. Nothing out of the ordinary as bullshit goes, just seemingly more of it.

In the midst of the Army piling on my NCO duties, I am dealing with my PCS to Fort Campbell, KY. I have my orders! My actual in writing paper orders. I was really excited until I saw the pin point I was assigned to: the CSH. That stands for Combat Support Hospital. I am horrified by this turn of events. It's going to be nothing but girls and officers. And girl officers. To make things worse, the CSH I am assigned to is also deployed. I am unable to deploy until September when my dwell time is completed, so I will be on rear detachment. For anyone who is unsure what rear detachment comprises of, it's everyone who was unable to deploy for whatever reason. Pregnancy, Soldiers pending legal action, known drug offenders... the list of undesirables goes on. Oh boy.

So immediately my brain is scrambling for a way to get out of this situation. Nothing was coming to mind. I was about to lie down and just take it when, like a beacon of heavenly light, a man stepped into my life and handed me his business card. He was a CID agent, and he was offering me a job. I had impressed him in the interview I had given him earlier. He was extending me an opportunity I couldn't refuse. A few days later, I met with the head NCO over at the CID office on Fort Lewis and he interviewed me. He said he will do whatever is necessary to help me put together my CID packet and reclass out of being a Medic and towards being a Federal Agent. And he'd do it all while still guaranteeing I will go to Fort Campbell in the end.

It all is happening so fast! I'm really excited about this opportunity. There is still a lot that needs to be done and a few hurdles that need to be conquered. Hopefully everything checks out and I am able to reclass from 68W to 31D.

Sailor Jerry

The really cool part of being stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington, is that Seattle is in my backyard. It's great to have a big city with tons of stuff to do so close. Plus, since Seattle is a hippie liberal city, the stuff they offer to do is usually really cool!

On Friday night, James and I went into the city to go see a documentary on Sailor Jerry, the legendary tattoo artist. Sailor Jerry has also become a brand of spiced rum that carries his likeness in a 92 proof bottle of awesomeness. I like tattoos. I like spiced rum. The whole concept is genius to me.

The venue the Sailor Jerry documentary was held at was an old theater that probably only held 150 people, MAX. As soon as we walked in, we were handed 2 free drink vouchers and free popcorn. No admission cost. Awesome. Upon entering the theater, there is a bar set up on the stage to redeem said free drinks. Even more awesome. I'm watching the bartender pour my Sailor Jerry and Coke, and it's easily 80% booze. Can this night get any more awesome, really!? Oh yes it can! A few minutes later the girl who was at the door handing out free drink vouchers came by and gave us 4 more! AWESOME!

Besides the free booze, which got me quite toasty, the documentary was really good. It was interesting. I learned a lot. And it was entertaining. I would have paid money to see it. When I leave Fort Lewis to go to Fort Campbell, I'm really going to miss Seattle. Nashville is close to Campbell, though. Maybe I'll be able to cook up some fun there, too.

Road Conditions Are RED

Fort Lewis basically shut down for the day. It snowed yesterday and last night so that means everyone in a 100 mile radius of the Puget Sound lost their damn minds and cannot properly operate heavy machinery, i.e. privately owned vehicles.

It's fine with me. I know how to drive in ice and snow. I'm an Iowa girl. It was bred into my bones to know how to deal with crappy weather. Also, I'm not a total retard and I can make educated decisions about how to safely navigate the roads. I can't say that's true for most of the rest of the population.

On my way to work this morning, because I was not notified the post was shut down until I was already at work, I saw at least 4 accidents. People were flying down I-5 like it was a beautiful summer day and then about 3 miles later I'd catch back up with them because they were nose first in a ditch. Silly Californians and Texans. Learn to drive where you live now, not where you used to live!

I was at work for a grand total of 45 minutes. Just long enough to tell all my Soldiers that they risked their lives to come to work for nothing and to, once again, risk their lives and go back home. It was rewarding. Go Army!

Rain, Rain Go-Away

Oh Washington, I can't wait to see you in my rear view mirror and never have to look back.

I'm not on orders to leave Fort Lewis, Washington just yet. But I've put in my request to be relocated. I am no longer willing to play with Washington any more. Sure, it's a beautiful green state full of evergreen trees, but you know what? Everything is green for a reason: rain.

Rain, rain, rain. I'm sick of being soaked. I don't want to run in it, lay out inventories in it, drive in it, go to the range in it... and the list just goes on and on. I want to have several pairs of running shoes because I like to buy shoes, not because every set needs two days to dry out before you can run in them again.

A new bothersome thing about this particular area of Washington is the traffic. Fort Lewis is located right off Interstate 5. I-5 is the only north/south corridor running through Olympia, Tacoma and Seattle. Fort Lewis is smack in the middle of those busy cities. Every day I contend with Army traffic, civilian traffic, and commercial traffic all at once... and in the rain.

Today the traffic was so awful, my 10 mile trip home took an hour and 10 minutes. And it was raining. And it was super dark thanks to the day light savings time change last weekend. I go to work in the morning and it's dark. I come home from work at night and it's dark. It's also raining both ways.

Uncasing Ceremony

Today was the Uncasing of the Colors Ceremony. Before we left for Iraq over a year ago, we had a ceremony to case the colors. Basically we put our brigade and battalion flags in an ACU printed sock and left them in it while we went to war. Now that we're back, we can remove it from the sock and add a little streamer on the flag that says we were awesome on our deployment. It's a long ceremony. People give speeches. The I Corps band plays their instruments. Soldiers stand at attention. There is singing involved.

I lucked out and got to pull medical coverage. Which basically meant I stood behind the spectator bleachers with a litter and an aid bag and talked shit with 2 other medics. There was a lot to talk shit on. I love getting to see Soldier's wives. Because all Soldiers generally look the same, but wives come in all shapes and sizes and classiness.

There were an insane amount of babies present. If you do the math, that means most Soldiers had a really good mid-tour leave with their wives or there was some scandalous stuff going on while Daddy was at war. There even seemed to be designated, yet unmarked, stroller parking behind the bleachers.

The best part of this particular ceremony is that it kicked off our block leave period. 30 days where every Soldier who deployed has a chance to take leave and finally relax and go on vacation. I have quite the vacation planned for myself. First off: Las Vegas with my bestie. Then I'll be whisked away to wonderful Richmond, Virginia to visit another bestie. Lastly, but certainly not least, I'll go to fabulous Davenport, Iowa to visit my fabulous parents! It'll be nice to put my uniform away and feel like a real human being for a month.

NCO Run

I don't know why, but the Army thinks it's necessary to celebrate things by running. Thanksgiving? Let's run! Martin Luther King Jr Day? Let's run! 4 day weekend with no holiday significance? Let's run! It's Friday? Let's run!

So this morning we ran to celebrate the 43 brand new Non Commissioned Officers that were promoted down range in Iraq. Every NCO in the battalion got together (that was a whole lot of people, too) with our Command Sergeant Major and she took us on a run from Hell in honor of all of us newbies.

I understand the tradition. CSM Walter tried to pump us up and motivate us with a speech about how we are the backbone of the Army and nothing would get done without us. But personally, I do not like being physically exhausted by 0730 in the morning. I do not wish to celebrate an important career milestone that way. Sweating and wishing for sweet death does not equal a party for me. I felt no joy the entire run, until we stopped and I could finally catch my breath and put the flames out in my calves.

Don't get me wrong, I love my job and I love being a Non Commissioned Officer. But jeesh, can we for once just celebrate with beers?

JBLM

While I was gone, things happened at Fort Lewis. Most noticeably, it's name changed! No longer are the days of Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base as separate entities. They mutated together to form Joint Base Lewis-McChord, or, JBLM for short. Of course there's an acronym; the Army is involved.

Nothing really has changed since we joined forces. I mean, the Army still demeans the Air Force like it's our job. The Air Force still uses our hospital, like they have all along. The Air Force still has better housing and chow halls. There isn't even a road that connects the two bases even though they are only one exit apart on the freeway.

So it's kinda like saying we'll play nice with one another, but only in theory.

Mountain Of Debris

I moved into my new apartment over the weekend. It's a cute little one bedroom apartment in a shitty little town outside Fort Lewis. I'm really happy to have all of my loot again and to not have a roommate. I'm taking advantage of not having to put shoes on to use the bathroom, of choosing where and what I want to eat, and driving a vehicle that is not up armored.

I'm finally getting used to being back in the States. Even if it has rained almost every day since I've been back.

I have a mountain of debris left over from the move. The movers are supposed to pick up the looming pile of garbage, but their hours of availability don't really line up with my hours of availability. So I may have to dispose of it myself, which I really don't want to do. I live on the third floor, and something about not being able to see my feet while descending wet stairs seems like disaster waiting to happen.

As soon as I get my home all set up, I'll post pics.

Yay! It's so good to be back!