Old City & The Church of the Holy Sepulcher

Day 2 of my Israel tour yielded a few adventures. Today we toured Jerusalem and went into the Old City. It's a section of the city that is walled in completely full of merchants and The Church of the Holy Sepulcher-- where Jesus was crucified and his body was prepared for burial.

 

 

I'm not a religious person, but seeing this church was really impressive. Being in a place of religious pilgrimage was profound, even for me. I saw some really hard core Christians manically cleaning the stone slab Jesus was prepared for burial on, then pressing their faces on the stone. One man had a picture of Jesus laid out on the slab, which he gazed at while he laid on the stone for over a half an hour. I took a picture of him because it was so striking to me how dedicated he was.

 

We also saw the Wailing Wall, or the Western Wall. This is another pilgrimage site for Jewish people. People come to the wall to pray, and to stuff written prayers on paper between the stones. The wall is partitioned off into two sections-- one side for men to pray, the other for women.

 

 

 

Old City has a huge market inside of it where we were allowed to go shop and haggle with the local merchants. I learned two important lessons while in the Old City: Israeli men like blond hair and tattoos and will lower their prices simply based on that and to never, ever, ever under any circumstances step all the way into a shop unless you want to be sexually assaulted.  I was touched way too much and had too many inquiries about my marital status.

 

So, James, Sammy the creepy merchant told me to tell you that you are a lucky man.

 

The shopping was interesting though. Old City is just alley after alley of little hole in the wall (almost literally) shops peddling all kinds of things from pig hearts to leather purses to olive wood crosses. I bought a few things and ate some absolutely delicious lamb shawarma.

 

Everything is pretty expensive in Israel. One American dollar is worth about three and a half shekles. So paying 10 shekles for a can of soda is crazy expensive, but that is the standard. Today I ate well, learned things, bought stuff and spent a lot of money. A typical vacation day.

Masada & The Dead Sea

I am currently on an MWR bus trip to Israel. Today was the first day of the trip, so we spent half the day traveling. Not because North Camp is really very far from Jerusalem, but because it takes hours to get through the boarder between Egypt and Israel-- it really depends on how the guards feel that day as to how long you'll wait.

The other half of the day we toured Masada and swam in the Dead Sea.

Masada was really cool. I didn't have the slightest clue what it was until today. I'm not a Jewish or Roman history buff. I had a whole lot of knowledge dropped on me today about a Jewish King from around year 20 who built an enormous hide out called Masada in the desert of Israel so he could hide from his people when they had uprisings and wanted to kill him. This dude spared no expense on his hideout-- it was really legit and carved into the rock on the side of a cliff. Then long after he was dead a bunch of Jewish zealots moved into Masada and the Romans wanted to kill them. The Romans spent a lot of man hours making ramps to get up to Masada and they failed for a few years. But then they finally lit the front gates to Masada on fire and gained entry. But-- oh no!! All the Jews stabbed each other to death and committed suicide before the Romans got to the top of the hill. Bummer for the Romans who wanted to enslave the Jews.

 

 

 

 

But anyways, history aside, I toured the mountain top complex and it was really cool. Masada overlooks the Dead Sea. Which is where we went next.

 

 

The Dead Sea was so awesome. I was so buoyant that I didn't need to tread water to stay afloat. It just looked like we were all standing in chest deep water. I swam out and had trouble sitting back up because my legs wanted to float out from under me! The water is so ridiculously salty. We were advised not to put our heads underwater because it would burn our faces. I went ahead and followed that advise. I didn't want to melt off my face. After I got out of the water and rinsed off, I realized my skin was incredibly soft and smooth. I always thought that Dead Sea skin treatment stuff was a bunch of bullshit but apparently it's not! So next time you're at the mall and some pushy dude at a kiosk tries to sell you that skin care stuff from the Dead Sea, go ahead and consider it.

Staff Sergeant Promotion Day

My date of rank to Staff Sergeant is April 1st, but I did not get to have the promotion ceremony or wear the rank on my chest until today... the 6th. I had to wait for Fort Campbell to send my orders over to Egypt, and surprise, that wasn't top priority! It's all good though, I've been on the payroll as a Staff Sergeant since the 1st.

 

So today I got pinned. My Commander said some really great things about me at the ceremony. He said I am one of the most dependable NCOs he's ever worked with and that I am passionate about taking care of my Soldiers-- he said he was confident I could run the whole company if he asked me to. He said my ceiling for potential in the Army is limitless. I don't think anyone has ever said such wonderful things about me, ever. Let alone in a public forum. It's really touching to know I am held in high regard.

 

I had my battle buddy, Tracy, do the honors of ripping off my Sergeant rank and placing Staff Sergeant on my chest.

 

 

 

I'm really proud I made it to the rank of Staff Sergeant. It may have taken a few set backs, a break in service and a total of 8 years in service to the US Army, but I made it. Better late than never. And I intend to keep doing what I think is best for me and the Army-- it seems to be working out lately.

CWST

I'm down at South Camp again. This time for a whole weekend. I'm going to have 2 whole days to play in the Red Sea at Herb's Beach-- and I'm absolutely ecstatic.

Of course, the official business I'm on is to conduct Combat Water Survival Training (CWST), otherwise known as Splash For Cash. I took it just a step further today, and went ahead and got qualified to teach/observe CWST.

Herb's Beach.

 

I had to swim out to the buoys wearing ACUs and boots and tread water for five minutes, then float on my back for five minutes and then swim back to shore. Then I had to go back out to the buoys again, but I had to drag a person wearing ACUs and boots and a ruck sack with me. It was pretty simple considering something was placed in the ruck sack to make it buoyant. At the buoys, we switched out and I wore the ruck sack and was dragged back to shore. Then we swam out one last time to the buoys, tread water again for 5 minutes, floated on our backs again for 5 minutes and swam back to shore. We did all this without breaks. It was tiring. And it's hard to swim in boots. But now that I am qualified to teach/observe, I never have to wear ACUs or boots in the Red Sea again. When I splash for cash the remaining months I am in the Sinai, I can wear a bathing suit and be barefooted. It's going to be a beautiful thing! Well... maybe not the sight of me in a bathing suit.... but the ease of training will be excellent.

The ACUs available to train in.

 

After we trained this morning, my battle buddy and I decided to stay at Herb's Beach for a few hours and swim around and lay out in the sun. It was absolutely wonderful. I love the beach so much. I had a perfect day bumming around on the beach.

In case you need directions...

 

Living at North Camp is kinda like living in a prison in the middle of the desert... actually that's exactly what it is. So getting to come down to South Camp, which is basically paradise, once a month is a great little mini vacation. Hey, Europeans pay big money to go to the resorts all around South Camp here in the Sinai. You can see the party yachts on the water every night all lit up and bumping music. I'm not used to the Army sending me to a place that is desirable to human beings. So I'll appreciate my monthly vacations to the fullest! 

SSG DeGraf

Yesterday was Tuesday, which means it was Pizza Night in the MFO, which means it was beer night for the Americans. Every Tuesday we are allowed to have 3 beers. It might not sound like much, but we are taking baby steps to being treated like grown adults. If we can handle our beer on Pizza Night, maybe we can handle our beer on OTHER nights!

So I was out enjoying beer last night. We are only allowed to drink between the hours of 1800 and 2100. So after 2100, I didn't have any reason to be at the bar anymore. Time to go home! I walked back to my hooch, and back to wifi Internet. My phone picked up a message from James almost immediately:

 

HOLY SHIT! I am on the by name list of Soldiers being promoted to Staff Sergeant on April 1st!!

I have been stalking the HRC website for years the last week of every month waiting for promotion points to post. This is the one month I wasn't obsessively refreshing the page and it's the one month I actually made points. Beer distracted me!! I couldn't be happier that I found out the good news from my husband, though, since he won't be able to be at the promotion ceremony.

I can't believe I got picked up for Staff Sergeant before attending ALC (Advanced Leaders Course). For Medics, it's SO rare for that to happen. But I'll gladly take it, and on April 1st I'll get promoted to a rank I didn't think I'd see in 2014.

 

 

After I read the text from James, I ran down the hallway of my barracks to tell my battle buddy, Tracy. I gave her a near crazed hug and a few minutes later a whole group of NCOs were at my door hooting and hollering about my promotion.

So by having beer and pizza just before I found out, I suppose I was celebrating without even knowing it.

Cheers to FINALLY being SSG DeGraf! (That sounds so SEXY!)

Force Skills Competition

Over the past 3 days there has been a competition between the contingents called Force Skills Competition. The competition included an obstacle course, 3k run, firing range, and 3 scenario lanes that test your combat skills. I did not compete in this competition, I decided to take a small break from torturing myself. Instead, I was a grader for the Combat Lifesaver (CLS) lane.

 

I was given the opportunity and freedom to reinvent the lane as I saw fit. So I changed the entire grading sheet. In my lane, the teams of 5 had to keep control of a "civilian" mob and treat 2 casualties with life threatening injuries. They also had to send up via radio an incident report and a 9 line medevac.

 

A total of 13 teams were tested on my lane. The Hungarians did the best, hands down! They scored 118 out of a possible 120 points. A few of my Medics had trained them up the week before Force Skills, and I was so proud of my Medics for doing such an outstanding job teaching.

 

A Canadian Soldier applying a pressure dressing.

Uruguayan Soldiers running with their casualty on a litter made from their fatigue tops.

Italian Soldier reading from the casualty's ID tags.

Hungarian Soldier dresses a head wound.

 

Over all, New Zealand won the Force Skills Competition for 2014. But there were several American teams who placed in the other categories, such as highest score at the shooting range.

 

This was such a fun event to be a part of. Working with all the different Armies is such a unique experience. I can tell you first hand, the Australians swear like Sailors and the Fijians are the most respectful people you'd ever meet in your life! The cultural differences I am getting to experience are priceless.

Draw Me

I overheard, "Draw me like one of your French girls," coming from the clinic's waiting room. I wondered if I really wanted to know what was going on. I work with some strange individuals. My curiosity got the best of me. I walked in on this:
 

 

Sometimes it's better to not be a witness to everything that happens in my clinic. 

Gephart is quite the artist though. He captured Rockwell's arrogance quite accurately.

I love my Soldiers. They're so much fun.

Pretty Flowers

Egypt is the desert. Clearly. The past few days its done quite a lot of raining-- which, for some reason, surprised me. In my mind, there was to be little to no rain fall while I was here. I should have been tipped off by all of the alive plant life here that I was incorrect.

 

One strange thing about the rain here is that it doesn't absorb quickly into the sand. I figured the sand would be thirsty for water to keep said plant life alive. But not so much. Instead huge pools of water form everywhere. I feel like I've been mislead about how a desert actually works.

 

I guess the flowers don't need much water to stay alive. They sure are pretty though.

 

 

 

 

Norwegian Foot March

Me & Tracy before we began.

This morning I woke up at 0300 to draw my weapon and have my ruck sack weighed for the Norwegian Foot March. This is an 18.6 mile foot march with a 25lb pack. Now, I know what you're thinking... "You are a huge failure when it comes to road marching, why on Earth would you want to put yourself through this?" Well, although this is a true statement, I wanted to push myself to prove I can win.

 

And I won today.

 

I completed the 18.6 miles in 4 hours and 25 minutes. This time is within the parameters set for males in my age group. All my hard work, sacrifice, and long road marches on the weekends to prepare has paid off.

 

I'm very proud of myself. And of my battle buddy, Tracy. She put in a lot of hard work and hours with me.

 

We're going so fast we're blurry!

Trekking along...

The MEDCO crew who went out for the badge.

Although I don't ever want to do 18.6 miles ever again, I am going to continue to improve my 12 mile time. All I have to say is, EFMB you better watch your back when I get home. I'm going to pass that foot march next!

 

Sausage fingers.

The foot march took its toll on my body. As does every road march. My fingers were swollen sausages by the end. I got a blister on the side of my right big toe and my hips were screaming. But I wasn't nearly as crippled as I have been in the past.

 

When I crossed the finish line, everyone was standing on the sidelines cheering. It felt amazing. I've never experienced that before... usually I collapse just before the finish line and fail. Not this time.

 

The Norwegian Foot March Badge I can wear on my ASUs now.

I earned the bronze badge. If I do the Norwegian a total of 4 times, I'd qualify for the silver badge. And a total of 6 times for the gold badge. But I'm cool with the bronze.

Dust

You know when you step outside and you immediately need to check your phone to see what the weather is like, even though you are clearly standing in the weather? Yep. Well, I did that today because it was very hazy. Hazy with dust. I had to make sure my iPhone could tell me that.

 

We had a sand storm of sorts today. It didn't blow. Tamest storm ever... dust just hung in the air all day.

 

 

Two different weather apps told me so. I couldn't just believe the iPhone app that the current weather condition was "dust". No, hours later I had to confirm with weatherchannel.com that the condition was indeed "sand".

 

 

Are either of those valid weather conditions anyway? I could understand "dusty" or "sandy". When it's cloudy out, the weather condition isn't described as "cloud". Whatever, maybe iPhone was just confused because it knows it shouldn't be in any part of the world where dust and sand just hang in the air.