Posted by MadArab on Thursday July 31, 2008 @ 05:22am
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With all these shows/movies about Iraq, the army and all.... I've been wondering, where is Caliber? He hasn't logged on in a while. Is he ok? He didn't get orders out of the blue or anything did he? He's not usually the one that vanishes around here, that's usually me. heh

Posted by Caliber on Saturday August 2, 2008 @ 03:33pm
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With all these shows/movies about Iraq, the army and all.... I've been wondering, where is Caliber? He hasn't logged on in a while. Is he ok? He didn't get orders out of the blue or anything did he? He's not usually the one that vanishes around here, that's usually me. heh

Just finished the second phase of Warrant Officer School in Ft. Rucker, AL. I will be graduating on the 5th of August...

No shit, I have been to some tough military schools, but this one takes the cake...

Fortunately this is the last difficult one, the next one is what they call a "gentleman's school" in Ft. Lee, VA. 9-5, 5 days a week. No lock down, no field time, no PT... I go to that one this time next year. That will get me my promo to CW2, then I get a break, then its back to Ft. Leonardwood after that... the list is crazy... Basically every time I want to get promoted, I have to go to another 2 to 6 month school...

Anyway, I am in Alabama until the 5th with extremely intermittent access, then in Texas for my wife's friend's wedding until the 10th, then I will finally be away from this crazy ass hell and be able to take some time to recover

Posted by MadArab on Monday August 4, 2008 @ 04:51am
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Fortunately this is the last difficult one, the next one is what they call a "gentleman's school" in Ft. Lee, VA. 9-5, 5 days a week. No lock down, no field time, no PT... I go to that one this time next year. That will get me my promo to CW2, then I get a break, then its back to Ft. Leonardwood after that... the list is crazy... Basically every time I want to get promoted, I have to go to another 2 to 6 month school...

Way to go man! Congrats!!! You'll have to let me know whenever you're in Fort Lee... great location right next to the Petersburg battlefield. I went down there when I drove with Stealth and Volt across country. It's a shame Petersburg is such a slum, because there are some really beautiful parts of the city, and some of the colonial houses are amazing. The Battlefield though, is beautiful... and the history about the siege on the town is pretty interesting stuff.

Posted by Caliber on Wednesday August 6, 2008 @ 10:04pm
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Fortunately this is the last difficult one, the next one is what they call a "gentleman's school" in Ft. Lee, VA. 9-5, 5 days a week. No lock down, no field time, no PT... I go to that one this time next year. That will get me my promo to CW2, then I get a break, then its back to Ft. Leonardwood after that... the list is crazy... Basically every time I want to get promoted, I have to go to another 2 to 6 month school...

Way to go man! Congrats!!! You'll have to let me know whenever you're in Fort Lee... great location right next to the Petersburg battlefield. I went down there when I drove with Stealth and Volt across country. It's a shame Petersburg is such a slum, because there are some really beautiful parts of the city, and some of the colonial houses are amazing. The Battlefield though, is beautiful... and the history about the siege on the town is pretty interesting stuff.

We did a staff ride to Andersonville (and the POW museum) I think like last wednesday (time is a bit fuzzy these days). Was very cool, sparked a bit of interest in visiting old battlefields and historic war sites. So yeah, that would be cool, I'll let you know...

Posted by MadArab on Thursday August 7, 2008 @ 04:55am
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We did a staff ride to Andersonville (and the POW museum) I think like last wednesday (time is a bit fuzzy these days). Was very cool, sparked a bit of interest in visiting old battlefields and historic war sites. So yeah, that would be cool, I'll let you know...

Yeah, the Civil War battlefields are pretty cool stuff!

Posted by MadArab on Monday August 4, 2008 @ 04:59am
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as a side note, let me know if you're ever out at Bragg, Monroe, Eustis, Belvoir, Meade or Myer... if you know ahead of time, I'll make sure I plan a business trip to the area so I can buy you a drink or something man.

Posted by Caliber on Wednesday August 6, 2008 @ 10:02pm
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as a side note, let me know if you're ever out at Bragg, Monroe, Eustis, Belvoir, Meade or Myer... if you know ahead of time, I'll make sure I plan a business trip to the area so I can buy you a drink or something man.

That would have been good to know about 2 months ago. Was in DC for the Army Excellence Awards for like a week. I'll be headed back next year though, hehe... Otherwise, yeah, I'll hit you up...

Posted by MadArab on Thursday August 7, 2008 @ 04:54am
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as a side note, let me know if you're ever out at Bragg, Monroe, Eustis, Belvoir, Meade or Myer... if you know ahead of time, I'll make sure I plan a business trip to the area so I can buy you a drink or something man.

That would have been good to know about 2 months ago. Was in DC for the Army Excellence Awards for like a week. I'll be headed back next year though, hehe... Otherwise, yeah, I'll hit you up...

Shitty... I was in DC about 2 months ago too. I'll be in Norfolk next Monday for about a week and a half. That Naval station out there is enormous!

Posted by Caliber on Sunday August 10, 2008 @ 11:12pm
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as a side note, let me know if you're ever out at Bragg, Monroe, Eustis, Belvoir, Meade or Myer... if you know ahead of time, I'll make sure I plan a business trip to the area so I can buy you a drink or something man.

That would have been good to know about 2 months ago. Was in DC for the Army Excellence Awards for like a week. I'll be headed back next year though, hehe... Otherwise, yeah, I'll hit you up...

Shitty... I was in DC about 2 months ago too. I'll be in Norfolk next Monday for about a week and a half. That Naval station out there is enormous!

Navy is poo ;)

Posted by Stealth on Monday August 11, 2008 @ 04:23am
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as a side note, let me know if you're ever out at Bragg, Monroe, Eustis, Belvoir, Meade or Myer... if you know ahead of time, I'll make sure I plan a business trip to the area so I can buy you a drink or something man.

That would have been good to know about 2 months ago. Was in DC for the Army Excellence Awards for like a week. I'll be headed back next year though, hehe... Otherwise, yeah, I'll hit you up...

Shitty... I was in DC about 2 months ago too. I'll be in Norfolk next Monday for about a week and a half. That Naval station out there is enormous!

Navy is poo ;)

And Norfolk is like the mudbutt version of poo.. just nasty.

Posted by MadArab on Monday August 11, 2008 @ 01:10pm
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And Norfolk is like the mudbutt version of poo.. just nasty.

Well, I'm out in Norfolk again for about 8 days. We're moving our office from Virginia Beach to Norfolk. There are some really nice places out here, but few and far between, that's for sure. Most of the hotels out here are complete ASS though!

Posted by Stealth on Wednesday August 13, 2008 @ 11:31am
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And Norfolk is like the mudbutt version of poo.. just nasty.

Well, I'm out in Norfolk again for about 8 days. We're moving our office from Virginia Beach to Norfolk. There are some really nice places out here, but few and far between, that's for sure. Most of the hotels out here are complete ASS though!

Well that sucks.. that whole area is just so bleh.

And hey, how are you liking that nasty humidity and stickiness.. bleh!

Posted by MadArab on Wednesday August 13, 2008 @ 07:33pm
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Well that sucks.. that whole area is just so bleh.

Yeah, well whatever, I've been stuck in the office dealing with hell since I arrived. Nothing more fun than moving into an AT&T building, when AT&T isn't the LEC, and ordering PRI and MPLS circuits from each of the competing LEC's out there (Verizon & COX). Dude, an absolute fucking nightmare and a half! That, and learning to deal with the people in AT&T, and how they do things... OMG!!! They question EVERYTHING! You ask for a data run, you get a cable, and that's it. No ends, nothing terminated, nothing... because you didn't specifiy it. So then you tell them you need a patch panel.... nevermind. I could go on and on...

And hey, how are you liking that nasty humidity and stickiness.. bleh!

It's not that bad believe it or not... I can deal with it. I'd just really like a little down time to get out and down to old town portsmouth to take some pictures, maybe a harbor ride or something... see something other than the freeway and hotel room. Thank god for the olympics!

Posted by Caliber on Wednesday August 13, 2008 @ 12:33pm
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And Norfolk is like the mudbutt version of poo.. just nasty.

Well, I'm out in Norfolk again for about 8 days. We're moving our office from Virginia Beach to Norfolk. There are some really nice places out here, but few and far between, that's for sure. Most of the hotels out here are complete ASS though!

Well that sucks.. that whole area is just so bleh.

And hey, how are you liking that nasty humidity and stickiness.. bleh!

How far is that from Ft. Lee?

Posted by MadArab on Wednesday August 13, 2008 @ 07:28pm
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And hey, how are you liking that nasty humidity and stickiness.. bleh!

How far is that from Ft. Lee?

Fort Lee to Norfolk? 6-7 hour drive.

Posted by Caliber on Thursday August 14, 2008 @ 06:14am
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And hey, how are you liking that nasty humidity and stickiness.. bleh!

How far is that from Ft. Lee?

Fort Lee to Norfolk? 6-7 hour drive.

good, maybe that won't be so blah then

Posted by Krux on Saturday August 2, 2008 @ 06:28pm
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With all these shows/movies about Iraq, the army and all.... I've been wondering, where is Caliber? He hasn't logged on in a while. Is he ok? He didn't get orders out of the blue or anything did he? He's not usually the one that vanishes around here, that's usually me. heh

Just finished the second phase of Warrant Officer School in Ft. Rucker, AL. I will be graduating on the 5th of August...

Congratulations.

Posted by Caliber on Sunday August 3, 2008 @ 06:26am
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With all these shows/movies about Iraq, the army and all.... I've been wondering, where is Caliber? He hasn't logged on in a while. Is he ok? He didn't get orders out of the blue or anything did he? He's not usually the one that vanishes around here, that's usually me. heh

Just finished the second phase of Warrant Officer School in Ft. Rucker, AL. I will be graduating on the 5th of August...

Congratulations.

thankyousir

Posted by MadArab on Thursday July 31, 2008 @ 05:18am
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Watched Stop-Loss last night, with Ryan Phillipe, or whatever his name is. Another movie about Iraq, it's not the greatest movie, but definitely not the worst.

This movie puts into perspective what I believe a lot of people are forgetting about how many of our troops came back from previous wars... the struggles they face dealing with the horrors they saw, difficulty coming home to families, and being faced with a stop-loss (re-upped for another tour of duty despite fulfilling signed commitment) on the day of separation.

http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/03/28/movies/28stop.html

Posted by voltaic on Saturday August 2, 2008 @ 03:51pm
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Soldiers are sadly some of the most mistreated people in America. I mean on an individual basis, sure most everyone loves them. But when they need something en masse, like better funding for post-military education, better VA health care, or mental help of any kind, they get the same thing everyone else does: shit. The reason this is worse for them compared to everyone else, is that they willingly offered up more than anyone else, even those who never saw combat.

Vietnam soldiers got it worse because they didn't even have the personal support structure that most other combat veterans do: home life, family and girlfriends, social acceptance. But it still basically sucks for all of them.

Posted by MadArab on Monday August 4, 2008 @ 05:18am
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Soldiers are sadly some of the most mistreated people in America. I mean on an individual basis, sure most everyone loves them. But when they need something en masse, like better funding for post-military education, better VA health care, or mental help of any kind, they get the same thing everyone else does: shit. The reason this is worse for them compared to everyone else, is that they willingly offered up more than anyone else, even those who never saw combat.

Vietnam soldiers got it worse because they didn't even have the personal support structure that most other combat veterans do: home life, family and girlfriends, social acceptance. But it still basically sucks for all of them.

I do believe that post military education is better now than probably ever before... except maybe for WW2 vets. I can hardly believe how much people get now, and even my own benefits which are expiring in October are unbelievable. I used most of my money going to school, but still had some left over. Because of that, and increases in allowances going up dramatically since the early 2000's, I have almost as much available for me to use now as I did when I first started getting my GI Bill benefits. The Army college fund is a fantastic resource to stack onto the GI Bill for continuing education. Unfortunately, kids are usually stupid at 18, and pass that up for an enlistment bonus (it's either or) that they waste... or they don't sign up for the GI Bill which is a requirement for the college fund to be given.... of course, the college fund is only available to those jobs they are desperately in need of.

Anywho... the Air Force offered no such benefit like the Army College Fund, only the GI Bill. On the other hand, Air Force members are more likely to be able to take advantage of Tuition Assistance, and do correspondence courses or on base college classes, since we're not "in the shit" so to speak like the Army and Marines.

VA Health Care on the other hand, absofuckinglutley! I was talking to somebody at work the other day about that, and they have to go every now and then to get re-evaluated for his disability from the VA, and says the hospital he goes to is horrible... and I've heard similar stories around the country to the lack of good VA Health facilities. I feel very fortunate to of had such a good base hospital back at Nellis. It was brand new when I got there, and very well staffed. I have then to thank for still having use and feeling of my middle finger, and the reconstructive surgery they did on one of my friends was top notch shit!!

Posted by voltaic on Monday August 4, 2008 @ 10:36pm
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I do believe that post military education is better now than probably ever before...

It is, but in my view it is not enough. You have to understand the pedestal on which I put those who volunteers years of their lives to defend me (in the aggregate, as obviously there are always shitbirds). You want to see my point of view, look at how the Roman Empire (2nd c. BC to about 3rd c. AD) treated victorious soldiers in the context of their day.

Posted by Caliber on Wednesday August 6, 2008 @ 10:06pm
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I do believe that post military education is better now than probably ever before...

It is, but in my view it is not enough. You have to understand the pedestal on which I put those who volunteers years of their lives to defend me (in the aggregate, as obviously there are always shitbirds). You want to see my point of view, look at how the Roman Empire (2nd c. BC to about 3rd c. AD) treated victorious soldiers in the context of their day.

I'd much rather just get paid more ;)

Posted by voltaic on Wednesday August 6, 2008 @ 10:50pm
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It is, but in my view it is not enough. You have to understand the pedestal on which I put those who volunteers years of their lives to defend me (in the aggregate, as obviously there are always shitbirds). You want to see my point of view, look at how the Roman Empire (2nd c. BC to about 3rd c. AD) treated victorious soldiers in the context of their day.

I'd much rather just get paid more ;)

That's what I said, in part. You really should look it up some time. Roman history > pirates and shit.

Posted by Caliber on Sunday August 10, 2008 @ 11:13pm
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It is, but in my view it is not enough. You have to understand the pedestal on which I put those who volunteers years of their lives to defend me (in the aggregate, as obviously there are always shitbirds). You want to see my point of view, look at how the Roman Empire (2nd c. BC to about 3rd c. AD) treated victorious soldiers in the context of their day.

I'd much rather just get paid more ;)

That's what I said, in part. You really should look it up some time. Roman history > pirates and shit.

Perhaps I wasn't clear...

I'd much rather just get paid more