Happy Anniversary 02 March 2009 2215

Well, we are still here in Kandahar. It sounds like in the next day or two about ¾ of the Platoon will be heading down to our final stop and the rest will remain here for, what we are being told now, approximately another week to round up extra equipment and complete various other tasks that need to be accomplished. I will be in the crew that stays behind. I haven’t blogged in a few days as one day is much like the next. Some come with a briefing, some come with random things to move. For most people each day consists of 3 meals (2 mile round trip walk each), a bit of PT (physical training), a coffee run to either Green Bean or Tim Horton’s, naps, and a fair amount of video gaming. The mood of the Platoon has shifted a bit from being angry about being jerked around to a bit of tension from within our ranks. There have been several disturbing trends that I have observed over the last few weeks. The first is that as we become accustom to our base, people are finding little secrets and tricks and not only are they not telling everyone about it, they deliberately withhold the intel. I’ve witnessed this on several occasions. Secondly people perpetually judge each other for what they decide to do with their free time. We have groups that work out to kill time, we have groups that play video games, we have groups that watch movies, some sleep, and some spend their time trying to stay in touch with those at home. Some just grow mustaches. It’s trivial and superficial right now, but I can see the groups steadily factioning off. Hopefully when we get to finally go to work in a couple weeks things will level off. Today we had a formation with several units here on Kandahar. 1 SGT got promoted to SSG, several Soldiers got various awards, and one unit got their Combat Patches. Whenever you are deployed during wartime operations overseas, you receive a patch for your right sleeve. It is the insignia of the Command you fall under while deployed. Some people have several that they can choose to wear as they have been deployed under several different Commands. Whenever it is mentioned to our Platoon that we will be getting ours soon, the consensus of all those who already have one is “Who cares”. The answer is I care. They take for granted the amount of shit dealt out in certain crowds to someone with a bare sleeve. Being able to show that I was actually a part of this war, did my job and served my role in the Army is something that I will be proud off. It was one of the contributing factors when deciding whether or not to come on this deployment in the first place. Being in my civilian position, I have a small amount of pull with the “Powers that be”. Being considered a valuable piece of the rear detachment, I was asked on several occasions whether or not I wanted to deploy. I had an out; I really just needed to say the word. I had people willing to go to bat for me if I wanted to go, or if I wanted to stay. One of the major factors was that combat patch. I attend a lot of conferences around the US with a lot of high ranking brass. Being the lowest ranking individual there is hard enough. Being one of the very few who has not been deployed, even once, makes it worse. I know I’m not alone in my desire to get one as I have spoke with at least one other Soldier privately who expressed his desire to receive one. We will be getting one soon. It will be the patch of the 101st Airborne. Seeing as how the 101st will be leaving the theatre soon, we will also fall under their replacement while we are here. That means I should have the option to wear 2 different patches, although I’m pretty sure I’ll wear the 101st. The 101st is a very well known and respected Division in the Army. Tonight we decided to go to the Boardwalk, as is the norm. Over the past few days they have been building up the hockey rink. They moved in more generators for lighting, built a large press box and repainted the whole rink. Tonight we found out why. Every year the team that wins the Kandahar Cup gets to play Team Canada. Team Canada is actually a bunch of retired NHL players who tour around and play in exhibition games for the troops. Right as the game was starting and the announcers were announcing player’s names, a dust storm blew through. It took visibility down to less than 10 feet at times and was hard on, not only laptops, but also ears, eyes and noses. They played through it for about 30 minutes before it finally cleared up for good. It was a pretty entertaining game from what I saw and Team Canada actually lost for the first time since they started touring 3 years ago. I find that most of my time is spent chatting with my wife on Skype or playing video games. When the internet is up I play a bit of Mob and Mafia Wars on Facebook (join my groups!). When I don’t have the net, i.e. whenever I am in the tent and don’t feel like walking a mile plus, I play Oblivion, Morrowind, Halo, and a few others. I haven’t been working out really but all the walking is adding up. I’m losing a bit of weight from all the walking and also from the fact that the DFAC is too far away and sometimes it’s not worth it to walk down and eat. I usually skip a meal a day, which is ok for now as we really aren’t working. We also had a meeting with a CSM (Command Sergeant Major) today. The E-4s and below spoke with him first, then we all came in and had briefs from a few people, and finally it was the E-5s and up turn with the CSM. His section was (for my group) about how to be a better leader. He was a very good speaker but after a while it seemed like he was rambling with some unconnected thoughts. The other briefers were from the Retention Cell. How I usually explain it to new troops, Recruiters get you in the Army, Retention keeps you in. They did their pitch about why we should reenlist and went on their way. The odds of them talking me into reenlisting right now are pretty slim to none. I have a pretty bad taste in my mouth from this deployment and from my first 2 contracts I signed with the Army. I have not only not received a bonus for either contract I have signed, but I have lost $4700. My first enlistment I got no bonus, where others in the same job field were getting several thousand dollars just for signing. On my second contract I received $15,000 for signing up for 6 more years. One stipulation to keeping that bonus was that I did not take a Civilian Mil-Tech job in the first 6 months of that contract. The retention personnel told me that it was 6 months from the date I signed it; it was actually 6 months from the “effective date” of the contract. I signed in August of 06 but it didn’t take effect until Feb of 07. I took my Civilian position in June. When the Army gives you a bonus, or any money it is taxed, so when you sign up for $15,000 you actually get more like $10,300. When you pay it back, they want back the whole $15,000. I was given a memo by my Retention personnel stating that they miss informed me and I submitted a packet to fight the recoupment, to no avail. So why Happy Anniversary? Today marks the 8th year to the day that I have been in the Army. My original contract was 8 years. If I hadn’t reenlisted I could have jumped ship today, if I wasn’t on a deployment. I don’t regret joining the Army, and I mean that. I would not be where I am today without it, and I don’t mean Afghanistan. I’m sure I’ll dive more into that in another post.