poolboy6

Alright, the last week in review.

On Monday, I took a PT test for the school I am going to next month. For those of you not aware, the Army Physical Fitness Test measures how many pushups you do in 2 minutes, how many situps you do in two minutes, and how long it takes you to run two miles. I did 42 pushups (HORRIBLE--I typically do about 60), 60 situps (a little off the mark, 70 is the norm), and my two miles in a slothful 16:30something. Out of 300, I got my lowest score since I was a brand new out of shape overweight private--216. I am not happy about this. I am still within the Army Standard, but I have fallen considerably from my personal standard.

At some point that day, I lost my debit card. Getting a new one is a chore. Fortunately, I like cash and just took out a few hundred on Sunday. So, I have enough to get back to PA and pick my card up in Stroudsburg on Monday.

So, I've been laying low, and not going out much--which means no internet, thus the week-long update. I've been watching a lot of DVDs, mostly Dark Angel. I have to admit it, I started watching it to look at Jessica Alba, and the dialogue is sometimes so bad I wince, but when it finally started to hit its stride... It was a pretty good show. I just started season two. I'm not sure I'm digging on Joshua, the wannabe Vincent.

Anyway. Wednesday. Some of you got a text that night. Well, Tuesday, towards the end of the day, they are like "You have a mandatory briefing tomorrow for WLC. If you don't go to it, you don't go to WLC. We don't know when it is, though." So, I left my cell number--the implied task being CALL ME--and didn't hear anything. So, I come in Wednesday morning and ask when that meeting is. They say "It was at 0600, I told you that!" I was like you didn't tell me shit! He's like "You were there and McCloud was there and Mr. Ferguson." So I go to my boss, Mr. Ferguson. He's like, no, I wasn't around for that. Turns out, none of us were, except for McCloud, who didn't tell me (but probably should have. I was going to tell him when I was waiting for the phone call...). My First Sergeant, the only person in my enlisted chain of command who can actually say is doing right by me in this Get Dennis To WLC So We Can Promote His Ass crusade, told the Ops sergeant to tell everyone individually about the meeting. This task the sergeant failed miserably at. Of the four who were supposed to go, only one went.

SO. They get a makeup briefing. on the 18th. Wait. I fly to PA on the 16th. "Well, do you want to go to WLC or not?"

I swear to God. On three occasions, I had to fight the urge to not charge into the Ops Office and beat the everloving shit out of my Ops Sergeant. I am not a violent man, by any stretch. I haven't been in a fight since the 1980s, not counting deployments.

Yeah... Well, they work out a deal, so I got a one on one briefing and all is well now. But it took WAY more rank to get this squared away than it should have. I had to have two Warrant Officers and a Sergeant First Class get this to happen.

Wednesday sucked. I do not like feeling violent. It's not me.

Anyway. The rest of the week has been fine. I FINALLY got my bags from Iraq, so I am armed with jeans and shirts that I missed dearly.

I took this last night:


And I took this today:


SO. I will be in PA Sunday night. Flood's on Monday. Be there. Unless you're Cthulhusmittens, in which case, we need to get you a fake ID.