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pecunium01 Jun
If the days stay as steadily dull as this, I may run out of things to say.
It is not as bad as it was at Dogwood. With access to the internet I can find things to entertain my mind (which I feared the lack of books, or outside input might cause to slip). They days here are more dull than they were, because the great company has been reduced to 12 (from more than a hundred) and all but four of us leave for hours every day.
Even were I not damaged goods, I'd be here more often that not, because my workis here, what of it there is.
04 Jun
Brigade has decided they need to control all internet access, so our line to the world is gone. The more cynical among us think it happened because we managed to prevent brigade from stealing our IP address for three days in a row. It's
possible, but I think a desire for control is more likely. That means these may get more sporadic.
Then again, the Division wants to move us further north. We would rather not, for the purely selfish reason that we are comfortable here. We have a roof walls, a floor that is not dirt. Yes, we have flies, and mosquitoes, and no running water, but we are not in bad shape.
If we go north it is almost certain we will be in tents. Which is to say we will be living in ovens, tucked in, one tent among many. Right now we are 12 people in a building. We have some sense of autonomy. We belong to V Corps, which has placed us in a General Support Role for the Division. That means they feed us, supply us and generally keep us in working trim. In response we provide information to them, in accord with what Corps wants to know about this area.
What Division wants is to own us. That won't happen because the Battalion is working in more than one division's area. But Division's arguments on where we will be most useful will probably carry the day.
This is common in MI. Lots of turf battles over who controls units, and areasand what the collection focus is. Just our luck to be the pawn in this one.
My feet are getting better. The general aches and pains are mostly gone, thougha 48 hours cycle of more, then less, pain seems to be setting in. I am no longer debilitated by it, but I am not sure how I feel about taking Indocin for the
next six months, which might be needful. No, I am sure how I feel about it, it beats the alternative. I just hope it doesn't cause other problems.
07 Jun
I seem to be suffering a relapse. It isn't as bed as it was, but the inflammation and the aches are returning. I don't know (and won't until I see the doctor again on Monday, or Wednesday) if this is the result of the condition worsening, or the medication losing effect.
At this point I've finished almost 4 months mobilized, and almost that long deployed. That leave only 2/3rds to go, and a mere (mere, hah) seven months before they have to get us stateside, if we are to be released on the date required. If they need to keep our transition leave inside that window,
then the timeline gets shorter by one month. In any case the end of the tunnel is coming into sight.
Not that there aren't a few things to give one pause. Two weeks ago most of you probably saw an article about three soldiers attached to the 101st dying in a vehicle accident. The belonged to us. Not the Cal. Guard, but the 519th.
I, nor any of the people in the 223rd, did not know any of them. They were part of a company we didn't meet, but the toast we raised when we left, "Everyone comes back," is now unfulfillable.
I also got word that one of the more southern elements of the unit (we are spread from here to there, over a distance greater than that from L.A. to Sonoma) was mortared. I don't know how close the shells were, and I do know that no one was hurt, but still....
Here, in our A/O there was an RPG attack on a convoy. Completely ineffectual, they didn't even manage to hit the road near the convoy (and given the
speeds at which convoys travel, and the way in which the ambush was carried out the odds of my being in a wreck are greater than anyone managing to hit me with an RPG, esp. as I don't get out much) but sobering. All someone with an RPG needs is to do it right (not that hard, but it takes a certain amount of being willing to get killed) and there will be a few more dead troops from the 519th.
Summer is coming. The temperature is rising, the flies are getting thicker and the nights less cool. I envy horses. They can twitch a square inch of skin, and I have to flap my arm, flick my wrist and brush my face to get rid of a fly. I may look spastic when I get home, the least tickle and I try to get rid of the thing I am certain has landed on me.
If we do move again the Dear only knows when I'll be able to send another message. Right now we are detached from the Bn, and the Bde, so we haven't seen mail in two-weeks, and know not when we'll see it next. If it weren't for not knowing where we might be going, or for how long, I'd be
tempted to send a new address, but then I'd have to know how to tell people (three to six weeks in advance) when to stop sending to that address. Better to trust in the present system, no matter how delayed, than to tinker with it. Right
now it isn't broken, just inefficient.
The mess is getting better. We are are told A rats are coming (A Rats are fresh cooked. B Rats are meals cooked behind the lines and hauled up in thermal containers, C Rats are MREs) and regularly get T Rats (sort of grand scale MRE, meant to feed troops in places like this. Each ration will serve about tensoldiers, and they are mixed and matched. Most of them are a stew-like main dishover rice, though there are some pasta dishes and a tamale. The tamales are surprisingly good, though they seem more like enchiladas). The mess tent does
two meals a day, often with cold drinks (well chilled, but nothing like the water I got at the CSH) .
The support here is great. SGT Metcalf, of the the Brigade Combat Team (which is withwhom we are living) is making sure we get as much as he can get. Since he knows the system, inside and out, that is a lot. He's ordered the uniforms and bootswe didn't get in the states, better goggles for the sun and dust, and made surewe knew about things we wouldn't have thought to ask after (like screens for our windows, now all we need is something for the doors).
All of which combine to make the thought of leaving less than thrilling. The issue of moving seems to be a power struggle/turf battle between the 101st, and the Bn, about just what role we're supposed to play. Right now we are independent operators, in the 101 A/O, they want us to be less independent, so they can send us hither and yon on their whims.
Bn isn't crazy about losing overall control of us. If they can make enough of a stink, then maybe Corps will let us stay here, but I don't think the Bn is going to manage to beat the Div.. A lieutenant colonel usually loses when he is fighting a brigadier general.
I guess that sums this one up.
If the days stay as steadily dull as this, I may run out of things to say.
It is not as bad as it was at Dogwood. With access to the internet I can find things to entertain my mind (which I feared the lack of books, or outside input might cause to slip). They days here are more dull than they were, because the great company has been reduced to 12 (from more than a hundred) and all but four of us leave for hours every day.
Even were I not damaged goods, I'd be here more often that not, because my workis here, what of it there is.
04 Jun
Brigade has decided they need to control all internet access, so our line to the world is gone. The more cynical among us think it happened because we managed to prevent brigade from stealing our IP address for three days in a row. It's
possible, but I think a desire for control is more likely. That means these may get more sporadic.
Then again, the Division wants to move us further north. We would rather not, for the purely selfish reason that we are comfortable here. We have a roof walls, a floor that is not dirt. Yes, we have flies, and mosquitoes, and no running water, but we are not in bad shape.
If we go north it is almost certain we will be in tents. Which is to say we will be living in ovens, tucked in, one tent among many. Right now we are 12 people in a building. We have some sense of autonomy. We belong to V Corps, which has placed us in a General Support Role for the Division. That means they feed us, supply us and generally keep us in working trim. In response we provide information to them, in accord with what Corps wants to know about this area.
What Division wants is to own us. That won't happen because the Battalion is working in more than one division's area. But Division's arguments on where we will be most useful will probably carry the day.
This is common in MI. Lots of turf battles over who controls units, and areasand what the collection focus is. Just our luck to be the pawn in this one.
My feet are getting better. The general aches and pains are mostly gone, thougha 48 hours cycle of more, then less, pain seems to be setting in. I am no longer debilitated by it, but I am not sure how I feel about taking Indocin for the
next six months, which might be needful. No, I am sure how I feel about it, it beats the alternative. I just hope it doesn't cause other problems.
07 Jun
I seem to be suffering a relapse. It isn't as bed as it was, but the inflammation and the aches are returning. I don't know (and won't until I see the doctor again on Monday, or Wednesday) if this is the result of the condition worsening, or the medication losing effect.
At this point I've finished almost 4 months mobilized, and almost that long deployed. That leave only 2/3rds to go, and a mere (mere, hah) seven months before they have to get us stateside, if we are to be released on the date required. If they need to keep our transition leave inside that window,
then the timeline gets shorter by one month. In any case the end of the tunnel is coming into sight.
Not that there aren't a few things to give one pause. Two weeks ago most of you probably saw an article about three soldiers attached to the 101st dying in a vehicle accident. The belonged to us. Not the Cal. Guard, but the 519th.
I, nor any of the people in the 223rd, did not know any of them. They were part of a company we didn't meet, but the toast we raised when we left, "Everyone comes back," is now unfulfillable.
I also got word that one of the more southern elements of the unit (we are spread from here to there, over a distance greater than that from L.A. to Sonoma) was mortared. I don't know how close the shells were, and I do know that no one was hurt, but still....
Here, in our A/O there was an RPG attack on a convoy. Completely ineffectual, they didn't even manage to hit the road near the convoy (and given the
speeds at which convoys travel, and the way in which the ambush was carried out the odds of my being in a wreck are greater than anyone managing to hit me with an RPG, esp. as I don't get out much) but sobering. All someone with an RPG needs is to do it right (not that hard, but it takes a certain amount of being willing to get killed) and there will be a few more dead troops from the 519th.
Summer is coming. The temperature is rising, the flies are getting thicker and the nights less cool. I envy horses. They can twitch a square inch of skin, and I have to flap my arm, flick my wrist and brush my face to get rid of a fly. I may look spastic when I get home, the least tickle and I try to get rid of the thing I am certain has landed on me.
If we do move again the Dear only knows when I'll be able to send another message. Right now we are detached from the Bn, and the Bde, so we haven't seen mail in two-weeks, and know not when we'll see it next. If it weren't for not knowing where we might be going, or for how long, I'd be
tempted to send a new address, but then I'd have to know how to tell people (three to six weeks in advance) when to stop sending to that address. Better to trust in the present system, no matter how delayed, than to tinker with it. Right
now it isn't broken, just inefficient.
The mess is getting better. We are are told A rats are coming (A Rats are fresh cooked. B Rats are meals cooked behind the lines and hauled up in thermal containers, C Rats are MREs) and regularly get T Rats (sort of grand scale MRE, meant to feed troops in places like this. Each ration will serve about tensoldiers, and they are mixed and matched. Most of them are a stew-like main dishover rice, though there are some pasta dishes and a tamale. The tamales are surprisingly good, though they seem more like enchiladas). The mess tent does
two meals a day, often with cold drinks (well chilled, but nothing like the water I got at the CSH) .
The support here is great. SGT Metcalf, of the the Brigade Combat Team (which is withwhom we are living) is making sure we get as much as he can get. Since he knows the system, inside and out, that is a lot. He's ordered the uniforms and bootswe didn't get in the states, better goggles for the sun and dust, and made surewe knew about things we wouldn't have thought to ask after (like screens for our windows, now all we need is something for the doors).
All of which combine to make the thought of leaving less than thrilling. The issue of moving seems to be a power struggle/turf battle between the 101st, and the Bn, about just what role we're supposed to play. Right now we are independent operators, in the 101 A/O, they want us to be less independent, so they can send us hither and yon on their whims.
Bn isn't crazy about losing overall control of us. If they can make enough of a stink, then maybe Corps will let us stay here, but I don't think the Bn is going to manage to beat the Div.. A lieutenant colonel usually loses when he is fighting a brigadier general.
I guess that sums this one up.
