Catchstar

Oookay, Where to begin?

Well. PT *did* suck. I’d say about 60% of us (myself included) fell out of the 4 mile run. We’re alllll out of shape now. It’s funny because I thought I would do so much better than what I actually did. I use to be able to run 4-8 miles nonstop and be okay. But by the time we got through half a mile, I was dying. I told my coworker I was soooo falling out.

After that, I pretty much worked my ass off. Fixing computers all over the place. Setting up printers. Cracking Smart cards. It never ends. I also got to teach some of my minions. Some of them pick up quickly, and some of them do not. Oh well. At least I have minions. =)

Our OIC (Officer in Charge) is already making crazy promises with MY name. Example: “What’s that sir? You want to your email set up on the moon? Sure thing. Riggs can take care of that for you.” or “What’s that? You need to have a printer installed on your tennis shoe? No problem. I’ll have Riggs take care of that for you.“

I have no problem with promising people things I can do. However, I would appreciate it if they would put in a work order, wait their turn, and maybe ask me if it’s possible first.

The other day I had the Sergeant Major trying to get me to forward his Outlook email to his Nokia cellphone. His logic behind this was along the lines of “My Blackberry is a phone. My blackberry gets emails. My Nokia is a phone. My Nokia should get emails.”

It doesn’t work that way.

Okay. Moving on. We had a battalion formation and our colonel says “Fuck it, you guys can have Monday off too” So now I’ve got a 4 day weekend, and I’m loving it.

When I was hooking up the 1SG’s computer with a gpupdate /force… He asked me how much time I have left in the army. I told him I get out in November. He said he’s gonna have to sit down with me sometime and have a “serious discussion” about why I should re-enlist, stay cavalry, and do 20 years in the army.

I will not be bullied.

You can talk till your blue in the face. It will do no good. This has been a part of my plan for years. Do my time in the army, get out, move on. I think my readers here know that I don’t want to stay in the army. It’s not for me. I used it, I got what I needed, they most certainly got their money’s worth out of me (Iraq) and now it’s time we part ways.

At the moment I am still dead set on pursuing my dream job. That means I’ll be taking the Orlando-Florida-College, Work-my-ass-off, Learn-programming route. But if things change, of course I’ll let you readers know.

Moving on to more horrid problems. Fort Bliss is hosting… a ball. Yes. A ball. As in music, dancing, gussied up ‘fun’. And everyone is ‘invited’ (AKA mandatory participation). I have to go out and buy a bow tie for my Class A’s. I hate wearing those Class A’s. Plus… I have no date to bring to the ball… So I’m gonna show up as the loser with no date. It’s in March. Maybe I can find someone by then… but I know myself. =(

Y’know, I wish I didn’t HAVE to go. I just think I would enjoy such a service more if I had the freedom to “choose” to go. They said if I don’t go, I’d have to do the Valet service. I’m not driving somebody’s fucking car. And they know me — They do not want me driving their car. Because if I don’t like them… well. >=)

Moving on…

I may actually get out of the army on time!!! I get out in November, and our next deployment has supposedly (cross your fingers) been pushed back from December to May. I would love to be a free man again. =)

… I’m really excited about that. I wish I could imprint my feelings into this OD. To show you guys. It would be better expressed that way. I can’t use words as well as some of my readers can (Helen).

Honestly, the first thing I’m going to do when I get out of the army… is go to the ocean, at night, and sob. Over everything that’s happened to me. The Atlantic Ocean. I don’t know why, but I think that would make me feel better. Plus, I’m going to ‘liberate’ a rock I took from Iraq. I figured that rock has been in Iraq forever and a day. I’m gonna take him to an OCEAN and toss him in. Whether he wants it or not. I’m going to ‘liberate’ him from that shithole.

And I’m going to go and visit every friend that I can. It’s gonna be great. Lots of time in Avon Park. Joey, Joey, Dustin, Jonathan, Chris, Brooke, my sister April… I’m going to visit them all.

And then… I’ll start school! And what a new and exciting experience that will be! To be a civilian, blending with other civilians, learning how to be a civilian… Wiring down… Speaking common words! Not Latrine, PT, ACAP, DFAC, PX, DOIM, ASDFASFWJSFASDKLFJA;SLDF. No more acronym cities like the military. No more rank! The ability to quit a job if I don’t like it. To have a soul again. It will be nice. And no more third world country war zones. No more friends being murdered. No more year long times away from everyone and everything that matters.

It brings a stinging sensation to my eyes now to type that. I just… can’t wait. I really can’t wait to be free again.

Moving on,

We had a urinalysis Thursday. They tested us for Marijuana, crack, ecstasy, and Oxycodine. That’s bad. Oxycodine = Percocet, My previous drug I loved soooooo much when I had my wisdom teeth removed. However, it was prescription though, so I will be okay. But still, I know for the first 10-20 minutes when that drug test comes back positive, they are gonna be chewing me out so bad I wont be able to speak up. But once I finally CAN speak up and say “Prescription” they’ll all feel like jackasses. =)

So I’m enjoying my 4 day. You guys have a good weekend.

~Bruce