Recently I have been working some pretty long hours, up to over 16-hour days. I also traveled to meet with our squadron and try to help them out. I found out about the trip Saturday afternoon, I was going to be going to the squadron for the week to help them with a few things and try to make them better, and also represent the detachment for a few DVs (Distinguished Visitors). The bad part about this was that I had to figure out how to make a 3-day pack last as a 5-day pack... At the PX I found an external bag that could strap to my 3-day pack. Sunday I woke up between 10am and noon I went to work around 1445, I talked to my captain to get the final details and find out when I had to be where. I finally got the information around 2200, and found that I had be ready to go in 8 hours, that was more than enough time, but I was hoping to atleast try to sleep some that night. I was told to leave work an rest and get ready for the trip, I got back to my room around 2230 or so. I started packing my bag, making sure that I had everything that I needed. I was finished packing and more than ready to go by 2345, I couldn't go to sleep yet because of my shift recently, I was going to sleep between 0300 and 0400. I was planning on getting up around 0500 to make sure I was ready to go on time, we were getting picked up at 0545. There were three of us going: me, the captain, and the systems guy (Speece). Around 0200, I decided that I needed to get some sleep, I laid down and tried to go to sleep, I slept for about 20 minutes then woke up and was wide awake! I wasn't happy. I ended up being awake until my alarm when off. So I showered, double checked my gear and got ready to leave. In no time at all we were at the terminal waiting to find out if we got on the flight, we did. It was a C-130, this was only the second military aircraft I have flown on, the first was the C-17 that brought me here.
After we found out that we had a seat in the aircraft, we went to Green beans. http://www.greenbeanscoffee.com/ Green Beans is an awesome coffee shop that caters to military and give a portion of their proceeds to the military. On that website you can send a coupon for a free coffee to a military member. AND they make AMAZING coffee. Between Speece and I at work, we probably drink 4 pots of coffee a day, the captain has a few cups also. We decided that the day couldn't start that early without coffee, so we went and got some. Speece introduced me to the white chocolate mocha, I dont really know what it was besides Heaven in a cup! We got on the plane while we were in the air, I was able to get a little more sleep, then the Captain started taking pictures and the flash woke me up.
When we landed we checked in, and called our ride to come pick us up. He took us to the squadron where we were welcomed like we were a part of the family. Well that is pretty much a lie, they said hi to us and then went about their business. I tried to employ my skills and knowledge... No one seemed to care or want anything from me. Then it came time for one of the briefers from the squadron to brief their guys and my guys at my unit. The briefer tried blaming his laziness on my unit in front of everyone during the brief. I spoke up and made it known that he had the knowledge for the past 13 hours in his e-mail and told him it was not my units fault. Although I was probably out of line talking to someone who outranked me in the middle of a brief like that, I can't stand incompetence! Later Speece told me that I did a good job and to keep it up. After the brief was done, I showed the briefer a few things, I didn't feel like he was listening or retaining any of the information that I was giving him. I moved on and tried to help other people. I tried to talk to almost everyone in the squadron, in the end Speece and I ended up hanging up the Chain of Command board before the DVs were supposed to come though and we took the trash out.
I ended up staying at the squadron until about 0030 Tuesday morning, if you are keeping track of awake hours that is between 36 and 38 hours... I walked to my tent and slept for a few hours. We were meeting one of the people from the squadron at the Green Bean at 0700, so I was able to get around 5 hours of sleep. Tuesday morning we met up, grabbed some coffee and breakfast and went into work. The briefer was getting set up, I offered a few suggestions, some were accepted. The briefer and the guy that brought us into the squadron informed us that the DV wasn't going to be coming through to see us, then they left to go get some stuff from another building on base. I stayed and did some research for them to try and help them. When they came back they brought coffee for Speece and Me, so I couldn't be too upset with them. There was a coffee maker in the office and I had it working overtime. Around mid-day I talked to the Captain to see if Speece and I could head back to our unit on Wednesday so that we could get back to work since we weren't being utilized correctly, he eventually agreed. He also asked me about my thoughts on the squadron and what we could do to help them and what they could do to help us.
As we were talking through all of that, one of the briefers came in the room and asked if I would mind briefing some of the slides for the next brief, I agreed and asked when the brief was so I knew how much time I had to prepare. She then told me that the brief was just about to start... Thanks for the warning. Whatever, I briefed it and did a great job and the crew thanked me for it later on. After the brief I talked to that briefer to see if she needed help with anything, and of course she didn't.
Speece and I ended up leaving around 1930 or so to check in at the terminal for Space A and get dinner and call it a night. We also went to the coffee shop again. Wednesday morning we ended up riding a blackhawk back to our base. That was pretty cool! I got up that morning at 0500 to leave, we got to our unit around 1030 and I stayed and worked until 0200 Thursday morning. It was yet again another long day. By the end of those days I dont feel like my mind is over worked or anything, Im just too tired to go to the gym.
Wednesday while I was at work, I had to call the briefers a few times to get some info from them, they thanked me for my input and said that I had alot of good ideas... Thanks, I guess.
Mary is going to be moving into our new house today. She has help from the people I work with back home, my parents, her parents, and her sister and her family! I hope that the move goes smoothly for them. There was a water main that broke Wednesday.... She says that it is fixed now, I hope so.
I have a few pictures from my trip and I will try to upload them tonight when I get off of work. I miss and love all of you! bye!
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