“If I call your last four you call out and sit down!”

On our way to Kuwait,

The main lady in charge is not native born.  Maybe Chinese, Korean or something, but it is hard to understand her.  Finally she gets some help and now there are two different voices calling out the last four of our social security numbers.  It seems to be working okay, but how their count got mixed up is beyond me…

“Bag drop is 0400 at the parking lot by the 2^nd DFAC.”  Man! That seems early.  Of course that is the start time, so I know that I can get there by 0420 and will still be fine.  After that there is a check-in at 0530 at bldg. #331.  It is cold outside.  Real cold (Not "I can't feel my nose" cold, just high thirties.) I drive to see the XO who is going to see me off and get breakfast.  I drive to the VIP billets and park the car (I leave the heater on and the motor running because it is really cold outside) and try to sleep.  It works okay with some shifting every 15 minutes to check the clock.  Finally the door opens and the XO jumps in.  My phone rings “Hey sir, this is Chief Fischer, they are supposed to check in at #331 at 0530”.  It seems like she thinks I am late when I will be right on time.  We show up at #331 and there are a bunch of Soldiers standing around in the cold.  It appears that the people who are to check us in are not there or they overslept or they can’t find the key.  This is standard operating procedure of course. 

We wait in the car and MAJ Beauty jumps in to talk emergency leave policy. She is just there to support her troops and see them off (those who are going on the TORCH with us.)  After a bit I say the chow hall is open.  Let’s send everybody to chow.  Getting out I call out and Soldiers start walking toward the chow hall.  Enroute there is the building next to the DFAC where we can now sign in.  We eat and exchange pleasantries.  The gravy is too thin (that almost always ruins the meal) but the omelet is terrific again.  

When I am in line some new Soldiers come in to eat. They all got up at 04oo to be there to show their identification tags and card and now have nothing until 0800.  They didn’t read my blog from earlier (obviously!) but they wanted to have “success” which is a code word for not rocking the boat or asking questions.

Time to head over to the busses where we load at 0605.  So we went from the “bag drop” about 300 yards to the closed building and then 150 yards to the DFAC and then another 300 yards to the busses.  Then we boarded and we had to do another head count.  Why don’t they just do it at the busses in the first place? 

“I will tell you what, they cleared (inspected) our barracks and they weren’t half as clean when we moved in as when we left.”  The 7-227^th XO was talking.  No big deal.  But the active duty guys get a little bit of a pass (or so it appears) compared to the Reserve component.  “I would tell General Blanderson myself that they are just doing a bunch of box checking and trying got make us as miserable as possible in the process.”  

That of course is another blog post, but the S3 of the 151^st is standing there and says, “Yeah.  You are not as active duty as you think you are!”  Again the 7-229th XO speaks “ Man I am going to write a book I swear, “First Class Warrior; Second Class Citizen”;  must be a perspective on the expectations of the army for the active and reserve component are the same, but we just get treated differently.  Like cr@p is the way most people feel.

So we signed out, checked in, stood around and now we are doing another headcount.  Soldiers are pretty compliant actually and are used to being treated well or like dirt but in any event they are used to leaders not being well organized.  And you know they are trying.  They have been doing this stuff for nine years, right?

Off the bus at Gray Army Air Field and there is a new group of lines to  scan your identification card while you stand on a scale holding all your carry-on luggage (one) and your weapon.  We are segregated into another room so we don’t mix “checked in” with those yet to check in (plus there are roped off areas).  This is good so now they have a count, right? “All Soldiers E-5 and below come up here so we can get a count….”  “Everybody our count is no good listen as we call your last four…” and that is where we started this post.

Before that though as we passed along the “hug lady” (Ms. Elizabeth, maybe 75?) gave each Soldier a hug and a 91^st Psalm.  Later she reads a story about a farmer from Texas explaining how easy the Army is; it is a well known story and you can read about it later.  Now the second person to speak to the group is from a group called PRAYFAST (Pray for a Soldier Team, which started in 2003) which means they will pray for every Soldier by name from now until 90 days after you return.  But you have to fill out a card and sign your name, because the Army won’t allow them to pray for you without your permission.  Separation of church and state and all that…  Jim West is the volunteer this day, a retired contractor who served in the Air Force in 1968 (3 years, 10 months and 7 days, but who was counting?)

“Did they give you guys magazines?” Asked the XO.  “I have a Forbes, Vision and a Consumer Reports.” “No man, you need your magazines for your security ammo in Kuwait.  I knew I should have followed up with the First Sergeant and the commander (known to some as CPT “Cage Fighter” because of her training regimen and willingness to spar and work out.)” 

On the bus I get a call from the CSM.  Good news!  They are going to get somebody to get magazines and meet us at the terminal.  Terrific.  They better hurry!  If not we will just have the ADVON bring them.  Of course we can’t fire at the range without magazines, but Kuwait is pretty safe regardless of what the S2 tells us.  (He said the danger in Kuwait is “high” although here hasn’t been an incident of any sort in 5 years.)

The magazines get here on time and I take three.  Everybody else gets theirs and we all feel better (actually we don’t care, but whatever…) another announcement (“there will be NO picture taking on the ramp!  IF you have your cell phone or camera out you will NOT be allowed to go forward until it is secured and you WILL and you WILL NOT and if you DO then you WILL etc.)  This end of the airfield has nothing that you can’t get a picture of any other way and there is nothing secret about it.  Rules are made and then nobody remembers why the rule existed and the next thing you know 55 saves lives, speed kills until somebody figures out that it really doesn’t (when they realized that 55 caused accidents they changed their tune...make the “facts” fit your premise.) 

 The civilians are friendly, cheerful and seem like they sometimes missed their callings as drill instructors.  But they were tolerable in any event and we loaded up on the plane.

Soldiers are ready to go forward and perform our mission.  We are ready to do our part for our country and for our nation probably not intellectualizing or understanding the deep philosophical elements at work.  We aren’t consciously giving up our lives, risking our fortunes or placing at risk our sacred honor; No not that.  Only perhaps to…Perhaps to give our lives; perhaps to lose friends; perhaps to come home broken but not defeated.  May God be with us on our journey, with our families in our absence and in His grace and mercy see us all home again by November (if it is His will.)  Amen.