Randomness

Story from last week:

http://www.usarak.army.mil/AlaskaPost/Oct24Story9.asp



I also took one of the pics of the week, which I think is really just a fancy name for a stand-alone... :) its the brigade run pic at the bottom of the Alaska Post home page.

So I was sitting in my car, talking to my best friend on the phone, when a real live mangy wolf ran by. This is about 100 yards from my front door. Not only did I almost have a heart attack, and was just thoroughly creeped out, it also took me a good 30 minutes to gather enough courage to take myself back in the house. Thanks to that stupid wolf, every morning now starts with a sprint through the darkness to my car.

It was 6 degrees this morning. I dont have child- or probably even adult-appropriate language for my comment on that.

I leave Wednesday for the National Training Center in California and have been trying to get all my Army gear packed. I have a ruck and a duffel, one of which is carried on my back, and the other on the front. When I load up like this, I cant even see over my duffel, so essentially I become the filling to an Army-bag sandwich. Just these two bags weigh about as much as I do. Then I have to add an assault pack, my camera bag, a lap top bag, and a super-large pelican case (its like a plastic suitcase that is big enough for me to sit in) as well as my M-4, and someone else's M-4. When I get all of this together, I am no longer visible. Walking is an issue. And this is just the load for NTC, not Afghanistan.....

Im learning to play the guitar... that is my personal mission over my deployment. Its about time for a new skill-set, and I have wanted to play since I was little. So I am now in search of a beautiful guitar of my very own. Between the guitar, my M-4 and my camera, I should be set for companions in Afghanistan... ;) They all still need names though. Sigh.

These are the days...

I covered a story for some of the infantry guys yesterday, and while it was an intellectually exhausting day (crash course in some tactical/technical stuff) I quite enjoyed it. Again, seeing these guys in action, gives me confidence and security in this Army. They know what they are doing, they are training thoroughly, and they are brave men with incredible stories! I feel so privileged to sit with them and hear about their adventures, and to get some behind-the-scenes insight into the inner workings of their jobs and missions. As I spend more and more time with some of the leadership here, I am discovering that their diversity is really the heartbeat of the Army... different men from different backgrounds with 20+ years of unique experience to be rightfully hard-headed about, and bring all of it together, or in some cases they lay it all aside (often, not always :p) in order to grow, develop, and strengthen each other and the next generation of leaders. They have un-ending wisdom, backed by their own trial and error. They are passionate and proud. These are amazing men, true heroes, and I love nothing more than listening... whether it is their battle-stories, their personal achievements, or some technical knowledge, as long as they are talking, I'm good.

On a lighter note, and perk # 18002 of being a public affairs specialist... the Brigade Run was this morning. Spc Steve and I were tasked with its documentation, so we stood at the start and photographed... drove to the turnaround point and photographed... and then went to breakfast. Not that I don't enjoy a good high-energy run now and then, but rumor has it that our Col. likes to run, so I'm sure the opportunity will present itself at some point. However, the freezing air and slick road was enough to make me thankful, once again, that I have the best job in the Army! It was immense entertainment however, because, people love us. Ok, they love the cameras (we like to pretend its us...) They see them, and with the nature of the run being fairly loud as it is, they get all excited and scream and bark and all sorts of fun nonsense. My 400 pictures were probably the best pictures I have had the pleasure of scrubbing, between the fantastic facial expressions of the people who were, uh, struggling a tad with the run, and the goofy guys screaming "woot-woot" at the cameras with their arms up touchdown-style and tongues hanging out... ahhh, good times, to say the least. Of course, the picture that we publish is the nice Army-style guide-on with the Col leading his long brigade of well-disciplined, trained and proficient professionals in a lovely early morning Airborne shuffle... ;) Which, I suppose, is exactly what it was... with a big dose of motivation brought to you by... PAO. Man, I love this!

So then, it was off to the Volunteer Ceremony, which happened to be an assembly of pretty much every significant rank in the whole brigade. 6 awardees, each of which stood front and center with the Col., Command Sgt. Maj. and their various battalion command groups, smiled at me - also now standing front and center, while I snapped each picture, which had to then be printed and framed and given to them. I know this sounds trivial, but not only was I the only private in the room, as well as the only female soldier in the room, both of which already makes me stand out like I have three heads or something, I'm also walking around with a big ass camera while every big-wig I know (and don't know) watches me do my job. So I was feeling a little watched, a little analyzed, and a lot of pressure. And of course its dead silent. And of course my stupid retarded self decided to count to three so these people can be "prepared", including the Col who has probably taken more pictures than the number of days of my life and I'm certain (now that my calm rational mind has re-surfaced) that he knows how to pose for a snapshot. AND, I have this bright idea that since I tend to get in trouble for not "sounding off" (aka being military-loud) I'm going to hold up my fingers as I count to three JUST in case they cant hear me. I may as well have had a hot-pink squeaky toy and asked them to say "cheese." So I take the first picture, one.. two.. three.. and people are snickering. On the second they are flat laughing. I'm suddenly aware of how young and female my voice sounds in the midst of all these battle-worn veterans, and how silly I must look standing there holding my fingers up like they are kindergartners. Oh, I'm so embarrassed, I'm blushing just writing this stupid story. I had a few light-hearted comments afterwards, and sufficient laughter from Sgt, who seems to be laughing at me a lot lately...

On the personal front, Mys started puking at 6 last night, as children tend to do the night before a long day. Every 15 minutes, or every time I tried to get her to drink something, up it came. We tried to learn that the toilet is the best place for this, but I think only managed to actually puke in the toilet one time. I gave up after the first 2 hours. I was trying to cuddle her and she just kept sighing "Mama" and looking at me like why cant I fix it. Very heartbreaking. After 12 straight hours of this, we finally caved and took her to the ER for a fix. I hate giving kids drugs, I really think that bodies have reactions for a reason and suppressing those reactions is potentially a lot worse in the long run. So I try to avoid it, but she was definitely dehydrated and that scares me. She's still not feeling good, but I do enjoy this sweet and cuddly side of her... jammies and movies always made being sick bearable when I was little, unfortunately all our movies are in Texas, except the trilogy of Dora the Explorer that we have on hand. I liked her before, but now, I want to shoot Dora in the head. Actually, Id like to torture her first... Dont let me see a big stuffed Dora in the store... we will fight.

Sunday

For those of you who dont like searching through the Alaska e-Post to try and find my stories, Ill try to remember to link them.
Story 2
http://www.usarak.army.mil/alaskapost/Archives2008/081010/Oct10Story1.asp

Story 3
http://www.usarak.army.mil/AlaskaPost/Oct17Story11.asp

I happen to love the Cav guys!! I have another story due tomorrow at noon for them, I didnt blog about it since Im writing a story, but it was much fun!! Scrubbing the 2000+ pictures that I took however, is a little tedious... and after I blog, Im off to work on a Sunday night (and worked til 1am Saturday) to try and get this deadline.

Finding a church here has been an issue of procrastination. Finally sucked it up this morning and went, and... it was good. Go figure. The church is huge beyond reason, the kids area is like a giant Alaska-animal-inspired Noah's Ark type play-place... I would have been, hey, in heaven, if I was a kid there. :) They had a native drum performance during the worship service. The music was good, the people were friendly... But mostly the kids programs are developed, safe, and thorough. Made me want to actually go work in the kids ministry (HAHA, funny, funny!) All this procrastination for nothing...

We went to the zoo yesterday. I decided that its just wrong for porcupines to look so deceptively cuddly. I wanted to squeeze him, and he had the cutest widdle face.
Wolves are evil. there's something about them that gives me the willies. Mys said "I no laak dat doggy." Even she knew. Of course, that may have had to do with them eyeing her like a bite sized morsel. No joke.
The polar bear and grizzly bear were snoozing soundly, both looking like perfect big body pillows, fuzzy and warm. I think the rumors of vicious attacks are made up, they were certainly just begging for a napping buddy! The black bear, however, stared us down and convinced me in the process that my final conclusion on bear-mace is that if he ever gets close enough for me to mace him, indeed, I have reached the end.
It was very educational reading all the signs and watching all the Alaskan animals. I never knew they had snow leopards here (not my most logical thought process, duh), and I thought they captured Big-Foot... which turned out to be the biggest, furriest... camel.. Ive ever seen. Who knew! Anyhow, Im trying to educate myself on this strange part of the world, and the zoo was a good start.

The Cherry (fruit snacks)

Tradition mandates that Paratroopers fresh out of Airborne school have to put cherries or a cherry pie in their pocket on their first REAL jump at their unit, so that when they land the cherries will pop, representing essentially... well, you know.
Sgt, being in a semi-foggy state recently (I believe its due to his new baby), forgot the cherries and the pie, and in a desperate attempt to fulfill the tradition... gave me a bag of cherry fruit snacks to stuff in my pocket. I quite liked the idea, because I don't have to scrub cherry goo out of my ACUs.
So after the last two jumps got scratched, today I finally completed Jump 6 of my career... video camera in hand. I jumped with one of the infantry battalions, and as my job tends to go, everyone was very friendly, helpful and accommodating. The jumpmasters let me move around the aircraft to get footage, and even sent me to the door as we flew past Mt. McKinley so I could see the view (which happened to be amazing.) I filmed the first pass, and lined up to jump the last pass, as the last jumper. I was a little concerned because we have 26 seconds of green-light (aka drop zone space that is fit for landing) and 25 jumpers. Which means the last jumpers have the potential to land in trees or rocks or other such nonsense if everyone else doesn't get their happy ass out the door fast, quick, and in a hurry.
So I was nervous, almost as bad as the first jump, and then I looked at the door, remembered my only option was out, and there was nothing I could do about it... logged the fact that yes, I must be crazy, and somehow all of that calmed me down. I had to stash my camera before jumping, and then I shuffled happily out the door behind all these infantry guys... felt the whhoooooooossshhhhh that I didn't know I had been missing so much... one thousand, two thousand, three thousand... the very welcome tug as the chute catches... check canopy, all is well, and then I focused on the camera. The pouch was a little awkward, so it took a precious second to get it out... then I had it up and pushed record.
"Slip away, slip away..." Someone yelled, sounding a little to close for comfort. I spun my head around and saw suspension lines, and feet.
Oh shit.
So I try to pull a slip... problem is, I have a video camera in one hand. For future reference, slips don't work very well unless you use two hands. I'm pulling desperately on one riser, which is doing absolutely no good, when I realize the guy underneath me is also yelling... "Slip away." Ok, buddy, thats what we are doing. Its not working, so fine, Ill try something else... So I let go of my one piddly riser, a little too fast, and whoopEEE, I'm freaking oscillating 800 feet in the air like a giant green pendulum. Fantastic. So all three of us are trying to pull slips to no avail, and I look up just in time to watch my chute float right over and into the chute next to me.
See, the funny thing about air, is that when someone on the bottom is using it, there isn't any air to be had for whoever is on top. I watch in horror as my chute collapses and all I can think is "wow" while my heart gets left in the sky during my happy little free-fall.
Once I get below the guy, my chute catches its own air again and I get another tug from my harness, which at this point is the most glorious feeling of my life. The guy next to me said "Wow, did you see that?!" Like, seriously?! Dude... I FELT it, lived it, and frankly, thought I was at the end of my life... But, hmm, I kinda liked it. Ok, maybe I liked the rush, but either way...
The camera captured my dumbfounded response: "Ummm, yeah it was kinda cool..." Profound, I know.
So I'm trying desperately to avoid the chute under me, and get away from the guy over me... and then amongst all the chaos it dawns on me that we've been up in the sky for an awfully long time.
Sure enough, I look down and there is the snowy ground, about twenty feet from contact. No time to pull a slip, no time to put the camera back in the pouch, nope, no time for anything... but grit my teeth and squeeze my feet and knees. I glance to the horizon and have a repeat of the feet, ass, head scenario. PLF? Whats that? And why do I have to land backwards.... Ugh. Ow.
One guy came down about 3 feet from me, and the other about 10. I'm trying to see if I'm still attached to all of my body parts, and trying to get out of my own chute while its inflating- threatening to haul me down the drop zone, and one of the guys' chute is gracefully collapsing on my head... he's laughing, I'm laughing, and then, I hear a groan. Ummm....
So the third guy is sprawled on the ground not moving. Bad stuff. A relay call goes down the drop zone, and the medics come to load him on the stretcher and haul him away, suspecting a broken back. Quite sobering. Accidents happen, but looking at him laying there was a reminder that while all this may be fun and exciting, its no joke.
Needless to say, we packed the chutes and headed allllll the way across the drop zone, high on adrenaline and loving life... snow and all.
Unfortunately, the video... well, there's a lot of blurry ground and blurry sky, a few flashes of parachutes, and some colorful language. All that drama... and not even worth the video.
I must say that it was immensely fun, minus the injured Soldier, and while I savored each and every one of my cherry fruit snacks, I couldn't help but laugh... I love my freaking job!!!

Snow and Wasabi

J: Why cant I be the boss of myself.

Me: When you are 18, you can boss yourself.

J: I don't want to be 18, then I'll be OLD.

Me: Yeah, tell me about it.

J: So... how do I make it slow down so I don't have to get old?

Me: Sigh.

Another rendition of "Deep Thoughts" by Jayvn, the 5-year-old.

He also was telling me today, after I made heath-brownies, that I am his favorite mama ever. I said I'm his only mama, and he said "What if you get dead in Afgadidstad? Then who's the mama?" Thanks son, as if I haven't thought this one through enough.

Mys made a friend at the park today and proceeded to throw a fit when it was time to go home. Right in the middle of sticking her bottom lip out, J nails her smack dab in the nose with a mondo snow-ball. Wails follow, and as she steps in the door she slips on the pool of ice-water that is constantly in place of a welcome mat, her feet go in separate directions and she slides dramatically into the splits, hitting herself in the snow-covered face with her soaking mitten... more wails, and I don't know which of us has more tears, unfortunately being the horrible mother that I am, mine are from laughter. It was so far beyond pathetic, and she was so tired from the long day in the snow, but man that was entertaining. Her amazing brother kissed her nose and helped her out of her "jacken" while A and I tried to gain composure.

We went for a hike up Arctic Valley yesterday. I wound up rucking it with Mys on my back because about half way up she was "ty'ed." J trotted the whole way up, except when we stopped to read the compass, or analyze the moose prints, or pick berries.

Ive been watching Iron Chef too much this weekend. Tonight, while I was cooking some Pho with a Thai-twist, I decide shrimp dumplings sound like an amazing side. They actually turned out really well... but, it was just not "creative" enough for me, so I decided to make a wasabi-cream sauce for a nice finish. In my mind, I can hear the Iron Chef commentator describing my meal as I "plate" it, oh-so-elegantly... and right before I top the dumplings off with my yummy sauce, it occurs to me that I should taste it first. So I lick the spoon.

Very, very, bad plan. I apparently got a little wasabi-happy, and may just as well have snorted the concoction up my nose. For the second time today, tears stream down my face, and I start to wonder if I'll ever be able to smell anything, EVER. My brain is being simmered slowly by... wasabi. Sheesh. I still don't think my sense of smell is back to normal.

Needless to say, a minuscule dollop of the stuff, topped with a squirt of fish sauce, complimented the dumplings nicely, and the kids scarfed them up like little gourmet food tasters... I ignored the sniffling noses, rationalizing that any traces of head colds have now been extinguished.

I actually enjoyed the snow today. It was cold, and wet (supposedly the colder it gets the less-wet it gets, eventually it will just be powder... we'll see) but beautiful. My snow boots have arrived, but the Army post office is closed for the 4-day weekend, so I was out playing in heels and leg-warmers. And I already know, but I just cant bear to wear sneakers on my day off, come on - I spend all week in combat boots. One of my TX friends, upon finding out that I was joining the Army, asked if they made boots with heels, or what on earth would I do... which is a pretty accurate illustration of the struggle I have with all this.

Ive been getting some inspiration lately, both for writing and just life in general, from some true greats like Maya Angelou, Anais Nin, Miles Davis, Elizabeth Barrett Browning etc. so I'm off to drown myself in their knowledge and some good wine, curled under a cozy blanket with the snow falling peacefully out my window.

Maybe Alaska isn't so bad after all.

Just an Average Week

After a long day of Army life, this is what I come home to.

LOL.

I mean honestly.

Otherwise, its been a fairly uneventful week.

I did a story yesterday on some Paratroopers that have been going to one of the local schools to read to the kids and help out in general. The story will be in the Alaska Post tomorrow if you are interested. It was fun, we sat on the floor and did 2nd grade math during circle time... which left me wondering about my math skills.

I was having casual conversation with one of the kids when he mentioned his dad had died in Iraq. I choked up and luckily one of my fellow Soldiers changed the topic. The reality of Army families dawned on me in that little classroom, and my heart broke into a million pieces. I know the risks and the sacrifices, but hearing it out of a child's mouth was borderline traumatic.

I was supposed to do a 9-mile mountain hike thing, and jump out of a black hawk (which I even did pre-jump for) this week, and both were cancelled due to all the SNOW. Arggghhh!!!

I managed to slide on the road and bounce my poor car off a curb on day 1 of said snow, and about five minutes later my feet, fully equipped with combat boots, when up over my head as I slipped and busted my ass on the ice-covered concrete. Lovely. Welcome winter.

Today I covered a story on the cav wives as they all dressed in their husbands ACUs -trimmed with pink- and the LTC put them through pre-jump, a mock door exit and rigged them up in chutes. It was full of fun and giggling and good Army-community craziness. I did freeze to death the whole time, suited in full snivels and all.

All this while Spc Steve is basking in the sun in Georgia on TDY. Hurumph.

Really, I feel like I'm starting to get settled in to my job and the family seems to be adjusting well, even to the snow. We went out and got big coats, which helps. And I cant tell you how many times Ive had ice shoved down my pants by the boys... I'm not sure which one is 5, but both seem to get equal amount of pleasure out of my freezing behind. Mys has been clocked in the face with a few snow balls and is taking it like a trooper, much to my dismay. Its ok though, because I know where the boys sleep...

24

I hate getting behind on my blog, then I feel all overwhelmed and I cant remember what I wanted to write about... This past week was a little rough, and its hurting my brain trying to recall it, so I'll just skip it and try again next week. Besides my bday...

I turned 24 on Thursday. Every year around my birthday I have some sort of mini-crisis centered around "Oh my God, I'm getting old and life is moving too fast." Which, those of you that know me well, know my biggest fear is for life to pass me by... for me to be 80 thinking I wish I would have had some experience I didn't, or that I missed something. But, finally, for the first time in my life, I didn't have this panic on my birthday. I imagine it has something to do with being where I am supposed to be, doing something meaningful and fulfilling. For the first time, with the Army thing, I feel content. Not the stagnant content that Ive experienced at times in the past either, because this involves the promise of adventure... the promise of living.

So aside of trailing behind Cpt 4-miles up and down Arctic Valley, and despite Sgt Man making me wall-sit in the hallway and announce to everyone who walked by "Its my birthday," I would say it was probably my best birthday yet.

The Northern Lights even peaked out right before my run, with an early morning answer to the question I ask Him every year. ;) Ive decided these wispy colors in the sky are right on par with me and Christina's rainbows!