First post

One week in

Hey everyone, so I decided to start a blog to kind of keep everyone up to date on what was going on while I am away.  So far, there is not a whole lot to report.

We arrived at Fort Bliss in El Paso, TX last Tuesday.  We spent the next 3-4 days doing medical and administrative things very similar to SRP.  Basically, you get to wait for long periods of time, get stuck with some needles, wait some more and then go fill out a bunch of paper work relating to finance, life insurance, benefits and all that fun stuff.  Its pretty much the most agonizing thing you can think of, especially when you are in the mindset of going to a hostile area in Afghanistan.  We had the weekend off so we spent it kind of exploring Fort Bliss.  The PX here is massive, it has outlet stores and a bunch of restaurants and such.  On Saturday, some of my friends and myself went to the USO on post and watched the Kentucky game and then went to the rec center to play basketball.  It was here where I rolled my ankle.  I didnt think much of it but as I took my boot off the next day it was very bruised and swollen, it has gotten much better since then so no worries. 

On Monday we moved out to our training area called McGregor Range, it is still technically part of Fort Bliss but it is located in New Mexico.  Its pretty much smack dab in between nowhere and some mountains.  Its actually very pretty in the morning when the sun hits the mountain range, its only after the sun comes fully up that you remember you're about 40 minutes from civilization and in the desert.  The range itself is pretty big, we are in a barracks in an area of the range called the mayor's cell.  The mayor's cell is basically the heart of the range.  The barracks, defac (dining facility), training classrooms and motorpools are located here.  We have to carry our weapons everywhere, which is fine because it is something we will have to get used to and they arent all that uncomfortable to carry while walking due to our slings. 

Since we have been here, the training has been sporadic at best.  We have had a lot of details, which are basically oddjobs that need to be done.  Today I was on a baggage detail in which we had to move a bunch of baggage containing our excess gear and equpiment back to Fort Bliss for storage until we leave.

The training we have done has been pretty good, we did some convoy simulations in these simulators which were pretty cool.  They were big semi trailers with mock guntrucks inside and virtual reality headsets you put on and you can simulate any kind of incident while moving in a convoy.  I have been designated as a gunner.  That basically means I sit in a M240B turret and scan for possible IEDs, ambush points or suspecious activity while we are in a convoy. Its a very important job and one I cant afford to be bad at, so far so good.  During our simulation I spotted all the IEDs that were hidden. Of course, simulation is extremely different than the real thing but its good practice. 

We have not yet gotten a hard date as to when we will leave the states but we do have a tentative date, I wont release it yet for OPSEC (operational security) reasons.  There will be things I can't really get into details about for those same reasons so I will say what I can. 

Overall I am feeling pretty good, I have internet in the abrracks here which is nice to keep in touch with everyone.  Our squad is very good with great leadership and I feel we are very capable.  I am starting to feel pretty comfortable with them which is important because you have to feel tight with the people you work with most.  These next weeks leading up to going overseas will be vital in learning everyone's strength and weaknesses.  The more you know what people can and cannot do the better off you'll be when things go bad. 

I miss and love you all very much.  I will try to post some pictures as I figure this blogging thing out a bit more.  I will post as much as I can and as long as there is things to post about!

Talk soon!