SRP - Day 3

Even worse than yesterday, today's wake up at Camp Ashland was 4:30 am. Ouch.

We woke up this morning in Ashland with the goal of being up and out of the camp by 5:15 am and back to Lincoln - Penterman at 6:00 am for breakfast.

After breakfast, we resumed our SRP process. Since I knew it would be to my advantage to go through all of the stations as fast as I could (less time waiting in line!) I had everything completed except the medical screening.

The medical screen consisted of multiple parts...

Eye Exam - The exam consisted of reading a kindergarten type eye chart, highly ineffective and non-scientific in my opinion. Good thing I went to my optometrist a week or so before and got my prescription updated.

Meeting with the Doctor - It was on my sheet to meet and get signed off by an Army doctor. It was funny, because the Doctor just told me to come over so he could sign it. I was a little shock that they don't "actually" check anything out on you, just ask "Are you ok?". I'm guessing since I have a physical on file from 2002, they didn't need to complete another on me. Regardless I'm going to go to my private doc and get checked up. It's only common sense to make sure you are physically ready before you go on a major deployment, even if the Army doesn't think so.

Shots - The part I dreaded the most. I hate getting shots or my blood drawn. But this time was different. The Army medics did a good job at giving them to me, I hardly felt it. I got a tuberculosis (TB) test done, and a shot for Meningitis. They also told me I would start a round of shots for Hepatitis.

Hearing Test - Probably the most scientific part of the medical screening. The test was long but I think it was highly accurate. We were put in sound-proof booths, which were hot as hell and had to listen to tones in each ear and press a button we were holding when we heard it. When I was done, I noticed that all the results were pumped into a computer and analyzed. They could pinpoint exact problems with your hearing. It was pretty neat... I should of got a print out of the results.

My day was done at about 11:00 am. However, my day wasn't done until everyone's was done... So I slept a little and played on my phone until about 1:30 pm when we were released.

SRP was now over.

SRP - Day 2

And we begin Day 2 of the SRP process at an early 5:30 am. Yikes. Unfortunately, this is where the Army and I disagree - I am not a morning person.

I arrived at Penterman and immediately started my processing. In the following order, I met with:

Training - at this station they went through my weapons qualification records, military driving records, etc. They give everyone a NO-GO at this station because they have you re-do all of this stuff in Fort Riley.

Finance - I went over my direct deposit forms to make sure everything is in order to get paid. Most importantly, I signed up for my BAH which is "Basic Allowance for Housing". To get an idea of how and what I'll be paid for per month, the break down is like this:

Base Pay for E-5: $2329.68
Basic Allowance for Separation (BAS): $267.00
Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH): $672.00
Hostile Fire: $325.00 (If I paid you this much you would go into a hostile fire territory?!?! ;-)

Total per month: $3593.68 (Once "In Country" this is tax free, as I understand)

Personnel - Talked to the personnel people, they made me check all my paperwork to ensure its up-to-date. Nothing too exciting. The girl that was helping me look it over though made a comment that I couldn't believe. She looked at me and said "Oh you are the one..." and I'm like "what?" and she said in so many words "Thank you for taking this assignment otherwise I'd have to go...", needless to say I was irritated. She made it sound like I volunteered. Ugh.

Family Support - Talked to the family support people. They took a mug-shot of me in front of the US flag so they can print buttons for family members. However, what I'm sure they are not telling you, the main reason they take your picture I assume is in case you die. You always have to have a good military-patriotic photo for the newspaper. Let's hope that doesn't happen.

Dentist - Had to go see the dentist, which is just a screening. They took x-rays of my teeth and looked them over. They said I have a cavity in tooth #16 (wisdom tooth) that needs to be taken care of before I'm deployed. (And in case your wondering.... yes you have to do it, or they can send you to a federal prison.)

Family Support Meeting - About 7 pm, family members started showing up... I was wondering what was going on. I guess everyone but me was told they scheduled a family support meeting... I found out they "should have" told me this when they notified me for deployment. The meeting didn't get over until about 9:30, which then the 1st sergeant said we could go out with our families but we ALL had to be at Ashland to spend the night.

SRP - Day 1

What is SRP? SRP stands for 'Special Review Procedure', which basically is a process in which you make sure you are ready for deployment.

Today was Day 1 of the SRP process for me. I had to be a Penterman Armory, located at the Lincoln Air Base at 8 AM.

This was the first time meeting with my unit, the people I would be deployed with. I was surprised to find out my commander was actually a lieutenant in my old unit. He's a great leader, I have the utmost confidence in his ability to watch over the unit and keep us safe.

Day 1 of the SRP consisted of a lot of things I wasn't told over the phone. For example, We needed to bring ALL of our military gear in for inspection. Had I known this, I would of had my gear with me, however since I didn't I ran home and quickly gathered everything up. This whole process consumed much of the first day, I got done about 1 PM with getting my gear checked out and my gas mask tested for fit and leaks.

After 1 PM, I was bored out of my mind. I tried to catch a little sleep and played some exciting games of solitaire on my phone. We were finally released at about 7 pm, which was good because my cousin Joe, his wife Tiff and their adorable baby Mya were in town from Colorado and I really wanted to see them before I left for Iraq.

...Re-Deployed

Deployment Update:

Today I received another call from Major Boatman, whom informed me that they could not deploy me with the 67th ASG, because I had not signed the 30-day notification waiver which is a right a National Guard soldier has when being deployed.

Instead, they decided to send me with the 189th Transportation Company out of Wayne, NE.

Hit by a ton of bricks...

Today was the day for me that every soldier in the US military anticipates, regrets, and is trained for.

The day started off a little behind when I woke up later than normal to go to work. While in a hurry to get out of the house, and on my way downtown I was pulled over on Superior street by Goodrich Middle School. This stop earned me a $145.00 ticket, which luckily I was eligible to go to STOP class for.

The morning went by as normal, until just before lunch when Tara called. She told me that the Guard called her house by accident and they were trying to get a hold of me. They called my cell phone, which I missed the call. I called them back and spoke to Major Boatman which informed me that I was to be mobilized with the 67th Area Support Group (ASG) in Operation Iraqi Freedom.