Yesterday, we were told that we could no longer use any kind of external media (government issued or personal) on any DoD computer system anymore.  This is more than an “inconvenience” as a lot of our daily work is carried out via thumbdrive/External hard drive.  Its the best way to transport documents, carry classes (I carry all my CLS materials on a thumbdrive), etc.  Not to mention the Army has been pushing paperlessness for at least a couple decades.  With the announcement yesterday, we have been sent back to the 80’s where we have to carry around large books with documents, make tons of copies, and carry laptops around just to get any work done.  Of course, as is the norm with the army, it was never explained why this came about.

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I saw this and thought it was funny, especially the spider on caffiene. 

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A few of the faces of the heroes that had given their all to protect our freedom and country.
Friends Lost

Well, I have dates now and I will be headed back downrange very, very soon.  Completely different area than last time, and a completely different mission as well.  So, my faithful few, you can expect the posting to go back to combat related perspectives again, and hopefully be more interesting than the last few months of stuff has been.  Interestingly, the way my orders work out I will have been home just past my “stability” year (an Army Urban Legend if there ever was one) and it wouldn’t have worked out for that if certain things hadn’t aligned themselves just so.  So that’s the big news.

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I saw this on FOUND Magazine.  Thought it was sort of a statement on the economy in a weird sort of way.  If only it were that easy to swap careers.

In the interest of posting information about businesses, people, and entities that support the troops and veterans of military service, I am going to re-post an e-mail I received earlier.  I didn’t know such a program existed, but it sounds like an excellent way to open you own business (assuming making pizza is your business).  Anyway, I’ll let the e-mail and website speak for themselves as professionals are a lot better at getting their point across than I am.

Little Ceasar’s Veteran’s Program

To provide honorably discharged veterans with a business opportunity when they transition to civilian life or seek a career change, and thank them for the sacrifices they and their families made for our country

I’ll be honest, the letter smacks of marketing, and I hate marketing pitches, but because its related to Veteran / Troop Support I decided to go ahead and post it.  Take a look at it, someone you know might be looking for just this opportunity. The bulk of the letter is after the jump.

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Well, wasn’t this a historic election. Not my man, but I recognize the historical importance of this election. Now I will have a “wait and see” attitude and see if the president-elect can pull off what he says or if he’ll be a party puppet.  We will look back on this election long in the future and see what change this brought to our nation.  Hopefully, its for the better.

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Well, My wife and I submitted our absentee ballots for President the other day.  We didn’t get here soon enough to register. I think this is going to be a very important and historically significant election.  I think this could be a very close race and the amount of voter turn-out will really be an important factor.  Without getting into the controversial aspects of my reasoning, which I know has been considered by both candidates, and seemingly ignored by the media,  I will say that this election will be made by new voters.

Anyway, My wife and I filled out our ballots separately and although I am pretty sure I know which way she voted, she could have voted for Nader and the Green Party for all the proof I have.  We tend to think in similar ways politically, and being a military family has a way of galvanizing certain positions.  I know a lot of people voting for Obama just because he will end the war in Iraq which is wholly untrue, but you can’t convince people otherwise.  Again, without getting into it - you can’t just end a war.  It takes time to back out and leave safely, to make sure all the lives lost and work done doesn’t go to waste, and to leave something stable in place when you do.  Besides, this nation doesn’t want another Vietnam on its hands, even though OIF is for all intents and purposes already Vietnam v2.0.

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Well there have been a few questions posed about life here.  Can’t say I know much as I’ve only been here a month, but I’ll give you my experiences so far. 

As far as housing goes, we did manage to get on-post housing so we lucked out there.  A lot of places around here charge for either heating oil or electricity.  Getting a break on one is nice, but it will still cost about 500 a month for electricity.  I am so glad that we scored the great place we did, and that its on post!

It costs a lot just to get ready to live here!  Clothes, tires, winterizing the car, etc.  I have gone through about 1500 on just getting set up for winter!  That doesn’t include the little things like road salt, snow shovels, etc.  However, its getting to the point now where its futile to use the snow shovel and ice doesn’t work colder than -10.  If it stops snowing for a few days, I get out and scrape off the drive, other than that I just wait it out.  The snow is very dry/fluffy anyway.  It won’t even make a snowball, so a lot of it sublimates and blows away.

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We are now in our nice new government quarters.  This house makes the one at our old base look bad.  If I were the army I would be truly ashamed of that housing.  Anyway, our new house has three bedrooms, 2.5 baths, a full basement, a mud room, laundry room, and garage!  Its basically a two story condo.  Its nice!  We have real carpet, not industrial grade crap, nice tile floors, a walk in closet and everything you would expect in a real house.  Not one bit of masonite anywhere, and we can’t hear the neighbors either.  Hopefully, our household goods will be here next week as well as my truck.  Right now e have loaner pots, loaner dishes, and loaner furniture courtesy of post.

Besides that, we have been busy with in-processing stuff most of the past week, with a few more things left to go.  I should get my “Storm Trooper” gear next week.  Its a bit cold here and there is already snow and such on the ground, but it gets a whole lot colder and snowier.  Lucky the army has all that nice new fleece gear to keep me warm.

Finally, nothing in Fairbanks gets done quickly.  You gotta have patience, but it does get done.  I guess it goes with living here.