I have been negligent in my updates, we have been crazy busy. The Army loves to plan shit in two specific months of the year, October and April. Mark my words, if you have significant life events in those two months, don't plan on being there for them. Without fail, the Army will have prolonged exercises and other things planned for you.
I will now lay out the events of the past week to demonstrate.
Friday: "Good news...PT test tomorrow if you want to take it." Shit. There are two things I hate in the world, terrorists and PT tests.
///RANT ON///
The Army assesses your physical fitness by how many pushups you can do in two minutes, situps in another two minutes, and then a two mile run as fast as you can. For my age group, passing is 40 pushups, 50 situps, and 16:36 on the run. Back in the day, this used to be an issue for me in the pushup department. So much so in fact that I had my scholarship revoked. But I got my shit together, passed, and got back on the wagon. After that though, it messes with your head "shit...what if I fail this one?" If you fail a PT test in the Army, it looks really really bad. If you are a leader and you fail a PT test, you look really really really bad. There is an unwritten code for officers wherein you are supposed to do well, or else soldiers don't respect you. News flash, I have had a mediocre PT test score since I got in the Army, and I have been okay in the soldier-officer relations department.
Allow me to digress. The Army places way too much emphasis on this arbitrary score. For enlisted especially, all things equal on paper, they will look at your PT score as a symbol of promotion potential, and the guy who did more pushups will win. I know ALOT of dim witted, wife-beating, 13 brain cell having soldiers who have been promoted above their peers (peers whom have shown much more prowess in Air Defense operations) just because they had a better PT score. When it's Field Marshall Walsh, that is going to change.
Granted, you have to be physically fit to be an effective soldier. My argument is that, in our analysis of leadership potential and overall effectiveness, physical prowess should be viewed amongst a slew of other traits.
///RANT OFF///
Oh well, I have been training hard and expected to do well. I execute my pre-PT test checklist. The night before is comprised of stretching, water drinking, a fresh haircut and an entire medium pizza. Part of the head game. Accordingly, the PT test starts at 0500, thus I am up at 0400.
SATURDAY: First thing, hot shower to loosen up the muscles, followed by stretching. Then the secret weapon, a combo of Black Powder and Jacked (legal supplements consisting of various chemicals to make you an animal during any workout...sold at your local GNC). Now it's game time. Initial briefing complete, it's time for the pushups. Traditionally my achilles heel, I knocked out 45 without even realizing it. Worked my way to 60 and called it good. Most ever.
After a short break it's sit-up time. This is the tricky part. I am good at sit-ups...love handles be damned, my abs are strong. Due to the speed you execute the sit-ups, you can screw yourself and use your hip flexors. This will help you do more, but if you smoke your legs prior to the run, you are done-ski. The trick? Alternate your foot position and mentally focus on using your abs if you can. Also, if you are the first one in line, that means you have the most recovery time prior to the run. I got 81...no problems because the max is 80.
Now, after having expended a good deal of energy on these two tasks, you have to run two miles as fast as you can. Anyone who "runs" will tell you have two miles sucks as an evaluated distance. One mile, sprint-able. Three miles is close to a 5k, a well known distance and pace. For some reason, the Army decided the middle was the best route. I am not a "runner" by any means. Long legs do not necessarily equal fast runner when you have tight hamstrings. I have run a 14:00 and I have barely passed with a 16:34, so it's a crap shoot. Humidity, general disposition, dow jones average...all these things need to be right to run fast. I managed a 14:52, which is fine for me, but I will get faster. When it was said and done, I scored a 262 out of a possible 300. Highest ever for this guy, and a respectable score as an officer. Next time I will do even better.
That afternoon, the next echelon evaluation team comes to town to evaluate my guys on Air Defense Operations. This is a quarterly evaluation, and if you don't pass, you look stupid (sound familiar?) My guys did really well, and considering the future for this guy, it was probably my last evaluation ever. Sweet.
After getting some rest on Sunday, I find out some interesting news. I am in line for command. In the coming months I will take charge of one of our units in the other country, the same one currently commanded by a great friend and colleague. There will be more blogs to follow on this, but for now the wheels are in motion for me to leave the current location and take command in another. For the high command to consider me for the job, having not been to Captains Career Course, is an honor. Like I said, more to follow.
I also found out that night that I would be flying to the other country where we have a presence for a few meetings and to check out the footprint I will take over in the coming months. Can't be specific, but I got some face time with some important people, some great friends I hadn't seen since we deployed, and some mentorship. Total time on ground was about 30 hours, but we managed to get a lot done.
During my time over there, Michelle had the unique pleasure of dealing with our small courts claim against our previous landlord. Again, I will be concise and vague for legal reasons. We felt they retained our security deposit for bogus reasons, so we filed against them. They tried to strong arm us with a counter-suit, but we didn't back down. Too many troops have been screwed in Lawton, and we decided the possibility of losing some money to prove a point was worth it. So to court she went, but that day both sides decided to settle out of court. We didn't get it all back, but they showed that their counter claim was an ineffective, feeble attempt at scaring us away. My wife is an incredibly brave, articulate and courageous woman, and I am so proud of her for seeing that ordeal through to the end. I married well.
Let's wrap it up. In 4 days I....Took and did well on a PT test, crushed an Operational Readiness Evaluation, began preparing to take command of a deployed PATRIOT battery, flew to another country for some big cheese meetings and dinners, and flew back. What I didn't mention is that we started a huge Joint / Combined exercise here at home base. No details, but it is a big, time consuming monster.
Good news is we are setting the conditions for me to move out of my current job and prepare for my new one. We have control of the timeline and are determined to do it efficiently and properly.
Even better news is that I take block leave in the coming weeks. I cannot wait to see the girls and the family. We have a good time planned and paid for, now it's time to enjoy. Not going to put dates and times on here for obvious reasons, but its getting real close. Just in time.
Sorry gang, I know that was a lot. But that was just the past 4-5 days...
Best,
D
