So it has begun

This post will be in honor of Josh Mitchell. He lived in the other room we shared a bathroom with in Virginia. There is only one picture I have of us together, and it's not very flattering for me to see. I was about 260lbs and getting schwasted. The good old days of Virginia. Seriously though, Josh just found out he was going to have to on an individual augmentee to Afghanistan for the next 6-18 monts. He leaves right after Thanksgiving.

I will say this about Josh though, despite the fact he whines more about the bad hands in life he fears he'll get/has more than his pregnant wife ever did, he is a good guy. I'm jealous of him that he gets the opportunity to be deployed, but then again, I don' t have a new wife and 4 month old kid either to think about. He'll be filling a pharmacy tech billet so luckily he won't be doing patrols, front line stuff. Sounds like a good gig to me, but I'm looking at the half full glass for him.

For the title of this post. Josh is the first one of guys who I know being called up for an IA deployment. When I think about it I find it rather ironic it's him since he was probably the one who feared it the most, but one day he was standing there passing out meds how we all do, and was told he's going. He wasn't taken in another room or prepared for it. I thought it was weird just how nonchalantly they told him. Who is next? How easily could it happen that our number is up? It's times like this when we are rudely reminded that we are in the military and we have sworn an oath to go into harm's way at any given moment.

I wish him luck, and he'll be getting letters/care packages from Japan for sure. Mitchell is top 2 navy friends and even though I give him a harder time than most people, I care about him more than almost anyone in the fleet too. That was a no homo moment by the way.

Onwards to talking about me. What's funny is as I'm writing this I'm listening Toby Keith's "I wanna talk about me" song. Subconscience working its best.

There really isn't that much to share today. Just some maintance news. You know, the typical updates in my life. First of all we have a new addition to our morning PT group in the mornings. HM3 Saylor is the newest causualty. Saylor is a former BUD/S caniadate (Navy SEAL trainee), and he is ubber motivational for me to work out with him. It showed in my times this week. I significantly dropped lots of time when he was able to make it out with us. We also dropped 2 1/2 mins in our 10.5km Friday run which he ran with us. I know he's working hard too cause he's puking after every workout. I collapsed after racing him once, but I did win the race. It's only 6 weeks away until the official PRT, and we have a mock PRT next week. I'll discuss the results in next week's post. Either way I'm very fired up for it!

I can't lie, it's depressing to read the Baraboo News Republic online and reading about the Friday nigh football games. What's harder is one of my biggest (literally and metaphorically) mentors is the offensive/defensive line coach. I'm keeping the faith as I always have in Baraboo football, but it's definetely a rebuilding year. Either way I like keeping tabs on the old hometown; it makes me feel closer to home.

A couple of days ago I posted a status on facebook: "FACE BOOK EXPERIMENT: If you are reading this, even if we don't speak often, post a comment of a memory of you and me. When you've finished, post this paragraph on your own status; you'll be surprised at what people remember about you." So far I have gotten some good posts. It's funny to read what people remember most about me. Some more embarrassing than others, but fun all the same.

Everyone don't be worrying about the whole Genell situation because there isn't one. We had a good talk about what is going on, and we are only accompanying each other to the navy ball. It isn't a big deal. She leaves in November to go to her next command. No need for anyone to be bent out of shape about it or ask any further questions. "It ain't nothing but a thang."

So I failed my SECOND room inspection earlier this week. I was pissed because I knew I cleaned it before I left for work that day. There are a couple of sketchy questions I had to go along with the whole ordeal. I won't go into it, but I was so convinced I didn't deserve to fail that I took my LPO to my room at lunch and had her inspect it. At the end of the story I spent most of today cleaning my room. It was an embarrassment to think my room was failure worthy and I won't be guilty of this kind of thing again.

Speaking of where I live, I went to my off-base housing briefing on Thursday. I'm not looking forward the ensuing month or so ahead of me. So many meetings and appointments I have to schedule and attend. This is probably the worst part of moving. Plus I'm only at mainbase twice a week until the official PRT because Garcia needs to be there to work out with the command fitness leaders on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This limits my scheduling. In other words, this situation is already chapping my ass.

You are reading the blog of a still undefeated soccer coach. With a score of 2-0 we beat the San Jose Earthquakes. I showed up late to the game because I was on duty, and my replacement relieved me 25 minutes late. That did not set my mood right. We also tried to be more disciplined to position assignments which a lot of the kids did not like, especially those playing fullback and couldn't cross the midfield line. I don't like it either for their age group, but they need to start learning for when they are older and play more competitivly. At any rate I'm very proud of the kids and with two games left we hope to do what Tom Brady couldn't.

I'm also taking on swim club. It is on opposite days of soccer which is great for that schedule, but it keeps my week full. Monday through Friday I'm obligated to be somewhere, if only for an hour, but it cramps other plans I may have for the entire night. Oh well, I really enjoy the mentoring and it's nice to be back on pool deck with Kristoph. We like to swim a little beforehand to do some minor PT together/catch up on the gossip of our lives.

Uniform is pressed, laundry is done, blog is posted, room is clean, food is in the stomach, but THERE IS NO HAIRCUT!!! For the first time since I can remember I didn't get a haircut on the weekend. I went in there around 2 and the line was about 3 days long. I'm seriously thinking about just buzzing my head, but I'm going to sleep on it for now. More to come on this.

Oh, I finished my most recent book. Twilight. I'm not about to get into a book report here on the blog, but I was a little frustrated with the novel overall. I will also add that I did not read it for my own enjoyment, but now have a better understanding of what someone was trying to tell me once. Grumblegrumble.

That's it for now. Now to knock out my homework and off to bed! Morale is maintained.