Monday, January 18, 2010

JRTC, Just the beginning

Well here I am at Fort Polk, LA in the "box" at FOB Sword. This is really an adventure in training I have never seen. I wanted to jump on and give a quick hello to everyone out there. I know that there are some of you out there that are keeping up with us. Well it is time for it to get exciting again!! Not much longer and I am out of Fort Polk and headed back to Fort Campbell to prepare for the deployment. I have had a lot of offers for house sitters and I think I found the perfect one. Some one that needs some where to live and some one that I can trust. At least my house will not be empty and lonely.

I am working the night shift here and this was my first night. Don't really have much time left to say much, but I can say that I am ready to head home for what little time I have left. I am keeping notes of my adventures here and will post a detailed blog about it all later once I am home.

Thanks again to everyone out the and go to Taco Bell and pig out for me please!!

SGT John Strader

Oh and Jeremy, I know what you are instore for. And its not fun!!! This place is a shithole!! Even main post and boring and empty. Afghanistan is better than this bro!!

Friday, January 1, 2010

New Year, New Adventures

First of all, Happy New Year to everyone!! Last night was a fun one, that is for sure. Which also resulted in laying in bed until noon and waiting on the headache to go away. It finally did and now mom and dad are on their way here i guess. They wanted to come for a visit before the adventures of the new year get under way. Yep, it is starting already.

Most of you know that I was working on a special assignment for Garrison Public Affairs with a great job doing tours on post. Well, there are people that promised they would get out of that job as soon as they could, mainly because they do not like me, and they held true to their promise. I will not go into the detail of how it all happened, but I will give a quicky on it. I was in OH seeing my Grandma as Jeremy wrote about in his last post (which we got a Christmas miracle and she is doing really good now) when I got the flu and was in the bed, and I mean only leaving to run for the bathroom, for over 36 hours. On Mon I was finally up and moving around when I got a call that I needed to get back to Fort Campbell to see the Sergeant Major on Wed. So, I took off and came back. Evidently, I was transferred to another unit on post and no one told me. I was supposed to report on 15Dec, but guess what, no one knew where I was working and no one knew how to contact me. Well, they would have if they asked the right person!! I finally got it cleared up and explained how I ended up in the tasking to Garrison and I was basically told that was over to get to my unit. I got signed in on Mon, and was informed to start packing bags. I am off to Louisiana for 30 days for some training, and then on the to desert shortly after that. So, my year is starting out great. I am preparing for a deployment, trying to find some one to watch the house, and working on a storage unit so there is nothing in the house to be stolen. Wait, maybe I shouldn't tell the world I am leaving for so long. Oh, but my neighbor will be here everyday and will be keeping a good eye on my house. And there is always insurance. Plus, not many of you know where I live.

Well, the adventure of the new year will starting very quickly but I am ready for them!!!

SGT John Strader