April 14th

Another dose of the army today. I keep hoping that when I sit down to write that today will be the day that I won't have anything bad to say about the Army. Alas, it isn't today. I was up at 0500 to head to the range today. Didn't fire a shot. As I was gearing up to get on the line, it started to rain and we sat for two hours while we waited for it to pass. This was finally the point where they decided that it was time to call uncle and change the plan. We flexed to a brief in the afternoon and when all was said and done, when we were released at 1630 this afternoon, I recieved about 1+30 worth of legitimate training. From 0530 to 1630... As they say in Hot Shots Part Deux, "War! Iiiiiiiit's faaaaan-TASTIC!" Yes, I know, obscure quote. It's my blog, I can quote whatever I want. So, we getting on the bus today to head back from the range and there was a dirt pass through some....well, we'll call it "landscaping" although I don't know that anyone outside the Army would really consider this landscaping. One of the drill sargents was walking up through this dirt path and as we passed, he tells us to turn around, that we weren't allowed to walk on the dirt path. His reponse to my WTF was that he "worked there". My follow on question: "So, this is a do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do type organization?" His response, "yeah". This is your Army in action folks and pretty much defines what's wrong here. This also resulted in 11 miles around the track until I finally came down off the roof. What day is it? The 14th. That's 9 and a woo {Meaning: 9 days plus one wake-up (w/u)} before I get to put this shit-hole in my rear-view. The good news is that there are 200 other Navy folks with which I can commiserate. It's very cool that where ever one goes, there are always the runners and triathletes hiding in the group. I spent the two hours sitting on my ass today talking to one of the Navy Captains about running marathons and sports nutrition. In the absence of common sense and efficiency, one can still connect with others of like mind and manage to find some enjoyment in the day. Thank God for small favors.