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What do you think is too serious to joke around about?

There are a lot of things that one in the military should not joke around about.  For example, drugs.  A lot of people joke around about drugs and then wonder why they are frequently selected for "random" urinalysis.  Also, joking around about this subject has landed a few people in hot water because leadership caught wind of it and took it seriously.  I know a few people in my unit who have been under investigation for drug use and/or distributing for months now.  It is kind of ridiculous, but that is how things work these days, it would seem.

Another thing people should not joke around about is what they might do if they were to go crazy.  I think this is an especially sensitive topic since the shooting we had on base a few weeks ago.  Some people think it is all fun and games.  But the base is paranoid now.  I cannot say I blame them.  I did not think anything like that would happen on this base, and I patrol it.  One cannot tell if it is an honest, though ill advised, joke, or if the troop is actually considering it and warning of things to come.

There are other things, but I cannot think of them at the moment.  I am pretty tired, so I will likely head to bed fairly soon.

I have a new cell phone.  I try to replace my phone every couple of years.  The main reason is the fact that I wear them down by then.  Honestly, I am surprised they last as long as they do.  For example, this last phone was dropped at least once a week at work.  I do not know how it still functioned properly.  The battery was the only thing that was really wrong with the old phone.  It was about shot.  I am going to try to be more careful with this phone.  I hope to not drop it nearly as often as I did the last one, and I am only going to recharge it when it needs to be recharged.

I am quite happy with this phone.  I have been able to do more with it than I was able to do with the other phone.  I think I will even be able to post to this blog from my phone.  That could be interesting.

Anywho, I am off to enjoy the beginning of my weekend.

TTFN

Why do you think it is some people don't get along with you?

There are a variety of reasons why some people do not get along with me.  I will say one thing first, though.  I believe I get along with most people, whether I like them or despise them, mainly because my job requires me to.  There are only a few people I can say I openly dislike.  I am fairly certain they know who they are, too.

One of the main reasons some people do not like me is because of their initial perception of me.  I do not care much for first judgments because I have been unfairly subjected to them time and time again.  People just do not take the time to get to know a person beyond a first judgment.  I think if the people that do not like me actually took took the time and sat down and genuinely tried to get to know me, I think they would change their minds about me.  I am not saying that they would be my best friend, but they would certainly understand why I do certain things.

Other people do not like me because I return whatever attitudes they give me.  I have had to explain myself because of that recently, but I do not care.  If a person is going to be rude to me, I will return the favor.  If that person does not like it, then they can change their behavior.  I am tired of tolerating it, so if I cannot openly tell them what I think, I can at least treat them the same way they are treating me.

What have you tried in life that you just weren't very good at?

Playing violin.  I will not say I was not good at it, it was just that I did not put forth as much effort as I should have.  I only put forth the effort if I really liked the music we were learning.  I could have made the time to practice and stuff, but it just was not as high on my priority list as other things in my life.  I regret that now, but perhaps someday I will be able to invest in some music classes and learn to play my violin better.

I am not getting into details.  I will just say it has been a very long last couple of months.  I am not deploying.  I was pulled from the deployment for what I view as a rather stupid reason.  However, I am not in a position to argue.  I have also encountered some serious issues at work over the past couple of days, and I am still a bit bewildered by it all, though I think I am getting in the position where I can start to pick up the pieces and rise up from the dust.  Again, I am not going to mention details.  I am not happy about either event or the aftermath of said events, but there is nothing I can do but press on and put it behind me.  Easier said than done, but I have no choice.

More to come.

It is something that is required in my job anytime I might possibly deploy.  The training we get is a bit repetitive, because it does not change very often.  That is why I am hoping things have changed up a little since I went to this particular training a little over a year ago.

One thing that is different, I will not be going with a full team like last time.  It will only be me and another girl.  I kind of feel bad for her, too, but I will get into that in a moment.  There are some other members of my unit already at this training, but I do not know how much interaction I will have with them.  Also, I will not be on the same team as they are.  The two of us that are going will likely be teaming up with members of another unit.  It will be interesting for sure.

I doubt I will be able to update this, too.  Last time, I had very limited access to e-mail and the news.  I doubt that will change much, though I did discover that my cell phone does access Facebook.  That should make it easier for me to keep in touch with some of my friends.  Yay!

Anyway, I am chasing some rabbits.  The girl that I am going with is very new to the unit.  She has only been in the unit since November, which means she has probably been on her flight since December.  A month or two, tops.  I honestly feel bad for her, because this deployment could possibly mess up her training.  That will be something her team leader will have to discuss with her.  She is not going to the same place as I am.  We are merely going to training together because we both "need" to go.  I will not argue the fact, but I do not feel that I should have to go to this.  I have already been through this particular course, and I did not learn anything new.  I pretty much got better at a few things I already knew.

It should be interesting to see how many things have changed.

When I get back, I will be running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get things taken care of, especially in regards to my cats.  I intend to send them home to Seattle, because I cannot find anyone that is willing or able to watch over them here in Oklahoma while I am gone.  Of course, my sending them home before I deploy will depend on the weather cooperating in both Oklahoma and Washington, and probably any place that the fuzzballs may encounter a layover.  I am not looking forward to dealing with that.  I am hoping it warms up considerably so I can get them home before I  go.  Otherwise, things are going to be rather interesting once I am gone.

I am deploying soon.  Not to Iraq, as I had originally been told, though.  The deployment date has been moved up, too.  I am not thrilled with that, though I have calmed down considerably from when I found out Monday afternoon.  I blame that mood on the fact I had been up for nearly 24 hours.  I have accepted it for the most part, but I am still worried about who is going to be watching my fuzzballs while I am gone.

I am hoping the performance reports that I had to do on four of my troops will be closed out and signed by the time I leave.  I signed one today, so that leaves three more to be signed.  The reports keep getting sent back for corrections.  It is really interesting to compare the reports, too, and see which report got away with a certain style of writing, and which got sent back to me.  I am not going to say anything, but it is both amusing, and quite aggravating.

What else?

Well, I have been pulling a lot of patrol lately, for reasons unknown to me.  I am not complaining, but it had been at least four months since the last time I pulled patrol this frequently.

My partner and I busted one idiot for DUI last weekend.  I call this guy an idiot because it will be his fifth alcohol related charge.  Two prior DUIs and two (now three) refusals to submit to the intoxilyzer test (breath test).  This case was the third time I have either witnessed another patrolman terminate, or I have had to terminate the Field Sobriety Tests for safety reasons.  The idiot was swaying so badly during the eye test that he nearly fell over.  The guy was trying to get out of trouble by making my partner's job difficult.  First the guy somehow cut his wrist with the handcuffs and tried to say it was my partner's doing.  When that did not help him out, he got very uncooperative with my partner.  The lead patrolman had to keep going down there and dealing with the guy, because of the attitude the idiot was giving my partner.  Needless to say, I was quite thankful by the time the guy was released.  It should be interesting if he ends up trying to fight that in court.  I will be deployed by the time his court date comes around.

One of my troops was trying for a specific job in our unit.  He called me this morning to inform me he had gotten the job.  I am happy for him.  One thing that is apparent, though, is I will no longer be his supervisor once his annual evaluation closes out.  While I can say he has been one of my better troops, thankfully, I will be glad to have one less person to keep track of and worry about.  Nine will become eight.  I wish him the best as he continues further in his career in the military and especially when he separates later this year.

I had a meeting this morning with the base Trauma Stress Response (TSR) team.  I have been a member off and on since 2006.  The reason I say off and on is because I am not always informed on when training sessions and other meetings take place.  I have gone to the last two briefings, though, so I can say that I am part of the team.  I was amazed at the amount of insight and suggestions I was able to provide the team.  Normally, that does not happen.  I am usually an observer.  Today, I was offering most of the input, it seemed.  It was neat! I offered some insight into what people thought of our efforts when they returned from their deployments in Iraq and Kuwait.  Notification was a key issue.  People in my career field do not like having things dropped in their laps at the last minute.  Another thing I brought up was having a relaxed atmosphere.  It will not be totally relaxed because we talking to these people about stress related issues.  I still suggested having everyone come in civilian clothes.  It emphasizes the point that rank is not a factor.  Since there is a large variety of ranks in the groups we do these briefings for, I also suggested that certain ranks be separated from each other, if for no other reason than to minimize the discomfort of the younger troops.  It was a really good experience for me.  I have not felt this good about a meeting like this in quite some time.  The only problem I foresee is the fact I am deploying soon and my troop will be separating this summer.  We are really the only two representatives from my unit.  That needs to change.  That team needs more of us involved.  It would be in everyone's best interest.

Someone's writing a biography of your life (to date).  What is the best/worst chapter of the book? 
Submitted by Ross.

Well, the biggest part of my adult life has been in the military.  That would be the best and worst chapters of my life depending on what is said in those chapters.  My life has been an interesting roller coaster of events since I joined.  I have known depression, pride, anxiety, fear, happiness, adrenaline rushes, heartbreak, and so much more since I joined.  And I do not regret any of it.  It has made me the person I am today, for better or worse.  I cannot say which of those I have become.  That is to be perceived by the observers.  All I ask in that regard is that the observers take the time to get to know me a little bit before they judge me or my actions.

It is funny to observe what phases or oddities my cats go through.

For example, the last few days, I have come into my bedroom to find one of the drawers to my dresser open a few inches.  Just wide enough for a cat to squeeze in.  Colby is usually the main offender.  The other two hardly complain, though.  There was one morning I woke up and found the drawer open.  I groggily walked over to it and knocked on it.  Out came all three of the cats.  I probably would have found this more amusing if I had not been half asleep and irritated with them because their movement in the dresser is what woke me up.

Cheddar is usually the one that decides what time breakfast or dinner is.  If I am still asleep, he will start meowing until I get annoyed enough to get up and feed them.  Colby will often chime in with his own attention grabbers.  This is usually in the form of playing with the cords that dangle from the window blinds.  He has also been known to rampage around the apartment, knock the cardboard from the windowsill so the sun disturbs my sleep, and other things.  Chantico will occasionally chime in with her own meows, but for the most part, she is the more behaved of the three when it comes to letting me sleep.  However, if I happen to be on the computer and they are eager for food, any movement on my part that might indicate I am about to get up, they will jump down from their perches and meow eagerly.  This can get annoying when I am trying to do homework.

When I first got Chantico, she was only a couple months old.  I do not think she had quite been weened yet.  The reason I believe this is because I had to keep her from trying to nurse from Colby or Cheddar, particularly Colby for some reason.  It took weeks to break her of this habit.  I am not entirely sure when she finally stopped.  It just happened one day without me noticing.

All three of them seem to enjoy chewing on cardboard, though not as much as they used to.  Cheddar likes styrofoam, too.  I do not know what possesses them to munch on these odd things, but they do, and they seem to suffer no ill effects, thankfully.

What other oddities or phases will they go through? I guess time will tell.