Posts (page 2)

Which one of your ancestors would you most like to talk to? 
Submitted by Kathy.

I would have to know more about them before I could answer this question fairly.  However, I would definitely like to talk to those who moved from their home country to North America.  What family did they leave behind? What went into such a decision? Was the move everything they hoped it would be? I would so like to ask about the lives of many of my ancestors.  There is so much I could learn from them.  They have so many stories.  I suppose these thoughts could inspire me to ask my grandparents about their lives.  There is a lot I do not know about their families, their early years, and more.  What could I learn from them?

I had to qualify on both of my issued weapons the other day.  Nothing new there.  I figured it was coming up.  I will likely have to do it again before I deploy, though.  That is not something I am looking forward to.  I really do not like to fire.  I always dread looking at the scores after all is said and done and hoping that I qualified. 

This is not to say that I am a bad shot.  When my sights are properly adjusted and I take the time to actually aim and everything, I am a very good shot.  Something happens when we actually get down to the qualification part and I do not fire nearly as accurately as I when zeroing the weapon.

This last time was a prime example.  I do honestly think my sights are goofed up, though.  Oh well.  I will deal with that when I fire again in a couple months.  I need to find a way to adjust my helmet so it is not nearly blocking my vision while I am trying to shoot.  That got quite irritating, which did not help my firing troubles.

Anyway, on to the subject line.  One of my troops and another knucklehead from my flight decided not to show up to the firing appointment.  Bad thing for both of them.  The squadron has had a big problem with people not making their appointments.  It came as no surprise when I got a phone call a couple hours into the firing from the flight commander saying I needed to call him back ASAP, get a hold of my troop ASAP, and get to the Law Enforcement Desk ASAP.  I was in the middle of firing my rifle when that call came, so I had to call him back and leave a message saying, "Sir, I am also firing today.  If you want me to come in, I will do so after I am finished." Luckily, one of the assistant flight chiefs was firing, too.  He called the flight commander for me and got a hold of him.  The flight commander ended up going in with my troop and dealing with that whole mess.  My troop got a Letter of Reprimand.  I was not surprised by that.  I explained to my troop that he needed to learn from the mistake and move on.  I hope he does.  I have enough issues without having to worry about him acting up constantly, too.

I hope no more of my troops miss their upcoming appointments.

If you were suddenly granted the day off today, how would you go spend your free time?

I already had tonight off since it was a scheduled night off for my flight.  But I will humor the question.  If I were working tonight and I somehow got it off, I would likely try to spend time with either my boyfriend, if he is not busy with his class, or my friends.  I do not get to spend any time with them on the days that I work, so more time with them would make me happy.  If I did not get any sleep that day, I might consider going home and getting some.  If I had schoolwork looming, I would consider starting to work on it.  There are a lot of things that I could do.  I do not see how it would be any different from a regular day off.

How do you feel about your birthday?  Do you look forward to it and remind all your friends, or do you dread it and try to keep it a secret?

My birthday may as well be another day of the week for me.  I do not get the night off just because it might be my birthday.  It has kind of lost its meaning for me since I joined the military.  A lot of people go out a party it up when they celebrate their birthday, especially if is happens to be their 21st.  Some people, like Rob, prefer a quiet day to themselves where no one will bother them.  I am getting to the point where I do not really care if my birthday comes around.  It does not mean much to the military.  For example, this year, I will likely be in training to prepare for my upcoming deployment, on my way to said deployment, or at my deployed location.

Some cases have always interested me.  One such case is Ted Bundy.  I remember feeling chills run down my spine as I read Ann Rule's The Stranger Beside Me a few years ago.  It is a case that has haunted the Seattle area for decades.  So when his name popped up on The Seattle Times website, I was intrigued.

A reality show from Great Britain apparently traces the steps of serial killers and sees of a psychic can feel the presence of the killer haunting the places he used to frequent.  In this case, the show is retracing Bundy's steps through the Seattle area and Florida.  They started at a bar where Bundy liked to frequent and may have selected some of his victims there.  His first known victim was reportedly seen at the bar the night she disappeared.  Not sure if the psychic that walked through the bar felt any presence, but a large white orb appeared when they took pictures.

I have seen those white orbs appear in pictures before.  When I was stationed in England, I accompanied some co-workers on a night trek through Thetford Forest.  We were thrill seeking.  A good portion of the pictures we took in the eerie forest showed small circles of white light dancing through the air.  It was kind of creepy.  Then again, that forest is reportedly among the most haunted in the world, so creepiness should not be a big surprise.

I have recently been informed that I will be deploying to Iraq for six months.  Yes, I know that is not a long time compared to some tour lengths over there, but I am still not looking forward to going.  I am not even sure when I will be leaving, or what I will have to put up with beforehand in regards to training requirements.

And then there are my cats, my stuff, my apartment.  What do I do with all that? I will NOT give up my cats.  I waited too long to have them, and I will not give them up just because of a deployment.  But who do I trust to watch over them and make sure they do not get hurt or get outside? My parents have offered repeatedly to take them while I deploy.  I would prefer to keep them in Oklahoma.  I do not particularly like the idea of flying them all the way to Washington.  But I may not have a choice.  No one has offered to watch them here.

Whenever I am told of a deployment, I look back on previous TDYs or almost deployments.  I say almost because I have yet to deploy.  My time is coming.  I know it.

My first TDY was while I was stationed in England.  I went to another base in England to help provide security from the protesters who were very unhappy about their country's involvement with the war in Iraq.  My second TDY was to a two week training course in Germany.  I do not really count that as a visit because I did not get to see much of Germany while I was there.

In the midst of all this, I was an alternate to deploy at least once.  This reason allowed me to fire my rifle for the first time in a year in a half.  That should not have happened because I am required to fire the rifle twice a year.  How I managed to slip through the cracks was beyond me, but they were not going to let me fire.  They quickly changed their minds when I told them I was an alternate.

When I arrived here in Oklahoma, I had many more opportunities to go TDY.  My first while stationed in Oklahoma was Nebraska for an air show.  I was the team leader, somehow.  I was not happy since I had no idea what was expected of me.  We stayed off base.  The room I got was spectacular.  I have not had a room like that since.  My second was to Alaska.  I spent a week wandering around the base.  The team leader and I went fishing on base.  We caught a lot of fish, irritated the base motor pool (much to my amusement and annoyance), and even went on a sight seeing tour on a water plane to Mount McKinley.  Number three was to Washington.  My parents and brothers were delighted to see me for a little bit.  My fourth was to Florida.  I would have enjoyed that one, and the two that followed later that month, much better if I had gone with a better team.  I do not like to babysit people.  Military members are adults.  They need to start acting like them.  I soon went to Delaware and North Carolina.  Then, I did not go TDY for over a year.  My next TDY was to Florida for two weeks of training.  I did not care much for the training, especially since I did not really learn anything new.  The reason I enjoyed the time there was because my team was a very good one.  People will make or break the TDY or deployment.  Actually, that could be said about any job or place a person may go to.  Last January, I had to drive down to San Antonio for two weeks of training that seemed more like a vacation than anything else, especially since some portions echoed the training I had endured not even two months before.  I learned that San Antonio freaks out about the slightest drop of snow or ice.  Two days of classes were canceled and we ended up having to stay an extra day because of it.  I was not happy about that because I had to drive back here like a bat out of hell to beat the ice storm that was threatening to hit.  Three months later, I went to Delaware twice.  In September, I went back down to Florida for the third time.  This time was considerably more enjoyable than the first time, because I did not have to babysit the team members I went with.

I have nearly gone on three deployments since I got here.  The first was canceled because I asked to go through a course that was required before I sewed on my current rank.  I was pulled from the next one because the Air Force wanted me to retrain into a different career field.  The reason I did not retrain is because I had only two options.  I do not like big dogs, and I am absolutely terrified at the idea of trying to teach people how to shoot their weapons.  I have seen some of the people I work with shoot their weapons.  I do not even want to see how people who have not fired in three or four years do.  So far, I have been on at least one other deployment.  That one got canceled, though.  Another base picked it up, apparently.  However, I do not think this one is going away.

I have not tried to get out of any of them.  I will not try to get out of this one, either.  It is my time to go, and I will go.  I will not like it, but I have little choice.  It has been too long.  It is not fair for others to deploy back to back while I have not gone at least once.  I will make the best of this deployment, and hopefully meet some good people and learn a lot.  I shall see.

More to come.

What do you do with the cards and letters you receive?  Do you keep them all, just keep the photos, throw them away? 
Inspired by jacolily.

I enjoy keeping the cards and letters I have gotten over the years.  I especially have held on to the ones I got while I was in boot camp.  Those cards and letters made a tough mental game easier to handle.  I would not want to be a person who never receives any letters or cards from the people I love.  I hope my letters and cards are held dear to my family's hearts.  I am sure they will be especially priceless here in the next few months when I deploy to Iraq.

Yes, I got the car back.  Everything seems to be working well, but I will be keeping an eye on it for the next foreseeable future.  I just wish I could get the smell of paint out of the interior.  I may have to get one of those air fresheners.

I am enjoying my weekend off for the most part.  My boyfriend and I went out to dinner at a sushi place we both like.  We wanted to invite a friend of his and the friend's wife, but I could not get a hold of them.  I never got a call back, and neither did my boyfriend.  We even went over there and looked to see if they were home, since they live in the apartment complex next door to my boyfriend's.  They were not.  Dinner was good.

I do not understand what some people have against sushi.  When people think of sushi, they automatically think of raw fish.  Well, sushi actually refers to how the rice is prepared.  Yes, some ingredients are raw, but not all of them.  The sushi I had for dinner last night was an example of the cooked variety.  Yum!

My boyfriend is going through a training course in preparation for his next rank, so he was studying when I came back to my apartment.  He is not looking forward to the next few weeks.  I cannot say I blame him.  I did not have much fun going through the course two years ago.  Things have changed a little, but I will see for certain just how much they have changed.

What do you do for fun when you're broke? 
Submitted by Kim. 

I do not usually put myself in that position, but I will generally stay home and snuggle with the kitties with either a good book, needlework, or a movie.  Usually a friend or my boyfriend will invite me to do something, too.

What was your reaction to the results of the Iowa caucuses?  

I was not surprised by the results on the Democratic side.  I have not been paying much attention to the Republican side, admittedly, so I am not sure what to think about that part.  I have been fairly busy with work and personal things, however, and I do not care much for politics, so I have not been focusing on the election progress and that will probably continue for the foreseeable future.