Fort Sill, OK

400 days. That's how long my orders say I'll be deployed to Oklahoma, Kuwait, and Southern Iraq. Hopefully, this blog will entertain us all and make the time go faster.

On 6 Oct 2009, our flight of 10 Blackhawk helicopters left Phoenix. Yeh, I almost got to blow over a Channel 3 reporter and camerman who thought they'd get an "up close & personal" report. Good fun. We flew to Gallup, NM (fuel stop), then Las Vegas, NM (more fuel and pizza for lunch...yuck), then Amarillo, TX (more fuel), then finally to Ft Sill, OK which is south of Oklahoma City, a total of 7 flight hours.

Over the last 7 days, our Arizona Army National Guard unit has received new clothing and equipment, spent one day of medical exams (where a very masculine, female(?) flight surgeon circled my medical folder as "No-Go". She (he?) took an inordinate amount of glee in telling this old(er) pilot that his hearing was bad... but we already knew that. I felt like I was kicked in the gut. They were going to pull me out, ground me, and kick me out of the Guard. Luckily, I was rescued by our own AZ flight surgeon who magically produced a Hearing Waiver for me). Also, so far we've learned how to get out of a rolled over Humvee (which is interesting but requires a Kevlar helmet, shoulder & knee pads), and flown exactly 1 day. I learned an iPhone can track even from the air and can display a satellite map. Pretty nice. Thanks, Linda, for the going-away gift. It's fast becoming indispensible.

So what's a typical Army day like? We wake up at 5:30 am, ride a bus to breakfast (cafeteria-style) in a big, white mobile tent-like building, ride a bus to the airfield, go to classes, ride a bus to lunch, ingest more calories, ride a bus back to the airfield, attend classes on helicopter stuff, then, you guessed it, ride another bus to supper, eat even more calories, then ride a bus back to our rooms. More often, than not we have more classes at night and get done around 9:00 pm.

When we don't have night classes, I go for a power walk to clear my head and take pictures of interesting sites, like Staff Sergeant Big Deuce VI, an Army donkey, and Corporal Shortround IV, an Army goat. Big Deuce has lost stripes for pooping on the parade route. Once, the donkey was charged with an Article 15 (Court Martial) for chewing off the ear of the goat! Lucky, the donkey got off on a technicality or he'd be out of the Army. By the way, both receive a military paycheck to cover expenses and vet bills.

There, now you know what it's like to be in a deploying Army Aviation unit going to Iraq. Two full months of riding buses and eating in the big, white tent. I'll be car sick and weigh close to 300 pounds! (Photos to follow once I figure out how to transfer them to the blog from the iPhone.)

I try to say morning and evening prayers most days, miss my Orthodox friends more than I ever imagined, call my family every day, and have a new best friend... the iPhone! Speaking of friends, later I'll tell you about my roommates. They're absolutely crazy.