Got sucked up again! I can’t believe it.
I got the word last night, “SGT Puebla, your going back out to Camp Cassion tomorrow.” Great! Right after I had finished packing up all my shit. What’s up with that? What luck. I had other plans for the day but that all got changed really quick.
Camp Cassion is the detainee camp where we’ve been training. It sucks because when I was out there last week it was cold and wet. When my platoon finished training I thought I was through. Problem was that other platoons needed some Joes just as our platoon needed some Joes for the training. So that’s how I got pulled into another platoon to do some training.
It also sucks because I didn’t get to sleep-in like the other Joes did. No, I had to wake up at 0445 hours and make sure I made it in time for breakfast. I woke up my other two Joes but they were a little slow this morning. I got dressed, shaved, and went to check on them to see if they were ready to go. Nope, they were still putting on their boots. I left to chow without them. Don’t worry; I got a muffin and cereal for both of them. I won’t forget to take care of my soldiers.
The best thing about today was the weather. It was an absolutely beautiful Fall day. Sure it was cold but it wasn’t freezing like the other day. The sky cleared up and it was sunny all day. The weather was almost too nice, if you like cool weather. I’m so glad it didn’t rain on us out there.
Luckily my team got put in the visitor center. The best thing about that is that it’s in a tent with a heater. Luckily I was in there all last week too. I guess I’m just a lucky person. We did get pulled out a few times for riot control, but nothing ever ensued. We finally decided to keep our riot gear on instead of taking it off and putting it on all the time.
The next best thing about the visitor’s center, we only got three detainees throughout the day. It was nice. Most of the time we were just sitting there, waiting on standby to be called to a riot or for another detainee.
We finished up the afternoon with a call to do cell extraction. We had to extract a detainee from a cell. So we gathered up the team real quick and went to it. Piece of cake. No problem. It was the first time for two of us in the team. I missed cell extraction training last week along with another Joe. It wasn’t too much of a problem. We were instructed of what to do on the spot. Everything went together pretty good for the first time through.
When we finished we had a little review over what we just did. While we were doing that one of the detainees that was going home from a days work came over to us. He came to wish us luck on our mission. That was real nice of him. I didn’t expect it. Like I said before, I always love to receive thanks. It's real weird though, here's a guy that we were treating like shit, albeit, it was all simulated. But the thing was that afterwards we were all the same, Americans. We were all on the same team. He cared about our well-being. It would be nice if more people were like that.
Another thing that’s kind of funny, a general came to see us yesterday. He told us about the greatest generation. But he went on to mention us. Thing is, there are some might fine men here. It demostrates the best of what America has to offer.
Here’s a photo of the whole company. My platoon, 4th platoon is on the very right. This photo was taken at Yakima right before we left.
Camp Cassion is the detainee camp where we’ve been training. It sucks because when I was out there last week it was cold and wet. When my platoon finished training I thought I was through. Problem was that other platoons needed some Joes just as our platoon needed some Joes for the training. So that’s how I got pulled into another platoon to do some training.
It also sucks because I didn’t get to sleep-in like the other Joes did. No, I had to wake up at 0445 hours and make sure I made it in time for breakfast. I woke up my other two Joes but they were a little slow this morning. I got dressed, shaved, and went to check on them to see if they were ready to go. Nope, they were still putting on their boots. I left to chow without them. Don’t worry; I got a muffin and cereal for both of them. I won’t forget to take care of my soldiers.
The best thing about today was the weather. It was an absolutely beautiful Fall day. Sure it was cold but it wasn’t freezing like the other day. The sky cleared up and it was sunny all day. The weather was almost too nice, if you like cool weather. I’m so glad it didn’t rain on us out there.
Luckily my team got put in the visitor center. The best thing about that is that it’s in a tent with a heater. Luckily I was in there all last week too. I guess I’m just a lucky person. We did get pulled out a few times for riot control, but nothing ever ensued. We finally decided to keep our riot gear on instead of taking it off and putting it on all the time.
The next best thing about the visitor’s center, we only got three detainees throughout the day. It was nice. Most of the time we were just sitting there, waiting on standby to be called to a riot or for another detainee.
We finished up the afternoon with a call to do cell extraction. We had to extract a detainee from a cell. So we gathered up the team real quick and went to it. Piece of cake. No problem. It was the first time for two of us in the team. I missed cell extraction training last week along with another Joe. It wasn’t too much of a problem. We were instructed of what to do on the spot. Everything went together pretty good for the first time through.
When we finished we had a little review over what we just did. While we were doing that one of the detainees that was going home from a days work came over to us. He came to wish us luck on our mission. That was real nice of him. I didn’t expect it. Like I said before, I always love to receive thanks. It's real weird though, here's a guy that we were treating like shit, albeit, it was all simulated. But the thing was that afterwards we were all the same, Americans. We were all on the same team. He cared about our well-being. It would be nice if more people were like that.
Another thing that’s kind of funny, a general came to see us yesterday. He told us about the greatest generation. But he went on to mention us. Thing is, there are some might fine men here. It demostrates the best of what America has to offer.
Here’s a photo of the whole company. My platoon, 4th platoon is on the very right. This photo was taken at Yakima right before we left.
posted by A Guy on his Journey at Wednesday, November 16, 2005
1 Comments:
Look at dat...the whole shebang, right there.
So it sounds like a pattern of no sleep. You just might be beating me over the last two weeks. I was averaging maybe 3 hours a night, albeit I'm not the one who's preparing for combat training. On the other hand it is the anticipation of basic that I'm losing sleep over.
Hope training's not too monotonous for you. Get some sleep, bro. Oh yeah, and definitely feels good when someone acknowledges you. Good work, SGT P!
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