Name that gun!

Ok everybody, it's something of a tradition for Soldiers to name their weapons after their wives or girlfriends as they head overseas. Since I'm short a wife or girlfriend, I'm going to open up the naming of my M4 to the general public. Once I get some suggestions, I'll let you all know what I pick!

Sitting around

If you recall one of my previous posts I made quite a few ambitious goals for myself. If I were to grade myself right now, I'd have to give myself a solid D minus. I have yet to work out, I haven't read nearly as much as I would like to, and the most Spanish I've learned is how to say I'm bored: Estoy aburrido. Actually I'm getting about a word a day texted to me for me to learn. It's not too bad. So all this means I have only have upwards to go! I'm starting to read at night more, and I find that it calms me after a long day.
Speaking of my days, can I just tell you that since I've been here I've not done a whole lot of work. I've mostly just sat in meetings that don't pertain to me or my section, been to medical appointments, and played around with the guys in the my section. We try to eat chow with at least one other member of our section, to get used to being around each other and grow closer. I like it, getting to know the guys better, and they like calling out other Soldiers we pass as we walk if they don't salute me because they know it annoys me. Granted it's the right thing to do, but I don't like standing next to them as they shout out "Hey, are you too good to salute MY Warrant Officer" loud enough for people in the surrounding areas to all take notice. I think I'm going to start taking the longer less traveled way around places. The powers that be traded one of my favorite Soldiers to another section in exchange of a higher ranking guy that nobody has ever seen. I think my guy will be better off where he's at now, but I was looking forward to having someone with a similar sense of humor and morals to hang out with.
I feel slightly guilty being here with nothing to do. The computer system that I'll be using is a live system, and what we change in there is changed in the real world, so we can't exactly train on the system very often. I end up sitting in my chair next to my bunk like I am now, playing on my laptop. At least I'm getting my money's worth for it! Most of my other Officer friends have things to do during the day, either courses they're taking or things that actually pertain to us leaving. You should see some of the looks that I get for sleeping till 7 when they all are up at 5, and I'm sitting in my chair when they get back at night! Hey, I'm sorry I don't have to be at work till 830 most days and a busy day at work is when I've got 2 hours worth of stuff to do, if I stretch it. Oh well, I guess it just gives me a better chance to start working on my goals and get into a routine. I just can't wait for the actual training to start happening. Still no mail....
WO1 McGill Jeff
HHC 96th STB
North Fort Hood, TX 76544

Visiting my Brother

Last Saturday I had the pleasure and joy of hanging out with my brother's family for the first time ever. I've met my sister in law Cassie once before, and she is one cool girl. I'm pretty sure that she has more tattoos that my brother does, and if she really wanted to, as big as my brother is, I'm sure she could beat him up. My niece Alexis is pretty chill. You can tell she has been raised by my brother who has been a stay at home dad ever since she was born. I really enjoyed it since my niece is starting to develop a personality instead of just laying there looking at everything. She's walking, making noises, laughing, all sorts of things. She let me hold her, and didn't cry at all really. I think she quite enjoyed being held by me, I know i enjoyed it anyway. I'm really glad that I was able to visit them. It was great timing since it was my brother's 28th birthday. I wish that my brother and his family lived closer to me so I could see them more often. And thanks to my friend Tara for reminding me how to post pictures to this thing.

Texas

I’ve been in Texas for about three days now, and I think in those three days I’ve produced more sweat than I did the whole time I lived in Utah. And the thing is, it’s only going to get worse! Good thing I like the heat. We haven’t done a whole lot it seems, just going through some stations that make sure our paperwork and medical issues are ok. Everybody has to go through and get shots, have their hearing checked, make sure we all have wills etc. Since I’ve already been over once I don’t have to get most of the shots thankfully, only the anthrax vaccine. I really like my section quite a bit, they’re a group of good guys. They’re pretty young but they’re enthusiastic and eager to please. I’m looking forward to working with them. When they split us up into two teams within the section I’ll be glad to work with my team, but sad that I won’t get to work as closely with the other half. I still miss my friends back home quite a bit. So far this just feels like another training instead of the start of something bigger. It hasn’t quite hit me that I’ll be leaving for a year yet. I know that to some of my friends back home it hasn’t quite hit them either. I said goodbye to one of my friends and she juts acted like she was going to see me the next day or something. I kinda expected a bit more of a reaction considering the weight of the moment, but after I left it hit her harder. I’ll be looking into getting Skype and seeing how all that works. I live in an open bay with about 30 other Officers so privacy isn’t a huge part of our lives and I don’t want everyone listening into my conversations. Still no word on when we’re heading overseas. Well we do have a guesstimate but I can’t publish it on here, so if you want to know you can still text me. My brother is down here in the same town that I am, and it’s his birthday today. I don’t have anything going on today so I’m going to try to see if I can’t get him to come visit me on post and bring his family. I really want to see my niece and sister in law. And him too.

Themes

I find myself thinking about my last deployment and comparing it to what I think this one will be like. Aside from actually having goals and desires to improve myself this time, I feel that it will be much the same. I still have the same worries and apprehensions I do about coming back and what life will be like when I get home, but that will all take care of itself eventually. One thing I did like that I did last time that I plan on doing again this time is I had a scriptural theme. Last time, at the beginning of the war in 2003 when I was over there I was pretty young, 20 yrs old, and gung ho about going over there. I knew that it would be a challenge for me in all aspects of life, but more importantly spiritually. My theme was Alma 46:12+13 which reads: And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole. And he fastened on his head-plate, and his abreastplate, and his shields, and girded on his armor about his loins; and he took the pole, which had on the end thereof his rent coat, (and he called it the title of liberty) and he bowed himself to the earth, and he prayed mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren, so long as there should a band of Christians remain to possess the land—

The desert heat, the stress of the job and being away from my family and friends, everything that I knew and loved caused me to think about quite a bit and realize that I was quite blessed in all that I have. But I was struggling to keep my head above water so to speak. Trials and temptations were getting me down and I often felt more alone than I have ever felt before or even since. Some of my LDS friends over there adopted a scripture which I eventually did as well. It's the entire 122nd section of Doctrine and Covenants. It reads:
1 The ends of the earth shall inquire after thy name, and fools shall have thee in derision, and hell shall rage against thee;
2 While the pure in heart, and the wise, and the noble, and the virtuous, shall seek counsel, and authority, and blessings constantly from under thy hand.
3 And thy people shall never be turned against thee by the testimony of traitors.
4 And although their influence shall cast thee into trouble, and into bars and walls, thou shalt be had in honor; and but for a small moment and thy voice shall be more terrible in the midst of thine enemies than the fierce lion, because of thy righteousness; and thy God shall stand by thee forever and ever.
5 If thou art called to pass through tribulation; if thou art in perils among false brethren; if thou art in perils among robbers; if thou art in perils by land or by sea;
6 If thou art accused with all manner of false accusations; if thine enemies fall upon thee; if they tear thee from the society of thy father and mother and brethren and sisters; and if with a drawn sword thine enemies tear thee from the bosom of thy wife, and of thine offspring, and thine elder son, although but six years of age, shall cling to thy garments, and shall say, My father, my father, why can’t you stay with us? O, my father, what are the men going to do with you? and if then he shall be thrust from thee by the sword, and thou be dragged to prison, and thine enemies prowl around thee like wolves for the blood of the lamb;
7 And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.
8 The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?
9 Therefore, hold on thy way, and the priesthood shall remain with thee; for their bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever.

So I'm asking for suggestions for scriptures that have gotten you through your rough times, ones that give you inspiration and hope. I know this will be a challenging time for me, but I'm looking forward to the chance I'm being given to grow as a person and to come to know and rely on my Savior even more than I do now.

Getting ready

I should be asleep, but I'm not. I have a long busy day tomorrow, it's my last full day in Utah for the foreseeable future. I have quite the day ahead, breakfast lunch and dinner with friends, hanging out, taking my truck up to Idaho and leaving it there, and I still have to pack some stuff on top of it all! I'm sure I'll get it all done sooner or later.
I just wanted to update everyone on what's going on with my trip overseas and my life in general. I moved out of my house on the 30th, the lease was up, and I'd only be here for another 7 days or so afterwords so there wasn't really any need to sign a new one. I'll just find another place when I get back. I do need to give a big thank you to everyone who helped me move out, both with actually packing things up or cleaning the house up for me. I was working for my Army unit getting everything ready to move to Texas and I just didn't have enough hours in the day to get it all done. So thank you once again, I only made it out because of you.
I broke all of my glass pots, pans, dishes, cups etc.. They were packed nicely and neatly, very carefully (you can tell I didn't pack them), and when I took them to my storage shed I made sure that even though they were up high, they wouldn't fall. Well I went to get another load of stuff, and sure enough, even though the box wouldn't fall when I tried to get it to, it fell when nothing was even touching it. I even managed to break some plastic bowls and containers. How awesome is that? And since I didn't feel like rearranging everything in my shed to accommodate my bed (would've been a tight squeeze anyway), I just left it at the local thrift store. So I'll be looking for a new set of dishes and a place to sleep when I get home. Maybe I'll move into a place that will let me have a large bed! It wasn't easy trying to figure out what to put away that I won't need till I get home, what to put away that someone might need to get for me, what I'll need until I leave, and what I'll need overseas.
I'm living in a hotel out by the airport right now. My unit rented about 85 rooms for 11 days from this place, so they gave me a room for free. It's not too bad, I have a really nice room.
Here's the update on my deployment. On Wed at some time yet to be announced my unit will fly to Texas, a place called Ft. Hood near a town called Killeen. It's hard to believe, but someone high up messed up a bit. The unit we're supposed to replace in Iraq isn't scheduled to leave for another month later than what they thought. It would make sense to just send them home a month early, but nope, that's not what is going to happen. Originally we were supposed to be in Texas training for going over there for a month and a half, but now we've got an extra month on our hands. We can't go to Iraq for that month because they don't have room for us there. We can't go to Kuwait for the same reason. From what I hear Texas doesn't have room for us either past the month and a half that they originally planned for. So we're going to be wandering around trying to find somewhere that will take us for a whole month. My section is trying to get into some training in Wisconsin for two weeks of that month, so we'll see what happens.
My section is going to be pretty busy. We're going to break into two teams, one of which I'll be running, and we're going to manage the equipment of all the units in about a third of Iraq. We'll track it, ensure that they don't have more than they're supposed to, and if they're short something, we'll try to get it for them. With the draw down of troops over there, we'll go from managing 5 larger units down to 2 by the time we leave next June. I have a bunch of young guys in my section, and I'm the only one who has been over there yet, so this promises to be interesting.

Can't sleep

My random thoughts....

I worry about my dog Daisy. She's 13 years old, and apparently isn't doing so well. She's getting weak and can't eat much. My other dog, Toby can tell there's something wrong and is acting kinda depressed according to my Mom. Losing Daisy would be a huge loss to my family, she's such an integral part of who we all are. It's amazing how much an animal can become a part of our lives.

I forgot to mention that my best friend Jason makes me feel better about myself in many ways. In this instance, he lives in California selling not security systems like I thought, but get this... garbage routes! He works for this company who tries to consolidate neighborhoods and get people in certain areas to swap "sanitation providers" to condense his company's routes. So he's like the garbage man's assistant. I love it!

I am really glad to be back home finally. I loved my trips and everyone I was able to see and meet and I'd do it again in a heartbeat but it's nice to be at my own house. granted it's only my house for 8 more days in which I need to find a storage shed, pack and move out. Talk about stress, I have to pack, but still keep things out that will last me till I leave for good.

I think with all the trips I've taken this year so far, and the fact that I'm about to leave for a bit makes me feel very disconnected from everything. I'm looking for something to help me feel grounded.

I still don't like California, I'm convinced it's going to eventually burn even more than it usually does. And how is it that I can spend days out on the open water and on the beach on the East Coast, and only get slightly burnt, but I can spend 3 hours on the beach in San Diego and come back roasted?