Apologies for the delay in updates. I’m not exactly busy in that I don’t have time to write anything at all. I’ve been keeping up to date with friends and family. It’s rather a combination of things: the Not A Blog™ being a lower priority at the moment, and also that not a whole lot has been happening over the last few weeks. I expect things will pick up at the end of this month, but for the moment, things are routine. Here is what’s been happening:

Week 5

This past week was much improved—probably the best so far. The biggest event for me was the second class swim qualification, which I neglected to mention in the last update is a requirement for getting the EXW pin. I was anxious about passing the test because I quite literally learned to swim last week. Sure, I’ve known how to swim in the sense of “not drowning”, but I never knew how to swim in the sense of actually swimming.

For the second class test, one must demonstrate proficiency in four strokes: the crawl, breast stroke, side stroke and elementary back stroke; plus the man overboard drill (jump off a platform, go straight down and come back up); and five minutes of the dead-man’s float (floating face down in the water. No, you don’t hold your breath for five minutes.)

My challenge was learning all the strokes. In theory I knew the crawl, but in reality I didn’t, because I was doing every aspect of it wrong. I had to learn from scratch the other three, and I had exactly one week to do it. This necessitated being at the pool every day. (That was rough). In all seriousness, it was a challenge to learn how to do these strokes, and the week was full of me floundering about in exactly the way dolphins don’t.

I didn’t actually expect to pass the swim test, but somehow–between the practice and the instruction from other people in my group who knew what they were doing–my body figured out all the coordinated muscle movements by Friday. The test wasn’t timed, so it didn’t matter that I finished dead last in my group, only that I finished, and passed. It turned out to be much less of a deal then I was making it out to be in my head, and after I finished the side stroke (the hardest one for me), I was actually having fun, in clear violation of everything tests stand for.

Aside from getting the second class swim qual out of the way, my small pox scab also finally dropped off, putting an end to that whole nuisance. Fortunately, as I mentioned earlier, the small pox vaccination didn’t itch or otherwise bother me, so it just ended up being this annoying thing I had to keep an eye (and waterproof bandages) on. But now that it’s gone, it’s one less thing I have to worry about.

The EXW stuff is coming along pretty well, but last week we were informed of the catch: apparently this pin is something of a political land mine. The award is a combination of two other pins, and people who got these originals consider the EXW to be a watered down version. Furthermore, although we’re going to do essentially an expeditionary warfare mission, as reservists none of us are part of an EXW squadron. There are a few other issues in there, too, but the main point is that there is some resistance to us going after this award, and some reservation about whether or not we’ll actually be able to get it.

Our counterpoint to this is that we have nothing else we have to be doing while we’re down here, anyway, so we might as well be working on something mission related, however cursory. Even if we don’t succeed, the amount of training and knowledge we’ll gain in the meantime is worth the effort. To wit: next week we’re going through a CPR class, since that’s a requirement for the EXW, as well.

We’ve only got a few weeks left here before moving on to further training. Although we have a lot to do, I’m rather hoping they will go as quickly as this week did. It just means less time until the next stage, which in turn means less time until I’m home.

Week 6

It’s hard to believe I’ve been on deployment for over a month now. Of course, I was home for a week of that so it makes sense that it doesn’t feel quite so long, but even since then the time has gone by quickly.

I don’t have much to update everyone on for this past week. I did get my CPR qualification, which was so much of a non-event that it hardly seems worth mentioning. Aside from that, we’ve been in classroom training every day doing briefs on topics relating to EXW, and otherwise studying for those qualifications. It’s a lot of information to absorb, made more difficult by the fact that much of it is a hands-on, experience-based type of knowledge, but which we just have to memorize.

When not studying on my own or sitting in a classroom, I’m PTing, which comes out to about two hours a day: an hour in the morning (mandatory) and an hour on my own in the afternoon at the pool, now that I actually know how to swim. For some military people, two hours is nothing, but it’s a significant amount for me, coming as I am off sedentary duty (that is, the civilian world). I’ve lost a lot of fat weight, and gained some muscle weight, so I’m in better shape now than I have been for a while. I expect to be in the best shape of my life in about nine weeks after I get done at Ft. Dix, especially considering that things will be a lot more intense there than they are now.

I know what everyone is taking away from that previous paragraph: I spend an hour at the pool every day. Yes, it’s true, and yes, it’s really quite nice. This stage is more like a vigorous vacation than hardcore military training—not to diminish the perception of its importance or anything.

And that’s really all I have for you this week. We’ve been making steady progress towards our goals, both intellectual and physical, and I have no complaints.

Week 7

Short week this week. With the 4th of July on Friday, we were fortunate to get both Thursday and Friday off, so I rented a car and drove home. It’s a six and a half hour drive from where I’m staying to my home—a drive only made feasible with the longer weekend. It worked out well; I was able to stop by my house and drop off a lot of cruft. In my case this was a few books, half a dozen DVDs and some extra paperwork that I ended up with after living for a month out of a hotel room. I also got to see people, which was nice because it was the last opportunity I’ll have to do that until the end of August, and even that upcoming time is tentative.

Again, I have nothing new to add to last week. Aside from finishing the notes for our core requirements and getting signed off on some of our specific requirements for the EXW, nothing else has been happening. I’m doing well (continuing to get in shape) and the routine is pleasant. Next week promises to be a little bit busier, however. Among other things, we’re taking an all day trip to get more specific briefs on our mission. I’m not sure that will generate any news I can pass along but it should be informative to me.

-Ted