sejgirl

Sunday, June 21, 2009

"If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it. And he will rescue us from your hand, O king"

Daniel 3:17

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Field Exercises

We just spent the week in the field. It went pretty well and we got a lot of good training out of it. We patrolled around in the rain all day Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday was an 18 hour day that started at 5:30am. We patrolled around our training area all day performing various types of missions. When night finally fell, we broke out the night vision goggles for some practical application. Being so close to the timezone and to the longest day of the year, we couldn't even start our night operations until after 9:30pm. Wednesday we convoyed back to our training center-and then the sun came out.

I also learned that organic bug spray does not work. I was a buffet for mosquitos. At night I would rub hand sanitizer and foot powder on my bites. Not sure if it was the best thing for my skin, but it stopped the itching long enough for me to fall asleep under my awesome makeshift tarp tent.

Friday, June 05, 2009

The Last Day

I was walking out the door yesterday as he was coming in. I looked into the kid's eyes and said "Thank you" as he held the door open for me. That was about the entirety of the relationship I had him. I had seen him around several times this past week and noticed his unique name, but did not know him. I did not know it was the last day of his life.

He killed himself this morning.

He was not one of mine, but I know this will effect them. We were still bonded together as a family even if we did not know him personally. Some will be participating in the service, but we will all be attending the funeral. We will be there to support his family.

Could I have done anything for him? Were there warning signs? Did he know today would be his last day?

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Incognito

Most of us complain that we can't go out in uniform like the Army. It would be nice to be able to run errands or get something to eat, or pick up kids from daycare on the way home without having to change clothes.

As of Monday, the complaints have stopped with the murder of two soldiers in Arkansas.

Tomorrow we are heading out for a trail run. Usually, when we work out, we wear a physical training uniform (green t-shirt/green shorts). Not tomorrow. We will be off base for this run and I don't want 45 unarmed targets. We're wearing regular shorts, pants, t-shirts, and/or sweats in all colors of the rainbow and there will be no formation runs. Sometimes it seems like we're safer overseas.