Henry's Web Log

Well, we're still in Fort Lewis. The Seattle region has received a week of record lows-- mid 20's, and with only an inch of snow on the ground, the military post and Air Force base are both nearly shut down.
Surprisingly for this Virginia mountain boy, the Northwest-most state in the continental US spends most of its winter around the 40 degree mark. The "pineapple express" Pacific ocean currents keep the temperatures warm near the coast. I haven't even seen any salt on the roads-- meaning it isn't worth the cost to have salt/snow removal vehicles for how rare this is.
The impact on us is that our B, C and D bags are long gone. Our "A" bags were loaded & sealed on a truck yesterday morning, and we're living out of our carry-on. So the packing list and planning pays off, because members of the other unit that's going with us are running to the PX to buy toothbrushes, underwear, shampoo, etc.
So we're hanging out, waiting for the word to go. In the mean time, we've at least got the computer lab two blocks from our off & on barracks. I was able to write a little code to help my blog here: apparantly, some dispicable characters are trying to steal my Google juice by spamming me with comments for pharmaceutical products and fake watches. No more. Comments require approval now. Furthermore, until the 100 posts per night die off (really!), I've disabled commenting. If you'd like me to open any of these blog posts for comments, just email your thoughts to me and I'll post it right away.
It's not like I'm turning away legitimate comments, though. With over 45 posts, there are only 6 relevant comments!
Seattle Times reports record weather: As temperatures dropped this week, electricity use spiked as residents crank up their heaters and other appliances work harder. Puget Sound Energy said Tuesday that its peak electricity load Monday night broke a record set in 1998, and natural-gas use broke a record set in 2006.

Because I couldn't find an IRR packing list when I was called to active duty, I gathered input from friends who have deployed and combined it with my own need for serious computational support.
The result is an Excel Spreadsheet of my inventory that might be useful to other deploying Individual Ready Reserve soldiers, or just the curious.
Special circumstances: note that the bags would be reprioritized if we were deploying in the warm/hot months, versus the current winter months. I needed all my layers with me, so that took extra space in the "A" bag.
Also, per our orders, we are allowed 3 checked bags, plus a carry-on. PLUS an additional checked bag if we have received the Rapid Fielding Initiative (RFI) equipment, which I have.
For us, though, we're only allowed ONE checked bag on the plane, plus a small carry-on. Why? We're an IBU--Itty Bitty Unit, and we'll be crammed in a plane with two other units. No empty seats. So we have to reduce our checked baggage. Furthermore, we'll step on a scale with everything for the plane, and we must be under 400 pounds. That means the "A" bag and carry-on better have almost everything needed for 2 weeks, while "B", "C", and "D" were palletized and shipped four days ago. I hope to see them again!
So you see, this list serves a dual purpose: telling others what to pack, as well as the inventory list when I have to file a lost baggage claim.

IRR Deployment from Ft Lewis Packing List in PDF
IRR Deployment from Ft Lewis Inventory in Excel
The 115lb "A" bag:

That's the problem with a software developer/manager: EVERYTHING IS "A" PRIORITY!!!

Saturday was ACI's annual Christmas party. The first one I've missed. Lots of things I've missed for the first time: Halloween, Thanksgiving, and soon Christmas after 20 years of marriage and 12 years of operating ACI. On the other hand, ACI is doing VERY well without me, and our marriage is super-strong. I'm enjoying staying in touch with folks, and the opportunity to serve my country. So many Army buddies have already been deployed 3 or more times!

I do want to take this opportunity to praise my coworkers at ACI (that's everyone!) for doing great in both October and November. We have a monthly open-book financial review, and for the first time, we made a profit in the month of November. Normally, with vacation/holiday, November winds up with a small loss. Plus there's usually not a lot of MatWeb Advertising renewals because customers' budgetss are waiting for the new year. Dale and Laureen overcame those obstacles and continue to do great things. Zero3 supermarket refrigeration controls is on the verge of making some big steps, so the business is going great...wish you were here!, or I was there.

We're official graduates of the class of ... IRRegulators. So named because it's got "IRR" in the name, and Regulators were an old western gang of misfits. Stephen King wrote a book using them. So it works for us.

We fly out on Wednesday (the 17th) in the afternoon. I'll deactivate my iPhone on Tuesday, and hopefully will be able to leave a "don't call me until November 2009" message.

I have posted our unit's mailing address in the top left corner of the blog site. If there's any update (like I get transfered to another unit, or stationed at a different operating base), I'll keep the most accurate mailing address right there.

We're looking at about 32 hours of travel, going the Atlantic route, if you can believe it! Our first hop is to Delaware, then Germany, and finally Kuwait. 10 days or so of training in Kuwait, and we should be in Tallil, Iraq around Christmas. Ho, Ho, Ho!

Where's Tallil? It's not quite halfway between Kuwait and Bahgdad, between the Biblical "Ur" and "An Nasiriyah".

The war stories are always better, and if you’re in a good bunch, they’re funnier, than the real thing. At least in training. Our culminating exercise at Ft Lewis was a HMMWV convoy through about a 6 mile loop, supposedly a recon to keep the main supply route safe, to meet a local farmer who had some intel, and meet with the mayor of a local village in order to improve relationships and offer an American medical assistance visit in appreciation for their support of our operations. 30 minutes before we departed, our convoy commander, a lieutenant, got pulled away for another mission! Mark Jadrich stepped in and did a great job briefing us all. Then Murphy took over, as he is want to do in war… Murphy of the “can go wrong, will go wrong” ilk.
On the way to the farmer, we were hit with an IED. While the first vehicle reacted, we spotted what we thought was a 2nd IED at the convoy tail (not a long convoy, just 4 HMMWVs!). So we couldn’t go forward to help. The lead vehicle’s radio went out, so they didn’t know what happened, the 2nd vehicle had been “hit” by the IED simulator, and the 3rd vehicle really froze because they knew our 4th vehicle had the recovery tow-strap…but we were separated by the 2nd IED. So we got gigged for not taking faster action. Turns out, the 2nd IED was really the 1st IED…just that it looked pristine because the simulated “boom” happened 10 yards away from it!
We got our act together, moved up, rescued the hit vehicle, fired up a sniper, and started moving out when the OC’s (Observer-Controllers) called a halt and we did a quick AAR (After Action Review, see my last entry). Mark had us switch out vehicles 1 (bad radio) with 3 (flakey vehicle commander) so that we could have good commo on our most important vehicle. The commander’s vehicle was #2, and I was in #4 for rear security and vehicle recovery.
We learned later that vehicle #1, in addition to bad commo, had an inexperienced gunner. She had worked out a few kinks with the machine gun during the live-fire, so we thought, “Surely she has figured it out now.” Nope. Every time she pulled the trigger, she jammed it up. And she didn’t have the strength or experience to clear the jam. Vehicle #1’s commander, Billy, has four years infantry officer experience and he did not tolerate this well, to put it mildly. On top of that, the gunner doubted herself. “Should I fire?... I see the sniper. I just don’t know if I should fire…”
Billy’s response, along the lines of “YES G## D##MIT! Waste the Mother F&&#%#!!!” was an attempt to motivate some action. Then he heard once again the “Bang! Click.” Yet another ammunition jam. He absolutely went ape, yanked the gunner down, and put a staff sergeant up in the gunner’s hatch. Then he had to listen to a barrage of “but I’m trained on the SAW [Squad Assault Weapon]. I passed the training course…the weapon kept jamming…”
After the gunner substitution, the weapon miraculously never jammed again. That was just the first of five little scenarios yesterday, and made for some hilarious stories last night. Our four vehicles were the last of 4 groups that went through the course, and it turns out that our little FUBAR wasn’t nearly as bad as the first group’s!