In the Heartland

In the heartland

It’s the end of the weekend here at Fort Riley, Kansas and all of us are anxiously waiting to see what the next week will bring. Okay, maybe not “all” of us because there are a number of folks who have been here for the past 7 days and they already know what to expect; more in-processing, more medical, more legal, more training, and most of all, more waiting around. One thing that will be different is that they will be giving us a bunch of gear. I got a quick preview of the stuff we will be drawing this week and I’m here to tell ya that there are some pretty nifty things that Uncle Sam is providing what I like to call the “soldiers of the surge”. Most of the gear is brand spanking new. This would be unheard of in most cases since activated reservists tend to get the left overs. Since the new digital camo is all “official”, most of the gear is brand spanking new, or no more than a year or two old. I’d list all the fancy things I am getting as I know that there are a few gear heads out there that would be interested, but for the most part, people wouldn’t know the difference between an ACOG and an Aimpoint or the subtleties of why Oakley glasses are better than Wiley-Xs. Let’s just say that for 75% of the stuff I will be drawing is the “good stuff”, designed with lots of insight as to what will help the soldier on the battlefield, and very much an improvement over the old issued items. Technology is great, but it can be a double edged sword in this case. For example, we have the latest and greatest personal armor on the market, but it weighs a heck of a lot more than the old armor. I say that as long as it helps in keeping my butt from being shot off, then I’ll take it!

The living conditions here at Riley are spartan, but they are much better than they were at Benning, but slightly worse than at Wood. I’m sharing a dorm style room with LT Chris and it’s not all that bad. We have separate rooms with big closets and no frills furniture (however, I ended up with 3 lamps and no chair). We share a bath and kitchenette that are very small, but for our purposes, very suitable for the time we’ll spend here. No phone, no bedding, no shower curtain, not a single luxury, to include the absence of TV and the internet. The cell phone reception is almost nonexistent, the mattresses are only slightly better than the asbestos tiled floor and the shower looks like either the breeding ground for some new strain of black mold, or the Army decided to buy some new black caulk and grout that just happens to be fuzzy. We spent most of yesterday night and this morning trying to make it more livable and thanks to the miracles of modern chemicals and a little elbow grease, (plus the personal purchase of a butt-load of cleaning supplies) it feels a little more comfortable. Rumor has it that we can get internet and cable in our rooms if we want to pay for it. Since there is a general day room for us to use for TV, I think we’ll pass on the cable TV (as long as they are watching LOST on Wednesday!). If I’m going to be here for as long as they tell me I’m going to be, my roommate and I might have to split the bill on the internet package just so we can be connected to the outside world.

Now, before you get the wrong idea, I’m not that guy who carries his laptop everywhere, searching for that lucrative free WiFi connection, or will you find me sitting by myself in some internet café hunched over the blue/gray glow of my LCD monitor checking my email or the latest stock prices. I don’t need the internet, but it sure is nice to have. It allows me to access my financial information (which is important when the bill collectors are sending mail to an address I am not currently at), I can keep in touch with a lot of people (who doesn’t have an email account now a days?) and update this here blog. Sure I could use the phone to do most of these things, but it puts a burden on folks to track all of my stuff (which I don’t like to do) and if you don’t know by now, I’m a terrible letter writer. So, internet, while not a deployment necessity, it sure is handy to have. I think I’ll dish out the $20 a month to stay connected. Besides, I need to see what people are posting on my MySpace account.