Quick Update

The last few weeks have been insanely busy. I was in the field for a week in May, followed by a four day in Rome, three days of work, a short weekend during which I spent most of Sunday baking cakes and cup cakes for my promotion ceremony. I got promoted to captain on Monday, and have been busy at work due to USR and field prep. The rest of the company went to the field yesterday and I saw them off, and then dealt with Soldier issues that came up in the rear. I will be joining the company in the field tomorrow after I finish USR turn in up at brigade. I'm not going to have internet access while I'm out there, but it's going to be too busy out there anyway. I've seen a few people make comments about how they're going to use the summer to catch up on their reading; I'll be using mine to fall behind on my reading.

I do want to post some pictures from Rome since I loved it but it looks like that's definitely going to have to wait. Hopefully I'll get a chance to do it after I get back from the field and before my trip to Istanbul.

Here are a few pictures from my promotion, though. As a surprise, the commander and headquarters moved my office into the old PAC office so I now am no longer in the conference room.

Reenlisting

I know I don't generally talk about work on here anymore. Despite the fact that I don't have my full name anywhere on here, I still don't want my Soldiers to accidentally find it. Besides which, my chain of command all know about this (downrange blogs and webpages have to be registered). When I first got to the battalion I was told that if I'm too negative or critical that can also be seen as insubordination as well as a sign regarding the unit's morale for the enemy. However, this was just too cute/amusing not to share.

One of my specialists, well former specialists since I'm no longer his platoon leader having taken over the XO slot, had asked me a few months ago to give him the oath when he reenlisted. Shortly after this, he'd realized he wasn't in his window yet, but asked me if I would still be here when it did open and if I'd still be willing to do it down the line no matter what. Well, we finally got to the point where his window was going to open this week. He came up to me and told me, "Ma'am, I'm not going to reenlist after all. I didn't realize that if I reenlisted for stabilization, I'd have to add a year to my contract."

Now when people reenlist, there are usually a few incentives, especially for those doing it the first time: money, choice of duty station, reclass (change of job) or stabilization, which means they will get stay with the unit they're with for an additional year beyond the time they were already supposed to. The only reason this particular Soldier had even wanted to reenlist was to stay in the unit, so it is very unfortunate that his plans didn't work out the way he'd wanted them to, however that comment was just classic from that individual. He's nice, accomplishes his tasks but like many other young Soldiers his age, occasionally is a little naive. Naturally, the whole reason the Army has reenlistments and gives people these incentives is as a reward/bribe to get them to add time to their initial contract. Granted there are the occasional people that get lucky or time it just right: for example, downrange I had a Soldier that reenlisted for stabilization but the way the timing worked out, she only added a month or less to her contract. That's not the norm, though, and she also wasn't a first term Soldier, meaning she had reenlisted already once before.

Anyway, just thought I'd share - also if there are any cadets or new platoon leaders out there reading this, just make sure your Soldiers always read the fine print/understand what exactly they are committing themselves to - in this case, at least, he realized it before he signed on the dotted line.

Playing with Needles

One course that basically everyone in the Army has to take is CLS, or Combat Life Savers. As with most Army training, I've come to slightly dread it, although this time, for once, it has nothing to do with my incompetence. Actually, it's not so much the class I dread, which I generally think is useful as that I hate the IV portion. Once you've taken the class, you have to recertify yearly to make sure you haven't forgotten anything, get refreshed, and also learn if there have been any changes in protocol.

The first time I went I was nervous about the IV portion because I was really worried about messing up, and hurting the person I had to give an IV. And, yes, as always, I imagine the worst things possible happening, things that probably can't even happen, such as the needle getting stuck in my arm. Anyway, that first class and first stick went pretty well, so when it came a year later to recert, I wasn't too worried. I'd already picked my partner and everything. Well, it turns out that somehow my already tiny veins had apparently gotten worse in a year's time. My partner couldn't find a vein, and then when the medic finally told him an area to stick, the catheter ended up bending in my arm so when he started pushing in fluids, they were actually causing a small bubble under my skin. He didn't even try again after that. (I got my revenge, though - I successfully gave him an IV with one stick, but it turned out he was a bit of a bleeder.)

We had recert again this week, and one of my former platoon members (he's still in the platoon, I've just moved up to the XO/Ops officer slot) ended up being my partner. He couldn't find a vein. The medic tied the little rubber bands around both my arms in search of a vein with little luck, except that it made me cringe. I actually ended up with a bruise on one arm because they were so tight (I have sensitive skin). He finally picked a place to stick and while the needle was already in my arm, the medic started telling him to change directions. While I'm sitting there with someone digging a needle around in my arm, another NCO (my partner from last year, actually) was standing in front of me, taking pictures with the CO's camera, laughing at me. I have to say it did distract from the pain, but the fact that I was trying not to shake from laughter probably didn't help at all with the vein finding. The thing is people have always made fun of me because of my face expressions. I don't hide my emotions or opinions very well, and I'll generally make an expression to show exactly how I feel. So I'm kind of scared to see where these pictures might show up now. I've actually had a specialist just randomly tell me that I make the weirdest expressions. I used to get mad at one of my ex-boyfriends a lot, and a lot of times if he didn't feel like arguing, he'd just start mirroring my expressions while I was either yelling or glaring at him until I was trying too hard not to laugh to maintain my completely justified anger.

He never found a vein; once again, I didn't get an IV; the Soldiers are accusing me of being an android due to my lack of veins; and if we're ever in life or death situation, it looks like it better not be me that needs the IV. Although, they think they might be able to get one in my hand. On the other hand, when I gave the IV, I got it in right away, and there wasn't even that much blood.