Ouch!

Before my deployment, I had to attend an Army-run Combat Skills Training course. I didn't find much of the training worthwhile and have yet to employ anything I learned there (this is probably a good thing). The training was mandatory because my deployment is a Joint Expeditionary Tasking, or JET; that is a tasking for other branches of military to fill in for shortfalls in the Army. I'm not a soldier, but I've now had some soldier training so I can grunt and hooah with the rest of them around here. Alright I did go to a Department of Defense school for Public Affairs technical training so my job really isn't so different than it would be if I were in an Air Force billet.

Now that the background is out of the way, my post is really about what happened at the end of training almost 2 months ago.

At the end of CST, New Jersey was hit with a big snow storm, though not quite the snowpocalypse the East coast is suffering from lately. This storm precluded our field exercise which would have been the summation of our training. But in good ol' Army fashion, we continued to get geared up and trudge through the snow and over ice to show that there really was a point for us having to be there until two days before Christmas.

It was on the return from one of these last outings that I found myself facedown on the ice. I was carrying my rifle in my right hand, unslung so as to not impale myself with it should I fall. And fall I did. I guess I thought more about making sure my rifle didn't crash to the ground as I maintained a hold on it as I fell, thus driving my knuckle into the ice.

I assure you it hurt, but I had to "soldier" on and finish up my training. I wasn't about to get sent home or delay my deployment reporting for a sore finger. I thought I may have just jammed it as I've done on many occasions to several different phalanges. The worst part was to be that I had to pack a couple of days later, and lug baggage around to various locales over the next couple of weeks. Did I mention it hurt? It didn't even show signs of improving aside from a little of the swelling subsiding.

It's been nearly two months since that incident and the pain wasn't really going away, especially on cold days when I feel like an arthritic old man. I decided to go to the small clinic here on camp to inquire if a jammed finger should be feeling better by now. The doc was suspicious, as I had been, that it was more than a jam. He sent me to another camp with an x-ray machine to have a pic. Turns out I have a chipped bone.

I have pictures of the x-rays to share with you:

See the little guy seceding from the union?

The only thing that can be done now is to work on rehabilitating. Instead of traveling back and forth to the other camp, I've opted to work it out myself (on the doctor's approval) -- I squeeze a stress ball. After only a couple of days, it feels like it's starting to improve.

Since this is such a long post, I won't continue to bore you with insignificant details of my trip to the other camp. Tune in later for my thoughts on what I've seen of Afghan life while here. I assure you it will be less whining about my poor health.

Broken, but now I have 207 bones, right?

Marty

I know when I'm not wanted

OK, so that isn't completely accurate. Since getting my deployment tasking in October, I was told I would be doing this PA mentoring business. Shortly upon arriving here at Camp Spann, I was informed there was some confusion as to whom I actually belong. The higher headquarters in Kabul (IJC, CSTC-A, NTM-A -- don't ask me what all those acronyms mean or what each organization does 'cause I honestly don't know) have been trying to stake their claims. Yes, it is nice to have everyone want you. Unfortunately, it isn't nearly as appealing as you would think; I now have to endure my most dreaded part of deployment -- transiting.

As much as I enjoy being part of this team here and meeting with the ANA PA shop regularly, it was welcome news to find I'll be heading to a different assignment in Kabul. I've been stuck here in limbo as to my actual job and can't really justify my being here while there is a civilian here for the very reason I came. In other words, I'm underemployed and bored.

And in other news, while I would encourage you to continue reading the referral blogs, I'll likely have to find more opportunities to post my own exploits. I hope you'll stay tuned.

Unless I can find another blog to mooch off of, I'll keep you posted.

Marty

Referral

I made it to my camp, Camp Mike Spann, and have been here for close to a week. It's a small, army-run camp, with an attached NATO camp, all within the confines of an Afghan National Army camp. I'm pretty sure you could lob one of the millions of rocks covering the ground from one side to the other if you had a stiff tailwind. I probably won't try it so as not to fail in my attempt and knock someone out with said rock when it doesn't clear the camp.

There are few amenities here, but that just means more time for me. I really want to work on studying Japanese and work on my photo editing (PhotoShop) skillz, cause we all know chicks dig guys with skillz. I've also set a goal of a six pack by my thirty-sixth b-day; I shall call it '6 by 36', and hopefully it doesn't end in me drinking a 6-pack on my 36th b-day instead. I probably should have started on that goal sooner, perhaps earlier in life.

As I said, the camp itself isn't too exciting, but my mission sounds promising. Having said that, I must say that we're at the whim of our Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police public affairs units' schedules. What that means so far is only a few hours each week of actual mentoring/advising work.

The good news is I don't have to go into every detail of my day-to-day because I have two high-speed Senior Non-Commissioned Officers who have blogs. You can find links to their blogs below on the right side. I even read them regularly to find out what I've been up to.

I'll try to take some exciting photos to share, but honestly the other two blogs have those covered too.

Marty

I'm back

From where you might ask. Well I suppose it's not a from where, but to where. I'm back in the AOR, or Area of Responsibility, i.e. combat zone. Coincidently, that's where I started this blog, albeit on another continent. This time I'm heading to Afghanistan. I'm sitting in Kyrgyzstan at the moment awaiting airlift, but shouldn't be here too long (that's what everyone who arrived here a week ago has said too).

My last deployment took me to an undisclosed location, hence not so much blogging from there (gotta lead by example, right?) I've also been keeping updates via Facebook (find me there if you want more frequent updates).

As I said, I'm back in the AOR. To my knowledge, I won't be at an undisclosed location, so I should be able to post some pics and a few updates of my adventure over the next six months. I Hope you follow along.

As always, sorry to leave you teetering on the edge of your seat for, I don't know, about a couple of years. Whoops! I said I'm sorry.

Back in action,

Marty