Been A Long Time Since I Rocked a Post

Not as if anyone is actually reading these posts, but yeah, I have been negligent in my upkeep of the Blog. This I hope to remedy as the countdown to the mission nears. Not much has passed but I will give the quick cliffnotes.

We went to Combat Airman Skills Training, i.e. Cast, and I will tell you that was a hoot. Nothing worse than a bunch of Airforce folk trying to be like the army. I only can tell you this based on my 14 years of Army service. Upon arrival we found that the reporting time was quite flexible- we were informed via a piece of paper taped to the door that they would be in processing us an hour or so later than our orders said. Huh.... go figure, this is the service that flies planes. Anyhow in processed we did get, and then off to our rooms- oh, by the way- 14 PEOPLE TO A ROOM! I have to say that the homeless shelter in my town has better accommodations.

What follows is two weeks of hearing Hoooaahh! a lot, which by the way is what I used to say in the Army. We were rolled over in a hmmvee, shot at with lots of blanks, and told that we could not go to the portapotties without a battle buddy- really that did happen, It was real. What I learned was that if we ended up in some kind of ambush with only AirForce personnel, well enough said. Anyhow you don't want to be a casualty, because you might be left behind in the trunk of a hmmvvee. The food sucked- mostly because it had to be eaten around so many other idiots. I guess overall it basically blew, but if you asked anyone else they would probably say it was good training that they were glad to get. And this would be the one of the idiots in the Chow Hall.

On a side note, we also found that one star generals can be so insecure as to come back from their vehicle and insist that a group of NCO's salute him, claiming that we saw him and intentionally did not salute. Really? Maybe a lieutenant, but a one star? Come on. I thought when you got general you left all that crap behind. Guess not- once a nerd and so on.

It was fun, and real, but not real fun. We got our wonderful certificates and beat feet.

Since then we did the Paws Walk gig. Yes we played for dogs. Which to be perfectly honest, I didn't mind at all. They at least deserve it. Gig went well and now the guilty conscience will make me practice more.

As deployment date nears, around July 18 or so then 23rd in country, I will try to be more dutiful about updating the blogs. It may also recount some of the shit that happened at CAST. I know, that is not chronological, but it's my blog. OK all for now.

James