Military Mindset

Right, so now I'm back in Mannheim. Back to the good ol' Weber hotel (pronounced veber). Today I had my first actual day of training and I understood hardly a word of it. Likely because I didn't go through the regular orientation like everyone else did. I'm supposed to do that another day. 

Let me fill you in on some of the cool things we did at Grafenwoehr, where I got my TSIRT (Theater Specific Individual Readiness Training) Certification so I can go downrange. Most of the training was highly boring. A lot of first aid and IED (Improvised Explosive Device) training that hardly applies to anyone like me who is not allowed to leave the FOB (Forward Operating Base). By the way, did you know there are a lot of ACRONYMs in the army? Yeah, Abbreviated Coded Rendition Of Name Yielding Meanings are extremely common here!
 
We also got a history of the goings on of the conflicts in Afghanistan and the reasons for the way the military is doing things the way they're currently doing them. That was pretty informative and reassuring, just to know that they have a better idea of how to fight the insurgency now than they did before.

That night we stayed at the nicer hotel in the base at Grafenwoehr, and I saw a commercial that really struck me. Imagine a gruff looking cowboy moseying up to a saloon and drawing his six-shooter. He then proceeds to shoot off of the hitching post, a line of energy drinks. Finally large words flash across the screen - "Drop the Energy Drink! Reach for a Water!" with military logos all across the bottom of the screen. Apparently energy drinks are so popular (and unhealthy) that they produce commercials for not drinking them geared for the soldiers. What a concept!

The last thing we did was the MRAP rollover test. The MRAP family of vehicles has replaced the humvee as the primary vehicle used in Afghanistan and everyone going "downrange" has to do this test. Here's a video of the MRAP rollover training.

Here's me with all the gear on, ready to roll-over.

Tonight we went to this little Italian restaurant (owned and run by Italians) around the corner. They didn't seem to be busy and were happy to have us as customers, but they forgot my Tagliatelle Salmone so it came late and they felt bad so we got free house-made limoncello (lemon liqueur). Then we went further around the corner and had gelato. Italian night in Mannheim. 

Salute!

Surprise! Army Training!

OK. Up to speed: I flew from Cleveland to New York on Friday (after having seen Harry Potter the previous night at midnight) and had a long layover waiting for my Singapore Airlines flight to Frankfurt. Quick shout-out to Emily Hart who is currently the very best complete stranger I've ever met before/during a flight or otherwise. We became friends. Singapore Airlines is famed for their service and it didn't disappoint. They had a great selection of movies and gave us this little tube of toothpaste that was picture-worthy.

Told you it was picture worthy.

Got to the meeting point, made arrangements to meet with Emily and her Chemistry studying friends to meet in Heidelberg for trivia Monday night which sounded awesome because I love trivia night! Took the shuttle to Mannheim where I checked into the hotel. 

Now up until this point I was nervous about arriving on Saturday and planning on starting my training on Monday because I didn't think I would know anyone or meet anyone. Ladell Heath (the deployment coordinator) told me the others would be around the hotel looking out for me but that's no guarantee. Anyway, they were in the lobby and two of them were just then going for a walk to see some of Mannheim. I was given a chance to ask them some of my questions about what their lives in training have been like and stuff like that. We made tentative plans to see HP7.5 the next day because I'll see it again, what they hell, right? 

The hotel isn't much. It's like a small dorm room although I hear that other rooms are nicer than mine is. After a little bit of sightseeing I get back to the hotel and fall asleep really early, probably doing more harm than good to my sleep-schedule. The next morning I check out the breakfast included with the hotel and it's pretty nice and European. Lots of sliced meats and cheeses. The milk was considerably cold which was a concern because in Europe they don't have cold things as much as I'd like. I run into some more people working for CTC and we make plans to meet in the lobby around noon to go to see the special Harry Potter showing in English.

Now for the surprise. We're all meeting in the lobby, right? Two large groups. One of the groups is heading out to Harry Potter, the other group is all packed up and ready to go to IRT training which is this mandatory training for anyone going "downrange". It's in this base across Germany and you dress up in protective gear and do a hike and a Humvee flip-test which is where they flip over a humvee while you're in it (but not while it's on the road it's attached to this big machine). They are all ready to go to IRT and we are all about to leave for HP. Enter Ladell Heath who I had not met up with until this point. He asks if everyone is ready to go to IRT and they say yes. He reads off a list of names and then says "...and Josh". Me: "What?" Ladell: "Yeah, you're going too." In 25 minutes I was back in the lobby checked out of my room, all packed up again and ready to go to Grafenwoehr, where there is a large US military post. 

After a few hours of driving (half of which time I'm still reeling from being squeezed into the training last minute) we arrived yesterday evening to the post and checked into this little hotel they have in the base. It's much much nicer than the one in Mannheim, I guess they know what Americans expect in a hotel and try to cater to that here. This morning we registered for the training and today and tomorrow we take a bunch of classes and do the physical portion of the training. I still haven't even gone into the CTC office!

Sorry I can't make it to trivia, Emily!