Different people react differently to the IRR...

I have to say, I'm not sure how many of you have been keeping up with Josh over at "To War & Back", but...let's just say the guy is having some trouble adjusting back to Army life.

That's completely understandable, of course, but still...compare and contrast his reaction to Fort Jackson to mine.

Me: Also, make sure I post sometime or other about how smart and saavy everyone here is--already had lots of good conversations with folks about technology, marketing, technology-marketing, and the like. Very impressed with my fellow soldiers.

Josh: Now for a little culture shock word association: chewing tobacco, "ain't", wood paneling and cinder blocks , bigotry, "chow hall"

The quotes are out of context, and Josh has his positive moments from time to time. But generally speaking, I think the culture shock is really getting him down. Still...taking pictures of your Harvard cap on the bed isn't help making him a more sympathetic character (not that it's my/your sympathy that he's aiming for).

And really, what's so bad about living somewhere where eating Chik Fil A three times a week isn't just accepted, it's encouraged? Come on--a pickle on a fried chicken sandwich? That's cause for celebration, not dismay. And when you get right down to it, Walmart, fast food, strip clubs and pawn shops...that's just America, man. No use getting too upset about it.

Bottom line--I think that Josh is sans peers, and it's hard to stay positive going through something like this without friends to share the experience with. I don't know how I would have made it through that place without my wife just a few miles up the road, and Jeff and Chris taking every lump I did along the way. We had each other, and that made all the difference in the world.

I hope things pick up for Josh, and his experience becomes more positive with time--because time is something he's got a lot of.

IRR Blogger update

On the heels of my O.Y.E update from last week, let's check in with a few of our favorite (and/or most interesting) IRR bloggers. While they tell their tales of war, I will continue to feed you a daily diet of awesome movies, NBA action, and legendary wrestlers.

Kevin took a long break from blogging, and came back to inform us that he's...considering staying in the reserves after this deployment??? Say it ain't so, Kev, say it ain't so...

Jason continues to match his consistently enjoyable content with regular appearances over thunderrun, a war blog roundup. Oh Jason, you rock star you...

And last but not least, Josh has FINALLY reported to Fort Jackson to begin his training...the same Fort Jackson that Chris and I reported to EIGHT MONTHS BACK!!!1! I first reported on Josh last October, and unless I'm mistaken he had the same orders that we did. We got delays to finish school, and then reported in June. Josh got a delay to finish school, then had a family situation that got him delayed even more.

Honestly, I don't think I'd be able to handle it if I had lived w/ the uncertainty of will-I-or-won't-I have to report to Jackson for basically a year longer than I did, then have to deal with just now starting the process in earnest. I think it would be more than I can handle. So everyone say a prayer to the God/Tree/Giant-Spaghetti-Monster of your choice for Josh--his is not an easy row to hoe, not by a long shot.

The More Things Change...

I have moved jobs yet again, but this time the move is largely cosmetic. I'm still working for the same organization I was before, but I've more or less shifted from being a worker bee to being in charge of the shop. The team I work with is great, and largely self sufficient, so I don't foresee much in the way of superviseree duties coming with my exciting new job title.

What this does mean is that I am in a better position to shape our overall strategy as a staff shop. The move also strips one layer of the chain of command between me and the Task Force Commander, which means I will have a more active role in shaping our overall strategy for four provinces in eastern/central Afghanistan. Pretty exciting stuff, all in all.

The downside is that I now have a lot more of the day to day beauracratic stuff on my plate. Giving the islamo-fasiacists the what-for apparently involves a ceaseless stream of meetings and slideshows and teleconferences (who knew?) and I'm now the guy who has to make sure all of those things get taken care of. Before, I could focus on my slice of the pie (which was already focussed on strategy) and leave the boring stuff to the boss.

So, all in all this is a good move, and I'm in an infinitely more interesting job than I was when I first arrived. Because honestly, coming all the way to Afghanistan after everything I went through at Fort Jackson, Fort Bragg, the CAQC and FOB Patriot, if I spent my time here lifting weights and playing video games...

You guys know what I'm getting at.

**I couldn't come up with a related picture for this post, so I put in this one of an adorable puppy instead, for one or more of the following reasons:

A) Everyone loves adorable puppies
B) My new gig requires long hours that make me fall asleep in my water bowl
C) I'm trying to establish a pattern of behavior
D) All of the above

I know which reason I'm leaning towards, but I leave it for y'all to guess at...

Upbeat and Feeling Fine

A buddy of mine pointed out that this blog got a mention at the Command Toc. The Command Toc site is basically ground zero for folks trying to find out information about IRR call ups, so I was happy that I've been noticed--should help out folks trying to learn more about what the Irr/Fort Jackson/CA/Fort Bragg scene looks like in mid 2007

I should also mention, there's a 5 part article running on MSNBC this week about some dudes who went through this process two years ago. It follows them all the way, Fort Jackson to Iraq and back again. A very interesting read. But as conditions and circumstances have changed a ton since then, it's worth having an updated snapshot available to anyone about to go through the IRR/Jackson/Bragg process.

Back to Command TOC--it started out as a great site to get information about putting together delay/exemption requests for those of us called up from the IRR. It still definitely serves that purpose--albeit with a large slant towards folks with medical situations, something that never applied to me--but recently, the Command TOC has (in my opinion) devolved slightly the way internet message boards do --people sniping at other people, making the same inflammatory posts over and over, etc. There are a handful of bitter, angry folks over there, and I of course can't blame them for feeling that way. And the site itself is still where it's at if you want to join a forum that's looking at the IRR, muster, etc.

What was interesting about my mention on that site was that I was described as being very upbeat and positive about this whole process. I was flattered that, despite my (hopefully humorous) accounts of some of the absurdity that my Army friends and I have encountered, angry, bitter people do not perceive me to be either angry or bitter. And yeah, I've kept a sense of humor about this whole process...but I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't at all bitter. If I didn't have a bone or two in my body--nothing big, like a metatarsal or two--that wasn't a little bitter about everything. I'm just not broken up about it, that's all.

So to my friends over at Command Toc--thanks for noticing, and keep on fighting the good fight.

Transportation To and Fro Fort Bragg, NC

Let me start by saying that most of the really good stuff, the really juicy gossip, the absolute choicest cuts of Fort Bragg dish...I probably shouldn't share with you. I'm going to have to (gulp) self-censor--something that most of you know pains me to no end.

I'll just say this...my crew and I have been so surrounded by hilariously cringeworthy beauricratic nonsense, that I don't even know where to begin. If anyone wants the full version of events, feel free to call...or just wait for me to publish the war memoirs (I Gambled and Lost--the Andrew Exnicios Story).

Still, propriety and appropriateness aside, the story of my arrival at Fort Bragg is a tale that requires telling.

Now, as most of you will recall, I flew up from Columbia, SC to Fayetteville, NC last Saturday. I rolled out with the 3 other officers who I processed through Fort Jackson with--Chris (Captain Cannon), LTC Smalls, and Major Newman. The four of us braved our two flights, hours of killing time at the airport, and arrived at Fayetteville Regional Airport at about 5 PM. We had been told that a specific representative from the unit would be waiting at the airport to pick us up.

We arrived at the airport, and were met by noone.

Now, this usually wouldn't have been that big a deal. After all, we really weren't expecting someone to come meet us on a Saturday evening, and we were four grown men, Army Officers all. But in this particular case, we had been left with nothing. We had no contact numbers. We had no building number. We had asked for all of this information, of course, but we had been told not to worry about it--someone would be waiting for us at the airport.

So, we waited. We waited for 15 minutes. And then another 30. At that point, it was pretty clear to us that noone was on their way to pick us up.

Not to be deterred, the team swung into action. LTC Smalls got online using his Verizon Mobile Card. I called up Matt Holmes, an old buddy of mine from Alaska and Oklahoma. LTC Smalls got a lead on which building might be our headquarters, and Matt--father of 4, mind you--generously offered to come pick us all up at the airport.

We drove onto Fort Bragg, and we called the Military Police to ask where on Post the building number in question was. We got directions, and as we approached the address, we began to see signs on the buildings for USACAPOC--the USArmy Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command--so we reckoned that we were at least in the ballpark.

As it turned out, we reckoned right. We opened up the door of the building in question, and there she was--the Captain that had promised to be waiting for us at the airport.

Without skipping a beat, or expressing even a modicum of surprise that we had suddenly shown up at her desk, the Captain looked up from her Lifetime TV and said "Hello, go ahead and sign in and take some linen."

My crew was stunned. Where was the apology, the excuses, the "Oh my God, I COMPLETELY forgot to pick you up at the airport???!" Instead, the Captain continued, completely unaffected by our sudden appearance.

"Yeah, the guy who has the keys to where you're staying is off post. Probably about 30 minutes away. Have you guys already eaten? Can you kill time for an hour or so while he shows up?"

Uhh, sure we muttered. We all slinked out of the office, and piled back into Matt's minivan. He took us to grab some grub. Upon returning to the office, the NCO was there, and...Dear God, there are about 7 more really important details to this story, and I just feel like I can't post them in this public forum. Let's just leave it at this...we left Fort Jackson at 7AM, and we didn't arrive at our final destination until 8PM. 165 miles in 13 hours.

It was probably--after my wedding day--the greatest day of my entire life.

Fort Jackson Recap

To any of you who are late in getting on board the Racer-X express, here's a rundown of what we've been talking about so far.

It all started with a wedding...the great stories always do. From there, I headed south and arrived at Fort Jackson to start training.

But instead of training, it was time for something far more difficult. Three exciting days of in-processing, in-processing, in-processing.

Fortunately, I was rewarded for my paperwork prowess by something I would have never expected when the week began...a great weekend w/ Lauren!

Heading back to the Army after all that fun wasn't easy, but a day later the Army gifted my something almost as sweet...a modicum of information about what I'd be doing once I left Fort Jackson.

I didn't have much time to process that info, because before long I was off to enjoy my 4th of July, sans Lauren unfortunately.

From there, it was a simple matter of figuring out my nonsensical transportation to Bragg, and passing a little test in Basic Rifle Marksmanship...and that pretty much brings us to the present!

A good weekend to everyone, and I'll see you in a few days--once I figure out what the internet situation is up at Bragg.

One More Random IRR Note from Fort Jackson

To any current or future readers who have or will stumble upon this blog, I wanted to invite you to contact me with any questions that you might have about the IRR process, particularly as it applies to the re-classed civil affairs folks.

In the meantime, here are a few tips--but keep in mind that just because this is what training is like during June/July 2007, doesn't mean this is still the deal when guys get called up in 2 years to go invade Syria.

1) Expect to have weekends off. The op-tempo here is pretty relaxed, and the reservists value their time off as much as you will. During my rotation, we had a full weekend off, and they re-worked the rest of the schedule so we'd have a holiday for the 4/5 July as well.

2a) Bring lots of civilian clothes. There isn't a fixed schedule, but our enlisted folks didn't get their uniforms issued until Wednesday afternoon of week 1. We officers bought our uni's on Tuesday, but didn't wear them until the enlisted guys had theirs. So that's what...4 days up front in civilian clothes? Plus weekends and evenings off? Make sure to plan accordingly...

2b) Do NOT bring BDU's. Some of the info out there still mentions BDU's, but you won't need them. Bringing them just creates hassle as you figure out where to stow them.

3) It seems obvious, and it's written all over the place...but really do bring all of the paperwork you can think of. Marriage licenses, birth certificates for your kids, rental agreements leases and mortgages. If you are re-classed Civil Affairs**, and you don't have a security clearance, expect to have to fill out all of that paperwork as well.

4) Bring a car if you dare...but don't expect them to be happy about it. Apparently, the CA folks at Bragg have been giving the cadre at Fort Jackson a hard time about officers driving themselves up there. For the life of me I can't think why they care, but still...know that if you bring your car, you risk being ordered to get rid of it at some point down here at Jackson.


**All of the combat arms enlisted dudes (and MP's) in my class got re-classed to civil affairs, but none of them knew it when they reported. If you've been re-classed, it's on your orders...but can be hard to find. Comb through the orders, and look for "38B"...if you see it, you've probably been re-classed.

Sometimes, getting the minimum is juuuust fine

As I alluded to in my previous post, today was our last day of Army Training here at Fort Jackson. To celebrate, we drew M16-A2 rifles early this morning, and headed to the range for a little Basic Rifle Marksmanship, or BRM.

Now to those of you who knew me during my huahh-huahh Army 1.0 days, you probably recall that BRM was something that I was never really that good at. Sure, I had my good days...but I never qualified expert (36 out of 40 hits) and once or twice I put up some real stinkers.

In fact, in a 4 year Army career otherwise unmarred by mediocrity, my rifle skills were never more than average.

Furthermore, I found rifle ranges so stressful--I was never 100% positive I would qualify--that the last time I fired an M16 back in April of 2005 was, at the time at least, one of the 2 or 3 happiest moments of my life. It meant that I never had to fire an M16 again, and I was more grateful for that than you can imagine.

All of that brings us to today, and my triumphant return to the M16. And by triumphant, I mean that I managed to put up a 23/40...the minimum score needed to pass. Of course, had I failed to pass they would have simply made note of it, and sent me on my way. What else could they do, really? Send me to Iraq?

All in all, though, I was relieved to pass after my two year hiatus from shooting. And to be honest, I'm proud of my 23. It was a nasty-hot day, my glasses fogged up on me, and I didn't have time to properly zero my weapon before the qualification range--I basically had to aim low and left on all of the targets to get the rounds to hit where I wanted them too. At the end of the day, I passed, and that's good enough for now.

Busses are for Suckers

Well, the results are in--we're flying from here to Fort Bragg after all. I think it's worthwhile to examine this decision, as we need to dig just a tad deeper in order to reveal the true brilliance of "fly" vs. "ride".

Fort Jackson and Fort Bragg are about 175 miles apart, give or take.

We're leaving Fort Jackson tomorrow at 0700 for a--wait for it--1230PM flight. That's 5.5 hours to move 25 miles to the airport, check in, and make our plane.

That first plane will take us in the exact opposite direction of Fort Bragg, to Charlotte, NC. From there, we take a second flight to Fayettville, where bus/van transportation to Fort Bragg will await our arrival. For those of you keeping score, that's another 15 miles of driving.

That said, we should arrive at Fort Bragg at around 4PM tomorrow. So all told, we're looking at 40 miles driving, and 9 hours of total travel time, all so we can spend MORE money than it would take for the 4 of us to load in a car and do the 2.5 hour drive from here to there.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the above: my thesis statement on why the Army is awesometastic, and the terrorists don't stand a chance. Keep on Surgin' boys, keep on Surgin.

The CA Command Comes Through...Maybe.

Good afternoon, everyone, and a happy day-before-independence-day to you all.

I just got out of a brief with some Civil Affairs folks from Fort Bragg, and it would appear that our long, national no-information nightmare is over.

I'll leave out of Fort Jackson on a bus sometime on Saturday. We'll head to Fort Bragg, where my fellow officers and I will be dropped off with the CA command up there (CAPOC). We're to take a 9 week course of Army training on how to be Civil Affairs officers--so to everyone who has asked me about what the hell a CA guy does, ask me again on or around the 12th of September. Hopefully I'll have it figured out by then.

From there, I'll be assigned/attached to the unit with which I'll go down range to Iraq (99.99%) or Afghanistan (0.01%). Hard to say when I'll know the details on that assignment, but depending on the timing of it all, I could be overseas as early as mid-September, or as late as...well, it could potentially drag on if I get attached to a unit that isn't deploying until this winter. We'll see.

But for now, the good (great, grand!) news is that I'll be at Fort Bragg, NC from Saturday until at least 12 September. Fort Bragg is about 4 hours from home and Lauren and my parents and everything else. And while I don't know how much time I'll have off, or whether I'll get weekends free or run of the post, at the very least I'll be a short drive away for anyone who wants to come down and visit.

There have been some horror stories about the living conditions at Bragg (and about how long you're stuck there post-course, pre-deployment) but they swear up and down that conditions have been recently improved. I've heard that one before, but again--we'll see.

Come to think of it, based on the number of "we'll see's" I've included in this email, I still don't really know a whole lot about the what/when/how/where/why's of my next many months in the Army.

But hey, a little bit of knowledge is infinitely more than the ignorance I was wallowing in before, so for now I'm happy. Will I stay that way in the long term? We'll see...

Back at Jackson

As I knew it would, the weekend has come to an end, and I'm back at Jackson ready for work. I'd be lying if I said the idea of not coming back didn't cross my mind a time or two...but if I go AWOL, then the terrorists win, and we can't be having that.

We had our first physical training (PT) session this morning, and we'll spend the rest of the day playing with heavy weapons. Fun fun.

Still no word on when we'll be heading to Fort Bragg, what we'll do once we get there, and how long we'll be there before shipping out. But for now, everything is pretty relaxed, and I'm going to head out to see if I can't remember which end of the MK-19 I'm supposed to point at the terrorists.

Just Married!

Hey again.

I realize that most of you are reading these first two posts simultaneously, so please make sure to check out the previous entry for a little bit about the what and how of Army 2.0.

That said, on to the big news--Lauren and I were married this past Saturday, and we couldn't be happier. The New York Times (the newspaper of record for weddings, or so I've been told) ran a wedding announcement for us, which was pretty cool.

We took off after the wedding to enjoy a brief mini-honeymoon at a B&B in Annapolis, MD, and that went swimmingly as well.

Sadly, I put Lauren on a plane for Colorado this afternoon, and she'll be there for a little less than a month before heading to VA and her new gig at Fort Belvoir. And I report to Fort Jackson (in South Carolina) to begin the Army adventure on Sunday.

So in reality, we're thrilled to be married, and the wedding was fantastic (thanks again to everyone)...but Lauren and I are pretty bummed out right now. Still--knowing how rich we are in family and friends will help us get through this, as it has for so many military families before us.

But sad feelings aside...wedding pictures are soon to follow!