Graduation Day

Well, no robes or boring speeches for graduation, but we completed our work yesterday. We had a convoy which wasn't quite as eventful as most had hoped. Our rifles were loaded with blanks that sound realistic, but almost no one got to shoot. Maybe that means we did a good job. We identified a few IEDs, entered a small town on a humanitarian mission and there you have it. We moved on to Land Navigation, which was an easy course, but challenging for a couple reasons. We were completely in woods that are similiar to south Jersey, no identifying trees or landmarks or large rocks or anything. The topography varied quite a bit and with trees everywhere, it was difficult to keep a heading. I had the compass and someone else had the map, but we had to start looking at the map together as some in my group were map-challenged. Another person was in charge of stepping off our distance, real hard with trees everywhere and constantly changing terrain. Anyway, we made it over the bridge and through the woods, but not to Grandmother's house, instead we had MRE's waiting for us (Meals Rejected by Ethiopians).

The rest of the afternoon was spent cleaning weapons, turning them in, picking up medical records, and sending stuff home via UPS. Today we'll pack, do a final evaluation of the course, and hopefully relax a little.

Looks like we will be in Kuwait for some time waiting for our training at the Udairi Range to start. We live in tents on cots before going to the range and then things get a bit more spartan. At the range there are no showers or anything like that, we stay in the same clothes for about three days. This is where all the baby wipes come in handy. I can hardly wait. I may have some Internet access while waiting in Kuwait. I understand there is an Internet Cafe. However, I'm sure the competition for computers is huge.

I hope to post once more before we leave late Friday night/early Saturday. It will depend on how soon we have to have our bags on the truck. Time for some breakfast...