Like Father like Son?

I’ve seen a situation recently and it just seems kind of wrong. Not that anyone has done anything wrong but I don’t think a parent and their kid should be in the same unit especially when the Father/Mother is in a senior ranking person. Sometimes I think this can cause this Soldier to receive preferential treatment. I don’t know that this has happened but it could happen. I was a little shocked when I saw a Father and Son in the same Battalion. I don’t know if there has been any preferential treatment but I don’t think they should be in the same unit.

Stuck like Chuck

This post is a rant about my current position in life. Luckily I work with some great people but the fact of the matter is I’ve been stuck on staff for 20 months. In 4 months it’ll be 2 years. This might not seem to bad to most but as an Officer in the Army there are certain jobs that you have to have in order to make the next rank. For a Captain in Logistics it is company command. Here recently I interviewed for a command in the Division headquarters but I was not selected. I started to reflect on the past (almost) two years and it’s frustrating. I had the opportunity to interview for a company command in the Aviation Brigade but I was not allowed to interview. Then the guys that are in the combat arms side of the Army were moved down to Brigades at the year mark but myself and another Captain (both Logistics) are still on staff after 20 months. I don’t know if it’s intentional but it seems like they took care of the Combat Arms guys and screwed over the support guys. Maybe my perception is a little skewed but sometimes perception is reality.

Retirement yet?

I have had the goal of retiring as a LTC in the Army but the more and more time I spend in the Army the less and less it is important. I look around at different people who sacrifice their family to succeed in the Army and I keep thinking for what? I feel it is ridiculous to choose to spend hours on the weekend to work on a different products for the Army. I wish I would have foreseen how difficult this 5 months would be separated away from Jennifer and the kids. I thought 5 months would go by fast and it would be better for the kids but now looking back I'm not so sure. This 5 months would have been so much better if they were here. It maybe time to reevaluate my retirement goals.

Really...

I was in the gym yesterday and I saw a dude with the Subway logo on his forearm. I am not kidding. He even went as far as adding the "Eat Fresh" portion to it. I hope Subway changes their slogan.

CO2

CO2 (Consideration of others) some people don’t have it. I was at the gym last week and I was working out in two areas which kind of sounds bad but one was a smith machine and one was a bench. The way I had it set up is I had an adjustable bench under the smith machine with my towel, shaker cup and workout journal so I could do some flat bench and incline bench press. The bench I had a dumbbell on it to do pullovers. I was coming back over to the smith machine and someone moved my bench. This would have been inconvenient but understandable if there weren’t two smith machines available. So I told the person “here I’ll move down to this other smith machine.” I moved down to the other smith machine and while I was doing my set I see a dude come up and talk to two other guys and start to use my bench without even asking if anyone was using it. So I walked over and then he “asked are you using this” and my reply was “that’s alright I’ll move down to this open bench over here” because once again there was open benches available. This is the first time that I have really ran into this but it was multiple times in one visit. Must’ve been something in the water.

Army Career and my feelings:

I really enjoy the feeling of being in the Army but there are a few things that I have seen that or felt that makes me wish some things were different. I first started feeling this way deeply when my Dad died. I guess it is some kind of regret for not being around much when he was alive over the past 10 years while I was in. Another thing I didn’t really think about too much until this point in time was the sacrifice that Jennifer would be making. I knew the kids would have it rough with moving from school to school and the instability of me deploying etc. but I didn’t think about her sacrifices. I got to thinking about it and the biggest thing was her not having a career of her own until I am through with my career. She has to handle all 5 of our kids while I am deployed and in the field as I currently am for 3-4 weeks approx. (again). I expressed my thought to Jennifer and she told me she knew that when I rejoined. She said she did it willingly and it was both of our decision for this lifestyle. I then realized that I also have a lot to be thankful for to the Army. It has provided me with a way to provide for my family financially and give them experiences of a lifetime. We never would have seen the many places we have been. I am truly blessed to have my wife by my side.

Muscle Milk Juice box

While I was in Iraq I started to working out. Since I came back I came back from Iraq my wife has put up with my obsession and the amount of money I have spent even though the results are questionable. One of the items that I spend my money on is little pre-made boxes of muscle milk (which contains 21 grams of protein so I drink it as a snack or breakfast). Well my 3 year old has noticed me drinking it and buying it and has become fascinated by it. When I am drinking it he will ask me “are you drinking your muscle milk?” Well now I am in Grafenwoehr again and when I was talking to Jennifer she told me Jacque was drinking his juice box and he told her “I am drinking my muscle milk.” I thought it was funny.