"Hey guy, check you out lookin' like a soup sandwich! You're all jacked up like a football bat!"

It's really funny how the United States Army is what it is, a very professional organization, full of rich history and tradition, and we come up with stuff like "soup sandwich" and "jacked up like a football bat". Wow...

So, on this episode of "Peering into the uninteresting life of a Private First Class at Ft. Eustis" I'd just like to cover some of the things that have been going on here. Communication is key.

I don't remember if I said this and I'm far too lazy to do a whole bunch of clicking hyperlinks to check, but we are in the hangar (that's the place where they park the helicopters, and sometimes airplanes...sort of like a garage for aircraft...not something you store your clothes on in your wall locker) and we are finally working with Apaches! Those things are made to destroy! It really is amazing that we live in a world where a company can build a flying machine that is solely intended to deliver something called a "Hellfire Missile". In case you didn't know, yes, that was the entire reason the Apache was built.

They are mean looking machines too. Oddly, they are not the fastest aircraft in the Army inventory. That's the Chinook (we have a different name for them here, it has hook on the end...you put it together), which is crazy if you have ever seen a CH-47...they are massive.

It's really cool being around such high technology. Who knew that the stuff I learned at my technical high school would actually be worth something in my career.

There is a quite a rivalry between the different MOS groups in A Co. We have 15X (you say it "fifteen x-ray", the King of Aviation), which is what I am; 15Y ("fifteen yankee", sort of like x-rays, but we can be trained on their job, and they can't be trained on ours) that do basically the same job as an x-ray, but on the D model Apache; and of course, who can forget the 15R, the butt of pretty much all of the jokes around here.

See, step into my office and I'll explain something about the Army to you. At least while you are in TRADOC (Training and Doctrine Command, we say you are "in TRADOC" if you are in Basic or AIT) everything is a contest. Everybody thinks they are better than the next guy or the next platoon or the next Company and so on and so forth. The thing about 15R (romeos) is that they are pretty much the wrench turners. It isn't that x-rays or yankees don't turn a wrench here and there, but that is pretty much the entirety of the romeo job...you are a parts swapper.

Therefore, since the romeo job isn't very technical (I will watch at least ten romeo classes graduate before I leave Ft. Eustis), we have to make fun of them. We call them "window washers" and "tire kickers" because in a regular unit...they actually do that! That is about one of the funniest things I have ever heard.

Civilian Man: "So you're in the Army? What do you do exactly?

Romeo Soldier: "I'm an Apache Mechanic." NOTE: Most Romeos will tell you they are an Apache Crewchief...laugh heartily because that is a huge joke.

Civilian Man: "Oh yeah, that sounds exciting! I'll bet your job is really important. What exactly do you do on a normal day?"

Romeo Soldier: "Oh, I take parts out and put new parts in. (attempting to sound very technical) I maintain the aircraft's major mechanical components. But, a lot of my job is maintaining the exterior of the aircraft."

Civilian Man: "Really, do you have to apply a special product to help with radar deflection or something crazy like that (chuckles)?"

Romeo Soldier: "No sir, I wash windows and make sure the tires have adequate pressure."

Narrator: All the while an X-ray soldier sits in civilian attire listening to the conversation and laughing on the inside!

Commence laughter, if you haven't already. To some of you that may have been like Eddie Izzard speaking French in part of his stand up comedy routine, but I assure you it is all very funny.

On another note, I recently ended a tour as student leadership. We have a "chain of command" in the student ranks so that we can ease the Cadre's work load a little bit. Mostly student leadership just perform basic formation duties and find out who has appointments and things like that, but a lot of the time Privates have simple questions that they need answered and the Cadre really don't need to utilize their valuable time addressing. That's where student leadership comes in.

I like to lead soldiers, especially those soldiers that don't require a lot of attention. I have some soldiers that require constant care...like small children. I swear they need to wear bicycle helmets to school and ride their own bus so they can't hurt themselves or any of the other, more squared-away soldiers. It isn't that I'm not willing to step up and address issues as they come because I know that is a part of leading. You have to be ready for anything and you have to be able to deal with a lot of different personalities. I just feel much the same way that the Cadre and the Chain of Command do. I shouldn't have to put out the same piece of information five hundred times before you decide to shave every day so you don't look like soup cake.

In the Army we like to look good. In all seriousness, why do you think we march around singing all of the time. There is a reason for everything in the Army. We call that marching and singing Drill and Ceremony. Marching in cadence is just a small part of Drill and Ceremony, but D&C is one of the most important things we do in the military because, as SFC Murphy told me recently, "Drill and Ceremony is the cornerstone of discipline." Knowing him he was quoting some Field Manual or Army Regulation, but that is absolutely true.

To the untrained eye it may look silly, but Drill and Ceremony can be an incredibly powerful thing. I was once told by one of the recruiters at my RSP unit in Idaho (BOOM! BOMBSHELLS!!!) that there are few things in this world that are more stirring that seeing a column of soldiers all marching together, as a single element. If you ever do get a chance to see that (you can look stuff like that up on Youtube, but it doesn't compare to actually seeing it in person) you will see what I mean. When you can get 100 or so individuals doing exactly the same thing at exactly the same time, it is really a beautiful thing.

That said, we are professionals. We raised our hands in front of the Colors of the United States of America and made an oath to uphold and defend everything that those Colors represent. Against all enemies foreign and domestic.

Whenever you start a new class or are in a new place in the Army (at least in TRADOC) you will usually go around the room and tell something about yourself, and most often you will tell everyone the reason you joined the Army. A lot of people say that they joined for college money or for a steady paycheck, but there are those that will sound off with a loud and thunderous voice with, "I joined because I love my country and I want to defend it and everything it stands for in any way I can. With my life if necessary." The crazy thing is, when you stand in front of that flag and raise that hand, you say pretty much the same thing. Maybe not in those words, but the spirit is the same.

Being in the Army is a learning experience every moment of every day. You don't just learn how to fire and M16 or how to march or how to repair the electrical systems on the AH-64A Apache. You learn life lessons that you can choose to carry with you or ignore (we have a choice word for those guys). You are given a chance to grow up at sort of an accelerated rate. You are given leaders that are more responsible for you than you are for yourself a lot of the time, which you can only say about one other type of leader; a parent.

In the Army you learn to respect life, not just how to take it away.

Some people might say that that is the Army's job, to fight wars and to kill the enemy. While that is what we do, and we do it well mind you, I wouldn't say that is what the Army is all about. I would say that, to me, the Army's job is to preserve life. To preserve and defend the ideals and the principals that make Our Great Nation great. To protect the lives of those we love and those we may not know, but we are nevertheless connected to by that spirit of freedom and liberty that fills the hearts of all Americans. We truly are a family, however dysfunctional, however much we may disagree, however much we may fight, we are a family.

The Army is more than just a uniform. Our uniform is clad in the sword of justice and the shield of truth. Our uniform is held together by the threads of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence; by the words and ideals of our Founding Fathers and all of the great leaders of our Great Nation. Or uniform is draped in the Colors of our Nation, reminding us never to back down, always to move forward...Always Forward. Our uniform is clad in the tradition and the customs of hundreds of years, bringing the words printed on the U.S. Army Seal into sharp relief. "THIS WE'LL DEFEND"

Never forget those that serve. Never forget to thank them for their service. Though they may be like me and feel a little strange, they will always return your sentiment. We all want the same thing. To defend our freedoms from all enemies foreign and domestic.

Let us pray it we can come together again as Americans and it doesn't take another 9/11 to do it.

Memorial Day is coming up. If you haven't taken the time to do so in the past, reflect on what the holiday really means. Memorial, memory, the memory off all of those who have come before and led the way to the Land of Promise. The Land of the Free, the Home of the Brave. And let us pray to God that it may remain forever.

Who knew this could come out of me. If you like this post, encourage others to subscribe to my blog. I can't promise all my posts will be this meaningful, but they will at the very least be entertaining. Be safe and remember what it is we are fighting for.

Dur Ville Zer Machts

[Anything which] is a living and not a dying body... will have to be an incarnate will to power, it will strive to grow, spread, seize, become predominant - not from any morality or immorality but because it is living and because life simply is will to power... 'Exploitation'... belongs to the essence of what lives, as a basic organic function; it is a consequence of the will to power, which is after all the will to life.

from Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil, s.259, Walter Kaufmann transl.

Hello to everyone on this Easter Sunday 2010!

I hope all is well at home, wherever home may be for you. Things here are going very well. The weeks have seemed to go by very quickly. Every time Monday comes it seems like the weekend is there the next day.

My class is in the hangar now. We haven't touched any Apaches yet, but we will soon hopefully. We have a bunch of stuff that we have to go through in the classroom before we can get on the helicopter and start taking stuff apart. I can't wait to crack open my toolbox and just go nuts though.

The Army has been full of new experiences and Felker Army Airfield is no different. I've been to the hangar at Gowen before, but not to work obviously. There are all kinds of safety protocols we have to follow and just being around that many extremely expensive and rockin-awesome aircraft is kind of a rush. The only lame thing is that none of them fly. Our birds (the 15X birds, they're old) are flyable, but they don't get flown because we need them to work on. All of the new D model birds aren't even complete helicopters.

We do see some helicopters in the air though. Lately there have been a couple of Navy Blackhawks (whatever they call them) and a CH-53 flying around out there. The 53 is a pretty amazing sight. It is amazing to see something that big connected to a glorified ceiling fan actually getting off the ground.

Aviation is going to be an interesting field I think. I've always thought it would be cool to be a pilot, but to have more of an understanding of how the helicopter works electrically and knowing the inner workings of the weapons systems is going to be interesting too.

That's all from me for now, continue on the paths you have chosen and should they lead you to a great place, make sure you weren't followed by some fool who is going to ruin it for you.