Last Full Week???

Hello All,

It has been awhile since my last post....because there is really nothing that exciting happening here. I went through another class on the MRAP vehicle....it was basically a repeat of the first one I took, but only worse. The one picture of the trailer tipped is one of vehicle trailers that is not quite balance right. One of the guys went to hook it up to a truck and it tipped up as he was adjusting height to match the hitch. We tried putting 4 guys on the hitch to pull it back down and was unsuccessful (approx 800 lbs). We ended up using a forklift on the back side to get it back level. The other pic is me sitting on the hood of an uparmored humvee. They are pretty nice and even have air conditioning. We are gearing up to start getting all our vehicles turned in and our bags packed up. Nothing else too new other than we will not be able to get mail after April 8th. I will try to get another post this weekend. I have some pics to post, but not enough time tonight. I miss everyone and look forward to the day that I am back again.

Later,

Sam

Mailing Address after April 1st

My new mailing address after April 1st will be:

Holl, Samuel
HHC STB, 34th INF DIV, Maint 1
APO AE, 09374

Please note there is no rank on this address or any reference to Iraq. I do not think I will actually be there until later April, so just email me if you want to mail a package during that time frame.

my last day off was Feb 9th

Hello everyone,

Today i was able to experience my first day off since Feb 9th (w/ restrictions). We were restricted to post and have no means of transportation other than a taxi.....so I woke up for breakfast, went back to bed, went to the gym for a long workout n sauna, and parked my butt in the computer lab. Pretty much what I do on a average day minus working at the motor pool. I have been able to get kinda good at running. I was able to do 1.5 hours of cardio on the treadmill and the eliptical machines. I was surprised to make 5 miles on the treadmill in 45 minutes. I plan on using all the gym time I can get, becuase I do not think we will this nice of a facility in Iraq. Being in shape also helps ur body deal with the heat and I assuming a heavier work load.

The above pictures are some pictures of our packing process. On Sunday and Monday I was one a few lucky people to help with packing one duffle bag for most of our battalion. It was two long days and we were complimented on how well the process went. The other pics are some containers that are packed and getting moved out. Quite a lengthy process to get everything coordinated for movement. I am glad I am just a worker bee in the whole process.

Yesterday, I was able to be one of two people to stencil equipment info on vehicles and trailers....turned out to be another later working day. They wanted it done while there was no rain. It turns out they made a good decision because it was raining when i woke up today (big surprise). It was kinda of interesting, because the stencil kit we were given was incomplete. We were creative on getting it all done.....had to make a "Z" into a "7" and "L" into a "1"...quite a process, but we finished at about 7 pm.

I will try to take more pics, but there is not much variance day to day.....still feels like I am living a the movie "Ground Hog Day". Not much else going on. I was able to have a video conference with my wife n kids tonight....the kids are still goofy, but none the less it was good to see their faces.

Thats all for today,

Sam

whats next?

Hello again everyone,

It amazes me that there is work everyday here for us to do. The actual work part is slowing down and now we get to focus more on the proactive side of training. We have a lot of new and inexperienced people in our section so it is good to to be doing this, so we know we are all on the same page. I was tasked to put on a class for the Army's TSP (Thrift Savings Plan).....basically our 401(k) plan. It should be fun...there are lots of young soldiers here and will have too much money when they get home, so my job is to plant a seed for them to do something wise with their money. It is pretty cool the Army has another savings program that will pay you an APY of 10% on monies up to 10k while we are overseas....not sure of anywhere else you can get that right now.

As you can see in the picture of me, I still have a touch of home with me. I am sporting my Rosemount Irish (Go Burnsville!) and my TCF can coolie. Unfortunately the only thing in the can coolie is Diet Mt Dew. Although, the lack of beer consumption has allowed me to reduce my weight and improve my run time and endurance.

I will have a new mailing address after April 1st for packages......so basically, mom you can send me any cookies in April. Mom, do not send me cookies in April until I know I get mail at new address (probably in later April).....I dont want to have in fuzzy cookies waiting for me.

Some of the other pictures are the guys painting the bottom of their bags and getting them stenciled for shipping.....it is amazing on the amount of gear that we have. I think I will probably have gear that weighs as much as me when I fly out of here. I will make sure I get some pics of the gear when it is all packed up.

Time is going by quickly....all the days are basically the same. It has already been over a month, but many more months to go. If you have any ?'s about military life, just leave a comment and I will try to blog about it. I hear it is pretty nice in MN, it is still really unpredictable as far as weather here. Yesterday, we had snow, rain, sleet, sunshine, and wind.....changed several times yesterday.

Thats all for now,

Sam

Another Week in Paradise

Hello All,

It has been a week since my last blog.....we have been busy at the motorpool everyday getting equipment ready to ship by boat. The weather here is up and down.....rain, sun, wind, and snow can happen all in one day. One picture is me sitting in my uparmored humvee class....they really are getting pretty cool.....they even now have air conditioning. Another pic has me standing in a pit inspecting the underside of vehicles that are getting ready to be railed to a boat somewhere. One sunny n clear days (not many here) we can see Mt Rainer. I think it is about 50 miles away.....Well I am running short on time. I hope to get another blog in midweek. Miss you all.

Sam