Getting Hot

You know its hot outside when that hand sanitizer that is attached to all the porta-pottys comes out as hot as the water you use every time you shave in the morning. The last few days it has gotten to the high 90s and even eclipsed the 100 degree mark I think a few times. Sometimes its not too bad when there is a nice breeze that cools you off but otherwise its a hot wind that swirls the sand into your face and eyes, thats not fun at all.

Yesterday I had to run an M4 Range. To try and describe the chaos that preceded that actual running of the range would be like trying to verbally explain to someone how to navigate a maze without looking at a diagram of the actual maze. First of all, every time a range is run there are 2 people in charge, the OIC and the RSO. The OIC is the officer in charge and is responsible for doing all the planning and preparation, writing the order, and delegating responsibility. The RSO is the range safety officer who is responsible for safety on the range, making sure everybody is doing their job and soldiers are conducting their activities to standard, making sure water and gatorade and ice and MREs have been packed up, and ensuring their are constant radio communication between OIC, RSO, and Range Control. I was supposed to be the RSO. Our Battalion Commander ripped apart the other LT and had him up all night the night before writing and rewriting his order because he was being very picky with what he wanted except the problem was, nobody up at Battalion supported the range and gave any time of guidance or instruction as to what the intent was. It made things so much more difficult than necessary. In the end, the range was conducted but there were a ton of hiccups and it was much more stressful than it needed to be.

Moving on, I am kind of sad because I missed getting to spend this past weekend with Abby and my family. I wish I could have been home for Passover and spent time with everyone that came into town. I dont want to say that I am homesick because thats not what it is, its more the fact that I miss getting to talk to Abby every night and hear from my parents every few day, I miss going out and doing things with Craig or just watching TV, I miss the normalcy of life back in Colorado. Driving my truck, going out to eat or cooking a dinner feast, it all seems so foreign to me and I havent even been gone that long. Hopefully the Passover Seder went well and everyone enjoyed themselves. Just know I miss you all and wish I could have been there too.