Deployment

[Daniel ~]

May send him wandering the Earth looking for Hetro peace among women!

[cloasters]

Originally Posted by dsio

That'll cure his homesickness right there.

True, that!

[Gizmo]

Good to hear from you, FF! Please keep up the good work, stay safe, and we'll keep hoping to have you back home soon!

[fantomfreq]

It's been a tough week or so for the division. Keep hearing about all sorts of casualties, both from hostile and friendly fire. Even though I'm pretty much safe where I am, I can't help but think of the families of the people who aren't as lucky.

[cloasters]

I hope that "pretty much safe" stays that way for you. If that changes, Mother Earth is your best friend. Like you don't already know that!
It was weird long ago and far away. If you didn't personally know someone who was injured or worse in an enemy attack, or know someone who knew them, the tragedy simply didn't happen. I'm glad that you have better communication, but sad that one of ours isn't coming home. High hopes, low butt if things go boom in the night.

[Daniel ~]

Originally Posted by fantomfreq

It's been a tough week or so for the division. Keep hearing about all sorts of casualties, both from hostile and friendly fire. Even though I'm pretty much safe where I am, I can't help but think of the families of the people who aren't as lucky.

If there's is one thing I can say about this war and not fear contradiction from any quarter at home, it is this. WE KNOW you all deserved better. We know we let you down even as you up held our will abroad.

We know we were not there for you as we should have been and that you paid a terrible price, some of you paid everything for our negligence at home. If we can do no better than this for our young men and women...perhaps we should consider bringing you all back home.

We find we have a better army than we are worthy of...

Come home when you can and make of us a better people.

[cloasters]

TBH, I want all of you home yesterday. *Let's put our wallets where our mouths are, please at least send a "care package" to a GI. A soldier may feel a little better, knowing that someone back home cares. You'll feel better, too. May fate keep you safe until you come home!

Hang on, didn't we say that we'd send any requested goodies to fantomfreq? Let's make good on that pledge, ask away, FF!


*Please Google "Soldier Care Package."
I suggest going with the "www.uso.org/yadda" result. At least you know that the USO is on the level.

[PorPorMe]

Originally Posted by cloasters

TBH, I want all of you home yesterday. *Let's put our wallets where our mouths are, please at least send a "care package" to a GI. A soldier may feel a little better, knowing that someone back home cares. You'll feel better, too. May fate keep you safe until you come home!

Hang on, didn't we say that we'd send any requested goodies to fantomfreq? Let's make good on that pledge, ask away, FF!


*Please Google "Soldier Care Package."
I suggest going with the "www.uso.org/yadda" result. At least you know that the USO is on the level.

Set it up. Even we'un por fo'k kan git behind dat!

[fantomfreq]

I really appreciate it guys, but aside from occasionally not having any water for showers it's not bad over here. The PX carries decent stocks of all the basics, so we never really go wanting. I get packages all the time from my parents. Hell, I've even got internet in my room. Besides, the stop mail date is very soon, as we'll be headed home by the end of the year.

If you'd really like to help somebody out who needs it, Google "America Supports You." They're a military-run organization that helps connect people back home with people overseas who need it the most.

[Daniel ~]

Thank you fantom.

[cloasters]

It's good to know that FF is pretty well set up! Will someone please Google "America Supports You?"
I'd really appreciate it if some of us look into "America Supports You!" It makes a real difference to even get a letter when you're over there. Supplanting MRE's really helps!

[cloasters]

I'd be happy to get Googling "America Supports You," but the truth is that I sank more than $150 into three "care packages" not long ago. Christmas approaches, it'd be great for us to show a few of our GI's that someone remembers them!

[PorPorMe]

It looked to me like it was one of those school games. 'You do it.' 'No,you do it!' So I did it!
Have no fear, they take no donations. Can you imagine that? It's a DOD effort to encourage and facilitate support of the troops. They have links to other organizations and try to get the resourses available for all.
America Supports You

[fantomfreq]

Argh. I'm angry at myself today. Today was our PT test before redeployment to the states and while I passed the PT test just fine, I'm apparently overweight. Thing is, I've been doing a very good deal of cardio in the gym. Looks like I either need to make my neck bigger (apparently mine is really tiny) or preferably make my gut an inch smaller. Sit-ups and crunches all around!

One of the few things I really dislike about the Army is the way that they make everything a test except your job. While testing how fit you are and how well you shoot are certainly important, it allows people to get promoted who don't know a dang thing about their job. This, in turn, gives inept soldiers authority over those who may be more knowledgeable. Thankfully, my immediate superiors do not fall into this category.

[PorPorMe]

Am I glad i took the time to read your post twice!

On the first reading, i swear, I thought you said the Amy made you pass your PT's before you could ship home. NAH! Not even the Army!!

[fantomfreq]

Originally Posted by PorPorMe

On the first reading, i swear, I thought you said the Amy made you pass your PT's before you could ship home. NAH! Not even the Army!!

Nobody could be that evil! Failing a record PT test has several consequences. The most official one is the flag placed on your record. While you are flagged, you cannot reenlist, go to any Army schools, get awards, be promoted, or receive any other favorable action. Also, failing a PT test generally gets you on a remedial program where they PT the living hell out of you. I guess you also end up getting a whole bunch of crap from your chain of command for failing a PT test as well.

[PorPorMe]

That probly means that when your upper chain reports to his upper chain, you had better be toeing the mark or your upper chain gets reamed!
Corect-a-mondo?
Or as they say anywhere else, 'S^*t rolls down hill!"

[Daniel ~]

Originally Posted by fantomfreq

Nobody could be that evil! Failing a record PT test has several consequences. The most official one is the flag placed on your record. While you are flagged, you cannot reenlist, go to any Army schools, get awards, be promoted, or receive any other favorable action. Also, failing a PT test generally gets you on a remedial program where they PT the living hell out of you. I guess you also end up getting a whole bunch of crap from your chain of command for failing a PT test as well.

So...we should picture you as leading a more or less active life while your visiting the land of desert sands and great big fat ugly spiders nobody wants to see any more pictures of?

[cloasters]

Being bossed by ignorant/idiotic 'superiors' was the bane of my existence in the Army. We had no PT tests after Basic, as long as you weren't corpulent nobody cared. Come to think of it, the nation was ill-served by that laxity. Yet we were support troops, and this was after the war of the moment was over.
Let us pray that wiser heads prevail so that you'se guys can come home soon!