Day two of CLS was much better than day one; less death by PowerPoint and more hands-on instruction. I managed to successfully to stick my first IV, though Gilbs is showing quite the bruise tonight from my handy work. He managed to stick me successfully as well, making us both a “go” at that station. After that, they taught us some litter carries and I unsuccessfully dragged Gilbs and vice versa, though we did manage to almost choke each other out with our respective IBAs at the time. Yet another incentive for both of us to lose weight while we are deployed.
Besides CLS, we did nothing but clean the barracks, barracks that appear to not have been cleaned since they were constructed. If we don’t end up with H1N1 or Smallpox from our vaccinations, we could potentially end up with asbestos poisoning from lead paint chips and decades old dirt in our lovely barracks. I guess in a way it is good, but it takes a bit more than what we did to keep these barracks clean. The person who is shitting on the bathroom walls sure isn’t helping much.
On another note, I had a good discussion with MAJ Moulton tonight, getting myself caught up on some happenings of the deployment. For the most part, I have removed myself from knowing what is going on behind the scenes, relying on my immediate leadership to make sure that I am aware what is going on every day. While I do receive the information, it is very piecemeal at best; I guess I just like to be in the know. Having this discussion allowed me to see things as Mr. Eberhard would need to, making it easier to know the reasons behind why we are doing everything that we are. I just had to deconflict a lot of the rumors and speculation that have been running rampant throughout the task force. The discussion made me remember why MAJ Moulton is a good mentor for me right now and hopefully in the future. We, and the Army, are very lucky to have him around. They sure should treat him better.
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