Wednesday, May 28, 2008

A couple of days in...

Indoc
The last few days have been relatively uneventful, mainly just trying to get my bearings on base, and trying to find out what my schedule will be. Every time you check into a new unit or in my case Reserve Center you have to go through Indoc. During this time you are to sit and hear from a slew of different departments on where to go, what needs to be done, safety briefs and the general mission statement. Overall its been very interesting for me as I've never been part of anything in the aviation community - but for some of the junior enlisted I can tell this is getting old!

One thing that I found very very interesting, and unfortunately may be a bit of a tease for some: OUR MISSION! I've mentioned it in a previous blog, and that's about all I can really refer to as there is a SPECWAR component. We were told in one of the very first briefs that the 'stuff we do around here, you won't hear on CNN'. That makes me not only excited, but PROUD - we are the tip of the spear, and the squadron is helping to take down bad guys. I'm just the Suppo, and I don't know all the details (and probably don't want to!) but it does make you think that the work you do is making a difference.

Tri.... athalon???
I've been trying to 'train' for a tri-athalon for the last few summers, nothing doing as I every time I thought I was getting into a decent shape for it.. summer would end and motivation would die. As of this week, I'm starting a plan, and I'm dedicated to doing it... I just need to go out and get a bike :)

Missing you Jen :)
Think that just about says it - every day I'm away from home and not with you, its difficult. I gain so much respect for those that spend 12 months away from their families overseas - but even more respect for the family members left behind and what they have to go through. I'm find myself very blessed as I'll get to see my wife regularly, although not every night, but soon!

Sidebar.... I know we just came off Memorial Day, but that doesn't mean we have to stop thanking those for their sacrifice!

Monday, May 26, 2008

Individual Augmentee - Hoorah


Hello to everyone that may take the time to read this blog - as this is my first post! I have a few friends doing blogs during their mobilizations, and I thought that I would try one out. I'm going to try and stay as up to date with this as I can, but never know how busy things can become.

Intro:
Since June 30th 2006 I have been in the Navy Reserve, and I'm very very proud of this. Over the last 2 years in the reserves I have been through numerous training courses, joined a few different units and then finally got mobilized. Just a brief synopsis would read like this:
June 30th 2006 is my 'date of rank' - meaning the date that my commission took effect, and also means that June 30th of this year I get promoted from Ensign to Lieutenant Junior Grade (swap the butter bar in for a shiny silver one!). I didn't sign my oath of office until July 30th 2006, and then started drilling with my first unit SSB2 Contingency Contracting Company 'Papa'.
In November of 2006 I was part of Direct Commissioning Officer's Indoctrination Course (DCOIC) 07020 at Naval Air Station Pensacola, FL which is a requirement for all DCO officers in the reserves. Its essentially a 2 week OCS school where you spend a lot of time learning about the military, being an officer, organization structure and basic military operations.
In March of 2007 I entered in Basic Qualifications Course Company 64 for the Supply Corps. Essentially this is exactly what it sounds like - a basic all around course detailing the procedures, forms, and different aspects to being a supply officer in the Navy. It is intended to be an 18th month correspondence course, during which time you are not supposed to take on any collateral duties - just study! The reality is of course a bit different, and you end up doing a bit more than just studying - so I got antsy and started getting my work done as soon as I could. When I finished enough tests too quickly I was offered the option to roll-up to Company 63, which I did, and instead of graduating this August... I graduated in March instead. Whoops... shouldn't have done that.
September 2007, although technically assigned to FISC Sigonella Contracting HQ, I was given permission to drill with Navy Mobile Construction Battalion 23 in Ft. Belvoir, VA (NMCB 23) as the acting S4A (or assistant supply officer). For those that don't know the Seabees, their moto is 'We Build, We Fight' - and they mean it! They are very well organized, very professional group of individuals which I have the highest respect for. They are essentially designed to go out beyond the wire, build what needs to be done, and if necessary fight when they have to. The battalion isn't only divided up into construction teams, but every member is also really part of a fire team, which is part of a squad, which is part of a platoon... etc etc. To give you an idea - they were some of the first people in during the landings at Iwo Jima to clear the land and allow the landing gear to come up safely - again, a great group of people.

Mobilization:
The reality of the Navy Reserve is that you will be mobilized, and one needs to prepare for that. While in BQC-NR I was 'protected', meaning that I was not yet a fully qualified supply officer and that the Navy could not mobilize me quite yet. It gives you a bit of a buffer and time to start researching which mobilization you can volunteer for - or you will be voluntold soon after graduation. The expression that devil you know is better than the one you don't applies very accurately to this situation. The reality of this really hit me when almost 7-8 months before we were to graduate BQC 2 other class mates had orders to Djibouti for 12 months, and Iraq for 12 months

At this point I had essentially signed up for joining NMCB 24 as the S4A (my position with NMCB 23 wasn't in a 'hard billet' - or I really didn't own the job), and they were to mobilize for 6-7 months to Iraq in January 2008. In the Navy right now a 6-7 month mobilization really isn't a bad deal right now, especially when you consider that Army goes 12-14 months, standard Navy MOB is from 9-12 months and Marines go from 6-9 months. So the fact that I was going to MOB with the Seabees and that it was going to be a duration which would be tolerable was a 'win-win' situation.

Sidebar... My two friends that I mentioned above, amongst many others, I have the greatest respect for. They are going away from their friends and family for 12 months, sometimes more, and they are going to be in an imminent danger zone. I can't say enough for the sacrifice and the dedication they have.

During a Junior Supply Officer conference I was approached about a position with HSC 84 as a 12 month mobilization. The short story here is that the squadron needed a supply officer, and they were stationed in Norfolk, VA - and it would count as a mobilization. So the decision that my wife and I faced was 12 months as a geo-bachelor approximately 150 miles from home, or 6 months in Baghdad...

On MAY 16th I reported into the reserve center and began my mobilization processing. From there, on Sunday May 19th I reported to Navy Mobilization Processing Site (NMPS) in Camp Lejeune, NC. Camp Lejeune is a Marine base, and therefore almost all the reservists that process through there are in support of Marine activities - there were a lot of corpsmen and doctors - and then two other members from HSC 84. There are two things strange about this: 1) I'm not in support of a Marine unit and 2) my final destination on my orders is for Norfolk Navy Base, VA. Well there is a big NMPS site in Norfolk, and I thought it odd that I went to Camp Lejeune... but these are things that are 'above my pay grade'.

NMPS
What is NMPS? Well its basically where they certify that you're ready for active duty, and you're ready to be mobilized. Essentially the process works like this:
You show up, you get a checklist and you need to get all the boxes checked in order to be dismissed. This really comes down to 3 things:
1) You're medically qualified, and if you've stayed on top of all your shots and vaccinations and eye glass prescriptions this is very easy. It took me all of about 15 minutes for them to sign off my medical page.
2) You need to be gained by the active duty system - this is because the reserve personnel system doesn't talk to the active duty system. So as I have been known and been paid by the reserves for the last year and a half, when I was put on active duty they had to essentially lose me from the reserve system, and then gain me back into the active duty system. Well as you report on Monday, get your paper work in, and they get it to the right people, this is supposed to happen overnight. Well it didn't for me, as I showed up in the morning Tuesday I was not gained by the active duty side... which meant that the next step could not happen.
3) You need to have a pay account open and created - which is dependent on step 2. When I showed up on Wednesday I was told that I was good to go, that my account was open and that I was gained into Active Duty. Unfortunately when I checked with the guys who need to sign off my checklist I had a pay account, but I didn't have it completely populated - so I had to stand down and wait until Thursday. The net of all this is that I left on Thursday mid morning without a completely populated pay account, and I'll have to sort this out with Norfolk's pay people.

Essentially NMPS was a lot of sitting around, playing some golf in the evenings, and waiting for things to happen. Unfortunately its a bit of a helpless situation as you can't do anything to speed the process up - you just have to wait.

Tomorrow
HSC 84 (Helicopter Sea Combat) is known as the 'Red Wolves' - they have two main missions:
SEAL Insertion for Special Warfare Operations
CSAR (Combat Search and Recovery) for downed pilots

I have absolutely no experience on the aviation side of the house, and they don't teach you aviation supply in BQC-NR, so I'm going to be drinking from the fire hose!! Needless to say I am very excited and I'm very much looking forward to this opportunity. There's going to be a lot of different things going on in my day to day life - a lot different than selling network management software for IBM.

At 0700 I'll report in, and I have no idea what to expect, but I know its going to be great. By the end of this tour I'll have a 5 year dwell (meaning that I can't be mobilized involuntarily until after 5 years), and hopefully I'll have a Navy Aviation Supply Officer (NASO) certification - and one heck of a year on active duty. There's a VERY strong chance that I'll be in Iraq for some duration of this - but stay tuned for that info!!!

Sorry to all for being so long, but that's the background - posts will be shorter in the future!