Well, I’m here in Oklahoma at Fort Sill. The base is actually a lot bigger than I had thought it would be. The keep a lot of the military’s heavy toys, as in tanks, howitzers, rocket launchers, and all that other good stuff. It seems to me like they have a plethora, although they say that most of them are actually out and oversees right now. I must say that the troop numbers seem a bit low. Yesterday we went on a tour of the base. We got to see where they held Geronimo, and later where they buried him in a big Indian cemetery out in the back 40 in between firing ranges. Of which there are numerous firing ranges shooting stuff of 5-10 miles out into the wilderness of Oklahoma. I did get in trouble though when I pointed to something and said “ooo, tank…” and our tour guide turned around with a disgusted face and said that it was not a tank, and would someone else in the car please explain to me my error. I’ve understood about every 3rd word of what is said here, the rest is a string of letters forming a string of acronyms, none of which I understand. For instance we are working for the 31st ADA Brigade, which I thought was amusing because I wasn’t sure how we could help an entire brigade of handicapped soldiers, apparently though it stands for Air Defense Artillery… or the guys that shoot Patriot missiles. Apparently they can’t even shoot anything off around here, they can only test their radar, if they shoot stuff off it may lock onto a target and POW, bye-bye Airtran plane. Anyway I’m learning a lot, but feeling like I’m understanding just a little… I probably should have listened to more of Brian’s acronyms before. It is very hard being here though, because 6.5 years ago I was here for his graduation from basic. We drove over to the ATC (Army Training Center) site the other day and saw all the young guys in various stages of fitness and preparedness being tortured. I remember still what it felt like to be here, having not seen each other with little phone contact too, after several months, and after only having been together for two months before that.
Anyway, enough about that. Keep it light Sam. I did see something interesting the other day. They have us set up in some kind of Spiritual center… you know multi-religions, blah blah. I was walking past this army guy’s office and he had Spartacus in his video collection… I guess this is don’t ask don’t tell. I have also discovered that security is somewhat lacking here on post, you just flash them an id and pick some office you have to see (DPW, DOIM, …), they make a cursory glance at your car and send you on your merry way to be released to wander at will around post. I now know where they store their munitions, where they keep the most expensive toys and where they train. In one afternoon I could steal a Howitzer, then go steal a patriot missile, blow up a small munitions base, and then shoot down some planes or endangered species. Awesome. I’m glad to know homeland security is in full force here. Hm, I wonder if I could hit Bush’s ranch from here with some rocket launcher. This whole concept of central time really throws me off though. By 11 I’ve run out of anything good to watch… however this seems to be offset by the fact that they work from 7:30-4:30 here… I guess to be on schedule with Eastern time. Blech! The first day we got here it was beautiful and 60, the next day it dropped to 30 with gale force winds. Most of the time you can’t tell if the low boom you are hearing is the sound of wind gusts hitting the sound of the building, or munitions being fired on a nearby training field. It’s funny, when you come onto post the security guys… whom I’ve already mentioned… have to reluctantly say, “Welcome to Fort Sill. Home of the field artillery. King of Battle.”
I am very tired though, even the sleeping pills and Nyquil haven’t been putting me at ease at night. I have mastered getting ready in 20 minutes… which by the way still makes me the hottest woman on post when compared to ill-fitting, bun-wearing, makeup-less enlisted ‘females’ as they call them here. I get plenty of looks bundled up in business casual and sweaters… imagine if I put in any effort. I think Lauren needs to start trolling for men at the base out in Seattle. She probably wouldn’t even have to go inside; she could just stand by the gate.
I can’t wait to be back in Atlanta, and soon after that with family. To be surrounded by love, when my heart is breaking seems like the best medicine… although self-medicating does seem to be numbing the pain. Anyway, sorry I’m such a downer. Wah, wah, wah.
On the upside my mom is coming out for the appointment with the surgeon and then if all the news is good then we will have a happy weekend of Christmas shopping with mom and dad’s money. She hasn’t been here yet since I moved down so I will get to show her around to my favorite places and we’ll get to eat really good food… dad and I went out to eat, but he makes faces when I try and take him to any place that’s too ethnic.
….it is Friday now and I am sitting here waiting for the Garrison Commander to show up so we can do our “Out-Brief”. I took it upon myself to suggest a different site layout at five yesterday and was up until 1 fixing it. I had to though because we were talking about putting huge concrete motor pools directly over natural drainage channels, piping them and then spitting them out into some of those great Army Corp channelized drainage canals. We were also planning on just not worrying about our drainage and letting it flow of site and into the town. So as McHarg whispered from the grave into my ear I changed the plan so that we could capture the runoff on site and put it into a detention basin. Of course there is a question of cost, and the fact that a holistic approach just does not fit into the standardized design form they have set up. It is slightly frustrating dealing with all of these chains of command and specifications. It’s not like it will matter anyway because when they put this out for proposal the design/build contractor will do whatever is cheapest and pour all the highly contaminated runoff from the motor pool directly onto an adjacent Indian burial, conserved wetland site. Well, I’m off for now… I have to look like I’m taking notes. But hopefully later I will tell you all about seeing the buffalo, long-horned steer and prairie dogs. Working this hard is blissfully keeping my mind off of things.
Wow Sam, more than one post in a month. But it does almost make me want to see Oklahoma. Almost.