I feel like I’ve spent every week in a different city since I started working on this program. Now that I think about it that’s not far from the truth. My first 4 weeks was spent in Savannah, TN where I did my formal training. Following this I spent a week in Bingen, WA where we had our evaluations and the maintenance exam. Then I was back in Saint Louis for 2 weeks completing paper work for military deployment processing. Now I’m headed home for a day after spending a week at Camp Pendleton where I was processed and issued my ID card, body armor, gas mask and helmet.
That doesn’t seem like a lot of stuff, but the body armor and helmet alone took up my whole suit case, fortunately I brought a duffle bag just for such an occasion. I went from carrying a 15 lbs piece of luggage to carrying a 50 lbs roller case and a 10 lbs duffle bag. I was waiting for someone to ask why my suit case was so heavy and sure enough the woman at the American Airlines counter asked
“What do you have in here?”
I responded “Body armor…”
She laughed.
I wasn’t sure if she believed me or not. After all how many people dressed in civilian clothing roll through with a black Samsonite filled with body armor? Probably more than I think… Although I’m sure the people doing the X-Raying had a good time trying to figure out what it was… Oh yes, and there was the gas mask too, which was an interesting acquisition. I hope I don’t have to use it while I’m out there, especially with TRNG ONLY painted on the filter… Please President Obama, don’t upset the Pakistanis or Iranians…
Well besides all that good stuff, I also got my military ID card. That has become my de facto form of identification for everything. Anytime I get carded I pull that bad boy out and wait for them to figure out what it is. I’ve gotten a lot of long strange stares, but I continue to use it because it’s more easily accessible than my driver’s license since I have it in the front pocket of my wallet. Sometimes people will recognize it and are really appreciative since they know where you’re going or where you’ve been. The card itself is pretty cool too. It has a functional smart chip with all my information encoded on it. Unlike the smart chip on my Boeing ID which has nothing encoded on it. I still sort of wish I brought it with me so I could have more easily accessed the Boeing facility in Seal Beach. I had to make some copies and fax some documents to reserve my flights overseas. I have a friend who recently transferred there. We were going to meet for dinner anyway, so I decided to give him a ring and see if he could get me in the facility to use the printers.
He had meetings in Huntington Beach so he let me sit in his office, which had a view of the ocean. I’m not sure I can go back to working in the windowless boxes at the Saint Louis facilities after being there. The entire building seemed so much nicer! On top of that the entire area was nicer than the area the Saint Louis site is in. The first bit of evidence was the signs that said “MAY 15 BIKE TO WORK DAY.” It’s like a dream of mine to be able to bike to work, especially on my birthday! A few of you know that I’ve tried a few times but finally gave up. It was always either too hot, too windy or too dangerous. Seal Beach is always between 70 and 85, winds usually seemed calm and drivers are courteous and accustomed to bikers. In fact, I saw more bicyclists, joggers and walkers out in California than I saw in Oregon and that was why I was so impressed by Oregon!
So of course I’ve fallen fast for another city, the downside is that it’s just as expensive as Oregon... But of course I won’t let something like that stop me. I’ve always said that I wanted to move out to San Diego, even though I had never been. When I got to Hood River, I thought I found everything I’ve ever wanted… Then I spent time in California and found more than I could ever ask for. Reality check, it doesn’t matter since I’m going to be spending the rest of the year on a 6 month camping trip. It’s my birthday today and by this time next week I’ll be in a tent surrounded by miles of nothing.
We’ve been in contact with one of the guys that’s there now. He’s been giving us the heads up on travel, what to bring and the conditions at the base. It doesn’t sound as bad as I imagined. We have air conditioned tents that work “most of the time.” Well… I guess that’s really all I know about it, but that was a big deal to me. If you know me, you know that I hate heat. 120F isn’t my idea of a good time unless I’m checking the internal temperature of a piece of meat. I was joking around with one of the guys and said that I can’t wait to throw on 50lbs of body armor and go for a 4 mile run. I was joking but I can also see myself really doing something like that. I really don’t think I have all the nuts in my head tightened to specifications, should have used a torque wrench.
Anyway, I’m on the plane back home right now. I have some “birthday gifts” from Boeing to pick up from UPS tonight. It’s actually all the gear that I was supposed to have before I left for Pendleton. I’ll probably spend part of the night opening boxes and deciding what I want to bring with me overseas and the other part celebrating my 28th. Tomorrow will be a fun filled day doing expense reports, completing whatever paper work I have left and, weather permitting cutting the lawn. Then Sunday I’ll be hanging out in the business class cabin with the high rollers on my way outbound. Things started rolling really fast all of the sudden, who knew that things could be so efficient!
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