Charlotte and I began Operation Overflight today around 6pm. It was a second attempt to successfully fly my remote controlled airplane. Overall it was attempt #2. Attempt #1 was unsuccessfully completed with Striker AKA Josh. That mission ended is complete disaster. Today’s operation did as well. I crashed my plane into a garbage can, a pole, and lastly straight into the ground. While I did get it to fly, it did crash shortly after takeoff. This was due to the extreme gust of wind that flipped it over.
Replacement parts are on order….
more to follow……
- joe
This weekend was my first drill since returning from Iraq. I am very happy with my unit and the soldiers i’ve met that I will be working with.
Walking into the Armory, I was nervous but also anxious. I didn’t know anyone and I had no idea of what I was getting into. I showed up on time, was well rested and ready to work. My uniform was pressed, boots semi-cleaned and overall looking like my usual badass self. After initially thinking i’d be a part of a Brigade S-2 section (semi-close to the war-fighter) it turns out that I am actually in a G-2 section (super far from the war-fighter). It looks like a decent shop, with a couple of extremely intelligent NCOs and some super enlisted and junior NCOs.
At first I thought that everything I learned overseas and all the professional development i’d done would have been forgotten. I figured i’d show up, play it low-key and feel the waters out until I felt comfortable. Maybe 2 or 3 drills, maybe 6-months, and worst-case, maybe never.
It all came back.
It was like walking into a room full of your oldest friends that you hadn’t seen in years. It was like I knew everyone even though i’d never met any of them. By the end of the day, I knew the entire shop, had a mission and was fired up to be there. After lunch, I gave a newly branded Specialist-4 some PC blood rank. By the end of the day, I was off with my marching orders on what to do the following week.
Overall, it was a good day and I feel good about where I am.
So, What next? The warrant path begins. Beginning January, I will [should] be a Warrant Officer Candidate. We’ll see how that goes, I still have my Resume to complete and that is a pain in the ass.
And so it begins.
BEST
- Joe
[BBC News] Dog praised for life-saving call
A US dog has won an award for saving her owner’s life by dialing a phone number that alerted emergency services to her owner’s diabetic seizure.
Belle the beagle triggered a call to an ambulance crew by biting on her owner, Kevin Weaver’s, mobile phone.
The dog was trained to detect potential diabetic attacks by licking and sniffing Mr Weaver’s nose to check his blood sugar levels and pawing him.
Belle resorted to dialling for help when Mr Weaver fell unconscious.
The dog used her teeth to press the number nine key, which the phone was programmed to interpret as a “911″ call to emergency services.
Ambulance workers answered the phone and, hearing nothing but barking at the end of the line, rushed to the caller’s house in the city of Ocoee in Florida state.
The dog is the first animal to receive the Vita Wireless Samaritan Award.
“I am convinced that if Belle wasn’t with me that morning, I wouldn’t be alive today,” Mr Weaver said.
“Belle is more than just a life-saver. She’s my best friend.”
(found at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5099190.stm?ls)