I completed deployment out-processing today. Visits to the dentist are more exciting than deployment briefings and out-processing. I would love to go into detail about specifics, but I don’t want to get myself into trouble by offending people who are in positions much higher than me.
Here’s some free advice for everyone. If you have a job that requires you to speak to a group, then take a public speaking course. It doesn’t matter what you have to say if you can’t effectively convey your message.
I’m still not certain of when I’m leaving. To save money, I haven’t leased an apartment. No sense in paying for an apartment I won’t be using. Until I leave I am living out of a camper at a KOA near base. Living in a campground is boring. I try to avoid spending a lot of time there. I basically use it just for a place to sleep and keep things I need throughout the week. I could have crashed on couches at different friends places and kept my things in the car, but it’s nice to have a place to call home. Even if it’s a old camper at a KOA. I don’t have easy access to the internet or cable here, but at least I have a bed, electricity, toilet, sink, fridge and stove. I’ve lived in worse, thanks to the government. I’m sure my living conditions overseas will be similar to this camper at best. I would bet that they’re much worse.
I am without my internet access now. I should just go to a known hotspot like Starbucks or something. I just don’t want some company that operates a hotspot spying on my activity. I have no evidence or have never heard of this happening, but I just don’t trust “free” wireless access. There has to be a catch.
I’ve decided that I will keep a journal of my time overseas. I will try to update it daily, but time will tell. This journal will be a traditional paper journal, but I will also transcribe it to HTML and will post it upon my return. I’ll be using my notebook computer to do this. After much debate I’ve decided to take my nice notebook computer overseas. I was afraid that it might become damaged and was looking for a cheap replacement to take instead. I wasn’t happy with what I could find, so I came up with another solution. My good notebook computer is going overseas with me. I can afford buy a new one when I get home if it breaks. I bought a nice metal case which requires two combinations to open, so it shouldn’t get damaged during transport and no one can casually open the case. I will also be bringing an external backup drive. In case of a computer failure, I will still have a backup and will not lose everything. This is also the reason for the paper journal. I can always write in the journal. Paper doesn’t have hard drive failures and doesn’t require electricity. I’d like to preserve my experience for history’s sake. I have been a long time student of history, so I feel I should help contribute to how it will be written, even if it is only a minor portion of events. By chance I might find myself an observer to an important event. You never know until it happens.
I would like to update this site with at least a few comments from time to time while I’m gone. I don’t know if I will be able to access the internet or if I have access; I don’t know if I will be able to use SFTP to send updates to the server. If I’m unable to update my server files, I will use snail mail to hand write the updates to either my brother Brennan or Mark Richter. Neither of whom I’ve approached about this. They’ll get a letter from me begging for their help if I need it.
There is a lot of that I’m still unsure of. I might have an option as far as what exactly I will be doing overseas. I shouldn’t discuss in detail what these options are and I won’t, but it will be a difficult choice. On one side I have the instinct for personal safety, on the other I have a desire to get into the action and a strong belief that I can make a difference. Neither is a wrong choice. The safe choice is to remain attached my unit and perform the job I am currently trained for. The other choice is to volunteer for duty in which I have high degree of training and will perform again when I finish college, but it is far from safe and I will not be working with my own unit. I won’t be making this choice until I arrive overseas, so I still have time to think about it.
I would like to see some of the people I served with when I was in California and Japan and who are currently near the location I am going. It probably won’t be a possible. It has been too long since I’ve seen any of them. I was planning on going to one of their weddings, but I don’t think I will be around for that. Many of the guys will be there.