There are some major offensive operations being conducted in the vicinity of Warhorse. The FOB has several firing points where big 155mm Paladin howitzers stand ready to send steel downrange. During the night I was rocked from my sleep by the bark of their cannons. Around 0300 my CHU door flew open - startling me completely - to reveal another Army LTC entering. He announced, "Hey! I'm your new roommate!" He then banged around the place for at least forty minutes getting situated. It was a restless night. Around 0615 I couldn't take it anymore. I arose, shaved, dressed and went to breakfast. We had training scheduled for 0800. I stopped by to observe the SGT I had placed in charge of this phase of our training. He was doing an excellent job. After supervising for over an hour I left him in charge and cruised on to Green Beans. The formal training classes we were there to teach weren't scheduled until the afternoon.
Green Beans coffee gave me the urge to stop by the latrine. I was glad I did. There was graffiti. It wasn't much. However, there was enough to remind me of Joes' fascination with all things Chuck Norris. I've learned a lot of incredible facts about the guy from Joe. Thanks to a trip to a latrine I've also learned that "Chuck Norris can lick the Sun!" That is amazing. Thanks anonymous Joe for sharing that fact.
Our training went without a hitch. We had a packed house - a lot more than we had planned for. Unit Movement Officers get very excited about their eventual redeployments. If you add to that the extremely spartan experience of FOB Warhorse it compounds the desire to get out of here. After providing the formal training and fielding questions we headed back out to inspect a couple of containers owned by a tank unit. After we were done they gladly gave us a tour of one of their M1A2 Main Battle Tanks. I'm a former tanker so I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity. What was more amazing was the joking nature of the two lieutenants giving us the tour. Apparently, they had both gone through the experience of having tanks under their command disabled or destroyed by IEDs. They continually ribbed each other about which one had the most tanks blown up around them. It was also a testament to the crew protection given by the armor of the tanks. Neither of the lieutenants had been injured (although knocked out a couple of times) or had any crew injured. They were as happy go lucky as could be. They were definitely happy to be tankers and not infantry. The Strikers and Bradleys are not nearly as durable as the tanks.
As night fell we were happy because we were scheduled to leave. WRONG! When we arrived at the airfield we found out that we weren't manifested. We'd been told otherwise earlier. The flight we thought we were on was still due to arrive so we waited to see if we could fly space available. That was a no-go. In the end we found ourselves in the exact position we'd been in the last time we came to Warhorse - stuck. Dejectedly, we rode back to our hooches and settled back in. Maybe we'll be able to fly out tomorrow. Just as I got comfortable back in the hooch the big guns started barking again. Yep, looked like another restless night in Warhorse. That's just the way it goes around here. I've come to expect this. That way I'm never disappointed.
Green Beans coffee gave me the urge to stop by the latrine. I was glad I did. There was graffiti. It wasn't much. However, there was enough to remind me of Joes' fascination with all things Chuck Norris. I've learned a lot of incredible facts about the guy from Joe. Thanks to a trip to a latrine I've also learned that "Chuck Norris can lick the Sun!" That is amazing. Thanks anonymous Joe for sharing that fact.
Our training went without a hitch. We had a packed house - a lot more than we had planned for. Unit Movement Officers get very excited about their eventual redeployments. If you add to that the extremely spartan experience of FOB Warhorse it compounds the desire to get out of here. After providing the formal training and fielding questions we headed back out to inspect a couple of containers owned by a tank unit. After we were done they gladly gave us a tour of one of their M1A2 Main Battle Tanks. I'm a former tanker so I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity. What was more amazing was the joking nature of the two lieutenants giving us the tour. Apparently, they had both gone through the experience of having tanks under their command disabled or destroyed by IEDs. They continually ribbed each other about which one had the most tanks blown up around them. It was also a testament to the crew protection given by the armor of the tanks. Neither of the lieutenants had been injured (although knocked out a couple of times) or had any crew injured. They were as happy go lucky as could be. They were definitely happy to be tankers and not infantry. The Strikers and Bradleys are not nearly as durable as the tanks.
As night fell we were happy because we were scheduled to leave. WRONG! When we arrived at the airfield we found out that we weren't manifested. We'd been told otherwise earlier. The flight we thought we were on was still due to arrive so we waited to see if we could fly space available. That was a no-go. In the end we found ourselves in the exact position we'd been in the last time we came to Warhorse - stuck. Dejectedly, we rode back to our hooches and settled back in. Maybe we'll be able to fly out tomorrow. Just as I got comfortable back in the hooch the big guns started barking again. Yep, looked like another restless night in Warhorse. That's just the way it goes around here. I've come to expect this. That way I'm never disappointed.
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