Going Through Training

Billy Bad-Ass here with an update from the War on Unemployment.  We've now completed two days of training with the Corps of Engineers.  Our class is pretty interesting: most are long-time Corps employees, a few of us are new hires, and there are a few others who are being detailed from other agencies.  And there's one guy whose status is really in limbo ... neither he nor the Corps have figured out for sure whether he's still owned by his originating federal agency or whether he's the Corps' now.  It all makes for some entertaining discussions.  Most of class members have been to Iraq or Afghanistan before, some of them for several tours.  What's interesting is that we can see the nation's shift in emphasis to Afghanistan, as that's where the majority of our people are heading.

Yesterday we were issued all our gear.  I was afraid they'd load us up with two or three duffel bags full of useless crap we'd never use, but they didn't.  It was all stuff that we need, and all mine fit into one duffel bag.  I got yet another shot (anthrax this time; sumbitch is still sore) and gave some blood for a DNA sample.  The classroom sessions have been moderately boring on the whole - those of us who've been downrange have experienced pretty much everything they're talking about, but then, there always seem to be some new points.  At least we're getting to see some of the key people we're going to be dealing with over the phone.  Yesterday they hit us with five video training presentations right after lunch.  I didn't think anything could be worse, but then today they had a guy go through five computer-based training programs about computer security, one after the other, without a break.  Yessir, just the thing to show to a bunch of people right after lunch!  Those of us who weren't comatose at the end were clawing at the door to get out.  And since we were 20 minutes over schedule, the next briefer didn't give us a break and just launched straight into her presentation.  We damn near made the CBS Evening News: "A riot broke out today in Winchester, Virginia, when a group of rowdy student detainees protested their torture from endless PowerPoint presentations."

One of the things I've been trying to do in the evenings is eat stuff I won't be able to eat in Iraq.  Last night it was Mexican and tonight it was Italian pizza.  Yum!  At lunch, they bused us over to a Golden Corral all-you-can-eat restaurant.  Kinda like eating in the DFAC, except the food is better and we have to pay for it.  I've noticed every time I go in there that there are people who evidently hit an all-you-can-eat place for every meal.  And they don't miss any, either.

Time to hit the rack.  We have another early morning tomorrow ... no real reason for it, but that's the military for ya.