Activation, Triathlons, Medical Evaluation Boards, and Everything In Between

Yes, it's been a while since I've updated. A very long while. I could say I've been busy, but really, I think I've just been lazy. Here are some of the things that have happened since my last post:

1) The 82nd Civil Affairs Battalion was activated on 27 September 2012. The week leading up to the activation, we had rehearsals almost every day, which was tedious, but there were still some good times:

This was one of the rehearsals, obviously. I don't know what led to this; I just walked up as they were doing pushups, so I figured it was as good a time as any to take pictures.

And this is 2LT Alex Sasseman, the Adjuvant General (officer in charge of personnel). She had the delightful job of running in front of formation at the sound of the Adjuvant's Call, so that was actually quite a bit of running in the course of all of those rehearsals.

This was after the activation, when LTC Gardner (in the middle) cut the cake with his Zulu sword.

2) Triathlons. I ended up doing two triathlons this summer, one on the beach on Hilton Head Island and one in Florida at Amelia Island. The one on Hilton Head was actually pretty difficult, because not only was everything on the beach (including the bike), but it was August and very hot and sunny. The one at Amelia Island ended up not being a triathlon (they cancelled the swim due to riptides), but was still a good race. I ended up winning the military division for the sprint distance (16 mile bike and 3 mile run). I also did a 2.5 mile ocean swim in Jacksonville, FL and a few runs, the most recent of which was the Rock n Roll Half Marathon through downtown Savannah yesterday (I started too fast in efforts of finishing under 2 hours and ended up dying around mile 8, coming in at 2:21. I'll try not to repeat that mistake at my next half in December).

This was at the costume run the Friday before Halloween. I had to buy the red running shoes special for the costume.

3) Medical Evaluation Boards (MEB). This is not fun. As part of the "post tax", as LTC Gardner calls it, once a week I see soldiers from the Military Police in clinic to determine if they need to go to the MEB. These are soldiers who have been on limited duty profiles for an extended period of time and aren't making any recovery (or not enough). For some, it's just a matter of writing a referral to see a specialist (orthopedics, neurology, etc). For others, it's time for a long conversation about not being fit for the Army any more. It's not as simple as writing the referral for the MEB, unfortunately. The entire process takes anywhere from 6-12 months and involves many meetings and evaluations from people from the Army and the VA and likely more that I'm forgetting. I have no idea how many of the people I refer will actually be found to be not fit for duty, but this is what I do.

4) Parents came to visit. We explored Savannah, went hiking in a state park, Jekyll Island, and went up to Charleston, SC and Ft. Sumter. It was good to have them here (even though my guest bed didn't arrive until after they left).

5) Disney World. It's the most magical place on Earth. Need I say more?

6) Firing range. For three days last month, I got to hang out with the team leaders and senior NCOs from Alpha Company at the firing range. It wasn't much fun, but I did qualify on both the M4 (rifle) and M9 (pistol).

And I got a little burned by some ejected brass. Like I said, not much fun.

I think that's about it. I'll try not to let it be another three-ish months before I update next.