May 8, 2020
FOB Westbrook, NM
We’ve eaten our last meal here. Our bags are packed. Tomorrow we move to main post, then a week later to Honduras. Where we will quarantine for another fourteen days. Don’t be jealous. Only an elite few qualify to live this life of excitement and danger.
May 6, 2020
FOB Westbrook, NM
Promotions are always a positive thing in the Army. Commander’s enjoy the opportunity to promote Soldiers in front of a formation of the entire unit. It’s not a requirement, but it is tradition, and the Army is big on tradition. The orders will be read, the commander rips the velcro rank off your chest and flings it over his or her shoulder, puts the new rank on, and you are presented to the unit at your new rank. It is also traditional to give your old rank insignia to someone two ranks below your new rank, as they will hopefully soon be able to use it soon.
April 27, 2020
FOB Westbrook, NM
I’ve known since last summer that I would be spending this summer in Honduras with the Army Reserves. I was supposed to have left weeks ago, but this whole global pandemic thing is cramping everyone’s style. They finally decided to move me to Texas where the original plan was to spend a week of in-processing before flying to Honduras where I would quarantine. There is an old Army adage that no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. Indeed.