Half-Way Done and Feeling Nervous

HALF WAY DONE!!! (and still no idea what I'll be doing with the 4th of the 10th)

Song of the week: "Summertime Sadness" by Lana Del Ray: My new favorite song on the radio. It's a perfect song as summer fades into fall and have one last fling before it ends.

Run of the Week: Petersburg National Battlefield. Yes, I know I had this one a while back, but I finally found the time to circumnavigate the trails marked yellow on the map. Its about a 6.6 mile loop from the parking lot and if you go far enough out, you end up on a little used, sometimes overgrown, single track trail for about a mile and a half. It cuts across the battlefield along a ridge with a very nice view and works its way around to some places of interest. Overall, it was totally worth it and I will be running it again as the leaves start to change colors.

Currently Reading: Moving Mountains by Lt. General (Ret.) William G. Pagonis. Its a really fascinating read on his life and career as one of the Army's best logisticians ever. I find it very easy to read and follow. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more about the logistics side of the Army.

Weeks 7 and 8 of QM BOLC have just flown by. I learned a lot to do with logistical operations and other functions that a Quartermaster can have. Despite the fact that we had three tests in four days and a memo due, I am finally starting to like what I am learning and I feel like I understand the concepts.

Week 7 was all about property management and how important it is to the Military. I went from being completely confused about this topic in ROTC (I was assigned to teach it to the others in my class) to I now have a solid basic foundation on which I can build off of for the rest of my career. It did help that the instructor was very engaging and always brought back his points to a real world experience of his own or someone he knew.

Week 8 covered two, albeit brief but important, subjects. Mortuary Affairs and Areal Delivery & Field Services. I learned that while there is a lot that goes into each of these subjects, a basic knowledge of each and some common scene can go a long ways in these two areas. We also started in on Petroleum and Water Operations, which we will be covering for the next two weeks.

More Later.

QM BOLC week 6 and Arlington National Cemetery

What a week! Not only did I visit arguably the most sacred place in the U.S. but I also got to celebrate with my 24th birthday with a group of new friends. I have to say this week was probably the best one yet here. And to top it all off, I got out and went mountain biking. There are some other things I am going  to talk about as well, but we'll go through the routine stuff first.

Song of the Week: "Don't You Worry Child" by Swedish House Mafia feat. John Martin. For some reason, every time I hear this song, I hear something new, a whole new reason to love this song again. My only regret is that I never got the chance to see it performed live.

Virginia So Far: Well I guess this is what you would call the wet season, it seems to rain every day now. (Is this fall?) I got out in one of the state parks this weekend and went mountain biking. It is a whole different experience here, not too fast and really technical. I had some problems riding over the roots and with the muddy corners, but the biggest problem I had was that because it was so technical, even on the downhills, you couldn't maintain enough speed to get up the next hill. I guess It presents a new challenge to conquer.

Week 6 of QM BOLC is all for Tactical Logistics. It's a very interesting subject once you get the hang of it, but its hard to learn in groups because everyone visualizes a different way and this became apparent during the practical exercise. Overall, its not a bad week and its a topic that I want to learn more about.

Some other stuff that happened this week: The general consensus is that I will be deploying in November (see here). I am just waiting on the official word. Nervous? Excited? I really don't know, its about half way in between. I also decided I'm not physically or mentally ready to go back to full time running and training. I tried it for about 2 weeks and its just not time yet.

The highlight of the week was the class trip to Arlington National Cemetery on Friday. We were only there for a short time and I only got to see a tiny bit of the place, but it was very humbling to visit. I did get to see a changing of the guard, but not a wreath laying ceremony. I will be making plans to back on a later date for the whole day.