Which was actually my third, counting "reception" in December.
But it was my second weekend of falling into formation with my unit.
I was called several days before drill by the SSG in admin, and asked to report early (0630 vs 0700) on Saturday morning, as I would be attending a class, and the van would be leaving before formation. So I missed morning formation.
Then I rode in a 7-passenger van for 2 hours. The windows steamed up. My feet were cold.
Eventually we arrived at Ft. Noneofyourbizness. The E5's and above were there for a class on "Range Safety," and the E4's and below were "suggested" to sit in on it. So we did. It was dull. Informative, in many ways, and I'll have to take that class later when I get certified as a RSO (range safety officer) so I payed attention, but it was dull in ways that only military training can be.
Then we had our "ammo handler" class. The first 50 minutes were all about paperwork. The second fifty were about hazmat transporting, and how to read the "yellow book."
Then we left. First stop on the way off base was clothing sales. I bought Specialist rank tabs for my patrol cap, and a new canteen since the one I was issued was used, and smelled like it. Total cost, less than 5 bucks.
Then we went to the mini mall. AAFES store, the military walmart. Hallways filled with booths and carts selling tacky nicknacks. T-shirts, barber and drycleaning. Food court. Yes, I bought my own lunch that weekend, dammit. Good Philly steak sandwich, but it cost almost 10 bucks.
Then the 2 hour van ride back to "home station." Missed afternoon formation.
On Sunday, I met a new Chaplain's Assistant. He's been to school for the job, unlike the rest of us. The Unit Ministry Team now has 5 Assistants. And then the Chaplain told us he's going to a new unit.
That leaves me as the highest ranking CA in the UMT. I haven't been to Army Basic, or Warrior Transition Course (WTC), the modified basic for prior-service folks. I haven't been to AIT (more school) to learn how to be a Chaplain's Assistant. In fact, I'm still waiting on a security clearance to find out if I can even have the job. I've been in the Army since November. And now I'm in charge of 4 privates.
The Army is weird.
Nobody has ever asked me my religion. Everyone assumes I'm a Bible thumper or something, since I'm a CA. I feel like a closet Agnostic.
Well, to be honest, the Chaplain asked us to talk about our backgrounds during the religious service on Sunday. I think he was feeling us out for who he may take with him to the other unit. I confessed that "I've been studying Buddhism" for about ten years. He said later that as ranking member, he thinks I should stay. Yea. Like I wanna drive an extra hour for drill every month to go hang out with him.
So now I report directly to the First Sergeant.
The admin SSG sent me an email a week or so after drill, about the "company training meeting." Now I get to go to meetings. I think I get paid for them. But I also have to do homework - the Training Book, Work Plans, and Leader Book.
I have no idea what I'm doing.
Next month we go "down range" to Ft. Noneofyourbizness as a unit. We will be doing VCOT and Warrior Tasks, like map reading and land navigation. Stuff that will help me do better at WTC. I might get to shoot, the First Sergeant asked me if I wanted to since I'll miss the April drill. I said "Yes, if I can!" In the meantime I have to look through some obsolete Army manuals (1990, back when the CA job had the MOS 71M instead of 56M) and fill in a "Work Plan" for my guys.
During the first drill, the Chaplain held a small service on Sunday. Three guys came. Chaplain read from John, Chapter 3, the first 8 verses or so. The message was "Truely, truely, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." We sat in a circle, he read, we talked about it a bit. He asked for prayer requests, and got a few, and said a bit of "daddy, gimme" prayer for others. I was pretty uncomfortable with it all. I felt like he was talking to me, since I know I'm not "born again," in the Christian sense.
Second drill, he read from Luke, 8:57 And as they were going along the road, someone said to Him, "I will follow you wherever you go." 58 And Jesus said to him "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." And so on to the end of the chapter.
Following Jesus means leaving your family, abandoning the expectations of others, and not looking back, in this passage. I felt, again, that he was talking to me. He asked the question "do you have what it takes?" We discussed the passage in the context "what do we value?" I said comfort. I think that struck him, somewhat. Later, I thought that perhaps he was thinking of his own choices, to move to another unit, when he chose that passage. He's not going to go to Iraq, he says, he's going to be supporting the guys as they get ready to leave, and then when they come back. But I think he might end up going over. I think he secretly wants it.
So what do we do next month? We can sit in a circle and read a passage and discuss it. I'm thinking about the Christian and Buddhist notions of rebirth, and my own agnostic Buddhist version of rebirth. Easter is coming, seems appropriate. Tomorrow I'm going to call all of "my" soldiers and talk about it with them.
