Pretending to be "REAL" Army

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I was away at training for the month of January.  For the most part...the training was pretty miserable.  They tried to make it as "real" as an actual deployment as possible, but on acid...we had a lot of mass casualty (notional) situations and every night (at 11, 2 and 4) we had the joy of  having incoming (notional) - but because it was training, we had to go report of accountability each time.  1. We were in Louisiana (never had that on my bucket list) 2. It SNOWED in Louisiana 3. We got little sleep because of the "notional" exercises and incoming and 4. I have never heard NOTIONAL used so much in my life and I'd be content if I never heard it again!  However, once the training ended, we were able to leave the mock deployment setting and explore some parts of Ft. Polk - which led us to a delicious "gut truck" that made and sold classic, southern BBQ - OH MAN - after a month of field chow and MRE's...it was glorious.  It would have been good anyway, but mm mm good! 
I am still getting settled here in North Carolina and hadn't really met anyone in my unit, so as much as JRTC sucked, it was a nice opportunity to meet my unit and other key leaders I'll be working with frequently.  Sadly, I did stay kind of busy on the behavioral health front - not a lot of patients, but a few patients that were pretty intense.  I'm glad I was there to help, but it's never great to have to do my job either - at least with these situations and circumstances.  Also, being a medical provider, I frequently claim that I'm not "real" Army, and I stand by that.  But at least now I can say that I've been to a legit field exercise.  It's nice to be able to see the real soldiers doing what they do and getting to finally train and practice in their actual job.

Being such a newbie - this was the first time I've ever used NVG's' (night vision goggles).  First, I had to be taught how to use them...good thing I have no shame and freely ask for help : )
The right is a picture a friend took of me through her NVG's and above is a picture of a fraction of the 1,000+ parachutes/paratroopers that jumped into JRTC.  It was a pretty awesome sight...for the first pass...then we waited for another 2 hours...

Me on a "convoy" to another base/FOB

SNOW in LA...the locals kept telling us it was the first time in about 10 years. 
SO HAPPY we could be part of it...NOT

Really, Soldiers, Really?  You honestly need directions on how to brush your teeth...which include putting your toothbrush away?  Man...no wonder I have patients ;)

First time flying in a Chinook, which was pretty awesome!

Because of additional snow and ice, the day long bus ride home actually turned into a 3+ day bus ride back to Ft. Bragg.  We found a haven in a Naval Air Station in Mississippi.  You'd never guess that this dining facility would be for Seamen and Marines with all these soldiers in there.

Then, after we found out that we'd be staying the night at the Naval station because of the continued terrible road conditions and weather, we were put into some office building, given cots and told to find a spot.  We had about 14 people/cots in this small office.  It smelled funkier than funky with all those bodies and stinky boots - thank goodness for Monkey Butt and baby powder!  Lots of laughs and snoring though!

On the (official) last stretch of our bus ride, but still about 8 hours to go, we had to make our own fun, including floating heads and gummi bears and music and books.  I never thought I'd be so happy to be at Ft. Bragg!