Papa Smurf Goes to Boot Camp (Ft Benning GA)

Took a flight to Columbus, GA (Ft Benning) at 5:15 am (2:15 am wake up call)on 15 May 2009. Got to Columbus, GA at 4:45 pm. The flight to Columbus, GA was full of military (lean, mean fighting machines), and I thought -- what am I doing here!!!

Got the rental car, checked in to the hotel, and registered my rental car at Ft Benning. Tried to find the CRC (CONUS Redeployment Center), and got lost. An hour later found the CRC and then got lost going back to the hotel. Bought a map the next day.

Ran into several other Calibre employees at training on Saturday. They have been a wealth of information. They flew into CRC from Kuwait where they have been for the past two weeks. Also, one of the Calibre employees is a local from Columbus. He took us to a Bar-B-Que place for lunch.

I felt a lot better when I showed up for training -- there were a lot of other senior citizens (contractors) at the CRC. As a matter of fact there are a lot more contractors here than military or government civilian employees.

The CRC Training process is typicall government -- hurry up and wait. Show up, stand in line and then go stand in another line. I brought a book to read the second day.

Today (Sunday) got there at 8 am to be fitted for my body armor. Then they released us till 11:15 am. We will go back today and finish some training and then do some medical processing.

The weather is typical south -- hot and muggy (Reminds me why I moved to the Pacific NW). Been in the high 80s and low 90s. It is so humid it is hazzy. Every afternoon we have thunder showers -- some severe (nickel sized hail). They had to move the training site because a few weeks ago a tornado blew through and destroyed the site.

I understand it is between 98 and 104 degrees in Kuwait. But it is a dry heat!!!!