Here at Ft. Knox, attending the Army Recruiter School at the prestigious Army Recruiting College. The call it a college to make is sound better and bigger than it is. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice place but if it was a real college it may be the smallest college in the U.S. beyond 1980.
Anyways, I arrived here on Saturday evening around 1900 at the staff duty desk for the school house. I was given a room key and told I was too late for chow. Not to worry though, I got a nice microwave meal from the shoppette; chicken basil or Korean beef? Choices must be made and I chose both.
The room is surprisingly spacious and neat and tidy inside. You open the door and are greeted with a generously sized common area/kitchen area that's about 14' x 14'. The kitchen table is not torn up and the floors were clearly swept. No terrible smells detected or horrible sounds coming from anywhere, a good sign. There are even bowls, plates, spoons, forks and various other basic kitchen things to compliment the electric 4-burner range, full sink and full size fridge. (I didn't say anything about a microwave because you have to have one in a barracks room. How else can a barracks soldier survive if they can't reheat that pizza from yesterday's yesterday?) The bathroom is immediately on the right when you walk in and is full size tub, shower and toilet with a single sink and mirror. Nothing to write home about in there; I will however spend alot of time in there conducting official business.
Opposite the entrance are two doors labeled A and B. I am on the right "B" door. Inside this room I am once again happy to see about a 14' x '14 squareish room and minimal furniture. I don't much like having alot of furniture when it's just me living in there. I tend to live rather spartan when I am alone, and I was often told when I was a single soldier that my room was too bare and that it had a neat/clean serial killer vibe. Can't a guy be a clean minimalist anymore? I digress... the room is nice; it has a lovely desk with overhead lamp and bookshelf. The bed is the Army standard twin blue mattress that could spring an elephant a few feet in the air accompanied with a wooden frame who's integrity is generally in question. There are too many drawers for clothes for my liking. I fill up only three drawers worth of clothes and my bedside table drawers with my electronics and other knick knacks. For a 45 day course I have brought the following clothes: 1 set of OCP's, two pairs of boots, two pairs of running shoes, 1 pair of leather dress shoes, my full dress uniform, 10 green army shirts, 5 civilian shirts, 8 running shorts, two pairs of cargo shorts, a pair of cargo pants, 15ish pairs of socks and underwear, two jackets, PJ pants and two full sets of Army PT's. Nice.
I get settled after I make a few trips to haul my stuff upstairs and tuck into my basil chicken. After that upsets my stomach I put the finishing touches on my room while I chat with my wife on the phone. My service sucks and the Wi-fi isn't working. They said it was free wifi so I guess it working right would warrant paying for it. Thankfully there isn't a wake up the next morning so I stay up and chat with my wife till we say our good nights. I am already beginning to miss her and my boys. It's almost torture to video chat them because I am so hands on with the kids playing I can feel my boys hair as I play around with them, rough housing on the large pillow/mattress thing in our living room. I must do what I must do though; for the sake of taking care of my family and keeping this career going. I attempt to remain stoic but I am not that disciplined. Perhaps it's not the discipline I lack but rather the need to still feel some emotion. I have been told I am too emotionless, robotic even but I still feel. Especially for my boys.
I can't sleep well, but at least I can sleep in. I listen to the bible app read through an old testament book throughout the night as I toss, turn, and generally get little sleep...
I write this from Tuesday, the 30th of June.