About Me

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A 10 year veteran of the US Army (and 10 to go until retirement!). Never deployed overseas, never saved a life. (Well, maybe once or twice.) Sergeant Moore is not a (war) hero.

04 July 2020

4 July 2020

     I begrudgingly rolled out of bed this morning before 7, but I really should have gotten up earlier. I begin my day talking with my wife and kids while getting dressed. Workout shorts and the shirt I wore to sleep seem like a pretty goo combo to me. I decide that I'll ride my bike for exercise and of course to explore. I like to revisit places I walk by or ride my bike by. It's something I have always done; Especially as a single soldier living in the barracks, walking was something I did daily. I didn't want to party or go to clubs or what have you. I liked to walk, think and observe the world around me. Walking by myself gives me plenty of time to pray and be introspective about my life and decisions. Well, at least now I prefer to be introspective rather than in the past being retrospective, mulling over mistakes and other decisions. Yes, nowadays I prefer to be more mindful of the present. I exercise this by, as I said, revisiting places and looking for something new each time. 
     Today I rode my bike past cadet land looking for a skunk. I was once again disappointed. I was rolling down a hill in a parking lot when I saw a service road that winded around the baseball complex. I took it and then another turn in the road led me to an opening in the trees. I found Johnson Cemetery #07. It reminded me of other ancient burial sites I had seen on Fort Benning. These were from the mid to late 19th century judging by the barely legible dates on two of the headstones. Of the 20+ grave sites only two had legible inscriptions on them. I take a few pictures and be as respectful as possible. The grass is very tall but it does appear that someone walks to a stump filled with potted plants quite often judging by the new soil, plants and path leading to it. After a google search I discover that there is nothing to be found on the internet about this site. That will have to change. On the way back I also discover a deserted mountain bike behind a connex. The owner seemed to have a spot of misfortune and cracked the very frame of the bike. What a sad day for him/her. 
 



     I take off to the commissary in my car to grab some essentials. I have a water bottle that I drink out of religiously while at work and most of the time while I am at home. It is a Yeti brand 34oz, vacuum insulated, stainless steel water bottle with a bunch of stickers on it and a twist top lid and three finger carrying handle. I love my water bottle. I fill it up and drink it 3-4 times a day depending on how strenuous the day is. Anyways, since I've been here on Knox I've only used it for the first day or two. On my first day of class I was informed that no one had lived in the barracks building I'm in for the past 3 months. So for three months the water in the pipes has sat and I'm sure some mold built up in the tap. confirmed mold built up in the toilet as it continues to appear in the bowl after each flush. On day one I filled up my bottle with tap water. This proved to be a mistake as my water bottle began to stink shortly after. After washing it and refilling, it still stank. My roommate bought a 40-pack of plastic water bottles and I resorted to drinking those. In the last 48 hours of drinking essentially nothing but bottled water I have gone through 17+ of his water bottles, which he says were for "us" but I still feel obligated to return them and then some. The commissary is very small compared to the one on Fort Bragg, but it has water bottles in bulk, lactose free milk and decaf tea so I leave satisfied. Carrying two packs of water bottles and two 2.5gal jugs of water up 3 flights of stairs is no fun. 
     I ride back to the DFAC and grab lunch to go. I ride back with food box in one hand and bike bar in the other. I get some looks along the way from my peers but they are probably jealous I can move 10 times faster. I eat and look up what I can find about the site. I find very little. I attempt to contact an archaeologist linked to the only reference of a Johnson cemetery on Fort Knox but she has passed on. It seems that much of the knowledge of this place has been lost to time. I work on a Wikipedia page to save what is left of it. I whip up a draft and will do some research later. 
     After lunch I take a rest on my bed and indulge in some semi-informational YouTube videos on cars and history. I get hungry and make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich like I've never had before: with sugar-free jelly. The ladies at the DFAC will hand us little single serving tubs of jelly upon request, which I do every time I go there. But as of the last few visits I've received nothing but sugar-free ones and the regular jelly has all been eaten. So I resigned to eating the sugar-free and was left with a sandwich which, while gratifying for hunger, wasn't up to par for the usual experience my taste buds enjoy with a normal PB&J. 
    Dinner was pork chops in mushroom sauce, pretty good actually. I ventured out for a quick walk after dinner. I was attempting to find a completely intact pecan and then I got stung by a mystery bug. Never saw what it was but it left a little welt on my arm. I waked back to the barracks, tail between my legs. 
    I shower and talk with my wife. Somehow she managed to put the boys down to sleep and they stayed asleep with our neighbors shooting off fireworks in the street. Thank the Lord they are sleeping thorough it all. Those boys are cranky and mean when they are woken up or don't sleep well. We talk and watch our live chicken cam on YouTube. It's not of our chickens but we've been watching it for awhile now. It's a very interesting cam. The chickens have names, on the sides of the screen it will scroll by with messages about the chickens and the contributors to the livestream. There is even an egg count widget that shows you how many eggs were collected and what colors they were. Most importantly, there is an option to donate money via the live chat, and when you donate money an automatic feeder is activated to feed the chickens some feed. If you donate more the $5 at a time, popcorn will shoot out of a tube instead of regular chicken feed! It is actually really funny to watch 5+ chickens scramble to get some popcorn. 
    I also waited all day to long on to the infamous 2b2t minecraft server. It took over 3 hours of waiting in the queue but I logged on. I played for all of ten minutes before dying and getting kicked off. I would now wait even longer to log back in so I call it a day.