James Mackler

The Fridge Guy

Well, today I received my first official "additional duty" as a WOJ. I am in charge of the Bravo Company fridge. This sounds trivial but is not. It is the most visible duty in the company. The pilots and crew take a well stocked fridge very seriously. If something is not there, it comes down on the fridge guy.

Our fridge has been run extremely well in the past few months so I have big shoes to fill. In fact, other companies shop at our fridge. We actually make money selling snacks and drinks out of the fridge. The turnover is so high that I am going to wind up shopping several times a week to keep it properly stocked. If I do well, I will get the respect of the entire Battalion. If I do badly . . .

I am looking forward to the next WOJ arriving sometime in June so I can pass this job on to him. Perhaps I will be flying by that time.

Other that the new job things are about the same. I am getting to know my co-workers and think we will get along fine. In fact, I am going to a promotion party tonight for three of them who just went from WO1 to CW2, leaving me as the only WO1 right now.

Not in School

As usual, the only thing constant is change and uncertainty. I was sent home early on Tuesday evening to prepare for Air Assault School on Wednesday. On Tuesday night I got a call telling me I would not be attending school because I had not completed the necessary prerequisites. I knew that soldiers had to complete a 12 mile road march within a few months prior to school. I hadnt done that but it is usually is overlooked by command. Our commander, however, is new and wanted to play things by the book.

Since I am not going to Air Assault and not flying, I am doing odd jobs and taking care of administrative matters. I went and got all of my new digital pattern ACUs (army combat uniforms). The best part about these uniforms is that the boots are brown suede and do not get polished. I have helped in the maintainance shop with odd jobs also. The rest of my time is spent studying and convicing the other pilots to quiz me on subjects that I will need to know when I fly again.

There is a good chance I will fly in about two weeks. I hope so. It looks like my progression training will be conducted by a relatively new female Instructor Pilot. She seems like she will be a good teacher. She has already started helping me with my studying so the flying might progres a little bit faster.

I am attaching two photos of the new airfield. Each of the three companies has 10 aircraft. You might also see that we share the airfield with some Apaches. I am sure you will notice that there are no orange doors. These helicopters are the real deal. Note the horse head on the nose. That is my company symbol. We are "The Lancers".

New WOJ

Hey all:
I reported to my unit today. It looks like I will be in Flight 2, Bravo Company, Fifth Battalion, 101 Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborn (Air Assault) Division.

Things are a little bit disorganzed because the battalion recently switched airfields. Also, there is a lot to do with deployment in the works. I met most of the Company and they all seem pretty cool. Unfortuntely, due to several factors that I cant really discuss, I will likely not get to fly at all for quite a while. I will kill some time by going to Air Assault school for two weeks starting on Wednesday and then probably be given some additional duties.

I am bummed about this turn of events but it is out of my control entirely. I will talk to the lead instructor tomorrow and see if anything can be arranged.

Otherwise, things are good and I dont have any real complaints.

Settling In

I dont even know where to begin. When I last wrote I was still at Fort Rucker. I am now at Fort Campbell. During the intervening month a was in Alabama, Washington State, Colorado, New York, and Washington, DC visiting friends and family. I was fortunate to get to see very many of you. I had a wonderful time reconnecting with the people who are important in my life and pretending to be a civilian. Check out this picture from the beach. Notice the facial hair.

Since arriving at Fort Campbell I have found an apartment and started to buy some furnishings. I sincerely hope that everyone within the range of this message will eventually come and see my place. As an added incentive, Nashville (a really fun city) is nearby and you have a place to stay while you explore "music city."

I have just finished in-processing for the installation and will report to my unit tomorrow. It turns out that Maltby and I will NOT be in the same unit. He will be doing "general support". I will be doing "air assault." We will fly out of different air fields, do different missions, and in effect, never work together. Oh well, at least we are still neighbors.

I am also getting used to the culture here at Fort Campbell. I like it so far. Unlike Rucker, it is not swamped with flight students of approximately the same age, experience, and mentality. There is great diversity here and that is much more fun. It also means that I am getting used to saluting, and being saluted.

That brings up a funny story. Warrant officers think of themselves as a fraternity and wont acknowledge the official rank structure among them. We are collegues. Nonetheless, I was taught at Rucker to salute senior warrants just like any other officer. I tried that today. I saw a CW4 and saluted. He litterally pushed me away and told me to never do that again. He had a smile on his face and his point was well taken. "Thanks sir", I said, "I am glad we got that out of the way."

ALSE Update

Well, I am entering the last few weeks of the ALSE course. We have learned about flotation equipment, first aid and survival kits, body armor and restraint harnesses. Today we talked about helmets and protective eyewear. I am attaching a photo of the class inspecting life rafts and another of me looking goofy with some very expensive laser protective eye glasses.

I have made most of my plans for leave when I get done here. I will be going to New York, Washington DC, Seattle, and Colorado during my time off. I'll be in Colorado from April 13th through the 15th. Hopefully I'll get to do some Skiing. I'll probably also stop by a search and rescue meeting for old times sake.

Life is so easy here right now that I am no longer in any big hurry to leave. On the other hand, I am looking forward to getting to Campbell and getting back in the air.

ALSE

I just finished my first week of the six week ALSE (Aviation Life Support Equipment) class. The higher-ups at Fort Campbell must have decided that they needed more people trained in this area so I was assigned the class. ALSE is comprised of all the equipment an aviator needs to survive during flight, an unanticipated landing, and an extended stay on the ground or in the water. This includes oxygen masks, helmets, night vision goggles, life rafts, emergency scuba bottles, survival kits, survival vests, etc. The intent of the course is to teach the students how to care for, distribute, use, and repair all of this equipment.

The first two weeks is primarily focused on teaching us how to sew with industrial machines so that we can repair and fabricate survival equipment. Our practical exercise is to build a tool bag. I am in the process of building a very ugly bag. It is going to have some crazy stiching and some very misaligned grommets, seams, zippers, and buttons. Nonetheless, I am improving my previously non-existant sewing skills.

I am attaching a photo of the class. In the forground you will see my friend and classmate, a former Ranger (note the tab on his shoulder). He earned his combat jump wings and combat infantry badge in iraq before signing up for flight school. You can probably imagine how he feels having gone from hardcore infantryman to seamstress.

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