D-32 NKO Courses

Navy Knowledge on Line, or as I like to call it No Knowledge on line, even better would be WNKO, Worthless Navy Knowledge on line. As I diligently finish up the ECRC checklist I need to release some frustration with the countless hours I have lost completing the NKO required courses. There are over 16 courses required by the checklist, way to many for me to address in this forum and all of them virtually worthless. The following are at the top of my retarded list, M16 safety procedures, M9 pistol training, Cold Weather Injuries and United States Army Values.

Lets take a look at M16/M9 training, these two are the longest of the series they take a couple of hours each and the final test must be passed with a 1oo%, I believe I have 3o days of Army training that will delve a little deeper into these areas, probably a waste of my time.

Now lets address Cold Weather Injuries, since I am going to Iraq, one of the hottest places on earth, I couldn't understand why this course was a requirement. As I sat pondering the question WHY..... it hit me, the Navy and Army have worked out a plan to send me to Wisconsin in the middle of the winter for training, one of the coldest places on earth, obviously helping me to acclimatize myself before heading to Iraq, that's a great plan. I am not even going to get into the fact that all my Army training will be conducted in cold weather gear and I am deploying to the desert, train like you fight, fight like you train??

Army values, are Navy values not good enough, are they really that different, honestly I don't remember.

Medical Screening

Today I sit in my office wondering what the long term effects of working with the Army will have on me. I have heard horror stories from a few guys who have returned from IAs, and combining that with my own limited interaction with the Army in Kandahar and an exercise in Korea, I now come to the stark realization that it is going to suck. Now I have to sit here for 30 more days until I depart stewing on this epiphany. The imagination has a way conjuring up all kinds of crazy scenarios, I am sure it can't be as bad as I think it can, and I will just keep telling myself that over and over again.

I am going to comment on the medical aspect of the ECRC checklist. As an aviator there is a yearly flight physical that is very comprehensive. It covers all areas of the body and on special years it covers areas that should not be looked at. For an IA you need a PHA, I am guessing that stands for Physical Health Assessment, and it is required within six months of deploying. After calling medical and leaving several messages I was awarded the elusive appointment, I arrived ten minutes early on the big day with medical record in hand. The Corpsmen walked in ten minutes late and said he had cancelled my appointment due to the fact that I had a physical six months ago and did not need one for another six months. I patiently explained to him the IA process, which he seemed unaware of, he handed me some paper work and told me we could get phase one completed today but the next appointment for phase two wasn't available until next week. I set out on Phase one, which consisted of a few shots a cholesterol test, and the HIV test, it took about ten minutes to complete, I then filled out a HRA (Health Risk Appraisal) which is a questioner that asks questions like how much do you drink and how often. I had no supervision and could answer what ever I wanted, it seems to me, if they want the truth this appraisal should be administered by a trained lie detector tech, no self respecting aviator is going to tell the truth, if he did he would be kicked out of the Navy. A trained professional then counsels you on your responses, even after my manipulation of the truth I was still vigorously counseled in several areas. At this point I have completed phase one and have total time input of about 40 minutes.

A week later I arrive for phase two, the corpsmen meets me and we go back into the exam room, he takes my blood pressure which looks good, looks at my cholesterol results, which looks good ,and asks me if I am in pain or have any issues. I respond that I am not in pain and I have no issues. I am sure some of my friends would disagree on the issues question but again this guy was not a trained lie detector tech, I was not even hooked up to a lie detector machine, plus I really didn't lie I have no medical issues. HM1 gave me the thumbs up, I was good to go after a two appointments and a total of 45 minutes, and I had met the ECRC checklist standards, it took two weeks for a total of 45 minutes of medical screening.

One problem I did encounter, there is no proof of Anthrax shots in my record, I have been administered 4 of the 6 shot series, somehow they were not recorded or the sheet they were recorded on was lost. I am preparing myself for the fight that looms in the future over this Anthrax issue, I am sure this battle will provide me with some good material later on.

D -34

My first post, I have a little over 30 days until I depart for ARMY training. This is a test to see how things work, I have decided to document my adventures, hopefully it will do a few things, keep my family informed, allow me to remember all the good and bad things, allow folks who follow a small glimpse of a war that is completely miss reported by the mainstream media, and help anybody who is preparing to deploy to Iraq as an electronic warfare officer (EWO).



I find it amazing that the Navy has been augmenting the Army since 2004 and even five years later they still can not get any info out to the sailor. They have checklists which help marginally and a command called Expeditionary Combat Readiness Center (ECRC) which theoretically is the one stop shopping for information once you are informed you are going on Individual Augmentation (IA), however in my experience Google has given me more info than ECRC has, I am sure the Navy has spent millions on ECRC to no effect.



I will stop the bitching, this blog will try to be funny as well as informative, it will have a bit of sarcasm as well as bitterness, I will try to keep the bitterness to a minimum but sometimes it is needed and helpful.



My wife and I are used to deployments, I have spent a little over 3 years of my career in some god forsaken country, however it is usually only six month at a time. This trip will be 10+ months, it will not be fun for all involved.



I will be in Iraq helping the Army, it is my understanding they need a lot of help in all areas, this will be my first time on the ground, I have flown over both Iraq and Afghanistan earlier, and have logged about a year of action during OIF and OEF. It is now time for me to do my time on the ground and see how the other side lives.