Standing Watch

It is 1 AM here at Fort Jackson, and I'm standing watch, standard military practice. One person stays awake and alert all night in case of unforeseen threats or, in this case, to provide security for our weapons. This training course has us living in a barracks with 40 people, and each of us carries two weapons. Someone must be responsible for these weapons 24/7. Tonight it's my turn.

What I enjoy about standing watch is finally having some time to myself to check email, write this blog, and use the Internet when hundreds of other people aren't trying to log on, slowing down the system enormously. How, I'll feel tomorrow? Stay tuned!

I must admit, while this training has been rewarding, I am ready to get to Afghanistan to start doing my job. It's great that the Navy prepares us like this, but any longer than three weeks, and I think it would start to wear on me. I can only imagine the long boot camps that some of the young enlistees go through. We see them here on base every day, and they look so young, many right out of high school. I wonder how I would have reacted to this situation at 18. These kids are tough.



Before signing off, I will leave you with an interesting story about what's happening in Afghanistan. General Petraeus met with President Karzai to discuss a myriad of issues. With our new Commander-in-Chief taking office just yesterday, I would have given anything to be a fly on the wall for this one. Click here to find out more.