Things I Miss

Things I Miss:

My wife

My kids

Holding my wife’s hand

My family

Cuddling with my wife

My friends

Sleeping in the same bed as my wife

Calling or texting my kids

My wife’s cooking

Letterboxing

Talking with my wife

My church

Kissing my wife

Watching tv

Watching movies with my wife

Going to concerts

Shopping with my wife

Driving

Going on trips with my wife

Outback

Holding my wife

Watching my Georgia sports teams

Explaining sports to my wife

These are some of the things I miss about being back home in the USA.  I know I don’t blog much here, but I hope to do more in the time I have left.

Until next time…  

BAD DAY

Daniel Powter.  James Blunt.  Fuel.  These are just a few of the multitude of musical acts who have written songs about having bad days.  I can definitely relate to them now.  So far, this week has been pretty crappy.  Really there are only 2 reasons why, but they totally ruin it for me.  The first- my toe.  Yep, big toe, right foot.  I don’t know what happened to it.  Imagine you cut the nail too close to the cuticle, what happens?  Your toe becomes red and swells, and hurts like nobody’s business.  Well, that’s where my toe is.  Only problem is, I didn’t cut the nail!  At least I don’t remember cutting it in the last week.  Riding the elliptical yesterday morning hurt, because all my weight is on my toes when I do it.  Walking on these big rocks hurt it.  Pushups today, I had to cross my feet and put my right over my left.  That’s the only way I could do them.  Hopefully it’ll get better soon. 

Next, my laundry.  Here, we have a laundry service that has a 4 day turnaround.  Put it in a laundry bag, put your combat signature (Last initial, last 4 of your SSN) on it, fill out the slip and turn it in.  They put the white copy in your bag, give us the pink copy.  No problem.  Bring the pink copy back in 4 days, get your laundry.  No problem, right?  WRONG!  I turned my laundry in last Thursday, and returned Monday to get it.  Not there.  They said come back tomorrow (Tues).  Ok, I did.  They handed me a bag.  That was my laundry slip in there, but that wasn’t my bag, or my clothes!  It had somebody else’s combat signature on it!  How hard is it to read?  I gotta go back today and pray they’ve corrected it.  If not, I gotta buy 2 sets of pt’s and a new bath towel.  Irritating? Yes!  Common problem?  Unfortunately, yes.  Oh well.  It can only get better now, right?  I hope! 

until next time…

Army PT

My main focus here, when I’m not playing or rehearsing, is pt.  I’m doing pt 3 times a day- morning, noon and night.  The objective is for me to lose about 50+ lbs and go to the promotion board (which I can’t do until I lose the weight).   So far, after about 30 days of this, I’ve lost 15 lbs and counting!  Hopefully I'll look like a different person when I return!  At BAF (Bagram Air Field), we have a small gym about a minute from where we work.  It gets crowded from time to time, but that’s ok.  On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we form at 0630 and do PT with our groups.  We usually do the Insanity workout, and then I’ll go walking with my IOTV (Individual Outer Tactical Vest) on, or do the elliptical for about 30 minutes.  On Tuesday and Thursday we form at 0800 and one group rehearses while the rest go to the gym.  Some days I’ll do a light cardio routine, either 30 minutes or a specified distance; then I’ll do weight training.  This is my morning routine.

For the afternoon routine, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I’ll go with SSG’s Jackson and Fussell.  Some days, I’ll either do my light cardio/weight training from Tuesday and Thursday, or I’ll do an hour on the elliptical.  So far I’ve been able to bump up my resistance level from 5 to 8.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I’ll usually just go by myself and do an hour on the elliptical.  For my evening routine, I don’t have very far to go.  We have 2 exercise bikes in the rehearsal hall next door.  I go and do an hour on the bike.  So far, my record for the bike is around 17-and-a-half miles in an hour, but my goal by the end of October is to get 20 miles.  It’s very possible.  This is what I do when we’re at Bagram.

Not every place we travel to has the same equipment, or equipment that is just as nice.  When we were up North at the Norwegian PRT, I had to ride a spinner bike.  That is a bike designed like the ones they use for professional riding, and has no computer screen to give you the time, distance, calories, etc.  Plus, in my opinion, it’s harder to ride! LOL Other places, like at ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) and the Embassy, have some decent equipment, but it’s in foreign terms.  Meaning, kilometers instead of miles, kilograms instead of pounds, etc.  I have to guess my weight then! LOL We also use our surroundings to do an improvised PT routine.  At ISAF there is a tunnel system and stairs leading to the main ground.  At each end of the tunnel are ramps.  This is what I call “Combat PT”, because we wear our IOTV’s for this.  We’ll start at one end and walk down the ramp, up and down the stairs, back up and down the same ramp, then down the tunnel corridor and repeat the process on the other side.  We usually do this for as long as we can, although it’s usually about 30 minutes.  WHEW!  That’s enough though, as it is a REALLY GOOD workout!

So as you can see, I’m busting my butt over here, but the results will be awesome!  So, enjoy these pictures, and as always,

until next time…

What Does an Army Bandsman Do?

I’m going to take this time to explain what it is that I do in the Army.  Those that know me know I play clarinet and am an Army Musician.  We get people all the time, Soldier’s too, who don’t think we’re real Soldiers.  The fact of the matter is, my job is one of the most important ones here in Afghanistan!  My job- troop morale.  Don’t believe me?  Well let me ask you a question- let’s say you have to clean the house but you just don’t have the energy.  What do you do?  You grab a cup of coffee, or an energy drink, or put on some music to get you going, right?  Well, that’s what we do.  We go play for all the troops at their respective bases.  We bring them a little bit of home, and give them a brief respite from the everyday crap they go through fighting the war.  So far, the response is always great!  They love hearing live music once in awhile, no matter what kind it is. 

Army bands are broken up into what we call MPT’s, or Music Performance Teams.  Each group gets a letter identifier that lets us know which group it is.  Here is a list of what we deployed with:

MPT-A:  Command team- Always the Commander and Senior Enlisted, they are the A-Team. (I’ll bet they love it when a plan comes together!)

MPT-B: Ceremonial group- This group performs basic ceremonies from Change of Commands to ceremonies honoring our fallen comrades.

MPT-C: Rock Band- This is probably our most popular group (for obvious reasons).  They play any kind of rock.

MPT-D: Dixieland Band- This is a band that plays New Orleans-style jazz music.  This is my group.  This is who I play my clarinet with, and I LOVE IT!

MPT-E: Brass Quintet- If you have to ask how many Soldiers are in this band, then you probably should go retake basic math! LOL This group can do a wide range of musical styles from classical to popular to jazz.  They can do ceremonies as well. 

MPT-F: R&B/Pop Music- This is our newest group, and they are still learning to gel together, but they basically play all the other styles the Rock Band doesn’t play.

Along with playing our instruments, we also are a self-sufficient unit.  What this means, is that we run our own shops.  The shops we have:

Admin: We do all of our own administrative paperwork.  From re-enlistments to pay to basic Soldier issues, we do it all.

Training: From musical training to military training, they are in charge of pt and our schedule.

Operations: They set up our own gigs.   If they don’t know about it, we don’t play it.

Supply: Any gear that we have, either musically or militarily, these guys are in charge of.  If we need it, they’ll get it for us.  Plain and simple.

Security/IMO: IMO is Information Management Officer, and that is our computer person.  If we have computer problems we just call our very own Geek Squad and they’ll either fix it themselves or call the next higher level people to do just that.

Library: While you won’t find any copies of Jane Austin or The Scarlet Letter here, what you will find is a crap ton of music written by the likes of Mozart, Beethoven, Sousa, etc.  All of the types of music that we play are kept here, and we are responsible for its management and upkeep.

So, you see, we do more than just play music.  We have multiple jobs to do.  We’re great at multi-tasking (Well, some of us are! LOL).  Hopefully  y’all now have a better understanding of what it is I do for a living.  Enjoy these pictures of our last trip, when we went to RC-North (Regional Command) and traveled and played for the troops.

Until next time…

Afghanistan

Guard Tower

How Afghanistan looks from the "right" side of the tracks

How the Norwegians pass the time

Life in Afghanistan!

Mountains

My room at Norwegian Camp

More mountains

The German bird that took us to the PRT

The Norwegian hangout

View from the cheap seats - the back of the transport vehicle.

Time Traveling to Afghanistan

Marty McFly: Doc, we better back up. We don't have enough road to get up to 88.
Dr. Emmett Brown: Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads.

Back to the Future, Star Trek, Bill and Ted, The Time Machine, Hot Tub Time Machine…the list of movies about time travel just keeps going.  Did you ever think time travel was possible?  Me neither.  That is, until this week.  That’s right; I had a Marty McFly experience.  Sunday July, 18^th 2010 started out like any other normal day with one exception- I was leaving for Afghanistan that evening.  

The family and I went to the motor pool for family time that afternoon.  Later that evening we boarded a plane for Afghanistan.  We had a few stops before our plane change.  We first flew to Indianapolis where we picked up some Army reservists who were going with us.  We had to wait a few hours longer, as our plane was having mechanical problems.  When we finally boarded again, we took off for our next destination, and the subject of my time travel- Shannon, Ireland.  After what seemed like years on the plane, we finally arrived in Shannon.  The first thing I did while waiting for my time to deboard the plane was to check my cell phone for the time.  (While I can’t use my cell phone in Afghanistan, it still has a working alarm clock and my Text Twist 2 game!) 

That’s when it happened- my time travel.  As I looked at my watch, I was shocked and amazed when it said: 8:01 pm January 1^st, 1980! (The actual day was Monday July 19^th, 2010) That’s right!  While I don’t remember much about that time, I do remember that it was about a month before my 6^th birthday, so I was probably getting ready for bed.  I was living in Melbourne, Fl at the time.  My Mom and step-dad weren’t even married yet. Ronald Reagan wasn’t president either.  Yet, here I was- Happy New Years!  WOW!   My Soldiers and I had a good laugh with that one.  We weren’t able to leave the air terminal, but it was still a great experience. 

Next we flew to Bucharest, Romania, and arrived on Tuesday July 20^th, 2010.  Again, we were not allowed to leave the air terminal, but still a great experience.  The coke tasted a little off, and the sandwich I had was ok, but at least it wasn’t airline food!  Our next destination was Manas, Kyrgyzstan, and we arrived there later that day.  We knew we had at least 48 hours there.  This was a chance to relax and start acclimatizing before we reached Bagram Air Field (BAF) Afghanistan.  Everything there is free- free food, free clothes washing, free internet.  It was almost like paradise, only we weren’t allowed outside the friendly confines of post.  Kyrgyzstan was formerly part of the Soviet Union, so who knows how friendly they really are!  

We were slated to fly out on the morning of Thursday July 22^nd, and we boarded the military plane (C-5).  It was then that I remembered how sardines felt- we were elbow to elbow with our carry-on bags in our laps, our weapons by our sides, our helmets on our heads, and our bullet-proof vests (IOTV) on our bodies. NOT FUN!  We sat there for like 2 hours without leaving; which coincidentally was the length of time it would take to get to BAF.  The Air Force personnel then informed us that the elevator was broken and we weren’t leaving, so we had to get off.  For those that don’t know, the elevator is the rear door.  It opens up like a giant mouth, and you roll the gear (which is on pallets) up the rear into the back part of the plane.  It was broken and wouldn’t close.  Here was another day at beautiful Manas! We were told we weren’t gonna leave until Saturday morning, but in true military fashion, we were awaken around 1 am and told to be ready to fly in just over an hour!  Another plane had magically appeared, and later that morning (Friday July 23^rd) was landing at BAF, in Afghanistan.    

This is where the next chapter of my life will begin.  I invite you to stay tuned for the insights of war from the perspective of an Army musician.  Invite friends to read, and y’all enjoy; but most of all, keep us in your prayers. God Bless!

Update

As most of you know, Matthew is now deployed to Afghanistan. I will be helping him update this blog to keep everyone informed of how he is doing. (It also gives me a project during the deployment!) This time is going to be very difficult for us, so please remember to keep us both in your thoughts and prayers. I know that Matthew will be needing some things during the year, so I will be having a collection that people can donate to. Items like toothpaste, deodorant, socks, books, games, etc. I will be sending care packages to him throughout the year, as well as a bunch of other people. If you are interested, please let me know. 

Well, I'm going to sign off for now. I'm waiting to hear from Matthew. Not sure if I will today.

Deployment

So I was TDY to Fort Bragg, NC last week for a Change of Command ceremony. The reason being is that their band is deployed to Afghanistan right now. Well on Thursday, after the ceremony, we got the word on the next deployment. We go back to Afghanistan next June or July. Our guys got back last May, and they have a mandatory 12 month "dwell time". Dwell time is the time they are required to be on station before they can deploy again. So, they got back in May and we deploy next June or July. That's right folks! If you do the math, that's only 13-14 months later. That sucks! Not to mention my fiancee and I were planning a wedding for August, and now we are scrambling to figure out when to do it before I deploy. This is just WAAAAAAAAY too much stress on me right now. My mind is going crazy.
I mean, I'm ready to deploy and I want to deploy. The experience will be awesome, and I won't lie, the pay even better! LOL
Here's what confuses me...out of ALL of the active duty Army bands, why are we replacing the band that replaced us? There are at least 7 other deployable bands out there besides us and Ft Bragg, so why are we going back so soon?

I'm just sayin' is all.......

About Me

Hello to all, and welcome to my new blog! For anyone who doesn't know, my name is Matthew and I'm gonna take this time to tell you a little bit about myself. I am a 35 year old career military musician. I started off in the Marine Corps in 1992, right after high school. I stayed in the Corps for about 8 and a half years, and then switched over to the Army in 2001. I am a clarinet player. I've been playing for 24 years, and love it! I was married for 11 years before getting divorced a few years ago. I have 3 wonderful daughters- Kristen(17), Carey(14) and Callie(11). They live in NC with their mother. As for me, I live in beautiful Clarksville, TN. This is my latest stop on my "Quest To Infest" the military tour! LOL I've been stationed all over the place. Here are the places I've been stationed with Uncle Sam:
Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, GA
III Marine Expeditionary Force Okinawa, Japan
Fort Rucker, AL
Fort Jackson, SC
Eighth Army/Yongsan Garrison Seoul, Korea
Fort Lee, VA
Fort Campbell, TN
I currently live with my wonderful girlfriend Sarah, and plan to get married next year. Some of the things I like are:
Letterboxing
Music
Sports
Movies
I guess that's all for now. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them! Any feedback is welcome feedback. So, until next time...