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…