what a week

As I promised in my last blog, I started this week off by going to see the doctor monday morning about the consistent but mild pain in my abdomen. He was unsure what was causing it. I had blood drawn that showed I had no immune response (meaning it probably wasn't infection, coupled with the fact that I had no fever) and a urine analysis that showed I had no unusual things there. Anyway, he sent me home with an ultrasound exam scheduled for wednesday and the promise that the likelihood that it was something major was very low. So, I had a few more briefings that day and along came tuesday.

Tuesday we had a fitness assessment. i did very well and my sides didn't bother me. I had a few more lessons on OIF and OEF.

Wednesday I gave a briefing on Power Projection in Central Asia and the Middle East which went well, then I went to Ultrasound exam, which was uneventful. They promised to have results in a few days. Then I spent the rest of the day running around the base in the rain completing a team obstacle thing... Then we had a guest speaker, a retired Air Force officer who was shot down over Hanoi during the vietnam war and was a Prisoner of War for the following six years. He talked about the methods they developed to communicate, the ways they scheduled their days to maintain routines etc. It's hard to capture the full intensity of his experiences.

Thursday we played some more Icarus, did some training in SERE (survival, evasion, resistance, escape). Then, the flight conducted a 2 hour aerospace wargaming simulation that we were graded on. We did well. I had to grab a few immunization shots that afternoon as well. I probably already had them, but good luck convincing the AF of that... Then we all went home to study for our huge test the next day...

Friday morning I woke up with intense chills, shivers and a 102+ temperature. I forced myself to miss the test and went to the doctor. She took about 4 minutes to declare me a victim of the flu, and sent me home with tylenol, mucinex and tameflu. I spent about 19 of those 24 hours asleep, and woke up feeling exponentially better on Saturday morning. Since then, I've been continue to rest and get ready for a busy week starting on monday. I still have a bit of a cough but no fever. So, now im studying and reviewing all over again to retake the test in the morning.

Just one more week!

counting the days

So I've completed 4 weeks of ASBC and have just 2 weeks left. Last week held more academics along with a few more lessons in combatives. (The Air Force currently teaches the "Modern Army Combatives Program" but is in the process of tweaking their own "Air Force Combatives Program"). We also competed in several games of Icarus. Icarus is too complex to attempt to explain in words alone, without a color-coded diagram I wouldn't even attempt to explain it. The best I can do is to say that it is played on a grass field roughly the size of a tennis court and it resembles a game of dodgeball. However, the targets aren't really people, you are attempting to take out cones that represent different function and capabilities including comm nodes, bases, Air Operations Centers and SAM sites. Like I said, it probably doesnt make much sense based on that description alone. But then again, it doesn't make a lot more sense even after you play it. It's supposed to introduce us to some of the principles of aerial warfare and weaknesses of it's command and control links. It doesn't do a great job, but it does get us out of the classroom once in a while. We also work with some simulators in different scenarios, and those are better at introducing aerospace concepts.

Next week we have our exam. This exam constitutes 90+% of our academic grade for the course. So, lots of studying for that this week.

Erica and I have reserved our apartment in San Angelo, we now know even our unit/room number, which covered parking spaces are ours, and we're scheduled to move in on October 10th. So, we'll probably be able to have most of my things delivered on Monday the 12th. The Traffic Management Office manages military moves, and they have been storing my things for me in San Angelo until I arrive. As I said in one my recent posts... The pieces are coming together...

On another note, I managed to pull a muscle in my back. No, I wasn't doing pull-ups... I was sitting up out of a chair... Now I have a distinct ache and soreness around my shoulderblade. Icy Hot and Advil have become my best friends. Just did that yesterday, so hopefully it will fade in a few days and I'll just have to go easy on it. At the moment it's quite painful. I also have had a fairly persistent pain in my side for a few days, so im a bit of a wreck... and going to see medical in the morning.

I think that's about all I have to report. I'll post more when I have more worth posting!

I have completed my third week here at ASBC. Now we have a long weekend.

This weekend was dense with academics. I won't list every lesson, but they ranged from more lessons on leadership to humanitarian operations, special operations, deployment processes and cyberspace operations.

It's nice to know im halfway through.

Erica and I have made a deposit on our future apartment in San Angelo, TX. We were able to take advantage of an opening at a complex that she really liked, so it's nice to know that that is on it's way to being taken care of. The pieces are falling in to place one at a time...

I'm not sure what else to update on... My days start at about 6:00 and end at about 4:30. After that I read for the next day and scrounge up dinner... not too much to say.

I'll write more when I have more :-)

Eric

My mailing address currently is:

2Lt. Eric Buchiarelli
550 E. Maxwell Blvd.
Box 1745 ASBC Class 09E2
Maxwell, AFB, AL 36112-1745

Feel free to send me mail here. I don't check it every day, but I will try to check it a few times a week. However, this is a temporary mailing address so please do not send anything after September 17th. It will be someone else's box!

More later

Love,
Eric