Convoy Operations

Being a paralegal doesn't allow for many job related stories. The guys were joking with me the other day that I should take my camera along to my next Article 15 hearing. An Article 15 is a minor disciplinary procedure for when Joe gets in trouble. (Joe is the generic name we use for all of the soldiers, i.e. I wonder if Joe knows that he needs to turn in his travel vouchers or I bet Joe is really sweating out at the ECP today). They can be for relatively minor offenses as showing up late for work or talking back to an NCO or officer (in the Army you can lose pay for this) or more major offenses such as going AWOL for a day or two or getting into a fight (you can lose rank and pay for something like this). It is basically something that can be done quickly at the unit level and avoid the more time consuming process of doing a court-martial. So, the joke was that I would take some pictures of the Joe at his "hearing" and post it on my next blog. Maybe take an action shot or two. Obviously that wouldn't be appropriate, so I am again writing about the exciting things that others do.

Here are some pics of a recent excursion by some of the guys in our section. I think I mentioned in an earlier post that some of the soldiers in our S1 (personnel) section are not desk jockeys by trade. SPC Benes and SPC Burnham are 88M (truck driver) and SFC Kerchal has I think more different MOSs than I have owned crappy cars. The ones that I know of are Cav Scout, Truck Driver, Tanker, and his latest, Personnel SGT, which I think is deep down his favorite. By nature of their other talents they get tasked with some missions outside of the day to day excitement of sending emails, answering the phone, and typing memos. Recently, they dropped off 2 vehicles to get some work done on them, and last week they went to go pick them up. They were lucky enough to get 2 brand new FMTVs to drive, I think they said they only had 50 some miles on them. The Hammer and I took a little road trip out to see them off and get some pics for the blog.

SSG Grams, SPC Benes, and SFC Kerchal relaxing before the mission on the back of the empty flatbed. SSG Grams works in the S4 (logistics section) which is the office right next to ours. The S1 and the S4 are the 2 best staff sections, according to me.
The brand new FMTV. This thing has all of the bells and whistles. 6 CD Stereo Changer, GPS, HUD display, power seats, DVD player, cooler stocked with cold beer, and navigation system. Well not really but it did have AC. You will notice the cool effect on the pic that I like to call "Finger over the lens." I liked it so much on this shot that I used it again later. Blogger tip, you can click on the photos to enlarge them.
The gun trucks that would escort the convoy. These guys are awesome!
Civilian semis lined up waiting for a convoy. It is unbelievable how many trucks there are out here, they are lined up 10 across and I would guess 2-3 miles deep just waiting for an escort to take them where they need to go.
SFC Monte Kerchal getting ready to roll out. He is the Senior Personnel Sergeant for the Cav for this deployment which means he is charge of our section. He made me do pushups a few days ago (my first as a Sergeant and actually the first of this deployment somehow) for skipping a few levels of the chain of command. I am lucky to work in a session with a great bunch of guys, we all have a good time for the most part and get along really well.

SPC Benes at the wheel. Not quite as exciting as getting the mail, but he is still smiling. The trip went by without incident and the boys are back to fight another day in the high stakes world of Army admin.