The Weekend

The first week went by fast. Our job as ADVON (advance party) is to prepare for the larger group to arrive. Some of the tasks include: unloading and setting up equipment, coordination meetings, planning training events and logistical requirements. It's important to work out the details before everyone else arrives. It's pretty incredible what goes into moving a group of Soldiers and taking care of them once they arrive.

Personally, the bonuses for leaving early are: knowing where everything is before everyone else arrives, adapting to the time change before having to jump into training, not having to attend a departure ceremony, no crowds in the latrine, picking the sleep number bed of your choice, etc...

The parts that are less desirable: leaving your family early (sucks), missing out on attending the steak dinner after the departure ceremony (I heard it was very nice), high expectations to ensure everything is taken care of prior to the larger group arriving, etc. This last one is a killer since it's easy to place blame on the ADVON group even if we have no control of the situation.

Saturday evening we (20 Soldiers) went to a place called Jake's for dinner and some really good beer. This will probably be the last beer for a very long, long time which is OK since I did quite a bit of socializing with family and friends prior to leaving.

On Sunday, we had most of the day to ourselves to do laundry, run to the PX or nap. Myself and a few other friends drove to Seattle to have dinner and walk around on the pier. We dined at the Crab Pot and even hit Pirate's Plunder for some pirate novelty's. I'll be sure to post some pictures as the deployment wears on of my eye patch!


Chief Mankowski riding the pig at the fish market.


This wall is covered entirely by gum.


Captain Neumann and I sharing a pot of seafood! I was so hungry by this time but it ended up being too much food. Awesome food!