3 Semesters of College Electrical Theory in 18 Days

Dear Family: (October 24, 2009)

I hope you guys are all doing well at home. From talking to you guys over the phone it sounds like everything’s good. Having class when I do certainly makes it harder to get a hold of you guys during the week but it’s definitely better than basic. It makes this whole thing significantly easier.

Life continues to be pretty good though. I’m lucky in that I can operate just fine on 3-4 hours of sleep so I don’t have to waste all my time during the day sleeping like the other guys do. So I get a lot in during the day. I get a decent workout in then I read and watch movies and stuff and it’s a pretty nice relaxing day. I finished the first season of The Unit today. I appreciate you guys sending that up, it was good. I’ve also read through Corinthians. I’m behind since you can really only spend so long reading the Bible for 4 hours a day. It’s a good book obviously but it’s not that good. I think I might cut the Old Testament out of my reading goal before Christmas. That makes it a lot less of a chore and I can go a bit slower and get more out of it. I’ve never been a huge fan of the Old Testament anyways.

So, my classes are going well. I found out this 18 day electrical course is actually the equivalent of 3 semesters of college electrical theory. I can actually transfer this course into 9 college credits which is pretty cool I think. We just finished our AC block though which involved going over the various formulas used to find different values and faults in an AC circuit and using an oscilloscope. We had our test on Thursday and we all did pretty well. We didn’t have anyone from our company on night or day shift fail which is cool. One of the other guys from my unit and I both got 100% on both sections.

We’re now moving into our solid state block. We went over diodes and power supplies yesterday and we’ll be moving into transistors on Monday. It’s getting increasingly interesting as we move into stuff that I don’t know as well. I’ve always found solid state components pretty interesting so this is fun in a way. Our current instructor is very knowledgeable but very hard to pay attention too. So a lot of the guys are having trouble staying awake despite sleeping all day and chugging energy shots and popping caffeine pills like crazy. The guy who sits next to me though is pretty cool and was one of the smart kids in high school who was in AP Calculus classes and stuff like that so although I understand the theory behind what we’re doing better he’s better at the formulas and stuff than I am so whenever we have practical exercises the two of us race through them and talk a lot of smack so we have a good time with it and we stay awake and retain the information. I usually win too so it’s a good time (he missed one question on the AC test, haha). He’s in significantly better shape than I am though so we both have something to work on. The competition within our class makes it pretty fun though.

I have to thank mom and dad for letting me do this in the way that I did. By allowing me to sign when I did and allowing me to make such a large decision they really helped set me up for success just as they’ve done throughout my life. My MOS, being a dying MOS, was only available as a large bonus MOS until about when I signed so them being willing to expedite the process of my enlistment by being willing to sign the papers to enlist before being 18 was very helpful. If I had waited until I was 18 the advantages at the initial sign on would have been significantly less since the military has had such a ridiculous influx of recruits lately. And that goes beyond just sign on bonuses too. This schedule and everything works so well though.

Well, I hope everyone at home is doing well while I’m over here. I’m excited to see all of you guys at Christmas. I’ve got a lot that I want to do, hopefully it all works out. Have a good week!

Parade March at AIT

Dear Family: (October 20, 2009)

Thought I should try to get another update out since I’m going down to the library for a bit today and will have internet again.

There’s not a whole lot to report, every days pretty much the same here. We’re now studying alternating current in class which I find interesting since there isn’t a whole lot of AC involved with cars. As such we’re going much more in depth with AC than I’ve gone before and the oscilloscopes we’re using are significantly more advanced than the ones I’ve used before. However, the basic electrical background that I have and the fact that I’ve used an oscilloscope at all before still puts me at a distinct advantage here. I’m continuing to find that I’m glad I picked the path that I did and that I’m grateful for the training I have received.

Our instructor continues to make the class interesting which we all appreciate. We are switching instructors today and most of us are rather nervous but he’s assured us the new guy is good. He’s helped improve my abdominal strength as well as NCOs are apt to do. I am the youngest person in our class of twelve so I was assigned the job of being the safety guy which means I’m responsible for everyone removing watches, dog tags, etc. One day I forgot to check and we had five people leave stuff on. That meant I got to do 100 reverse crunches, it’s a very effective lower ab workout that I’ve decided to build into my daily regimen. He’s really cool though. We saw him angry for the first time last night though when a private was told to take out the trash by his class commander who is a specialist and he replied, “You do it.” That didn’t go over well.

We did have one exciting thing happen these last few days though. I marched in a parade. It was kind of a random thing but they took 24 people on nights down to Yorktown and we represented the US Army in this parade. We marched with formations from all the branches of service as well as a bunch of JROTCs and war recreation groups and stuff like that. It was only about a mile long and all we did was march along, do an eyes right as we passed a reviewing stand with a 1st Star and a bunch of other higher-ups and continue marching. It was still cool though. There were probably about 1000 people in attendance so it was a little parade but it was different. It was slightly maddening because the guy in front of me couldn’t keep in step (although to his credit we had to stay in step with the army band which was difficult at times) and the guy next to me kept falling back but oh well. Our sergeant thought we did well and a sergeant-major complemented us as well so it was good I guess. And if nothing else it was a fun few hours.

I’m now about 35 pages behind on my reading and won’t get more than a couple hours after getting back from getting my hair cut and going to the library but I’ll catch up. I hope everything at home is going well. Good luck with everything. I hope tomorrow goes well.

Basic Training Reflection 1

[From PFC Christopher J. Goodale. October 2, 2009. Pics posted from Family Day and graduation at Fort Benning, GA, September 9-10, 2009.]

So, I’m now out of basic training and think I’ll do an initial reflection on the experience. I say initial because the whole thing happened so fast that the thoughts are still kind of settling in my mind and I very well may change my impression in the near future as I go through letters I sent home and talk to other guys who were with me.

Overall I think that basic training was essentially just what it was supposed to be. It was very challenging and I came out much more a soldier than I left. It wasn’t just a weapons proficiency course, a workout program, a crucible to weed out the weak or a rite of passage. Basic training contained elements of all of these things but it was a very dynamic experience with a very intricate set of lessons and tasks.

They told us at the beginning that the focus of basic training had changed. It used to be that basic training was mainly intended to break you down and discipline you so that you largely became a tool of your superiors. It was louder, harsher and more physically demanding. And, from what we were told, largely counterproductive for the type of war we fight now. Basic training created soldiers that were tough and capable but “risk averse.” The example we were given was that now the Army needs soldiers who are willing to think and respond on their own instead of soldiers who ignore warning signs of IEDs and suspicious behavior because of waiting for orders. We were also told that the main focus now is the “intangibles” which includes things like being disciplined, working as a team, etc. This to me seems like a much better system and far more productive but I didn’t feel like things really happened that way. We had a lot of guys who graduated that definitely did not seem to have those traits when they left.

That brings me to the only real issue I had with basic training. The way problems are dealt with at basic training creates a very bizarre version of justice. In the normal world we learn that incentives matter and that when you do what people want of you you’ll be rewarded and vice versa. In basic training it’s nearly the opposite. If you do what you’re told you end up being known better and your life is worse plus you end up doing more work in the process. Also, you learn that the drill sergeants’ mood is the biggest factor in your punishment for anything. If he’s in a good mood we had guys get away with smuggling cell phones into the bay where if he was in a bad mood you could get screwed for anything. Granted, our drill sergeants honestly were very professional and did a good job of tempering their reactions but it was still not evenhanded.

I found though that I learned a great deal just the same. I learned to appreciate rank, to act with the proper respect towards others, that God and men all have your back if you do what you’re supposed to and that I am far more capable in many ways than I realized before. I learned these lessons over and over again, which is good because I realized that I am also very hardheaded. Basic training helped prove to me that I often need to be told over and over again before I will stick to a life lesson. I also learned that your attitude is not a product of your environment like you would assume. Whether or not you’re happy is entirely up to you whether life sucks or not. We got to the point that we were able to laugh during smokings and I was able to maintain morale through CS attacks. For the most part this meant simply not hitting low points and not adding to all of your emotional sine wave. It was like I installed an emotional rectifier while I was at basic training which I find interesting.

I did learn one lesson that was disappointing though. Any organization that exists for the sake of battle is guaranteed to be pumped overly full of testosterone. This makes life interesting and generally fun but it also creates some problems. There is very little difference between the day to day behavior of many of our soldiers and our prison population. No matter how much I attempted to justify it and explain away the actions of my peers and cadre I couldn’t do it. There is a great deal of honor in the job that most of these people do, the cause they fight for, the things they accomplish and the regulations they are supposed to follow. If the Army actually operated according to its doctrine it would actually be the organization you hope it is. Unfortunately, too many people slip through and too many people break from what they’re meant to be doing and it has disgusting results. Many of the people I’ve been with and I have had this conversation over and over again. It drives them nuts as much as it does me. Now, it isn’t all of the members that this applies to, in fact it’s a somewhat small percentage but it is far more people than I would hope. We've found a different sort of people at the various bases my buddies and I are scattered over then we all spent our time with at the RSP back in Idaho. Maybe they simply take the honorable ones and stuff recruiting and retention with them but I sure hope it wasn’t simply an illusion. We’ll see how I feel when I get back to my unit.

Overall, I’m still proud of my decision to do this job with this organization. Through the US military I still believe one can have a greater impact for good then with any other organization. I also still believe that the Army as a whole is greatly good and has a value set as good as any other group out there. My only regret is that the Army has a sad little group of people to choose from. Unfortunately most of the people who would follow the rules and make the Army what it’s supposed to be are unwilling to be a part of it. One of the jokes that went around are platoon was that the real reason the Army’s uniform is green is that the only people willing to defend our country are potheads despite the fact that society in general frowns on the use of weed. Why is it that the people who could make a difference in the direction, actions, and overall maturity our armed forces are willing to do no more to support our troops then slap a magnet on their car telling others to do so? Why is it that all the people who could make a difference all have something better to do? Why is it that “support our troops” seems to mean nothing more than put a flag in your front yard while you cheat on your husband that just deployed? As much as the men and women I dealt with often disgusted me, the men and women I was cut off from often disgusted me even more. It is difficult to keep from becoming cynical about the country we live in and what goes on in our world every day. But, in the end it goes back to having a good attitude about things simply because you do. I know that I still love my country. I love the fact that I can come and learn these things. I love the opportunities that I have here whether the people I would like to take advantage with them with me do so or not. When I originally joined the Army it was essentially because of two things. Pride and a desire to do something I could be proud of. I held and still hold a great deal of pride in my country and its ideals and what it stands for. I held and still hold a great deal of pride in our armed forces as a whole and what they do every day. I held and still hold a great deal of pride in myself and what I’m able to accomplish when given the tools and the training to succeed. I wished and still wish to do something with myself that would make a positive difference in society and I believed and still believe that I can be of great worth with the help of the US Army. Nothing’s changed in those respects. What has changed is that all of my reasoning has become more self-centered. My pride in my country does not stem from a commonality with everyone else in it or a sense that everything is good. Instead it now stems from the knowledge that the basic tenants of our country match what I believe a nation should hold. It also stems from the fact that I am able to do those things that I feel are right because of the freedoms that our nation is built on. Simply because the final result deviates from the master plan doesn’t mean that the plan was bad to begin with. It simply means that we need to keep working to fix the problems that have arisen as the plan was carried out. And that’s what I’ve learned to deal with. The Soldiers’ Creed claims that a soldier is disciplined, physically and mentally tough. I certainly learned discipline and moved further down the road to physical toughness at basic training and I’m hoping the ability to cope with whatever is thrown at you is the mental toughness that is described. If so, I guess basic training was effective and the intangibles spoken of in the beginning were taught appropriately.