Fort Benning, GA - Pine trees, sand, and humidity.
After a week and a half of leave back home I reported to the Continental United States Replacement Center (CRC) located at Fort Benning, Georgia. The CRC is set up to receive and send forward individual augmentees like myself who are not deploying with a unit.
Lots and lots of contractors.The CRC processes every branch (there was an air force officer and a navy chief in my group) as well as Army civilians and civilian contractors. Contractors are the most numerous type of person here. From my estimates contractors outnumber military about two to one. Almost all of them are headed to Iraq or Afghanistan. I talked to one contractor who fixed tanks when he was an enlisted Soldier in the Army. Now he works for General Dynamics and will be doing the exact same thing he did when he was a Soldier except he'll make about four times the amount of money for it.
The CRC cycle is only a week long. The first couple of days are mostly medically related. The clinic makes sure all of your shots are up to date, you have any medications you need, and you don't have HIV. I'd done all of this before I left my old duty station so I mostly waited in long lines so I could tell someone, "I have everything I'm supposed to." They would look over it, tell me I was set, and then I'd sit on the bus and wait for everyone else to finish.
After medical processing was over it was time for administrative stuff. People made sure your life insurance was set up and you have an accurate next of kin contact.
Over the course of a couple of days we got issued all of our equipment. I received an inordinate amount of gear, especially for where I'm headed. I'm allowed three duffels bags and a rucksack. I've made one duffel the bag completely filled with things I'm confident I'll never use such as my several layers thick Extended Cold Weather Clothing System. According to its specs it's designed fore use from +40 degrees to -60 degrees fahrenheit. I doubt I'll use it very much considering Djiboutian temperatures rarely drop below 70 degrees.
Most of my issued gear. 75% of it will not be used.One smart thing they told is about is Eagle Cash. Eagle Cash is a little smart card that's hooked directly into your bank account. The thinking behind it is that physical currency takes up a lot of resources. It's heavy to transport, not that durable, and is easily stolen. Also, every cash machine has to be refilled when it's emptied. Cumulatively, filling those cash machines take a lot of resources and puts people and machinery in danger since a convoy is going to have to make those cash runs over time. Electronic transactions do away with all of the logistics behind handling paper currency.
The last couple of days were tactically related. We did some Improvised Explosive Device (IED) familiarization, some medical aid familiarization, and we qualified with our M9 pistols.
For a long time I thought I'd be going out on Friday at the end of the cycle with everybody else. Turns out that because I'm going to Djibouti I fly separately and at a later date. Because of this newfound schedule I was able to make it to my brother's wedding. No one expected me to be there and my parents and sister were the only ones who knew I'd be there when I arrived. My brother was very surprised when I showed up.
I leave tomorrow and should be making my next post from Djibouti.
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