Arrived at NIACT - Not quite a vacation spot

Well, if you ever watched the move Private Benjamin where she arrived in the barracks and said "surely there has been a mistake"..... I'm right there feeling the same way. There are about 40 of us in bunk beds connected to another barracks by a laundry and bath room area.





So, keeping in mind that there are potentially up to 80 guys in for training, there are about six showers, toilets and sinks and a few laundry machines. It was hot when we arrived and the temp was turned down and then in the middle of the night someone decided the A/C needed to be turned on,,,,, it's not A/C season in chilly South Carolina.





Needless to say I couldn't sleep on the rock-hard mattress and the pillow I had, and was lucky to find, was like a bag full of shoes it was so lumpy. So as if sleeping with 40 other folks snoring and whatnot in the same room wasn't difficult enough, another group arrived at around 3:00 in the morning. I knew last week the room I had at the BQ with a shared bath would be greatly missed this week.



I have to admit that leaving the cell phone home instead of packing it for the next few weeks was a BIG mistake. The other great discovery today was that for 60 or 70 guys sharing the six toilet stalls,,,, there was no toilet paper to be found and the PX on location didn't have any for sale. Not good when you're 30 miles from Wal Mart with no transportation. Eighteen more days here and then on to somehting different.

Finished up at NMPS Gulfport.

So it was a long day today.....very long. Started off in medical and it wasn't that good of a start. Had a hurdle to overcome but thanks to a great Chief and staff there the problem was corrected. After that the day progressed but was a little challenging. We managed to get pay processed, travel claims filed, uniforms issued and eventually got our seabags weighed and loaded on the truck for our flight. Of course when I finally got back to the BQ late tonight I found some emails that I didn't necessarily need to deal with but I managed to do that too in between phone calls.

We've had great weather here the last couple of days and I'm hoping that it follows us to our next stop.

Great day in Gulfport

So it was a nearly perfect day in Gulfport today; low 70's with clear skies but a little muggy after the rain on Wednesday. Overall a good day with the great weather and good people around me.

Well it was gas mask fitting day and thank goodness that went well with the first go. We had a couple of folks who had to go through it multiple times and that's probably not a good feeling for those who don't like being in confined situations.

Looking forward to getting the uniforms fitted tomorrow and packing up my gear to ship out to Ft Jackson. The next adventure is just around the corner and I'll probably have some photos to start posting from that location.

NMPS in-processing started today

So today was a better day. In-processing started and I got broken out into a team of 11 folks. Most of us are going to the same place so it's good to start seeing a few faces that will be familiar. It was just good to have some folks around to talk with.

Well it seems that our team was one member short since a Chief failed to appear and she was supposed to be our Team Leader. Well guess who was next on the list to be Team Leader.... that's right it was me. So much for flying under the radar as the new guy who hasn't mobilized before...

Anyway, I'm surrounded by a bunch of great people who will no doubt make the whole process more pleasant.

Finally arrived at NMPS, Gulfport

So the flight arrived on time, the bags made it and there were no snags with the airline. But then I walked outside to meet the duty drive who failed to appear. I found another couple of guys who were looking for the duty driver too and we eventually got picked up. The duty driver finally answered the phone an hour later for the driver who picked us up. I'm sure there was some real good excuse for failing to show up but we made it to base.

While waiting I hear that I've been put up at the Hampton Inn out in town. Sure, the idea of the Heavenly Bed tonight sounded great until I found out that the hotel was five miles away from base. Not able to get to base and no rental car until Tuesday night made that whole idea sound not so good. It ended up that there was a room at the Enlisted BQ but they didn't want to put me there with a shared bath.

You know the convenience of being on base and not having to get a car beat out the good bed. So I'm in the BQ on a twin bed this week sharing a bath with someone next door,,,, not such a big deal considering next week my twin bed will be one of 40 in open barracks and the bath will be shared with everyone. This setup doesn't seem so bad when looking forward to next week's accommodations.

Tomorrow is an off day due to the holiday so I guess I'll take a trip to the NEX and uniform shop. Hopefully I can find somewhere to print out my online W-2 to get the taxes done then I can get busy on my coursework. Reporting for duty Tuesday is at 06:30 for yet more Medical.

So the adventure begins...

Sitting at the airport now waiting on my delayed flight to depart..... It was tough saying goodbye and leaving eveyone behind.

finally got flight information,,, 3:50 flight out on Sunday. It'll probably be a rough day at the airport.