CRC Day Six: Eagle Power

My day has been just lovely.

The rank right before General in the Army (and the Marines and Air Force) is Colonel (abbreviated COL). This is the sixth officer rank in the military, so it is often designated O-6. Often it is also called a "full bird colonel", to distinguish it from the O-5 rank, lieutenant colonel, and because the rank insignia for a COL is an eagle with spread wings. By the time a military officer has reached this rank, they have considerable pull and influence. Today, one happened to use this influence to save my bacon.

My first and only formation of the day was at 1645. (I'm sorry, my mind has made a permanent switch to military time, I'm afraid. If you aren't used to thinking that way, its not hard to figure out. If the hour is 12 or less, than its not any different than AM/PM time. If the hour is greater than 12, subtract 12 and that's the time in PM. I apologize for any blown synapses.) We were to be picking up the prescription inserts for our gas masks (it's not possible to wear glasses while wearing the mask because it is so tight), malaria pills, and getting briefed on the procedures for the flight tomorrow. Flight manifest? Check. Mask inserts? Check. Malaria pills? Umm...uh oh.

I was supposed to fill out a form at my medical appointment. A form I was never given by the doctor that examined me. Somehow this didn't get noticed by the CRC staff, and I didn't know to ask about them, thinking that since my orders had "Afghanistan" all over them, malaria pills would be automatic. I went to talk to the cadre about this and they were clueless. After several phone calls, their answer was it was my fault. If I didn't get pills, it must have been because I skipped something or didn't turn in the form. I had until 1830 today (75 minutes) to find a doctor off-post, make an appointment, get a ride, obtain a prescription for the meds I needed, go to the pharmacy, pick up the pills, ride back to CRC, and show them my meds. Failing this, I would be held over until the flight a week from tomorrow.

I. Don't. Think. So.

Unfortunately, they didn't care much about the opinion of a civilian, nor the fact that I had never even seen the form they were talking about. They cared that I didn't have a box checked on my form that said "ready to deploy?". They were willing to supply me transport to wherever I needed to go, but had no other help to offer. Supposedly.

And that's when the camouflaged man with the eagle on his chest swooped in for the rescue. You see, he had the same problem I did, and he was none too happy about it. And the chances of CRC telling a COL "sorry sir, wait til next week" was zilch. When I told him I had the same problem, he told me to come along. We caught a ride back to CRC headquarters where I watched him skewer a staff sergeant, fillet a specialist, and get them to schedule an appointment with a base doctor tomorrow morning at 0700, with a visit to the pharmacy at 0800. With good traffic, we should be back before we start loading the buses to go to the airplane at 0900. If we're not, they're going to bus us there separately to rejoin the rest of our group.

I find it poetic that the guy that came to save me had wings. Eagle's, not angel's, but still wings.

So I still get to fly tomorrow. Thank God. 9 hours to Ireland/Germany, 3 hour lay over, 8 hours to Kuwait, 2 hour bus ride to Ali Al Asleem...it will be a long day. Regardless, it will be much better than another week spent here.

*****

I spent my morning packing my bags and marking them with bright orange duct tape so I could pick them out from the sea of other generic green duffel bags that will be packed on the plane. I watched some soccer and went to lunch. It was a very nice morning.

In the early afternoon, I checked the website for my World of Warcraft (WoW) guild. WoW is a game I've played for a long time, and my guild is the group of people I play with while I'm online. We use the website to schedule events inside the game and socialize. Today I saw someone asking if my account had been stolen.

What?

You see, WoW is SO popular, that people are willing to pay real money to get in-game items and currency. However, the people that sell these items and currency do not come by them honestly. Instead, they steal people's user names and passwords with a virus-like program, log in to their accounts, send all the stuff they want to their own characters, and disappear. Often times these individuals work for "companies" in China whose entire business model consists of fencing stolen virtual goods. It's quite the black market.

So when I went to check if my account had been stolen, I found that, indeed, it had. Big, big bummer. Since there is a record of all the transactions that take place in the game, it is possible for your stolen stuff to be restored, it just takes a while. I called customer support to get my account fixed, waited on hold for an hour, was told that the last computer to log on to my account had an in China, and that I needed to change all my passwords right away, as there's no telling what other information they may have in their possession. They're going to fix all the damage, but it will take a few weeks. I'm extremely glad this happened today and not tomorrow or Saturday while I'm on an airplane out of the country. I just wish it wouldn't have happened at all.

Flight day tomorrow. I should have internet access in the hangar while I wait for the plane. If I don't, I'll try again at the airport in Europe. After that, the next time I speak to you all I'll be on the clock, with the days ticking down to my journey home.

Talk to you later. Out here.