Grindstone

It's been a while since I actually wrote something. I'd started about seven posts over the past week, none of which met me, admittedly low, standards. I think one of the aborted posts consisted of nothing but me describing what was on my desk. I don't know if I can get writer's block since I don't "write" so much as I blather senslessly, but whatever it is I've got it.

With the holidays so many trainees have returned home for the exodus. Those not familiar with the Army and training, exodus is when the training bases release trainees for about two weeks over the Christmas and New Years holidays. It's not done for the express purpose of giving the trainees a break, but the trainers. For all the hours and work we put in on recruiting people, those who train them put in similar hours under similar stresses. This is two weeks for those Soldiers to get time with their families and away from the grind of training the future of the Army.

The recent graduates I'd mentioned before got me to thinking about my own grads. The most rewarding part of this recruiting thing has been to see the enlistees return. They're no longer civilians but Soldiers, and that's pretty awesome. Seeing them come home, fit, standing tall, looking good makes for a proud feeling. Seeing someone who you had to chase around town, get up at all hours of the day, occasionally babysit through the process, make it through and come back does make for a good moment. Since I recruit for the Reserve these are Soldiers who I, personally, escort to their units and introduce them. In these units I'm associated with these Soldiers. When I visit the Reserve centers I hear about the people I enlist. Luckily the praise outweighs the critism by leaps and bounds.

Recruiting is not all suck. It really isn't. It can seem that way, but things could be worse. I don't give a fair and balanced view of this assignment because, well, I don't always write about the good or the fun. I've tried but that isn't what makes me want to write. I did study journalism for a semester in college so I do have a bit of the "it bleeds it leads" mentality. A recruiter having a decent run isn't really interesting. A recruiter going through a bad stretch is. I've seen actual proof of this. My readership increases when I write about bad things happening. It goes from seven (Hi mom!) to nine. However after a week of not writing anything it's probably down to two (Bye mom!). Oh well.

Anyways, Christmas has come and gone. I did manage to get a bit of snow when I went to Flagstaff on Friday. If my camera's batteries hadn't died I'd have provided a couple pictures of real Arizona snow. It died though so you'll just have to take it on faith. My uniforms just finished drying so it's time to suit up and find someone else to put into the Army.