This is our first four day weekend in about a year. Most of the unit is good to go; I volunteered for a detail so that no one had to be assigned it. I also have five soldiers assigned underneath me for this.
My day thus far has been fielding phone calls from the SSG in charge overall, who will continue to relay the updated times for us to show up. 1400 today has been put off, and still I wait by the phone. But the most recent call is perplexing.

SFC C - Hey SGT pseudosoldier, sorry to bother you on your weekend, but a tasking just came down and I need a name. Would you like to go to Germany for two weeks in July?
me - What sort of tasking is it SFC?
SFC C - Well, I've been to the specific place, and I'd think it would just be ranges. These are the dates {edit}
me - Aw, that last day is the first day of my language refresher class.
SFC C - No worries, then, SGT. Have a nice weekend.


...


Argh! I wish I could have said, "Yes!" Even though it would've been some time away from home, it would've been time away from the unit! And time in Beerland! But if I ditch that class, they might cancel it for the troops who really need it and are depending on it, so onward I go.

I'll just have to envy whichever lucksack E-5 or E-6 gets that tasking dropped in their lap. (Thanks for offering, SFC C.)

Comments
on Jul 01, 2005
Four Day Weekend! Woohoo! Too bad the commissary's all sold out of meat and charcoal.

Impressed that you sacrificed your weekend for your fellow Soldiers.
on Jul 01, 2005
Impressed that you sacrificed your weekend for your fellow Soldiers.


Thanks for the compliment. I'm trying to hold back on the bragging, because that cheapens it... We're going to be unloading some planes, and there will be some soldiers on there that have been in Iraq for about a year. I want to help out, and I'd rather me do it than some soldier who has their family here for the weekend, or who had definite plans even... I was going to be doing (and *am* doing, while I wait for the call) a lot of sitting around anyway.