One down, Four to go

Yup, it’s that time of year again.  TEE (Term End Exam) Week!

Just got back from my American Politics TEE, and based on what I was expecting to do with it, I’m calling it good to go.  Honestly, AP is the kind of class that I ride the B- line in, so that’s all I really care about at this point, and I’m fairly sure I managed to do that.

Tomorrow is Statistics.  Zero chance of failure there.  Wednesday is Geography, which means I should start the preparatory stuff for that…or play Dragon Age instead….  Thursday is German in the morning (Guten Morgen!) and Physics in the afternoon.  Going into the Physics TEE, I’m 0.32 percent below a regular “A.”  I don’t want an “A-” dang it!

I’m flying home Friday morning.  It’s going to be a loooooooooooong day though.  I’m on a 0600 bus to the airport, but my flight isn’t until several hours later, and then I won’t make it home until around 2200.  At least I’ll be home though, and hopefully I’ll make it on schedule this time.

Time to go NOT study!

Michael

Good News

Just found out today that I’ve got my next APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test) scheduled for the second week of January, and if (or I should say when) I pass it, I’ll be back in the good graces of the Academy.

This is good news since it’s the extra chance I was hoping for.  Thanks to everyone who was rooting or praying for me.

Michael

Because who wouldn’t want to read my paper?

I doubt anyone will read it, but since I uploaded my solution from the MCM, I figured why not?

This is my paper for American Politics.  Enjoy.

Election Legitimacy in the United States and Iran

Michael

I guess it’s time to spill the beans

I’ve been hesitant to blog about what’s going on with me, because I still don’t know what the final COA is at this point.  But, since it’s getting down to the wire, I might as well put it out there rather than people asking a million questions.

People who know me, know that running and I have never really gotten along.  It’s basically a hate-hate relationship.  Second semester of last year, I failed my APFT by 2 push-ups after a boxing bout for class.  My retest ended up happening this semester, and I failed the run by 38 seconds.

Since that made 2 in a row, I was started on the process of being separated from the Academy.  I was counseled at the company level, and then met with the RTO (Regimental Tactical Officer).  He told me he was recommending me for separation.  The next step was to meet with the Acting Commandant of the Corps of Cadets.  After about a 30 minute meeting, he gave me until the end of last week to pass up any additional information for his decision, and then he would be recommending me for separation.

I haven’t heard anything definitive at this point, but I asked my TAC NCO yesterday if he knew when I would hear next, and he said my paperwork was going to JAG on Monday and I should hear from the S1 (personnel and admin people) soon.  I don’t know what exactly that means, but I’m not very optimistic.  I was talking to my CO this morning, and he was under the impression I would probably see the Superintendent before actually being separated, but we aren’t sure.

So there’s what going on.  And of course I’m still doing everything else that I would normally be doing, classes and all that, so that’s great.  I don’t know what’s going to happen, but at this point, it is what it is, so I just have to ride the ride.

Michael

My Project for Trace Adkins

Hopefully you all know that last year, as a member of the West Point Glee Club, I had the opportunity to sing with Trace Adkins for the Academy of Country Music Awards.  He is doing a concert here at West Point on 2 October, as well as a USO Gala in Washington, D.C. the following week and has asked the Glee Club to perform the song with him again.

When we sang in Las Vegas, we sang a shortened version of the song and representatives from the Academy of Country Music put together a video to play in the background for the song.  The video of our performance may help explain it.    Since we don’t have the same time limits as we did there, Trace asked if it would be possible to make a new video for the same purpose.  As the S6 (Information Systems Officer, or just plain of Tech Guy) I volunteered to do it.

The Director of the Glee Club, Mrs. Chase, got me in contact with several sources from various segments of the Army and DoD in order to acquire media for the project.  I spent quite some time really thinking what I wanted to do with it, and based on what I had received at the time (since there was a time constraint on getting it finished) I went to work.

I was surprised with what it was turning into as I worked.  Ultimately, I felt that I had gone where I wanted to go with it with what I had at the time and showed it to Mrs. Chase.  She thought it was good, so we sent it to Trace’s manager.

I received word this morning that he “loved it” with several exclamation marks.  I’ll definitely try and put it online at some point, but I don’t want to undercut Trace in any way, so I’m holding off on that.  This was arguably one of the most nerve-racking and possibly far reaching projects I’ve been able to work on.  I’m really proud of how it turned out.

On a side note, my knee is currently bleeding from my mountain biking class…

Michael

People

It occurs to me that as much as I like to think that I don’t trust people, I’m disgustingly trusting.

Time and time again, I overestimate the connections that I have with people.  Probably a result of the great family I was raised in and great family friends over the years who provided a great example of good people.  As I look at the world though, I see a lot of screwed up people.

There is of course a trade off in this situation.  If you are more cautious of people, you can inadvertently miss out on good opportunities.  On the other hand, being too trusting can get you hurt.

I want to be the realist that I profess to be.  In the same way that being the “nice guy” seems to do wonders (please note the sarcasm) for my current relationship prospects, that nice guy status has not had a great effect recently.

In other news, I can’t shake this desire to be in Afghanistan with my unit rather than here….  I don’t know that desire is really the word.  I’m sure they’d think I was nuts if I said I wanted to be there, but still.  I feel like I almost stepped out on them by coming here, even though I’ve been gone over a year.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately.  Anyone who reads these things regularly knows that most of the time I just write for the sake of writing.

Michael

1000th Night

Only another 999 days until I graduate from West Point…oh dear….

Michael

Is it bad that I’m already tired of school after a week and a half?

Seriously, I’m not even kidding here.  It’s been a week and a half and I’m already ready for summer to come again, or at the very least Christmas.

Classes are going pretty well thus far.  A lot of this semester is stuff that I’ve learned before but it’s been a couple years.  So, rather than study for a couple days and try to get out of it, I’m taking them again, which is probably a good portion of what’s causing the boredom.

On the bright side, I’m using Project64 to play The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time a lot…probably more than I should actually, haha.

Michael

New Cadets, among other things

March Back for the Class of 2013 is today.  In about an hour, the first human being I will ever be directly responsible for will arrive and I will see him for the first time.  This place sure is an experiment isn’t it?  This is going to be my chance to figure out my style.

In other news, I passed the National Registry exam for EMT.  It really scared me honestly.  The test was just awkward, but I passed.  I did another shift with the paramedics on Sunday.  Almost got to see a dead body.  I was looking forward to it…but they canceled us right before we got there, and then they put us on another call.  We could have gone back after the detectives went through, but we didn’t.  It was a better shift than my actual ride-along though.  We got about 9 calls I think as opposed to 1.

I’m taking 20 credit hours this semester.  I have class solid from 0730 to 1155, then lunch, followed by labs on some days for Physics and American Politics, and I have last hour cycling every other day.  Gonna be a hell of a semester with 8 courses.

Alright, that’s all I’ve got for now.

Michael

Emergency Medical Technician – Basic

The title basically covers my entire life right now.  Everyone here at West Point has to do at least one MDS (Military Development School) during one of our summers.  During the year, you put in your preferences and then get slotted for them.

I’ve got through Combat Lifesaver Certification twice now in its entirety and did CPR and First Aid with Red Cross at my unit.  I’ve always thought that medical knowledge is an important thing to have, especially in the Army.  As a result, the MDS called AMT (Advanced Medical Training) was my first choice, and I was happy when I found out that I got it, mostly because it meant I wasn’t doing Air Assault.

Today was the 6th day of the course.  It is usually a 4 to 6 month course, but we are doing it in 17 days.   Needless to say, regardless of the difficulty level of the course, it’s a lot of information to learn in such a short time.  I’m doing well though, passed both of our tests so far on the first try, which is more than I can say for some of my comrades.

I’ll get to do clinical ride along time on August 1st, where I go with an actual ambulance to real calls and get to help.  I’m looking forward to it, but also to being done with the course.  10 hours a day is a lot of classroom time.

Anyway, I’m gonna go not study.

Michael