So what the hell happened to Doc J. ??

Last I left off, I had just reported to Ft Hood TX, and was in-processing the post and my new unit.
Turns out my new unit was REALLY new.
It's only existed since 16 Nov of last year. The 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment has undergone a serious realignment. For starters, it's no longer the 3rd ARMORED Cavalry. All of our Tanks, Bradleys, and other tracked vehicles have been turned in, and we have gone over to Stryker vehicles in keeping with the new (old) vision of the Regiment as a flexible and fast moving unit of mounted riflemen, who "Fight where we're told, and win with honor where we fight". Basicly, this means that we have returned to what the 3rd Cavalry Regiment began as back in 1845.....Minus the horses.
There is a very informative Wikkipedia page devoted to the Regiment if you care to look.
My orders put me in the Medical Platoon of the newest Squadron: "FIRES". If that sounds to you as thought we are an Artillery unit, you are spot on. Oh, also in a Cavalry unit you use "Troop" in place of "Company" and "Squadron" in place of "Battalion" when discribing elements of the Regiment UNLESS you are in an Artillery unit in which case you use "Battery" instead of Company or Troop......Confused? Yeah, so was I.
Our Battery name is "Brimstone" as in "Fire and Brimstone".
This brings me no end of amusement when, after looking brimstone up in an encyclopedia I discovered it to be.......Sulfer. Yes, you heard right, Sulfer the element that gives rotten eggs, and feces their pungent aromas....... I'm sure that nobody was thinking of that when they picked the name, more likely they were enthralled by the biblical concept of fire and brimstone raining down from the sky with great fury, which actually discribes an artillery bombardment pretty well.....Or would if we had any guns... That's right, we are such a new organization that we have not even recieved our Howitzers yet. As an Armored Cavalry unit, we had the mighty Paladin (M-109 Howitzer) and made people 10 miles away have a really bad day, and people 15 miles away really, really nervous. But that whole "fast and flexable" philosophy meant we had to turn in the powerfull, but rather slow self propelled Paladins and we are going to get in exchange the M-777A2 towed Howitzer which weighs about a quarter of what the Paladin does while having the exact same balistics and range. Now since it has to be towed, and a Stryker can't tow anything because of it's rear ramp, we are the only Squadron NOT recieving Strykers but trucks. The Unit will recieve ONE Stryker.....For the Commander to ride around in. This is actually fine as the M-777A2 Howitzer has a tow ring right at the end of the gun tube (barrel) that fits right into the tow hitch of a 2-1/2 or 5 ton truck making the gun it's own trailer. Oh, the Medical Platoon doesn't have any trucks, we have the venerable M997 four litter ambulance based on "ye olde" HMMWV (HUMVEE). I'm the proud "owner" of two of them.
My time is mostly spent chasing after Soldiers and the multiple problems they have and cause.... So far, I have 3 in my own Platoon that have been subjected to UCMJ, and are being chaptered OUT of the Army for various offences including drug use. (Seriously, WTF happend to my beloved Army while I was in Europe for 3 years?!?) Also we recieve taskings from III Corps as though we were a Division, while the Regiment is only the size of a Brigade, 3-4 of which make up a Division. So we are stretched paper thin at all times and we consider going out to the field on mission to be a working vacation.......
On the up-side, while in NATO for three years I pined away for the distinctive headgear that was my maroon beret that set we Airborne types apart from the rest of "heavy Army"....I now have distinctive headgear once again: A Cavalry Stetson with crossed sabers on the front, my rank in shining brass, and a maroon hatband (Medical Colors) with combat knots tied in it for my downrange tours. Yes boys and girls, I get to wear a cowboy hat to work once a week, we call it "funny hat Friday".
Anyway, between the manifold taskings, the scarce personnel, the excercises in the field, and the 1,001 other ways the Regiment manages to strip me of equipment, people, time, or some combination of all three, I am generally exausted to the point of being cross eyed by the time I get home. (It makes driving fun) I sometimes manage to check a few emails, eat, shower and either collapse into bed or simply pass out wherever the hell I happen to be sitting. I have awakened at 0400 to discover that after passing out at the kitchen table while typing a memorandum, my face went ahead and churned out another 43 pages of gibbrish as I slept. Folks, my NATO tour was a vacation compared to this place.....Hell, Iraq was too.
But rest assured, I am still alive, still doing the job, still VERY employed by Uncle Sugar, and still mostly functional.
I will try and check back in here in SH more often, as I have missed some dear friends very much, and even sparring with some who arn't so dear as it's a fine mental distraction from the insanity I deal with most of the time.

- Doc J
"Steel Medic One"
FIRES Squadron
3rd Cavalry Regiment