Woke up with my arms so sore, I can't even reach the opposite shoulder with each hand and hurts to lift things. Guess that's the little anthrax virii (from yesterday's immunizations) saying hello.
Today, we sat in a room and got a lot of briefings on getting our affairs in order: will, power of attorney, financial entitlements, employer obligations, etc. Most interesting were the different combat zone entitlements including hazardous duty pay, tax exclusion, and the savings plan which allows you to earn a flat 10% interest on up to $10k.
That all took until early afternoon. I finally set up my will, which for someone without kids, is essentially useless if you want to leave things to your wife, which is the default in the US. It was a bit sobering to look at the will in its black and white harshness, its own little sealed contents sitting there like a time bomb.
For the rest of the afternoon, we drew more equipment. This time uniforms, more body armor, boots, etc. Fortunately, I was able to decline a lot of it, including the NBC gear (nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare defense), which is really bulky. Since that is no longer a threat in this theater, others advised against drawing it. I just hope our enemies cooperate and are considerate enough not to drop a chemical gas Scud on our asses. I did get 3 additional sets of boots that I probably will never wear and can add to the little farm of retired boots that I keep in the guest room. Sarah will love the new additions.
Drawing our weapons took the longest time for unknown reasons (civilians). I was assigned my new best buddy, the Beretta 92F 9mm pistol, just about the only piece of equipment that hasn't changed since my last deployment! I'm pretty good with it, it's a very simple weapon, and will be really convenient to not have to lug an M16 or M4 (carbine) around while I do much of my work on base. I will draw a rifle from the unit for when I go outside the wire though.
Spent the rest of the evening putting gear together and starting to organize all this stuff. I think I'll manage to have 1 duffel bag less than most other soldiers, which will be nice.
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