DIRTY BIRD

I hope you like the 45th IBCT patch with the thunderbird in PTs.  I thought my Microsoft paint handy work was pretty good.  The story behind that is we were told to come up with a Battery PT shirt to wear with our PT uniform.  So, I conjured up a t-shirt of painful truth.  The back would have the picture I modified and the front would read "160th FA Safety First, PT Second".  This may not be funny to the outsider, but if you knew the whole story it is pretty clever.  If you notice in the cartoon the bird is wearing a reflective belt.  Reflective belts are some sort of bright reflective color and you always have to wear one with your PT uniform and also wear one with your camo uniform during low visibility hours.  Why we wear "camouflage" uniforms with a bright chartreuse reflective belt is beyond me.  But we do.  Most everyone hates reflective belts with a passion, as do I.  That being said.  In our unit PT is not a high priority this is apparent by merely looking at about 75% of the "soldiers" that grace the 160th with their presence.  It seems to be acceptable when a soldier fails a PT test or their gut is so fat that the measuring tape won't wrap around to see if they meet height weight standards.  But... catch a soldier not wearing their PT belt.  BURN THEM AT THE STAKE!  The thought is so ass backwards it's not even funny.  It's actually sad. 

On another note.  I was appointed to conduct yet another AR 15-6 investigation.  Yup the second time around is much less painful.  Basically, an officer is appointed by a commander or some high ranking officer to investigate a specific event.  The goal is to just compile as much information you can from the involved persons and from evidence.  The commanders use this report to formulate their punishments or just to have documentation as to what happened.  This particular 15-6 was to investigate a negligent discharge.  In Kuwait if a round is fired it's an automatic 15-6.  So I just finished my report and it is only 72 pages.  Luckily only about 3 pages were written by myself.  the other 69 pages is documentation and sworn statements.  This subject is boring. 

My buddy Austin and I have been hitting the gym quite a bit.  I'm going to start posting our work outs.  I'm already seeing some pretty good results.  The intensity is substantial but if you can hang you will be super fit by the end.

25AUG2011 - Balad
Warm-up:  20 Turkish Get-ups w/ 30# dumbbell (10 each side)
Strength:  Shoulder press @ 95# and Burpees
      Do 20 Presses and 1 Burpee
            19 Presses and 2 Burpees
            18 Presses and 3 Burpees
       Continue until you work down to 1 Press and 20 Burpees.  It comes out to 420 total reps.  It took about an hour to complete.  But we weren't done.
Durability:  with a 45# plate... pick it up over your head and then put it back on the ground... repeat for 10 minutes straight.  Tough.

This was a gaser.  Austin named it Balad because he thought he was going to have to go there for 10 days.  Balad is in Iraq.  We name them after things that happen here.  Another picture and a link...SEALfit