The first thing I thought when I got off the plane was, “So this is what Georgia is like”. On the plane however I was glad that I had seen a familiar face in the row in front of me. One of the Family Physician’s from Fort Hood turned around and said in a surprised manner, “Eric?!” It did not take much convincing to get him to go in with me for a rental car and off-post accommodations. We grabbed all our gear, which for me was two backpacks, but for him included a huge duffle bag and a jam packed backpack. I went to the rental car place and got a car for us. The only hitch was that the car wouldn’t be ready until 7PM that evening. So off we went to the bus. It was the typical Army white bus with a ton of everyone’s gear in it on one side and people on the other.
We got off the bus at CRC and carried our gear to the main HQ where we checked in. From there we loaded up a cart and schlepped our stuff to our barracks room. Now this room was about the size of a standard home’s master bathroom and jammed with two bunk beds and four wall lockers to allow for four soldiers to be billeted there. There were bars on the windows and the only impression that I had was that this room looked like I imagine prison being like.
Fortunately for me my family practice friend, Doug, had already arranged to meet with one of his former residents for dinner and said I would be welcome to come along. As I only brought one set of civilian clothes I was thinking we would go some place casual. But no…. doctors eat at nice restaurants and so I found myself in baskeball shorts, tennis shoes, and a white t-shirt eating at the nicest seafood restraint in town. I got a few awkward stares but I thought, “Who cares…in 5 days I’ll be in Afghanistan. Why not have seared Yellow Fin while I still have a chance?”
From there we made it back to the rental car place and then to the hotel that Doug had arranged …the econo-lodge. Now Joe Jeanette had been through CRC last week and he gave me the low down on the accommodations. He said that the econo-lodge was the closest hotel to CRC and rooms were only $64 per night. So I told Doug that we should stay there. He made reservations while I arranged for the car. However what Doug did not realize was that there were two econo-lodges. As we soon discovered, we were staying in a hotel that probably charges rooms by the hour. And this close to Benning you can imagine the type of women that were hanging around this “hotel”. Things weren’t so bad though. I had free wi-fi and my own shower. Who cared if the room smelled like cat urine? Besides in a few days I would be sleeping on a cot and this was surely better than that.
The kicker came after I called Kari that evening and said everything was fine. After watching the Rockies lose on MLB.com, I pulled back the sheets and low and behold…..PUBIC HAIR!!! Disgusting. Not just one or two strands…it was a lot. Gross! So I called the front desk (it was now midnight) and they said there was nobody available to change the sheets. So I asked if they could just get me new linen. They brought me some new linen and life was good again. But I still had that uneasy feeling about the cleanliness of my present accommodations. At least cots don’t have pubic hair!
The next day after I told Doug about the incident we moved to the Holiday Inn and paid more. But it was worth every penny.
The following few days were filled with training, vaccinations, dental exams, more power points, the weapons qualification range ( I was 3rd best shot in my firing line of 15), and a lot of waiting around. They marched us to many of our events. I always laugh to myself when I am marching. I think if only my family could see me now…I am a real soldier…look at me …I am marching! Left…Right…Left …Right….Halt….file from the right, column right…March. And as I write this I think it rather funny that I am sitting here with a M9 pistol strapped to my leg like a cowboy. I must look pretty tough. But after our little stop in Leipzig Germany (the same place I stopped last year to Iraq), I am on my way to Kuwait where I can upload this little piece of my history.
