The Life of Riley

The patch above is the shoulder sleeve insignia for the 1st Infantry Division, which is the unit that currently trains advisors to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's got a pretty good history, and they are quite proud of it here. http://www.1stid.org/history/index.cfm


As soon as we got back on Thursday night from our Iraq trip after spending 40 or so straight hours traveling, we were told we had to get out of our current barracks and move in order to make room for the next class that was right on our heels. So we packed up and moved to another part of Fort Riley called Camp Funston and occupied our new barracks. They are in pretty good shape, but the living conditions were a change from the previous accomodations-- I now have 39 roommates. Communal living at its finest!!! We will be here for about 8 weeks. You get a bed, a wallocker and a footlocker. I'm thinking of it like summer camp...

The food is again pretty good. It's actually kind of nice to not have to decide what to eat... You just go in there and get it. The Army has made great strides in the right direction in terms of food quality and service-- probably because they aren't in charge of it anymore, as it is handled bya contract. There is a gym close by, there is wireless internet, washers and dryers, and a big screen TV in the barracks. Today is a refit day, so I am sure the TV will either be on football or the Olympics.

Our team of 11 is almost all here; one guy arrives this weekend. They come from all over the Army and all bring a different specialty to the team. We even have a team name now!!! The fellas like the pirate theme, so they named us the Marauders before I got back, and ever since then, the pirate jokes have been flowing. Gotta get me a big Jolly Roger flag....

This week's upcoming training includes a lot of cultural awareness and Arabic classes. More on this later. Hope you are all well. Take care.

AKA: Marauder 6
Ron