Fitness Tracking Begins

Bicep - 13"

(I don't want this to get any bigger, but not gonna lie I'm kinda proud of that definition ;)

Chest - 37"
Waist - 30"

Hips - 38"

So here is the beginning. Day one so to speak... day one of my tracking, but as I said before I've been working on this for about a year already. I am excited to see what the difference will be a year from now, with no distractions from the gym. Except of course, the hard work on missions which shouldn't hinder my progress. Yesterday we did back, which consisted of pull-ups and rowers. Today we did legs, squats with approximately 140 lbs on the smith machine, some calf and hamstring lifts. I've also climbed the rope up to three times in one session. I never climbed one before and I was pretty proud of myself for that. Of course I use a lot of legs for assistance, but still...

As far as Afghanistan goes... I don't know yet I guess. Having not left the base yet it still hasn't really hit me I guess. Well, the indirect fire the other night was something else. Although I found it quite funny that I woke up from the alarm, thought WTF and called my NCO (which is like my supervisor and definitely the person I feel the most confident in within my entire detachment) put my IOTV (body armor) on over my PT clothes, laid down on my bed and texted my friend from middle school (she is in the Airforce and happens to be here for part of the time I am here, AMAZING, I know :) then I actually fell asleep before hearing the 'all clear' or anything. That's the part that surprised me the most I think, falling asleep not only in such a nerve wracking situation, which I had never experienced before, but also in such an awkward half sitting up position in this ridiculously large body armor. It actually kind of makes me laugh to picture myself there. No one was seriously hurt in the attack, those things are never accurate because those guys just don't have the technology for it. Anyway, that is really the only thing I've experienced thus far, a nice woman's voice over an intercom telling me we were hit and some smoke in the air.

The dynamic of our unit has kind of changed, which is to be expected considering that we are in a totally different work environment then Garrison (US). I have two soldiers that I am going to take care of and do my best to mentor during this deployment. They are Broadcast Journalists like me, where as my former soldier was a print journalist. It seemed more appropriate in this environment to have seniors and subordinates that work on the same products work together. Makes sense right? I think so, too. The soldier that I worked with before was awesome and it is kind of weird to not be there for him like I was before, but I hope he knows that no matter what I would still do anything in my power to help him. My new soldiers are very different and I think will offer different challenges for me to learn to work with and over come. My goals during this year include maxing my fitness (obviously) becoming the best leader I can, improving my broadcast skills, expanding on my photography and print style skills and most importantly for every single one of the men and women in my unit to come home safely.

I would say I am very happy with the way my life is going. I don't think I ever really expected to fit into the military in the way that I have. It actually still surprises sometimes. I have those moments like, 'wow, I'm really here doing this right now.' Yeah, I love it... most of the time.

So I guess this blog entry ended up being a lot more about my deployment then fitness. So I was right in my previous post. We'll see how the next one unfolds :)