OK, there seems to be about a million Dave/David Chen's on facebook. But the link is up, and hopefully some content sooner rather than later.
Cheers.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Yup...still alive and kicking
So it's been a little while since my last update. The last 5 months have passed in a blur. Sometimes the day passes like a leaf in the wind, other times it's weighed down like an anvil in a forge. So what exactly has been occupying my time during this time? Well...2 weeks in August climbing mountains, getting the brevet for basic mountain alpinism. 2 weeks in September back at Castelnaudary learning to drive a truck like this . 1 week at Valdahon doing combat training, then 2 weeks at CENTAC (Centre d'entraînement au combat) playing war in October. Followed by another 2 weeks at CENZUB playing war again, but this time in an urban setting in November. After that, cleaning all the gear we used the previous 2 months. Trust me, they got used. Spent 2.5 weeks in December guarding the Eiffel Tower, finally got back the 28th of December, and then finally had a break from the 29th to the 9th of January. Somewhere in there we had a military parade for St. Barbe, the patron saint of combat engineers (I had NO idea), which meant having to practice marching, singing, and all that fun stuff. I would have thought the Legion embraced St. Jude more than anyone else.
Climbing mountains was fun. We don't remember how many we climbed, and how high...nothing too epic, probably about 3500m maximum (11,500ft or so), including one where one side was France and the other Italy. The course for driving trucks was tough...first I haven't driven in a while, two the roads here are much narrower, the signs are different...and the truck had EIGHT speeds! I thought I had failed the course, but somehow managed to pass. The combat training was also quite...entertaining, although that doesn't quite describe the visceral experience. The living in a VAB for 4 days straight at CENTAC and CENZUB was not. It's kinda cramped in there, and not exactly well ventilated. After 4 days it was a total mess in there, and me usually being the low man on the totem pole, guess who got the privilege of cleaning it? I did get the chance at CENZUB to cart around a AT4 anti-tank rocket launcher in addition to the assault rifle. I'm proud to say I took part in the ambush and destruction (simulated, of course) of 3 "enemy" tanks. It's always the little guy that gets the big guns for some reason...never figured why that is. Guarding the Eiffel Tower was fun, and honestly pretty relaxed. All we did was walk around the Eiffel Tower with our rifles, and every once in a while point out where the restroom was for the tourists (for future reference, it is behind the EAST leg, open from 1030-2030). More of a deterrence thing then anything else, and photo ops for the tourists. By sheer chance (or karma), my group ended up spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day on patrol. Nope, Santa hats were not authorized attire for those days unfortunately. Something about it being "not reglementaire". Whatever. Spent New Year's Eve in Amsterdam with 2 fellow legionnaires. We were good (really mom!), didn't do anything too crazy or wild. Passed the night in an Aussie bar-turned-disco...definitely something to remember. Most assured, I will be returning there to explore Holland some more. Beautiful country, and extremely friendly people, and it seems like they all speak English (and very well, I might add). Spent the last week in Paris just louging around, finally did go to the Louvre and had a great time exploring Paris with 3 lovely ladies who are on vacation in France, and exploring parts of Paris as well. Can't complain about that.
Good times.
2008 promises to be just as busy as the latter months of 2007. I won't do anything silly like promising to update the blog or send out updates more often, but I will try. Don't know where I'll be going or what I'll be doing in any particular detail yet, and things usually change on the fly anyways. But rest assured I'll keep my head down and always checking my six, and hope that y'all do the same.
Oh yeah, before I forget...I'm trying to get on Facebook. Just encountering some difficulties on getting regular Internet access. Check for a link on my blog soon (within the next...2 months?)
Climbing mountains was fun. We don't remember how many we climbed, and how high...nothing too epic, probably about 3500m maximum (11,500ft or so), including one where one side was France and the other Italy. The course for driving trucks was tough...first I haven't driven in a while, two the roads here are much narrower, the signs are different...and the truck had EIGHT speeds! I thought I had failed the course, but somehow managed to pass. The combat training was also quite...entertaining, although that doesn't quite describe the visceral experience. The living in a VAB for 4 days straight at CENTAC and CENZUB was not. It's kinda cramped in there, and not exactly well ventilated. After 4 days it was a total mess in there, and me usually being the low man on the totem pole, guess who got the privilege of cleaning it? I did get the chance at CENZUB to cart around a AT4 anti-tank rocket launcher in addition to the assault rifle. I'm proud to say I took part in the ambush and destruction (simulated, of course) of 3 "enemy" tanks. It's always the little guy that gets the big guns for some reason...never figured why that is. Guarding the Eiffel Tower was fun, and honestly pretty relaxed. All we did was walk around the Eiffel Tower with our rifles, and every once in a while point out where the restroom was for the tourists (for future reference, it is behind the EAST leg, open from 1030-2030). More of a deterrence thing then anything else, and photo ops for the tourists. By sheer chance (or karma), my group ended up spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day on patrol. Nope, Santa hats were not authorized attire for those days unfortunately. Something about it being "not reglementaire". Whatever. Spent New Year's Eve in Amsterdam with 2 fellow legionnaires. We were good (really mom!), didn't do anything too crazy or wild. Passed the night in an Aussie bar-turned-disco...definitely something to remember. Most assured, I will be returning there to explore Holland some more. Beautiful country, and extremely friendly people, and it seems like they all speak English (and very well, I might add). Spent the last week in Paris just louging around, finally did go to the Louvre and had a great time exploring Paris with 3 lovely ladies who are on vacation in France, and exploring parts of Paris as well. Can't complain about that.
Good times.
2008 promises to be just as busy as the latter months of 2007. I won't do anything silly like promising to update the blog or send out updates more often, but I will try. Don't know where I'll be going or what I'll be doing in any particular detail yet, and things usually change on the fly anyways. But rest assured I'll keep my head down and always checking my six, and hope that y'all do the same.
Oh yeah, before I forget...I'm trying to get on Facebook. Just encountering some difficulties on getting regular Internet access. Check for a link on my blog soon (within the next...2 months?)
All y'all take care now, ya hear?!?
These are probably NOT the only photos of me floating around on web with a gun at the Eiffel Tower. Plenty of Japanese tourists with cameras at the Eiffel Tower...can you imagine a camera the size of a credit card with 10x zoom and a super-bright flash?
