I got back from Houston on Sunday night. I've been pretty tired and busy lately as well.

So first I was away at Fort Chaffee for 20 plus days then on the weekend I get back and I went to Houston for some R&R.

I found out today I am going on another trip for work next week tuesday for 3 days. I am going with this training group here that is doing something with the coast guard. I have no idea what my mission is, all i know is i have to go with my camera on a boat somewhere in New Orleans.

I have been doing a lot of traveling lately which is good I guess.

So let me elaborate on my time in Arkansas.

I was out covering a lot of the training that was going on. I was taking photos and doing stories like there was no tomorrow.

I really got to do my job and it was a lot of work. I worked a lot because I had to go everywhere and cover as much as I could. People in the army think we have a nice cushy job but we have a pretty broad and big job.

It didn't help when a soldier died during training.

It made the news. My office was in charge of contacting the media and writing press releases regarding the accidental death. We contacted news organizations and did some news interviews. The family got upset because they felt the army was holding back.

I can't and won't comment on this further than to just say it was really unfortunate and unfortunetly with things like this the army does a lot of things slow, which doesn't make sense. Even when things are as they say they are, it comes off as insincere and it seems like there is more. The army is not good dealing with things such as this. What is worse is that there are offices like mine that are trained to advise the commanders on how to deal with this in a public way. The army doesn't always do things the easy way. THey make it hard and make us all look stupid.

I attended this boys funeral and it was my first funeral ceremony. I hope i don't attend too many of those. I especially don't want to cover it if it is someone i know. They had me take photos at a funeral. Maybe it's just me, but who wants a photo of a funeral? I know I sure don't. It's something I don't want to remember and if it was my funeral I don't want my family dwelling on it if i passed.

I also did media on the battlefield and acted as if I was civilian media on the spot of training, all the while I am trying to expose media relations deficiencies.

I was also somehow dragged into somewhat of a morale booster. I used my photos and I had to design this photo collage with cutlines for the soldiers so they could see themselves training in the field.

This was something our Colonel wanted, especially after the death.

While I was up there I was asked to go to this dinner where the secretary of the army and Ms Arkansas were supposed to be. I was told it was a buffet.

All of that was a lie. What did I and other soldiers end up attending. We attended the Sebastian County Republican committee fundraiser. There was a Sentator there. We definetly should not have been there. It wasn't even a buffet. It was the whitest event I have ever been to. I mean no disrespect but there was no minorities in attendance at this dinner. The only minorities were the soldiers who are in the Army and two of the banquet servers. Thought that was interesting.

They sure use and preach a lot of propaganda at events like this. I was so glad when it was over.

The worst part of Chaffee though was the fact that I had to drive a Humvee everyday for 2-3 hours. It is not a comfortable vehicle to drive. Plus it is hot and I have to wear my Kevlar Helmet whenever I drive. It gets sore after awhile. Plus I was the only one in our group with a license. So I had to go and do everything because I was the only one that could drive. It really sucked. PLus I ended up having to drive the Humvee back in the convoy from Arkansas back to Fort Polk. Imagine driving in a long convoy at 40-50 mph and having to wear a helmet for 8 hours. Now imagine that there are also only 1-2 stops in this trip. Plus you have to wear this helmet and your neck is killing you because of the weight of the helmet for hours of wear.

It was a grueling trip back.

It was a very eventful trip though