JRTC and on to the Next!

wildboom

It’s been a minute since the last update. Since then I’ve been hard at work remodeling our kitchen and working on a motorcycle I bought back in early December. I should have done a better job of taking before and after pictures, but it’s a definite upgrade in functionality and in looks. Below is the only older picture I could find of it next to a shot of the new look. It’s still in progress so I didn’t give you the full look.

The motorcycle got some upgrades like a cellphone charger, LED headlights, and an awesome gear rack in the back. I got a couple of rides out of it, but unfortunately, since then I killed it. I think it’s a more involved engine problem so unfortunately, it’s a problem for future me.

This is a random side story but look at the two pictures below. They are both the same house two years apart. It’s a neighborhood on the rougher east side of Saginaw that I like to walk through from time to time just to get a different perspective. This last time I caught a picture of that house before the full force of Spring had taken over the whole house with ivy. It’s a pretty interesting thing to think about how we humans just came into nature to establish our own dwellings, and how once we are gone nature will take back over. It makes me think about what a city would look like if humans just disappeared.

Besides those projects I spent a fair amount of time on active duty orders preparing my army national guard unit for a bigger summer training at Fort Polk, Louisiana. We just recently finished our rotation at JRTC (Joint Readiness Training Center). I’m actually writing the majority of his post on the backend of the training down here.

JRTC is essentially a simulated combat situation. There is a “box” that you enter to start the simulation. In the box you wear all your gear, in addition, to essentially an industrial level laser tag system. Our whole Brigade was there which is approximately 3,000 soldiers give or take. On our level, it just meant that the timeline for getting missions and guidance took longer than it typically does. Overall, it was hot, there were all sorts of bugs, snakes, and spiders, and even scorpions. It wasn’t the most fun, but we did have a couple of good missions. One mission in particular we were the only company out of the entire Brigade to take a foothold in one of the villages there. I died on that mission, which isn’t unexpected because I actually died four times throughout the rotation. For the sake of the scenario, I just happened to be a very similar replacement! We spent 15 days total in the “box” and lots of lessons learned.

Toward the end of my time in the field, I had a pretty nasty rash on my leg that actually started to grow and swell pretty bad. I toughed it out to stay in the field with my platoon until the end of our time in the box. You can see in the picture above that it got roughly twice the size of the other leg. It wasn’t fluid or anything; just really swollen. After an ultrasound determined it wasn’t a blood clot they theorized it was probably some sort of bug/scorpion/snake bite reaction. I actually had to spend 3 nights in the medical bay confined to elevating my leg while watching movies, which wasn’t the worst thing haha! Eventually, I made it back to our company and helped them close out the last couple of tasks, though I, unfortunately, missed most of the packing up process. We had some leadership meetings and then waited for our day to get out of that miserable humid environment.

We had charted flights to and from Ft. Polk which was a nice experience not having to deal with airport security. Overall, this annual training was over a month long and I spent time at Camp Grayling, Fort Custer, and Fort Polk. One of the highlights was doing the Murph (a workout named after a fallen Soldier) with some of my men on Memorial Day at Fort Custer.

Now, for me, it’s off to Ranger school starting on July 9th. I am glad to have had the tough annual training experience just before to get me in the right mental state. Physically, I am not in as good of shape as I would like, but Ranger school is probably more of a mental battle than anything. I’m a little anxious, but very excited about the opportunity. Ranger school is a challenge that I have been trying to tackle for over a year now and COVID had ruined a couple of my chances, but at last, I’m on the right track. Anxiety-wise, Ranger school has been looming unfinished over my head for too long. That’s why I am so excited to finally get there and get it done. Regardless it will be a tough and grueling experience. Prayers while I am there would be greatly appreciated!

Hopefully, the next blog post will be from a Ranger. God bless!

JRTC and on to the Next!

Southwest United States Road Trip

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Back in January two friends (Brad and Stefan) and I went on a road trip to the Southwest. We had originally planned to go to Peru and then road trip the Carretera Austral in Chile. It was going to be a legendary trip. We thought we were planning right around the reopening of many places, but we jumped the gun and the UK strain had other ideas for us. With a last-minute cancellation, 2 friends backed out and it turned into just the three of us hitting the open road.

  • White Sands National Park

Behind the vintage look of all these trip photos was an idea of unplugging and staying off of my phone as much as possible during the trip. In order to do that I bought a bunch of disposable cameras and left my phone in the car for our excursions whenever possible. While it was nice to unplug and be more present during the trip it was also fun to wait for the photos to come back and to laugh over how they turned out! The major of this post will be the sharing of my favorites of those photos and a couple of travel stories!

Went through Arkansas and Hot Springs National Park and on down through Texas and Arizona eventually spending some time on good old Route 66. Part of the road living is partaking in local delicacies such as the fast-food franchises that don’t exist in Michigan. I had heard good things about Whataburger from an Army friend, and I have to say it exceeded expectations. I told them it was my first time at a Whataburger and they upgraded my meal for free, and after we sat down they came and gave us all free shakes and cookies on the house just because we were so excited about the experience! I, personally, developed quite a relationship with In-N-Out and suffered from withdrawals once we were out of their reach. Also pictured is a picture of me with a low-quality Bellagio in the background. We spent one night in Vegas and I really think I could have spent the whole time just watching the Bellagio fountain shows over and over.
This next piece is an excerpt from Brad’s travel journal from the trip pertaining to the picture of me with the deer. Enjoy!

Day 3 (1/11/21) – Alamagordo, NM to Casa Grande, AZ

“Hiked in Organ Pipes National Monument [on the] Pine Tree Loop. about 5 miles round trip. Along the trail, Sam spotted a dead deer right off the trail. It was a big buck! 8-point and it was a Mule Deer. [It] ended up being a mile up the trail. The deer hadn’t been fed on at all. It was crazy! Super fresh. So we did the loop, ate our Clif bars at the top and finished at the car. Saw some guys emptying trash, so I mentioned the deer and he referenced me to a phone number for the camp host. He took my info and contacted the authorities. I got called back a few times and ultimately it was determined that the deer had been killed by a young cougar. Which is crazy considering how fresh it looked. May have happened near when we were up there. All we saw was a small wound on its side and leg.”

To add a little more detail to that journal excerpt, I believe is was a park ranger or some other type of park authority that contacted us several times. Brad was trying to give him directions to where we had found the deer and that took about two different calls. Then we hadn’t heard anything for a while and when we did get a call back it was with the conclusion the authority had drawn after skinning the deer. When he skinned it he was able to see evidence of bite marks, scratches, and contusions that likely lead to some internal bleeding and ultimately killed it. Perhaps the the deer had gotten away from the cougar, but not before a big tussle causing the contusions. Then the internal bleeding from the attack finally got the best of it after it had made it away from the cougar and that’s when we found it dead under a tree? No matter what the case, we were happy to see that it was form nature being nature and not from poachers. It’s still crazy to think how little evidence we saw of an injury besides a scratch and a little blood, but all the damage was internal and hiding under the hair.

Native American drawing and structures at Tuzigoot National Monument.
  • Saguaro National Park

Hiking up to Wasson Peak and taking in the many views along the way!

  • Airbnb camper set up
  • Outside of Grand Canyon National Park

Never having been to the Grand Canyon before it was an awesome experience that definitely lived up to the hype. Its so crazy to see just how huge it is. At some points it just feels like you are starring at a picture because you cant comprehend it. Its got me thinking about a return trip to hike down into the canyon.

We made it all the way out to California and Death Valley National Park before turning back to head home. I want to give a special thanks to Brad’s Grandpa and Grandma who took us to Outback Steakhouse in Nevada and also to my Aunt and Uncle in Arizona who gave us multiple meals and a place to stay for two nights. Also thanks to Uncle John for sharing some Army stories from the cold war era that gave us chills!

Southwest United States Road Trip

Ease Quam Videri

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I’m a little late to the party, but the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma was making waves when it first came out about the dangers and damage that social media can cause. While there are certainly issues with how social media can influence democracy and affect how people face discrimination, the issue that personally spoke to me was how it’s impacting mental health. Between 2009 and 2017, rates of depression among kids ages 14 to 17 increased by more than 60% with other adolescent age groups experiencing increases nearly as steep.

I feel I have a unique perspective growing up right at the rise of social media as we know it today. When I started high school Instagram, Snapchat, and even Facebook messenger didn’t exist yet. I got my first cell phone right around the beginning of high school and it was one of those cool ones with the slide-out keyboard; a dumbphone. I can remember a specific time in high school where I had a crush on a girl and since I was interested in her I got her phone number and texted her on my sweet slide-out keyboard. I can contrast that directly to a later memory in high school when I was caught up on my smartphone checking different social media apps to see who a girl’s best friends on Snapchat were and how long of a “streak” (how many days in a row you’ve communicated without a break) we had or if she liked my last Instagram picture. In hindsight, I can see how all of these social media platforms complicated what is already an awkward and difficult time in people’s lives. Today’s kids don’t even have the contrast that I had of simply texting a girl on my dumbphone.

“We are a sad generation with happy pictures.”

The quote above is one that I have seen frequently as younger generations, myself included, have become aware of the downfalls of social media. In a lot of ways, social media has robbed us of living in the moment with friends and those around us and replaced it with thoughts of how you are going to share the cool thing you are doing with others on social media so that you seem cool or more fun. We try to seem fun instead of having fun. So much emphasis has been put on our outward appearance that we forget our inward identity. The Latin phrase “Ease quam videri” means “to be, rather than to seem.” I find a lot of beauty in that saying because it’s a reminder that your identity isn’t based on how others see you, but our identity is based on who we truly are and what we believe. That’s why I think it is imperative that, especially adolescents, understand what their beliefs are and how God sees them rather than how Instagram sees them. They need to understand their value is based on their inward identity as a follower of Christ. That’s my biggest piece of advice to those growing up and figuring out who they are in this social media era.

“If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.”

Philippians 3:4-7

Trying to control your image, through social media and even before it existed, breeds a sense of superiority since it is most often done out of pride. It doesn’t matter that Paul seemed like the perfect follower of God because what he actually was was something different. Paul rejected Jesus as his Savior and even persecuted his followers. To the world he seemed like a righteous man, but it was the opposite in God’s eyes. It wasn’t until on that road to Damascus that Paul’s eyes were opened and he saw Jesus’s love. His identity had completely changed as, through God’s grace, he turned from his old identity to a new one as God’s servant. When I consider how God treated Paul, a persecutor of his own Son, I am in complete awe. If God can take someone who was completely against him and use him instead for his plan of salvation than how much more could use your or me? Consider that when you think of your outward identity. Just as Paul’s persona as a righteous man would have led to hell, in the same way the amount of likes or comments on your post can’t save you either. However, are a child of God and his tool in this sinful world with the opportunity to share his love to advance his plan of salvation regardless of how many followers you have or likes you get. Know you have your true identity in Jesus!

People say that life was simpler before social media and the internet and I tend to agree, but that doesn’t mean that those platforms are evil. If we start to feel as though our identities are being defined by social media then that is a good opportunity for us to look at how that compares to our true identity in Jesus. Social media may very well be a platform for us to continue Gods plan of salvation by sharing his love, but that is the perspective we must continually be considering when posting and browsing through content. It is so easy to get caught up in how we want to appear and to get caught peering down the rabbit hole of worldly living as we browse, but social media is not what we are. It’s a shallow outward appearance without depth. It is so often the highlights and never the bad times. So next time you go to use social media remember that you don’t have to “seem” a certain way because you know who you are; a loved and forgiven child of God.

“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.”

1 Peter 3:3-4

Recently I have felt so convicted by times I was chasing after what other people deemed as important and by my own selfish living that I rejoice that God has brought me to this spot in my life. 2020 was not an easy year for me, as for many, but it was through these struggles that God put me on my back so that I could finally start looking up. God is showing me that His plans are greater than mine and that he has a reason for everything. Through all these struggles I have been praying more than I have ever had. I hope to continue that in the new year and, in line with this post, I also hope to use social media less and more intentionally when I do. I pray that you remember how Jesus sees you rather than how social media does. God bless!

Ease Quam Videri