WeakEnd

The end of another drill weekend, and I'm flippin' tired. I'm too spent to draw anything. Back in the day that wouldn't have stopped me. But back in the day I wasn't in the Army. Here's part of a panel from the unreleased sequel to my graphic novel.

Burlow

I didn't get any shots, I was all up to date. When I was going to go to Kuwait, they pumped me full of everything and it's still effective. Maybe that's why I never get fully sick anymore. I had what was going to be a sore throat but that dissipated. A new soldier was there and I was chosen to be his sponsor. That is, the guy who makes sure he smoothly integrates himself into the unit. I guess it's a good thing to be chosen for such a task. It means the command trusts me with new blood. Next stop is Sergeant, right?

I may have no choice now. The Army isn't letting reserve soldiers go IRR at this time. IRR means Inactive Ready Reserve. When you sign up, a reservist usually signs an 8 year contract. Six of those years you regularly attend drill one weekend a month with active time 2 weeks a year, and can be activated at any time. The remaining two years are IRR, you don't have to do any of that, but you're still able to be called upon to be activated with your unit. This of course is because of the current world situation. A few months ago you may have heard about the soldiers who were called back from IRR to active duty, and only a third of them bothered to show up. Looks like they struck a nerve, and is likely the reason they took it away for the time being. I just learned of this yesterday. Tony, of course, is not happy, and he's not the only one. If this is still in effect by the end of my first 6 years, I'll probably end up becoming a sergeant in those remaining two years.

Also at drill I observed two types of people. There's the soldiers who know what they have to do and get it done in a reasonable fashion, and there's the soldiers who ...don't. They try to avoid as much work or sense of accomplishment as possible. Just an observation.

I have an idea for a drawing, I'll probably do it tomorrow. Out.