Hannah Guarendi - Army Strong Stories

New PT uniform survey

Hannah Guarendi He — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:19:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
The Army recently launched a survey asking for Soldiers' opinions about the current PT uniform. The Army homepage has some more info and a link to the survey itself. Here's my opinion on the current uniform: It doesn't fit females very well, the fabrics are uncomfortable and stinky, and we could do better. I understand the "constraints" placed on the uniform by having to be made in the US, but that shouldn't constrain the way it is fitted. There's also really...read more

Another week on night shift

Hannah Guarendi He — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:05:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
Last week I spent another week on the night shift in the TOC for 67th, as our Brigade did another FTX, Operation Vanguard Lion II. The twelves hours every night spent in the battalion TOC area, this time only two tents plus one for the ALOC, left me rather tired during the day, rather hungry during the night, and able to finish several of the books I've started over the past month. One new book that I started and finish during the week was 'All In: The Education of General David...read more

New Year, New Shoes

Hannah Guarendi He — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 23:18:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
In January, I like to start with a few new goals and resolutions for the coming year. Some of them are reoccuring, like a list of 12 books I want to read. I adjusted that one this year to reading one biography a month. I also usually select a few events I want to attend, some local and some a little farther away. Two events I have pinpointed this year are the Augusta Half Marathon, here in Augusta, GA, on February 26th, and the Iron Girl Triathlon in Atlanta on May 20th. Since I started...read more

Patience is a virtue

Hannah Guarendi He — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 21:25:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
I hope everyone had a very merry and safe Christmas weekend! I went home for the weekend, and learned I am allergic to my family's new dog, a 75 pound "puppy" Rottweiler named Tank. On coming back in to work today, I browsed through my news and saw that the FLEP board results were released last week. Congrats to my friend Sommerville, I know he's going to be a great JAG officer. I didn't make the list this year, probably for a number of reasons, but there's...read more

Studying for the LSAT

Hannah Guarendi He — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 23:39:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
This past Saturday I took the LSAT. Sometime in the future I'd like to perhaps attend law school and switch from Signal to the Army JAG Corps, so I've spent the last ten weeks or so on some serious studying. One of the things they tell you when you're studying for the logic games is that most people figure out logic games as part of everyday life. Nowhere is this more true than if you work in the Army. Just this past week, I was doing some practice problems, the ones...read more

That time of year again: 1LT promotions

Hannah Guarendi He — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 20:42:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
It's that time of year again! Congrats to the class of 2010, who will start pinning on their little black bars today. No more "But I'm just a new LT" excuses to be used, no longer will people laugh a little when you say things like, "Well when I did this...." or atleast not quite as frequently. So, congrats on your automatic promotion, and best of luck....read more

Veterans Day

Hannah Guarendi He — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 23:33:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
This past weekend was a long, four-day weekend for most of us. We took the time to stop and thank veterans that served before us, and took time to relax with our families before all the big holidays come up. For me, Veterans Day is about remembering the sacrifices made by all the servicemembers who dedicated themselves to fighting for our freedom and way of life. Reflecting on the lives readily given by the young men and women who have served in the Armed Forces inspires me to continue...read more

Facebook, Sergeant Major of the Army, and grooming

Hannah Guarendi He — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 23:21:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
About a month or so ago, SMA Chandler posted something on his facebook wall. It was something pretty simple, just, "Over the next few months, we will be revising AR 670-1. We are especially looking at Chapter 1, which deals with grooming standards. What parts of that chapter do you want to see changed? Give me your thoughts on earrings for females in ACUs, or if French-tipped fingernails should be allowed. What about tattoos? Do visible tattoos in ACUs (neck, hands, etc.) keep...read more

In the news...

Hannah Guarendi He — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 19:48:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
WashingtonPost: Soldier’s death highlights women’s role in innovative program with Special Operations teams Something about everything that's involved in this news seemed to hit me on several levels. Let's start with the obvious. My deepest condolences go to the Whites and CPT Stumpf. I grew up in Stark County and attended Kent State before transferring to MBC, and I'm proud to claim LT White as a sister in arms. I kind of wish we could get over the...read more

Making travel plans

Hannah Guarendi He — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 00:17:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
As October flies past, it's time for everyone to start thinking about plans for the upcoming holidays. For me, I like to take this opportunity to travel and spend time with my family. This takes some pre-planning to help stay within my travel budget and time available. A recent article on smartmoney.com says that holiday airfares are up almost 4% at this time compared to last year. As usual, the closer you buy tickets to your date of departure, the more expensive they'll be....read more

Syncing schedules

Hannah Guarendi He — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 01:33:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
A common worry I hear among people today is the difficulty of syncing schedules with everyone in their lives. My biggest worry is trying to sync my own schedules on a daily basis, let along syncing with my husband's. I have several methods for trying to keep updated on what's going to happen next, and my process definitely needs some streamlining. For one event, I feel the need to record it in multiple places. I always carry with me a small black moleskine planner, in which I...read more

The Army and coffee

Hannah Guarendi He — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 00:52:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
It's a little known fact that the Army consumes a lot of coffee, to the point that it is literally a part of Army culture. One of my most important accessories is my unit insignia-emblazoned stainless steel insulated coffee thermos, since it goes with any uniform in any weather. Coffee has almost always been a part of basic rations for soldiers, and the modern Army is no exception. For example, when most fast food joints were pulled out Afghanistan to free up...read more

Vibrant Response 12: View from a nightshift

Hannah Guarendi He — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 04:12:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
This past week 67th Signal Battalion returned from Camp Atterbury, Indiana, where we took part in the Vibrant Response 12 exercise. VR12 is a mass catastrophe exercise for units to practice responding to a nuclear, chemical, or biological disaster on US soil. For this exercise, 67th provided several CPNs to provide communications for the various task forces, including medical, aviation, and NBC response units. As part of the S3, I was the night watch officer, at the battalion...read more

The Lieutenant Mafia

Hannah Guarendi He — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 18:17:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
One of the greatest things about being in the Army is having a built-in circle of friends and acquaintances of the same rank. Because of long hours and long distances from family and college friends, my best friends here in Georgia are the people I work with. Not only do we work together, we hang out after work, on the weekends, take vacations with friends we met in miltiary schools, and talk maybe too late online. One of the benefits of spending time together after work hours is the...read more

Beat the heat!

Hannah Guarendi He — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 04:10:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
As summer wears on, the heat down here in Georgia just keeps getting hotter and hotter. Most days we hit 90 degrees long before noon, and by the time we get back from lunch, any work out in the field or in the motor pool involves a lot of sweating and sun with the "realfeel" hitting close to 110 degrees. While this is not nearly as hot as Kuwait is this time of year, it's still not very comfy. One of my personal favorite ways to beat the heat is a nice, freezing cold icee....read more

Army Strong, Army Stink

Hannah Guarendi He — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 20:18:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
Every day I have the privilege of wearing the uniform of the US Army. To me, my uniform represents my commitment to serve the best country on earth. And to my laundry basket, it represents a continuous challenge. I accept that my job requires a certain amount of sweat and hard work and getting dirty and cleaning up. After all, sweat during peacetime saves blood during wartime. And in this Georgia heat/humidity, sweat we do. My current laundry strategies include keeping a bottle of Febreze...read more

Headgear, or, hats

Hannah Guarendi He — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 23:19:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
As of Thursday, 16 June, the 35th Theatre Tactical Signal Brigade will join the rest of the Army in wearing patrol caps instead of berets as the standard headgear with the ACUs. So far there has been pretty mixed reactions. Since the ACU is designed to be a combat uniform, easy to wear and practical, and wearing a ceremonialized beret with it didn't seem to make much sense. When worn correctly, a beret and ACUs can look sharp, but not necessarily efficient or practical. Some...read more

Rucking it up

Hannah Guarendi He — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 20:18:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
Every Tuesday morning is Foot March PT for C Co, 67th ESB. We form up a little early with our rucks and PT belts and head out by platoon for a semi-not-really-tactical practical foot march to help everyone keep their feet appropriately rough and ready. This morning the headquarters element completed about a 6 mile ruck in an hour and a half. Our typical standard for the ruck is 30% of your body weight, though some of us traing with more. My packing list usually includes the issued sleep...read more

Currahee!

Hannah Guarendi He — Fri, 13 May 2011 18:19:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
This past week the leaders of 67th Signal Battalion (Expeditionary) took a field trip to Camp Toccoa, Georgia, to run up Currahee Mountain. Camp Toccoa was the site of Paratrooper training during World War, from 1942-1944, before the Airborne School was moved to Fort Benning. Running Currahee Mountain, three miles up and three miles down, was an integral part of training for the Army's paratroops. The trail is now named Colonel Sink Trail, after the commander of the 506th Parachute...read more

Signal-style Field Training

Hannah Guarendi He — Mon, 02 May 2011 17:45:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
Every unit has to spend some time in the field. It's just a fact of Army life. As a cadet, I was used to participating in one FTX (field training exercise) a semester. Since joining the real Army, however, I've greatly increased the amount of time spent "in the field." We have mini-FTX's to get ready for the real company-level FTX's that are in preparation for the Battalion FTX that gets us ready for the Brigade Culminating Training Exercise....it all sounds really...read more

Constant Partial Attention

Hannah Guarendi He — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 00:48:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
I have recently been doing my transition into a new position, that of Executive Officer for a Joint Area Signal Company, or heavy signal, within the same Expeditionary Signal Battalion. As I've been learning from the outgoing XO, as well as preparing for our incoming new commander, one thing that I keep hearing is that I need to be flexible and ready to react to any sort of situation at any time, no matter what I planned on working or completing. I have since begun to recognize this as a...read more

MilSpace Rendezvous 2011

Hannah Guarendi He — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 03:01:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
I am currently in Palo Alto, California, with the Milspace team, the people who administer and breathe life into the CompanyCommand and PlatoonLeader forums. These forums provide a ton of resources and information as well as act as a networking tool for future, current, and past platoon leaders and company commanders, helping to spread lessons learned at the speed of the Internet. While the main focus of this event is learning more about the tools we can use to make MilSpace better,...read more

Saying goodbye and moving on

Hannah Guarendi He — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 23:00:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
When I was a cadet, I learned that one of the most important days following graduation is the day you meet your first platoon for the first time. I used to think about what I would say to my own little group of Soldiers, how I would introduce myself, what kind of tone I wanted to set right off the bat, what kind of hopes and dreams I had for them and for myself. I never once thought about how it would be to say goodbye to that platoon and get ready to move on. Today ends my time as a...read more

Female Engagement Teams

Hannah Guarendi He — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 03:06:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
Last month SOC announced they are recruiting volunteer female Soldiers to serve on female engagement teams in Afghanistan. Because of cultural barriers, males cannot directly address traditional women without the permission of their closest male relative. However, as we've learned, women do hold a large share of power and influence in most cultures, and we need to win their hearts and minds just as much as the men. They can also provide important information about their community, what...read more

February: Almost Over

Hannah Guarendi He — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 06:17:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
Georgia weather is finally back! After a few really cold weeks, this past weekend, Georgia finally hit above 70 degrees. Weekends like this remind me of why I like Georgia in the first place. As usual, we are prepping for another FTX week coming up too quickly. In late March, my company will be bringing out every single one of our assemblages and testing them out, making sure all the configs are good and none of the batteries have died recently. We will be mixing all this with some...read more

Staff Duty

Hannah Guarendi He — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 19:46:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
I am spending this Super Bowl Sunday on the Brigade Staff Duty Desk. I have already settled in, started the Staff Duty Log, and found The Pentagon Channel on the new tv in the Staff Duty Office. Right now I'm watching a rather interesting vintage military presentation about Signal operations in Vietnam. I can only imagine how important Signal soldiers were when FM radio were essentially the only means of communication between commanders and their men. I like to use time on Staff Duty...read more

Women and combat and other opportunities

Hannah Guarendi He — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 05:31:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
A recent report recommended that women be permitted to be fully assigned to ground combat units and in combat MOSs. A report by ArmyTimes discussed some pros and cons. Here's my thoughts on the issue. For generations women have wholeheartedly served in the Army, many following the mantra, "It's my war too," in many roles from supply to admin to to pilots to signal to ADA. But, even during the most recent conflict, most Americans think that women do less and...read more

Back in the groove

Hannah Guarendi He — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 10:38:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
The last two weeks seem to have completely flown by. Coming back from a leave can always seem like a kick in the pants, and this was no exception. With all of the events my company has coming up, there was no time to enjoy the lovely Georgia weather of late. The first day back was a challenge in and of itself. The Brigade twelve mile ruck march scheduled for the morning of 4 January was cancelled, but no one got off easy. We still had PAI and a full day scheduled, and just as I had gotten...read more

Role Models

Hannah Guarendi He — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 06:12:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
This past week, Major Richard Winters died. As I read the many tributes in newspapers and magazines and blogs, I am inspired by his brave actions and dedication to his troops. His style of leadership is truly one that all young officers should study and emulate. For many of us young lieutenants, we were introduced to Dick Winters through multiple showings of "Band of Brothers." As I think back to the many, many times my friends and I randomly quoted lines from this series in...read more

Apps for a better year

Hannah Guarendi He — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 20:59:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
As I developed my new year's resolutions over the past few weeks, my obvious inclination was to find ways to make them easier. Since I have become rather attached to the smartphone I got shortly after redeploying (why yes it is the R2-D2 edition Droid 2...does that make me a geek?) I have decided to find apps to help keep resolutions. Here are some of my top-used apps so far: Signal LT Handbook by FA53: soooo much easier than printing off a hardcopy of this, PLUS the hardcopy...read more

A Threat to National Security?

Hannah Guarendi He — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 07:14:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
This week the First Lady declared that the childhood obesity epidemic is a threat to national security. Because more and more Americans are no longer fit for military duty due to obesity and other related health issues, Michelle Obama declared that America will be safer when our citizens are healthier. On one hand, I agree. I think a healthier nation would be ideal. On the other hand, I don't think that comparing terrorism and children drinking pop is a good strategy to either garner...read more

Moving on, if not up

Hannah Guarendi He — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 06:57:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
Last week I got promoted! In many ways, the only difference between a second lieutenant and first lieutenant are the insignia and the pay. I'm still in the same position, which is good, because I still feel like I'm learning so much every day. This past week I also got to attend some sessions at the Signal Conference here at Fort Gordon. One of the most interesting was about the Apps for the Army and some of their latest projects. I will admit that I reference the Signal LT...read more

How I'd Wire...My Platoon!

Hannah Guarendi He — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 04:53:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
One of the main focuses in garrison is training for my platoon. My NCOs and I need to make sure they get not only the required Army training, such as Equal Opportunity, Alcohol and Substance Abuse, Hot Weather Training, etc, but also special event training, such as PMIs for ranges and NBC training. In addition, we need to schedule training for each Soldier to keep sharp in their MOS basic skills. A majority of this training comes in powerpoint form, as well as simulations and computer based...read more

Inventories!

Hannah Guarendi He — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 05:26:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
The last few weeks here have been crazy with inventories. We got back some Early Reset equipment, mostly backup pieces that were held in reserve during the deployment. Thankfully none of our big signal equipment had any breakdowns during the missions so the backup was never touched. We also got back all the Left Behind Equipment that was left here at Fort Gordon. So far, my least favourite part of this process has been the toolkits. Now, toolkits can be very useful, and I love gadgets and...read more

Pomp and circumstance

Hannah Guarendi He — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 09:13:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
The past two weeks have been just a crazy blur as I get into the swing of reset and adjusting to garrison. In addition, we also had a battalion change of command. For several days, battalion key leaders got to practice their drill and ceremony skills as they ran through the change of command parade. Thank goodness Georgia is rolling into Fall, and the weather was only about 90-some degrees. I also got my first OER, a change of senior rater, and attended our battalion's first Hail and...read more

Female fitted uniform?

Hannah Guarendi He — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 08:18:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/08/MONDAYarmy-female-cut-acu-on-the-way-082310w/ I cannot tell you how excited I am to hear that ACUs that might fit better are possibly coming! I am stuck between sizes, small-x short and x small-x short, just because of my shoulders and hips. The waist on smalls practically falls down, but the hips on x-small is almost too small. As some brief background on the Army and uniforms, the Army Nurse's uniform was actually designed off of a...read more

American Military Museum, Charleston, SC

Hannah Guarendi He — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 06:56:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
Over this past weekend I got to visit Charleston, SC. The weather was a nice change from the humidity of Augusta, and I always love visiting historic cities and seeing new old things, even if the parking situation is awful. While I was there, I got to visit the American Military Museum near the Charleston Aquarium. I'd heard good reviews about the museum and was pretty excited to finally get to go. It was not crowded at all on a Saturday afternoon, and almost somewhat hidden in a...read more

Block Leave

Hannah Guarendi He — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 07:24:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
I opted not to take leave during Block Leave, and so have been hanging around Fort Gordon for the past week and some. The schedule is very light. We do PT at 0630, work call at 0900 (apparently optional for officers), and 3 day weekends. I've been using my time to catch up with friends, readjust to working out in the oppressive Georgia humidity, and explore the historic areas around Fort Gordon. There's so much to do in the area, and I'd like to take advantage of being here as...read more

Home again!!

Hannah Guarendi He — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 22:04:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
After a long month in transit and reintegration, I'm finally home! The last few weeks in country were hectic and crazy, trying to get our replacing unit into place and moving all of our signal equipment around the country. Just getting from our sites to FOB Delta for movement to Kuwait was rough, thanks to the lovely Iraq weather. Reintegration was an interesting process. When we finally landed in Augusta and were greeted by families on Fort Gordon, it was so weird to think we...read more

Connections

Hannah Guarendi He — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 22:02:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
Sometimes it's really amazing how you will run into people you thought you'd never see again. Here at Kalsu, just a few weeks after graduating from OBC, I found out one of my buddies stationed at Fort Benning would also be coming downrange. Turns out his office is literally right next door to mine, and we have continued our tradition of pizza nights most weekends. In addition, another one of our OBC classmates is coming out in the company that is replacing mine in just a few weeks. Also, one of...read more

Deployment PT

Hannah Guarendi He — Thu, 27 May 2010 20:24:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
One of the most annoying parts about being deployed is the PT aspect. On one hand, being at a smaller COS, my unit doesn't have organized PT at ghastly hours of the morning. Our commander has given us the go-ahead to do PT on our own since everyone here meets and exceeds the standard on our APFT, and everyone seems to have a PT buddy to help them out. On the other hand, the resources are very limited. There's only about a 2.5 mile track area available for running, which...read more

WAC Birthday!

Hannah Guarendi He — Fri, 14 May 2010 23:24:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
14 May was celebrated by the Women's Army Corps as the birthday of women in the Army because on 14 May 1942, the bill authorizing the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps was passed through Congress, the first legislation allowing women to serve in the Army with military status. A few months later, the first female officer spoke to the first class of female officer candidates, saying, "May fourteenth is a date already written into the history books of tomorrow. . . ....read more

Deployment Favourites

Hannah Guarendi He — Mon, 10 May 2010 21:37:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
Some of my favourite things I've grown ridiculously attached to while deployed: HP Mini 210: With my external HD, holds all I need for success: constant internet access, photos and journals, tv shows, and a whole library of TMs, FMs, and reference docs that help fill in the holes of my OBC training. Not to mention it fits in my cargo pocket and has atleast a solid 8 hours of battery life. Neutrogena Utra Sport SPF 70+: perfectly non-greasy and sweatproof Pond's...read more

Introduction

Hannah Guarendi He — Wed, 05 May 2010 21:35:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
HI, I'm currently a platoon leader assigned to A Co, 67th ESB, 35th Signal Brigade. The day I graduated from SBOLC at Fort Gordon and reported to 35th Sig, I received my deployment orders for Iraq, and am finishing up a very short tour here with my Soldiers. To introduce myself, I graduated from Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Virginia, where I was part of the Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership Corps of Cadets. MBC is a female college, but our Army ROTC...read more