I had a fun day today. We took a trip to Scania this morning to pick up some Humvees. This in and of itself is not really all that fun, but the food at Scania is good and it's a chance to get off post for a little bit. I got to ride in the turrent and man the SAW on the way back, which I always enjoy. Quite a feeling driving down the road at 60 MPH sticking out the top of the Humvee with a machine gun at your shoulder.

When we got back I did a little dog hunting. We have issues with wild dogs roaming on post here, so we've begun to actively patrol the areas they tend to hang out in and shoot them to help control the dog population. Might sound mean, but it cuts down on the spread of disease and prevents damage to post property. They like to burrow under the outer perimeter fence which creates security problems.

Anyway, I was driving past the garbage dump when I spotted a wild dog trotting towards the dump, not far from the road. I hopped out of my truck, pulled out my Glock and tried to narrow the distance between myself and the dog in order to get a better shot but she kept walking in the opposite direction. Eventually the dog stopped about 100 feet away, turned directly toward me and started growling. I figured this was as close as I was going to get, so I stopped and took aim, waiting for her to turn length wise to present a clean, broad side target. Eventually she turned to walk away and I squeezed off a single round. I think I hit her in the hind quarters because she yelped and jumped in the air when I fired at her, then ran off before I could get a second clean shot off. I fired once more as she ran but missed. I could have kept firing at her, but I figured my odds of hitting a moving target with a pistol at a couple hundred feet were pretty slim. No sense wasting the ammunition.

That's the problem with 9MM rounds - they're not really all that heavy so they usually don't kill with one shot. Hopefully it died shortly there after. I'd hate to just wound it. On the positive side, this is officially my first shot fired in anger - at a stray dog that still managed to get away *lol* Born killer, I am.

But the absolute best today had to be the phone call I received later in the afternoon. I was catching up on my email when an individual (who shall remain nameless) called and reported that he wasn't getting an internet connection. Nothing was happening when he hooked his laptop up to the line I had installed in his office. He told me he had looked at the switch and checked out the line, and it all looked ok. He couldn't get into the closet where the router is (because I had locked it, thank goodness) so he wasn't sure if it was a problem in there. I stifled an inner sigh and told him I'd be right over to check it out.

I was finishing up my email when he called back a couple minutes later:

Him: "Hey SGT Rhodes, does the switch need electricity to work?"
Me: *thoughtful pause* "Yes, it does."
Him: "Oh, ok, well that explains it then. The power is out in the building. I'll just wait until it comes back on."
Me: "That's a good idea sir. If there's no power, there's no internet."

Ladies and gentlemen, this is America's Army.