tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55898672011-04-21T12:22:57.700-07:00soldier's paradiseThis is a blog inspired by another soldier friend of mine who has given his feelings on matters. There are always more points of view and this one is mine.Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comBlogger711100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1103705984431398402004-12-22T01:56:00.000-08:002004-12-22T00:59:44.430-08:00I'm back in the sand box! I will now be posting to a new blog. The address is www.soldiersparadiseii.blogspot.com I haven't posted yet but will very soon. This email is just to let those readers of my past blog know I am posting again.
Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1074187390828463972004-01-15T09:23:00.000-08:002004-01-15T09:24:31.873-08:00I just got back from being home for the holidays this week. The visits with my family were wonderful! It was so nice to be able to see so many of the people that I love and know that I would not be leaving them to go back to the war, at least not immediately.
There were two real downers to the holiday reunions. Number one I think I am suffering from post dramatic stress disorder. When I Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1071262928388132162003-12-12T13:02:00.000-08:002003-12-12T13:02:56.233-08:00All I have heard since I got back is how bad it is here, and how much I am gonna wish I was deployed again after being here a while. All of this is coming from soldiers that have never been anywhere, or at least were not in the type of situation I was in. Is it difficult here? Yes, but it is a far cry from being stuck nine thousand miles away from your wife and son sleeping on a cot and Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1070488844315434222003-12-03T14:00:00.000-08:002003-12-03T15:26:43.796-08:00I have been back in the states now for a little bit more than two weeks. The reunion with my wife and son was both very joyful and stressful at the same time. It took the three of us that left together the better part of two days to get home, and there were many issues along the way. Stupid people drive me nuts, I’ll just leave it at that.
After I got “home”, back to Arizona, I had to go Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1068246287185193742003-11-07T15:04:00.000-08:002003-11-07T15:04:45.400-08:00Well it is down to it. This is the last entry I will make from my home in the sand box! I am with in days of completing my seventh deployment. I have grown spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. I have made, and lost some extremely good friends. There are several guys who have been integral parts of my life for the last six years and more than likely I will never see them again. Jay, Matt,Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1067986188119122322003-11-04T14:49:00.000-08:002003-11-04T14:49:46.106-08:00Well I think I am down to fingers before I actually get out of here. There have been no set backs so far this time (knock, knock, knock).
Joyce and I have decided to use a moving company. It really isn’t that much more expensive than just renting a truck since the truck is gonna be so much, and it takes all the hassle off of us. Not to mention I won’t have to worry about Joyce, driving our Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1067721625482943272003-11-01T13:20:00.000-08:002003-11-01T13:20:24.256-08:00Well I set up a schedule for my blog writing and broke it right off the bat. Sorry about that. We had some scheduled maintenance on the network I didn’t know about that knocked out the internet for us for a while.
Things have been crazy here the last few days. I have another departure date. I am supposed to have less than two weeks left in this wonderful country. I’ll believe it when it Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1067328298723257662003-10-28T00:04:00.000-08:002003-10-28T00:04:58.260-08:00Yesterday we lost our first soldier in our battalion since the war began. We didn’t lose him to mortar fire. We didn’t lose him to small arms fire. We didn’t lose him to a training accident or a vehicle accident. He wasn’t even out here. We lost him in his barracks room back at Huachuca. He took his own life.
There are several rumors flying around about his death, so our Battalion Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1067011683285470982003-10-24T09:08:00.000-07:002003-10-24T09:08:03.266-07:00Disregard last entry. I am already being told that I am probably not going to be on that flight now. They are saying maybe the 17th. Par for the course. Like I said nothing but bad news today. So much for falling asleep happy huh? Good thing I didn’t get Joyce’s hopes up by telling her it was pretty much a sure thing…Oh wait I did.Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1067000220670087352003-10-24T05:57:00.000-07:002003-10-24T05:56:59.976-07:00I got some excellent news yesterday. Since then it has been followed with nothing but bad news. Yesterday upon returning from two other camps doing sensitive items inventories I was told that I am scheduled to fly out of Kuwait on the 3rd of November, hopefully never to return. As I am sure you can all imagine I was bursting with glee, and I went to sleep happy for the first time since my son Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1066659534210788082003-10-20T07:18:00.000-07:002003-10-20T08:26:21.576-07:00First off I would like to apologize for the severe highs and lows that my entries have been enduring as of late. I realize that I don’t have to apologize, as it is my blog, and they are my emotions. However I feel as if I have made a connection with some of you on some level and I want you all to know that I am a very strong person, and have never entertained thoughts of hurting myself or Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1066476139759667442003-10-18T04:22:00.000-07:002003-10-18T04:22:19.566-07:00I awoke this morning with it sitting on my chest. I was pinned under it’s weight. It held me there for nearly an hour, and I couldn’t escape it no matter how hard I struggled. I rolled right and it simply shifted to still be holding me down. I rolled left…same results. I looked up at the pictures of my son and my wife and it’s weight nearly brought me to tears. I am not one that is easily Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1066222197647098632003-10-15T05:49:00.000-07:002003-10-15T05:49:57.116-07:00 I woke up this morning in the best mood I have been in, in a long time. I can’t explain why really, but it might have had something to do with the fact that I had mistakenly set my alarm for 4:35pm rather than 4:35am. So when I woke up at 9:30am totally missing PT I was rather surprised, and very well rested for the first time in some time. As I walked to work I had a little bit of a smile Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1066058817924502592003-10-13T08:26:00.000-07:002003-10-13T08:26:57.706-07:00 The walls that surround my rack are made up of various things. Immediately to the foot of my rack is the back of another soldier’s shelf. To my left is the tent wall. There is about an eighteen inch gap between the side of my bed and the tent wall so that the air conditioner will fit there. To the head of my rack is the back of my shelf with most of my things splayed out amongst it. To the Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1065786210029084392003-10-10T04:43:00.000-07:002003-10-11T04:43:23.056-07:00My heart is pounding, my knees are aching more than they have ached in years, and my eyes are stinging horribly. This is the fifth day in a row that I have been forced to run in some way or another. I am not the best runner in the world, so I can definitely use the work, but as much as we have been running lately cannot be good for you. Like I said, my knees are killing me. I’ve had knee Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1065619176682434952003-10-08T06:19:00.000-07:002003-10-08T06:19:36.553-07:00The last couple of days have been very up and down. I have left each day of work totally exhausted, but feeling as if something was accomplished. I haven’t had a computer to call my own for some time, which is partially why I have been posting so sporadically. I still don’t have my own computer so this may not change for some time yet.
Last night was possibly the best night I have had out Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1065297709442202052003-10-04T13:01:00.000-07:002003-10-04T13:01:49.583-07:00We got bunk beds in our tent today. Do the people in charge think about what they are doing before they do things or just do them? No one in the tent wanted the bunk beds. We were all pretty settled in with our cots. Most of us had air mattresses or what have you. I mean dang we have been here nearly eight months, isn’t it a little late?
So at around 11am our acting First Sergeant comes Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1065209617997787132003-10-03T12:33:00.000-07:002003-10-03T12:33:37.653-07:00Where to begin? I guess it was about eight or nine days ago now that chief and I left for Camp Virginia. We had to go help them solve a problem that they were having with one of the assemblages there providing communications. I can’t really give you any more information than that as it would be a breach of security. We both planned on maybe being gone a maximum of about five hours. Boy were Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1064953954001139342003-09-30T13:32:00.000-07:002003-09-30T13:32:33.730-07:00I'm very sorry I have not written in so long. I have not had access to a computer, and have been all over the place working my butt off. I have taken some pictures, and promise to post for real very soon. Thank you all for your concern. It has really made me feel good, at a time when I needed it.Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1064333890155209642003-09-23T09:18:00.000-07:002003-09-23T09:18:10.053-07:00It was dark at a quarter to five this morning, but that’s normal. It usually is. I lazily rubbed the sleep from my eyes and blindly began to look for my Physical Training uniform. I found it and slowly began to put it on. Naturally I was not too excited about the prospect of being up that early, and especially not to do PT with a large group of soldiers showing false motivation.
That is the Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1064219910358631392003-09-22T01:38:00.000-07:002003-09-22T01:38:30.100-07:00Today I wrote a letter that I have not yet decided to send. It could end up back firing and doing exactly the opposite of what I am hoping, but then again it could bring closure to the issue in precisely the manner I was looking for.
I am very torn by this decision. I desperately want what has been promised me, and not getting it could be interfering with other aspects of my life now that theyThorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1064048559545557572003-09-20T02:01:00.000-07:002003-09-20T02:02:39.646-07:00The last two days have been spent building floors for our work tents. This is pretty normal and would fall under site improvement…normally. However, our site is setting right smack in the middle of where the barracks are going to be built, and we were not told not even a week ago that we are going to have to move as early as the end of next month and no later than the beginning of December. Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1063784604784768502003-09-17T00:43:00.000-07:002003-09-17T00:43:24.493-07:00Last night I walked past a soldier in the sleep tent that was drawing a calendar on a piece of cardboard he had torn from a box. He was starting with last night and going all the way through March of next year. He also left room for a few months after that.
When I asked him about it, he said that he could start counting down days as soon as they told him when he was leaving. I asked him what Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1063671785993957902003-09-15T17:18:00.000-07:002003-09-15T17:30:59.396-07:00I just finished reading one of the most moving accounts of a single man’s life I have ever read. With the term “hero” being too loosely used in my opinion these days it is refreshing to find a story of a man who truly emulates what a hero really is.
With the second anniversary of 911 recently past it is still easy to get caught up in the emotion of a day that will forever live on in our hearts Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1063492245969154762003-09-13T15:29:00.000-07:002003-09-13T15:30:45.970-07:00This morning after I got off shift and was on my way back to the sleep tent, I found myself thinking about hw much nicer the weather had been the last couple of days. Little did I know how much of a rude awakening I was in for…Literally.
As I pulled back the tent flap to go inside I was hit full on by stale, hot air. The AC’s were out. There is no air flow through the tents. All of the Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1063399049290736382003-09-12T13:36:00.000-07:002003-09-12T13:37:29.330-07:00Germany was a life changing experience. I grew more in the two years that I was stationed in Germany than in any other portion of my life. Who I am today was shaped in Germany.
C and I arrived in Germany on the same day. We knew each other better than most other soldiers. We had been room mates for the last nine months at AIT. We knew we were both going to Germany, but neither of us had anyThorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1063318915052641602003-09-11T15:21:00.000-07:002003-09-11T15:22:32.870-07:00It has been difficult finding time to write lately. Not that things have been too hectic or anything. It’s just that the job has managed to pull me away from my desk as of late. Not something I enjoy. I like sitting at my desk checking my e-mail a thousand times a day and looking over my fantasy football rosters 50 times a day. Those are the things that are getting me through this.
I heard Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1063019333131885262003-09-08T04:08:00.000-07:002003-09-08T04:08:53.173-07:00AIT was largely a nine month party. Ya we had our normal weekly crap. Duties we had to perform, crap to clean and just your normal everyday military busy work.
You go through “phases” during training, and by that I mean actual stages of responsibility you are aloud to have. The first couple of weeks you are there you can’t really do anything and with school and all the busy work they keep Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1062945082347645252003-09-07T07:31:00.000-07:002003-09-07T07:31:22.393-07:00Yesterday I got a surprise opportunity to go on a shopping trip to Kuwait City. I found out the night before the trip that there was an available seat on the trip so I took it. I love to buy things for my wife. A little too much maybe. I would make us destitute buying her things if she would let me.
The trip left at 0600 and returned at 2000, about six hours of that time would be eaten up byThorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1062761126504965602003-09-05T04:25:00.000-07:002003-09-05T04:25:26.540-07:00The next day it was back on a bus. This time the bus trip was much longer. Fort Leonard Wood Missouri to Fort Gordon Georgia is no pleasure road trip in a bus. It seemed like we were on the bus for days. In reality I guess we were, but it’s ok basic is over and from what I have heard this AIT is like college. I’ve been to college and that was a constant party. I was sure this wouldn’t be a Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1062672473993912962003-09-04T03:47:00.000-07:002003-09-04T03:47:53.990-07:00The flight from Sacramento to St. Louis was only the third time I had ever been on a plane. The first time was a 14 hour non-stop flight from San Francisco to London. I was a little nervous. Not just about the flight, but also about the result of the flight. My life was going to change a lot. I really had no idea how much.
I landed in St. Louis and it was only a matter of about a half an Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1062593489134489272003-09-03T05:51:00.000-07:002003-09-03T05:51:29.176-07:00My life as a soldier began rather tentatively. I had been considering the military for a few weeks when one of my closest friends told me he went to the recruiter’s office. I was amazed, as I had never thought of him as military material, but then again I had never thought of myself as military material either.
If I remember correctly my friend and I started working out the details of what Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1062497808434913732003-09-02T03:16:00.000-07:002003-09-02T03:16:48.430-07:00T was back the night I wrote about his search. The NCO that promised to bring him back succeeded. T subsequently got two pretty significant butt chewings before I even got to him, and mine was no less significant. Being the type of guy he is, he dug himself deeper right out of the gate.
“What is the big deal Sarge?”
I lost it. I knew the question was coming, but I thought I would react Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1062422200899202982003-09-01T06:16:00.000-07:002003-09-01T06:16:40.950-07:00I have found that the last couple of days (every since I was told I am going home in a couple of weeks), it has been very hard for me to concentrate on things. I really have little interest in what is going on around me. I have submersed myself in trying to figure out where Joyce, Reid and I will live when we return, and contemplating how long we will be there when we are there.
Football Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1062338955243364422003-08-31T07:09:00.000-07:002003-08-31T07:09:15.290-07:00I hope I wasn’t that dumb when I was a young troop. As far as I can remember though I was too scared one of my NCOs planting a boot in my hind quarters to do anything that would be considered too far outside the norm.
As I have mentioned before I have two soldiers out here, both of which I inherited, and would not ever have claimed if I had them for any serious amount of time. You see while Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1062160491901143752003-08-29T05:34:00.000-07:002003-08-29T05:34:51.913-07:00It was your normal morning. I was sitting in front of my lap top browsing the internet for speakers for my car when I get home, studying dizzying amounts of football information in preparation for the upcoming fantasy football season, chatting with my wife with Yahoo instant messenger and talking on the phone (rather uninterestedly) listening to another soldier about some communications problem Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1061989727989193592003-08-27T06:08:00.000-07:002003-08-27T06:08:48.060-07:00Chow has gotten increasingly worse over the last month or so. I find I am spending more and more money at Subway because of the lack of anything decent or even enough of it in the chow hall.
Today my battle buddy and I walked down to the chow hall, to be served a (as in one) corn dog and a small half empty bag of chips. We were both instantly pissed off. If I were some malnourished child thatThorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1061819154447627312003-08-25T06:45:00.000-07:002003-08-25T06:51:42.576-07:00My guard duty has come to an end. Now I will try to re-install some normalcy in my daily routine, if that is possible at all out here in the first place. Normally I get up with my soldiers every Monday through Saturday at 0430 to hit the gym for two hours or so before it gets too hot. I promised another one of the NCOs out here that has been working with us because he likes my workout system Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1061748750632511592003-08-24T11:12:00.000-07:002003-08-24T11:12:30.650-07:00The “Ignorant American”, the “Blind Westerner”. Man I can not understand how I became so ignorant and blind, but I am glad that so many other blogs and articles have it all figured out for me so all I have to do is go read and become enlightened.
There is a problem with ignorance to real issues and the blindness comes from those who don’t want to see, but in reality these people are not truly Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1061493510386908462003-08-21T12:18:00.000-07:002003-08-21T12:18:30.396-07:00Joyce put the crib together by herself yesterday. Not that I normally do all of that stuff, we are normally a team effort sort of couple. We would be pretty funny to watch I am sure. I am a by the instructions kind of guy, separating the nuts and bolts into their respective piles and going at the whole thing methodically. Joyce is the “this piece looks like it should go here” kind of Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1061472028753033052003-08-21T06:20:00.000-07:002003-08-21T06:20:28.830-07:00There is very little ambient light where I am. This makes for amazing starlit nights. Last night was now exception and there was no moon to boot until about 1:30 am. As my partner and I were settling in for another four hours of boredom in our guard shack I saw the brightest shooting star I have ever seen! This thing had to shoot half way across the sky and made a bright blue line in the Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1061342147439974272003-08-19T18:15:00.000-07:002003-08-19T18:15:47.516-07:00Tonight before going to the night time version of my guard shift, the much easier version (with no sun) I might add. I stopped in to read the comments on my last post and to quickly check my e-mail.
Right off the top it was implied that I am not an American and that I should quit my “bitchin’”. Normally I don’t let other people’s opinions and comments affect me, but at night on guard duty all Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1061298761102360672003-08-19T06:12:00.000-07:002003-08-19T06:16:02.080-07:00It is 10:30 am and I am riding in the back of a truck on my way out to my guard tower (eating dirt again) where I will spend the next four hours trying not to die of dehydration. When I have breathed in enough dirt to kill a small child, (and by the way I am developing a pretty ugly cough and starting to worry about the brain swelling pneumonia that is going around out here but that’s another Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1061211983968498442003-08-18T06:06:00.000-07:002003-08-18T06:06:24.066-07:00I have been crazy buzy the last few days and have not even had a chance to organize my thoughts. I am on guard duty all of this week and just after getting off shift I had to make a very important phone call to a very close friend of mine who needed some moral support.
I promise to have my thoughts organized soon and write something worth reading! Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1061040838795832602003-08-16T06:33:00.000-07:002003-08-16T06:33:58.770-07:00Wow! Yesterday’s post was about trying to envision a possible scenario and whether I am “totally wrong” or that I don’t understand the Iraqi people “even a teeny tiny bit” I’m trying to look at all of the possibilities.
I do understand that the picketers want us all home. We want to be home. My point was missed by a good many people who read and responded to my post. I don’t want to take Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1060968362086553052003-08-15T10:26:00.000-07:002003-08-15T10:26:01.993-07:00Another circle of events is beginning. Yesterday my wife told me that there are protests against America’s troops being in Iraq, being here for so long, not rotating. This really troubled me. You see I can understand the frustration that people are feeling at what is being done here. I wouldn’t want my son or daughter here fighting a war that could possibly kill them either.
Out of concern Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1060847941125601382003-08-14T00:59:00.000-07:002003-08-14T01:03:39.020-07:00Senseless acts of violence dominate Iraq. That is certain. They are not only being committed by the “Sadam Loyalists”, they are also being committed by American soldiers. The snowball effect has begun. Where did it begin is not what is important. What is important is that it has begun, and everyone who is involved who isn’t working to stop it is wrong.
If I was in danger of being blown up Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1060764253420884072003-08-13T01:44:00.000-07:002003-08-13T01:49:03.816-07:00Reading the news has been very frustrating to me lately. Every day we hear more about soldier deaths in Iraq, and it makes me sad. I have friends up there. Friends that I would die for if they needed me to and I am sitting down here, a whole country away. There is no real threat where I am. I know I am only a signal guy and wouldn’t be directly involved in all of the operations that are Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1060697503606497492003-08-12T07:11:00.000-07:002003-08-12T07:11:43.646-07:00The weather here has been very strange the last few days. There have been major changes that seem to be directly related to the direction the wind is blowing. If the wind is blowing from the North or the South it is simply VERY hot wind. Even hotter than the sun beating down on us. The wind actually feels like it is burning you. As I was walking to chow today the only exposed parts of my Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1060593113412079982003-08-11T02:11:00.000-07:002003-08-11T02:11:53.430-07:00Yesterday I went to church. It was only the fourth time I have been to church out here, but it was four in a row so I am feeling pretty good about myself. I have only been about 14 or 15 times in the last 14 years not a very good record admittedly. I really enjoy going and I always feel good afterwards. Some how though there is always some reason why “I can’t go this week.” All the more Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1060438554780289792003-08-09T07:15:00.000-07:002003-08-09T07:30:19.800-07:00Today was a break through. My wife and I realized we were both making this harder on each other trying to make things easier. Confused? Me too. To a point. I have been trying to find the way I can spend the most time with her and she has been trying to find the way to stay as close to home as possible.
What I didn’t understand was that her underlying intent was to keep me home near my Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1060435468861245552003-08-09T06:24:00.000-07:002003-08-09T06:29:49.776-07:00Today was a break through. My wife and I realized we were both making this harder on each other trying to make things easier. Confused? Me too. To a point. I have been trying to find the way I can spend the most time with her and she has been trying to find the way to stay as close to home as possible.
What I didn’t understand was that her underlying intent was to keep me home near my Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1060355031842355512003-08-08T08:03:00.000-07:002003-08-08T08:03:51.850-07:00Beep…beep…beep………..beep…beep…beep. I slowly open my eyes and there is not the normal hew from the sun coming up in the tent. Beep…beep…beep……..beep…beep…beep.
What is that darn beeping? Oh it’s my alarm clock. Why is my alarm clock going off when it’s still dark outside? I begin to fumble around in the dark to find it knocking my discman loudly to the floor before I finally do. It’s 0230!!!Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1060252984777515552003-08-07T03:43:00.000-07:002003-08-07T03:43:04.770-07:00Decisions, decisions. Too many things going on that I have to decide what route to take. As my stay in this wonderful desert paradise keeps seeming to be extending itself further and further into the future I am faced with several decisions. Do I press forward with my volunteer recruiter packet? Do I accept my supervisors recommendation to go to the promotion board? Do I try and get an Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1060080667859580502003-08-05T03:51:00.000-07:002003-08-05T03:51:07.776-07:00I recently rediscovered chatting using instant messengers. I had forgotten how easy it was to keep in touch with those friends that are on the internet with it and how utterly annoying it could be when you are trying to do something. I am a multi-tasker. I always have been, but wow. Three chats, writing a report, and talking to my wife on the phone, can make anyone go insane.
Over the last Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1059988316869922192003-08-04T02:11:00.000-07:002003-08-04T02:11:56.936-07:00Holding patterns. A constant part of military life as we know it. One of my readers wrote asking advice on how to get through a long separation as I did in Germany, and in her second letter she referred to the holding pattern she was in, not knowing where they would be next and what was going to happen.
It is very true to say get used to not knowing. As I have said before I re-enlisted in Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1059892669695741452003-08-02T23:37:00.000-07:002003-08-02T23:40:47.243-07:00Today was Joyce's birthday. She went up north to a small town on the boarder of Oregon and California to spend some time with her grandmother and since my grandparents live only twelve miles on the other side of the boarder it was a great chance for them to meet there newest great grandson for the first time! They don't get to travel much any more and there is a treacherous mountain pass Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1059725651152857772003-08-01T01:14:00.000-07:002003-08-01T01:14:11.200-07:00There seems to be one every deployment. Divorce. This time it is a very young girl who didn’t even see it coming. As far as she knew everything was fine back home, but obviously it wasn’t. She was even dual military at one point so you would think her spouse would be empathetic to her position.
Maybe they were too young when they got married, but regardless she is hurt and it is another Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1059633636999664792003-07-30T23:40:00.000-07:002003-07-30T23:40:36.960-07:00What am I as a soldier in the US Army? There are many that will tell you I am just a brainwashed tool of a few greedy men who use the military for their own personal gain and policy. On the other hand there are those that will tell you I am the defender of all that is good and right, the hand of God that brings freedom and salvation to the oppressed peoples all over the world. I think there Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1059571968616455092003-07-30T06:32:00.000-07:002003-07-30T06:32:48.573-07:00Many of us are now being asked if we want to take leave. From here? Is the first question out of all of our mouths. Unfortunately yes is the answer. How long are we going to be out here? I personally have already watched one unit come in and leave. I am about to watch a second leave, and yes they got here after me as well. I have family telling me they have heard about the Army’s plan to Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1059481917788477062003-07-29T05:31:00.000-07:002003-07-29T05:31:57.730-07:00Friendships have always been something I have valued more than nearly anything else my whole life. Because I was out of the house and on my own so early, my friends often times became my surrogate family. I always invested all of myself into my friendships, and thought that they would last for life.
After I joined the Army I learned quickly that keeping in touch is a lot more difficult than I Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1059380800989864752003-07-28T01:26:00.000-07:002003-07-28T01:32:55.826-07:00Every soldier has a different amount of "creature comforts". Most of these are specific to their jobs, but some are just provided through the creativity of those around us. I have constant access to the internet for the simple reason that I am an integral part of why it is available at all. The same goes for phone services. There are many out here who seldom get to use the phone and even lessThorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1059202308470034612003-07-25T23:51:00.000-07:002003-07-25T23:51:48.513-07:00Sand…in my nose…all over, and in my clothes. It’s everywhere and you can not escape it. It is a distant memory now, but I seem to remember a few times the wind blew through the night as well as the day. That was months ago. Now the evenings are pleasant as the temperature dips slightly as the son recedes below the horizon. The winds die down. It’s peaceful. The days are nearly unbearable.Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1059116941789837972003-07-25T00:09:00.000-07:002003-07-25T00:09:01.856-07:00A few days ago in my comments box I was asked how the Iraqi masses were getting food and such as Iraq has always been a major importing country. Honestly I don’t know. You would think that American soldiers would have a good idea of how the “other side” is living, but I for one am as much in the dark as those back home in the states. I have had nearly zero interaction with locals on this Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1059027653793824622003-07-23T23:20:00.000-07:002003-07-23T23:20:53.200-07:00 Today as I rose from my cot and began my daily routine once again I was thinking about how little my actions vary from day to day. I have also noticed that as I grow more and more familiar with my surroundings the more complacent I become. I simply don’t notice minor changes anymore. They are paving the “streets” of the camp I am on. They have been paving the streets all month I guess, Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1058942673732893032003-07-22T23:44:00.000-07:002003-07-22T23:55:44.780-07:00 I have known since I was very young that the thing I wanted most out of life was a family. I have wanted to have a successful, happy family for as long as I can remember. The family that I have though it made me who I am today, and I think that is a good person of strong morals and unwavering beliefs, was a very difficult family to grow up in to say the least. I think that is why I have Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1058853397609963662003-07-21T22:56:00.000-07:002003-07-21T22:56:37.480-07:00I have been thinking a lot about God and his role in this war since I read Moja Vera's journal entry from the middle of last month. In a nut shell he talked about how both sides of every conflict claim that their God, be it Allah, Jehovah, Buddha, what have you, is on their side. To a point I believe that God can be and is on both sides at the same time in most instances.
There is a lot of Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1058720223600186582003-07-20T09:57:00.000-07:002003-07-20T09:57:03.700-07:00 Sadness and exhilaration at the same time. One of my closest friends left today to return home. He has been in Iraq and Kuwait since around March of last year. He did get a one month break in the middle give or take a couple of weeks. He came through my sleep tent about a week ago shaking my leg to rouse me from my slumber. At first I was upset that someone would wake me. “I’m on NIGHTThorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1058639044850317632003-07-19T11:24:00.000-07:002003-07-19T11:24:04.860-07:00They look like fruit flies but they definately ae not. When you think of fruit flies, you think of little clouds of bugs swarming around a rotting peach or strawberries that have sat in the sun to long. These little suckers are solitary. Maybe some kind of Beta fish typr of fly that rips the other little winged nuicance to shreds at first sight. They are the silent attacker. Kind of like theThorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1058549561924330552003-07-18T10:32:00.000-07:002003-07-18T11:46:44.166-07:00After hitting snooze for the fifth time I decided I now had to get moving. I have my next thrilling SOG shift in 35 minutes. While I don't want to go it would be really screwed up to just let the other guy sit there while I take my time getting ready. I find it very disturbing that I have developed this lax attitude toward my daily duties. I have always had a kind of complainer’s attitude, Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589867.post-1058484378189611232003-07-17T16:26:00.000-07:002003-07-17T16:26:18.206-07:00 I'm sitting in front of my computer tonight pulling SOG (sargeant of the guard). I just got off the phone with my wife who is something like 9,000 miles away with our six week old son, and I can't stop thinking about my other soldier friends who are on the front. A lot of these guys I love like they were my brothers. One of them has started a blog that really hits home and though I don't Thorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148849401141812104noreply@blogger.com