Sappy Love Stuff

So the other day Holly, my fiancée, told me that a radio station, KSTAR, in Houston had a contest going on for the upcoming bridal show in The Woodlands. The Woodlands is a very nice town just north of Houston off of I-45. It’s confusing as hell getting around down there but really nice as you travel in circles looking for your destination. As I was saying, this radio contest was for the bride-to-be to email them just why she should be the winner. The winner of this little deal won a limo ride to a very nice lunch for her and three guest, $100 gift certificate to a nice “lingerie” boutique, $500 gift certificate to a spa there in The Woodlands and a “VIP” status at the bridal show and free entry her and her guest. There where several other prizes too, but I can’t think to them all off the top of my head, I am sure Holly would be more than happy to tell you.

So Holly, being the smart one that she is decides that I should write the letter about just how great she is and how she is so deserving of this prize. So me being the sweet, caring guy that I am; I oblige and whip a little something up. It was actually really easy to write, at first I figured I would have to pack it full of lies about how great she is, but once I started writing I realized, “Wow, she really is great, and she really does deserve this.” The end result was about a page letter that was the absolute truth. The real deal on what she goes through daily, the load she has to carry and on top of that the endless worrying she deals with knowing that her soon-to-be husband is overseas fighting in a war, and earlier this month was nearly wasted by an IED. She has to deal with no phone calls or contact from me for several days, never knowing if I am okay. She takes care of our house, pays all the bills on time, takes care of our dog, Lola, like it’s her child and still manages to work full time and go home on the weekends to visit her family and plan a wedding with little or no input from the groom. Now I know the groom never really has a whole lot of say on wedding plans, but I know she wishes she could bounce ideas off me every now and then.

Through all this we are still able to plan what will be an amazing wedding. And with the help of that little letter and the good people and KSTAR Country Radio in Houston, Holly was selected as the winner of all those great prizes that I mentioned earlier.
But little did she know that she was just minutes away from losing it, but her mother saved the day. See, they had Holly’s phone number and they were trying to call her all morning to tell her that she won and they were going to put her on the air, but she was at work and it was “crazy-busy” cause of all the reschedules from the ice storm a week or so before. So she was swamped at work and didn’t get a lunch and never even stopped to check her phone. Her mother, Laurie, was curious as just who might have won the contest and called the radio station at about 1pm to find out. Once on the phone with them they told her they did have a winner but could get a hold of her and if they didn’t hear from her in the next 15 minutes they were going to have to select a new winner. Laurie asks just who the winner was and as fate would have it, it just so happened to be her very own daughter, Holly. Laurie calls Holly at work tells her to answer the next phone call in a few minutes and there you have it; it’s the radio station and Holly is the winner!

So last night when I talked she was there at The Woodlands Bridal Extravaganza, with her Mother, Grandmother and friend all of them enjoying Holly’s winnings. I hadn’t heard her that happy in a long time and good news stories like that make life of here just a little bit better. So, things went our way for once; got to love it. Now the “social event of the year” on November 10th will be just that much more amazing. All thanks to KSTAR, my letter and the fact that Holly really is that amazing...

The perfect song for this comes from, “Coldplay”
and it’s called:

“Green Eyes”

“Honey you are a rock upon which I stand;
And I come here to talk I hope you understand;
Cause green eyes;
Yeah the spotlight shines upon you;
And how could anybody deny you…”

It's A Rush

Now maybe somewhere through the course of your life you have had to kick a door in. Maybe you had to rescue a puppy from a blazing fire or your drunken friend that who locked himself in the only bathroom in the house and has since passed out. I’m sure there are many reasons out there for just why you did it. But it was a rush wasn’t it. Just like the movies you stepped back and gave it the old “Chuck Norris” one-two kick and it went flying open. Or maybe some of you gave it a more “Richard Simmons” exercise kick and ends up on the floor with the door still holding firm. None-the-less, for that split second it was a rush as you went all kung-fu on that poor door.

Okay so getting to the story, the other morning we were called out at about 4am to go grab up a target that had presented him self close to where we were. So we roll through the ruthless fog that covered the area that morning and come up on this little farming village not to far from the Tigris River. The farmers of this area are “Orange Farmers”, not like the ones in Florida, this are smaller, more ornamental looking orange. So all we have is an area where “Vince” (For fun we will name him, Vince.) might be. In this area are about 10 medium sized farm houses and the area is surrounded by orange orchards. We dismount our team (The “A-Team”) from the two tanks and two trucks that we rolled in on. We group up and decide to work from one side of the street on down. This is where the thrill seeker in me comes out. I don’t really know where I picked this sense of adventure up by I have it. So there I am leading the way straight into a doorway. No idea what’s on the other side or who if anyone is waiting for us. No idea if I am even going to be able to kick the door in. We get to the doorway and all the training from soccer coaches of the past comes back and with a size 9 full force into it, the door goes flying open and in we go.

We go through the first house and its just a few old ladies and a couple kids, definitely not who we are looking for so we head out and move to the next house. We are moving quickly and not wasting anytime; we go from the first house straight into the door of the second house. Never even missing a beat I kick the door in on the run and it goes flying off the hinges. I am not really that strong, Iraqi front doors just aren’t all that sturdy. We are moving through the house and out comes a “military aged male” and once he realizes just who is making all the commotion he hits the floor. We post a guard on him and keep pushing through the house. Just like every other house in Iraq there are tons of children; most of them under the age of six. And if you do the math, we invaded just under six years ago, so I guess since then baby making has been all there really is to do. We group all the women and children into a room out of the way and continue to search the home. We have his wife show use where the AK-47 is, everybody over here has one, and with out any hesitation she shows us where it is and where all the magazines for it are. Well thanks lady! You just showed us enough to haul your hubbie off for a few months. Iraqis are allowed to have one AK and one 30 round magazine. This guy had seven, “for protection” he said. So we load him up. This guy turns out to be “Vince” and our new friend “Vince” turned out to be a very wanted man in Iraq. Two points for the good guys!

We continue on down the street and search through four more houses all of them come up clean. We end up chasing down what turned out to be a 14 year old kid, when its dark out they don’t really look 14, he was just scared a bolted when he saw us clearing the roof of his neighbors. I really do feel sorry for these kids, that’s the hardest part of all this. Kicking in the door, snatching their IED planting father out of bed while they sit in the corner scared crying and having no idea what really is going on. Poor little guys are innocent, just caught up in their father’s poor mistakes. I give them some candy as we head out but really, I don’t think it fixes what they just witnessed.

All this goes on so fast you really don’t have time to think about what exactly is going on. You just go, full tilt, wide open, then all the sudden you are sitting in the tank rolling out of there and the adrenaline starts to wear off and your heart rate returns to a safe rate and you start to rethink just what happened and all you can do is smile and shake your head and think, “No one is ever going to believe what I just did…What a rush.”

Hear is a new favorite song of mine, it’s by “My Chemical Romance”

and the song is “This Is How I Disappear”

It’s a recommended download of mine. If you like this type of stuff that is…

“By streetlight, this dark night
A séance down below
There are things that I have done
You never, should ever know…”

Monster Truckin

Once again I am back from another three days down at the patrol base. This one seemed to drag on forever. The highlight of the whole trip came within the first few hours. Now, for those of you that have been reading any of the previous post then you probably have heard me mention this place called “The Chicken Farms”. This little slice of Hell is the worst in our area of operations. (AO) This is where I got blown up earlier this month, and where my roommate has been blown up twice this tour. (Lucky for him, neither of the IED’s were serious and he and the truck he was on were just fine.) Anyways, this place is really rough and the other night a “Combat Logistics Patrol” or “clip” ( These are massive convoys of about 40+ semis carrying everything from Burger King french fries to Ford F-350’s) was rolling through that area and one of the semi’s was hit. At that point it caught fire and was abandoned to burn to the ground on the side of the highway.

This big piece of scrap metal became our mission at that point. So the morning we headed out we were to stop by and drag the beast out of the way. “Why do you need to remove a burned up carcass of a semi?” you might ask. Basically because it was left right next to the road and we aren’t going to give them any help hiding IED’s in this area, they are already doing a little to well. So we pull up check the area real good for any IED’s then back the tank up. That’s where yours truly hopped out and hooked the truck to the tank and drug her out into the open field. Then the real fun began. That is when we commenced to driving the tank over it, monster truck style, to crush it down to ensure that there is no way it can aid the insurgents fight. So just like a good ole monster truck rally there at the county fair grounds we spun the tank around and in the name of “Big Foot” crushed that beast.

We did a little damage to the tank but it is to be expected when you roll of a semi. Other than that, it was cold, wet and miserable for the next 48 hours. Another mission down and way too many more to go. So what did you all do this weekend?

Super Mario Brothers

It rained the past few days and one thing the desert doesn’t really handle is its rain. Up here towards the north it’s really not so much sand, like a desert, its more dirt, like a barren unwanted wasteland. So when the rainy season begins all the dust and dirt from the previous eleven month drought turns to a nasty muddy soup. Then you drive a few tanks and trucks around in that and churn it up into a thick mud like paste that sticks to everything and your boots track it everywhere. But I guess we might as well enjoy the rain while it is here. Lord knows we will be wishing for it come July.

In other news we are back from another fun-packed trip to the patrol base. As most of you know our patrol base rotation are suppose to be 48 hours but for some reason my platoon ends up out there for longer nearly every time. Its really not a big deal being there for a few more hours in the big picture of things, but at the end of the rotation you are hungry, dirty and tired you just really want to get replaced so you can “combat suit up!” one more time and head back to the FOB; where hot showers, rooms and chow await. Not to mention, phones and the beloved internet. It was pretty low key trip all in all, no IED’s or anything crazy. Well, I take that back. When the IA, (Iraqi Army, we work very closely with them out here. It is after all their country and it will soon be their job to run this little puppet show.) were coming back from dropping off one of their soldiers they noticed one of the local IED Terror Cell leaders and his brother (“The Super Mario Brothers” is what we will call them) driving a truck the other direction. So the IA swing around and after a little resistance the “Mario Brothers” became property if the Iraqi justice system. They also just so happened to find the RPG-7 that the brothers where carrying with them. So just like that, two more bad guys off the streets. After running the names of the “Mario Brothers” they turned up to be suspects in a lot of bad business in the area. They are involved in everything from kidnappings, murders, weapon sales, to IED production, placement and detonation. The two of them apparently have a hand in everything that goes on in this area and more than likely had something to do with me getting blown up a few weeks ago.

It’s crazy that “Mario”, the oldest, was only like 22 years old and his little brother “Luigi” was only 17, and they are pretty important amigos in this show. So I am happy to see that they will be going to some dirty prison somewhere to rot for quite some time. Enjoy the vacation you two…

That pretty much wraps up everything that has been going on the past few days. The mud, the patrol base, the “Super Mario Brothers”; yeah, that’s really about all I can think of. Hope you all have fun with the ice back home in Oklahoma and Texas and where ever else you maybe, stay safe, and I will write again soon.

The Softer Side Of War

Every now and then we do missions of a different type. We don’t go out kicking in doors and hauling off bad guys. We go to schools and homeless shelters and help out with what we can. A few days ago our platoon headed out to a little village out near the Tigris River. There is a little school out there that from the outside you would think it hasn’t been used since the invasion a few years ago. But nearly everyday about 200 children between 4 and 10 cram in to the eight classrooms and hit the books. The school has power but only for a few hours a day. The heaters were stolen out of the classrooms making it more like a concrete freezer with the temperature only getting up to the low 50’s on warmer days. These kids like school however, not like when I was a kid and would try everything in the book to avoid a dreaded day of 4th grade.

This is all a good sign for the future of Iraq in my eyes. Despite all the adversity, these families continue to get their children up and out the door and to school six days a week. These kids will get their basic education and hopefully continue on through high school and develop some sort of skills along the way. Something that they can apply to making the country a little better, something so they don’t end up digging holes on the side of the road for $45 (US) so someone can come by later and drop a IED in it.

The success of these kids is what will keep my children and your children or your grandchildren from coming over here and being exposed to the darker side of life. Our mission was simple, to pass out spiral notebooks, crayons and candy. To try to help these little kids out a little, and maybe make them smile a little too. We also did an assessment of the building and talked with the principle on what help he needed to help the school running. Number one on his list was heaters, and I must agree it was pretty chilly in the classrooms, with most of the kids wearing their jackets and gloves inside. We did a pretty good job on that mission. The kids got crayons and notebook and plenty of candy.

At first they were pretty scared mostly due to the fact that at some time soldiers have probably kicked in their door in the middle of the night and arrested their Dad, Uncle or big brother for one reason or another. But once we came in and took off our helmets and glasses and got down on their level and passed out some candy, they started to smile like a kid that age should. These missions are good to do. Something to break up the violence and stress that comes with most other missions. Missions like this give you a bit of hope that maybe someday Iraq might actually make it on its own.

If you or someone you know would like to send school supplies to these kids you all are more than welcome too. School supplies that they need are: Spiral Notebooks, Pencils, Crayons, Chalk, Notebook Paper, and Erasers. E-mail me at gijake@hotmail.com and I will send you the address for us over here and we will make sure that the supplies get to the kids.

"Because Concussions Are Cool..."

- Warning -

This blog contains a graphic recount of the past mission, to include adult language. If you don’t want to hear exactly what went on then don’t read. For everyone else, proceed with caution.

When I was in high school I was captain of our rugby team. One year we got the idea to have team t-shirts made with a quote on the back, “Because Concussions Are Cool…” the girls loved them and we thought we were all pretty clever. Little did I know that the quote would come back later in my life, after I had hung up my cleats.

We weren’t even supposed to be going out that morning. We were supposed to have the day off, work on the trucks and prepare for future missions. At around 0830 however we got the word that we were going to have to go to Patrol Base Love to drop off some supplies for our infantry platoon so they could accomplish their mission. No big deal just drive there and back. Easy right?

At around 1240 we left the Patrol Base headed north on Route Tampa. “Tampa”, as we call it, is a four lane highway with rock shoulders and a rock median about 30 feet wide. The shoulders of the route are covered in blast holes and debris from past IED’s making the job of spotting them not quite as easy as we would like. For this mission I was gunning from the lead truck of our four truck patrol. The weather was cold and cloudy and spiting rain on us every now and then. We were south of the canal bridge, in a place known as “The Chicken Farms”. At one time back before the war the buildings to the east of the road use to be a chicken farm for Saddam’s family, or at least that’s the rumor. You can still see the large wall that use to have his face painted on it. But these days it’s covered in graffiti and has been used as target practice trigger happy gunners passing through. There are several large metal buildings, some still together, others have been stripped for their sheet metal from locals and others have been shot up by convoys that have been hit in that area before. This place is a hot area for IED’s; our platoon had been hit twice in this area before. There have been several triggermen killed in the area also, but IED’s continue to be a big problem there.

At 1303 our patrol was moving closer to the bridge where there was oncoming traffic that needed to be pushed off to the side of the road. Following our rules of engagement, I flashed my turret lights at them and then stood up to wave my flag at them. This is to let them know that they need to pull over and stop or they will be engaged by us. No one moves on the roads as we come through. It’s just one way to make our travels on the route safer.

I guess they saw me stand up and expose myself. I think they were going to hit the convoy regardless, but when they saw me stand up they knew they had a good opportunity to do more damage. That’s when it hit. More violent then any car crash or really anything you could imagine. The IED detonated directly on the front driver side tire no more than 10 feet off the road, we never saw it coming. The blast sent shrapnel and debris screaming through the fireball and thick black smoke. The blast and debris slammed me from right to left thrusting me into my M-4 rifle and shattering the ballistic glass surrounding me. I remember the heat, the smoke, the unimaginably loud explosion; and then nothing…

This is where the rest of the crew had to fill me in. When the blast hit the cab of the truck it immediately filled with dust and smoke. My driver, Dwight, pushed us through the smoke and everyone started screaming, asking if everyone else is okay. I didn’t answer, the blast had smashed me so hard against the turret it knocked me unconscious. From there I collapsed to the floor of the truck landing in the lap of my loader, Graves. For fifteen to twenty seconds I was completely out. Then I remember starting to hear things getting louder and louder, like someone was slowly turning the volume back up in my head bringing it to the roar that was going on inside the truck. I could hear the radio going nuts, I could hear Graves yelling at me, shaking me trying to get me to wake up and then I could hear the gunfire from the other trucks. I laid there on the floor of the truck for a split second checking myself, everything looked like it was present and still attached so I couldn’t be too bad. That’s when my crew tells me I said, “Oh, fuck this...” I stood back up in the turret to find that the blast had blown my M240 machine gun out of the mount and it was now lying on the roof of the truck and the ammo can was blown out as well. I quickly put the “240” back in the mount, switched the weapon from safe to fire and began unloading every round that I had. Blowing rounds into everywhere that I thought they could be. Every wall, building, tree, rock, mound of dirt, house out there was lit up. Not to mention that the other three gunners were laying down some serious suppressive fire as well. I continued firing until I ran out of ammo. I fired all 200 rounds I had loaded in just a few seconds. The barrel was glowing red and I dove back in the truck to find more ammo. When I dove back in they told me to stay down so they could finally check me out. I had jumped up on the gun before they ever got to see if I was alright. Luckily, all I had was a little gash on my forehead, just a little knick from a piece of rock probably; it was nothing to be really concerned about. It was now 1305 this had all just happened in less then a few minutes.

We searched the area from the triggermen but never found them. This is all too often the case around here. There are just so many good places to hide and so many avenues of escape that you have to get really lucky to see them. We left the scene and headed back to the FOB without any more drama. We got back and “Doc”, our platoon medic, took me to see the army doctor on the FOB. They evaluated me and told me that I had suffered a pretty serious concussion and that there was some slight bleeding behind my right ear drum. My head felt like someone had bashed it with a hammer. I had a serious headache, worst than any migraine I had experienced and my ears were ringing louder than I thought possible. My arm and shoulder also feel like they were hit with that same hammer too but this is all to be expected after standing up and taking a blast like that to the head.

The “Post Blast Analysis” determined that it was possibly two 155mm Russian artillery rounds that had blown us up. We got extremely lucky. We rarely see IED’s this size in our area and we were very fortunate to not take any serious injuries. The power of these things is devastating, but the Army has came such along way with additional armor for these trucks and there is no telling how many lives have been saved by these advances. I know that they can add one more life saved for sure. Less than a week ago we got the new “Ibis Tek” turret shields for the trucks and there is no doubt in my mind that the ballistic glass on them saved my life. The pictures prove it. My head was exposed, but the small additional piece on the front stopped a large piece of shrapnel from hitting me and making this story much different and probably written by someone else.

I wrote this not to scare anyone but to make sure everyone heard the same story, from me. To also let everyone know that I am fine. The doctor said I will be good to go back out on patrols in a couple days once the headaches go away and the ringing in my ears stops. I do believe all this does have a large part to do with the prayers from you all, so please I ask you, keep up the good work, your prayers are working, I am living proof. I will be fine and I will remain fine for the months to come. And as for those terrorist, their days are numbered.

The song selection for today’s blog comes from the band Coldplay and their song:
“God Put a Smile on Your Face”

“God give me style and give me grace;
God put a smile upon my face…”

The More You Know...

So awhile back I got an email from an awesome friend we will call her, Amelia. In the email she was so kind to ask me some very good questions. So good in fact that I decided to share them you all of you.

1. When you're on 24 hour missions, where do you go to the bathroom?

A- Well, first off out missions are more like 50 hours. So of course nature calls. Depending of what we are doing, we usually just hop out of the truck and pee there. If we are in the city and there are people around, we just open the door to the truck to block the view. If we are in the tanks you always carry an empty Gatorade bottle just in case. As for the other phone call from nature; remember that scene in Forest Gump were they were burning the “Honey Pot” from the latrines their in Vietnam. Well in 2007 with all the advances in technology we still do that. You would think it would smell but you just put a lot of fuel in there and it’s good to go.

2. What's the FUNNIEST thing that has happened with you and the other soldiers? Surely you all do funny stuff.

A- We do a ton of funny stuff. You just have to otherwise this place would stomp you in to depression in no time. One of my favorites so far was when we were doing “TCP’s” on the highway one afternoon. “TCP’s” are Traffic Control Points, which means we shut the whole highway down and start searching cars. You think it would be ineffective, but we have caught some pretty guys doing it. Anyways, there we are searching this really nice Mercedes, and the owner is reluctant to open the trunk. We are getting frustrated with him but finally get him to comply. When he opens the trunk of his clean, mint condition 2000ish model Mercedes a live freaking sheep jumps out and nearly runs off. A live sheep! Not in a million years would I have guessed that was coming out of there. I was thinking a body or weapons or something was in there and that’s why he was giving us trouble. Another classic is one we pulled on my narcoleptic loader, Graves. See he falls asleep extremely quickly in the truck and I always have to wake him up and from time to time he helps me out and makes sure I am awake too. But this one time my driver Denver had the idea that he will scream “IED” and me and the truck commander will scream at the top of our lungs. So that’s what we did, Denver added some jerking of the steering wheel and we gave our best horror movie screams. We scared him good, and as we are all laughing about it he chuckles and says “That’s funny but we aren’t even off the FOB yet…” Well, “sleepy” back there had been out for a while I guess, because once again the joke was on him we were nearly at the bridge over the Tigris which is like a 20 minute drive from the FOB. Good times, good times…

3. Do you dream about what's going on over there, or about the fun times back home?

A- I guess I have a sleeping disorder or something, because even back in the states I didn’t dream. Like maybe once in awhile but I almost never dream. Or maybe I do and don’t remember them or something but yeah, no dreams in the states and no dreams here.

4. How many pounds of gear do you put on before going out on a mission?

A- Well I weigh 165lbs soaking wet. So add boots and a uniform we will round it to 170. Okay first we put on the IBA (Independent Body Armor) and my ACH (Advanced Combat Helmet) that’s near 40lbs with the side plates that I have also added to protect my insides. So now we are at 210lbs, next we add my “Mol-E Vest”, it holds my other gear, like 6 fully loaded magazines (30 rounds per mag), first aid kit, binoculars, flashlight and an iPod. That’s about another 10 pounds. Then add my M4 rifle clipped to my vest and my 9mm pistol on my hip it’s a little under another 10lbs. So you crunch the numbers and that’s about ~230lbs minus me soaking wet and you get about ~65 lbs of tactical garbage. Give or take a few pounds that’s what we carry on us all day while we are out on mission and at the end of the day you can feel it in your back and knees.

5. Have there been any climate changes since you first went over there? What's the average temperature in December?

A- From talking to my parents and Holly the weather has really been a lot like Oklahoma. It gets pretty cold here at night. And I have seen it snow and seen the puddles freeze up. So I would really compare it the weather you all have back home. The weather hasn’t been too bad here since I got here. But I have a feeling its going to get really hot really soon.

6. How long until you come home?

A- Well as of January 8th I will have been deployed 100 days. Do the math and that means only 265 more days from there. I will be home for 2 weeks sometime in July but even that may change to June. The plan is to be in Norman for most of it, but Holly and I are planning on visiting New Orleans for a night and then leaving there on a cruise to somewhere awesome for a few more days. Then after my R&R, I will just have to come back here with like only 60 days left. Sounds like a solid plan to me.

So there you go Amelia, hope you and everyone else enjoyed the answers and as always feel free to ask more either on here or email me.

Legendary

So there is this place over here called LSA Anaconda. Its like a super FOB, it has a air base on it and the Navy has some kids there and I think I may have even seen a Jarhead or two. But this place is huge. This place is nothing like the dinky little FOB I call home up here. This place has everything, from a PX to Burger King to barber shops to a movie theater and concert stadium to Pizza Hut. See, where I am we have none of that. We have a two room “mud-hut” that has been made the “PX” (Army version Wal-Mart) and a DFAC (Dining Facility) and a Gym (That doesn’t stand for anything. It’s just a gym).
I am two and a half hours away from Anaconda straight down the worst stretch of highway in the world. So us just stopping by on the weekend is out of the question. But today we were lucky; our mission was to actually go there for legitimate business. That is where I encountered what will be forever known as; “The Greatest Pizza Ever”. Yeah, that’s right, EVER! See, I have been deployed for nearly 100 days now. And I haven’t seen anything that resembles “real” food in quite some time. Of course I have my junk food and snacks, but what I missed was a BigMac with fries, a chimichanga, Chick-fil-A 8-pack nuggets, a Grand Slam breakfast from Denny’s; the great food that America was founded on.
So there I am with a decision to make. Should I go with “Option A” or “Option B”? Should I go for the burger and fries from the BK Lounge or a hot and tasty pizza from Pizza Hut. I obviously went for “Option B” and it was so worth it. I got a medium knowing that even if I didn’t eat it all I would take the cold, dust covered leftovers all the way back to my FOB, overheat them in the most unreliable microwave this side of Istanbul, and enjoy every last scrap. I just might even eat the grease soaked cardboard. Okay that’s a little to far, I would never eat grease, cardboard maybe, grease no way.
But this is where the pizzas awesomeness comes in to play. I was served it fresh out the oven, the cheese still so hot it was nearly a liquid. Oh yeah, I got a Hawaiian pizza, the one with pineapples and Canadian bacon. Great choice, I know. So I dig in and it was shear bliss for the next 10 minutes. I devoured that pizza. It was just to amazing I couldn’t stop eating it. It was also 2pm and I had yet to eat so add that to the goodness that was the pizza and you have the making of this tale.
See what this all really means is that I really miss fast food and all the unhealthy things that the U.S of A has to offer. In America that pizza probably tasted like road kill but here, well it made this soldier’s day that’s for sure.

To keep with the mood of today the song selection is from Modest Mouse.
“Float On”
“Don’t worry even if things end up a bit too heavy;
We’ll all float on alright…”

Top 5 from the Army

Okay the Army issues us soldiers tons of stuff. Most of the stuff we never use. It just sits in a duffle bag in a closet somewhere. But you have got to give those guys some credit where credit is due. They have issued us some alright stuff. This is really a cold-weather list because it’s pretty cold over here right now. When the summer rolls around then I will make another list. Now most of you don’t know exactly what all this stuff is so I will try to explain but these are my top five things the Army has issued to me.

5. The Gortex Jacket – It’s about the only thing the Army has issued that does a somewhat good job of keeping the water off you. The wet weather gear they issue is definitely number one on the worst piece of issued equipment. The gortex keeps the water off and is good for the cold but also breathes well so you don’t over heat in it.

4. The Gaiter Neck- All it is really is some elastic/cotton blend that tops kinda like a tube top but really small and you wear it over your neck and ears and face. You wear it about a hundred different ways and its great for keeping the cold air off you ears and face. It also works great at keeping the dust and dirt off you too.

3. The Advanced Combat Helmet – First let me tell you about the old Kevlar helmet. It was the most awful, poorly devised creation ever. Seriously, it was the most miserable most uncomfortable thing to wear. This new one is lighter and has an adjustable pad system inside to cushion it around your head unlike the other one that just had a band that squeezed your skull all day.

2. Individual Body Armor – This stuff has saved countless lives over here. I cant believe that my Grandfather use to storm the beaches in the pacific without it. As heavy and uncomfortable as it may be at times it may end up saving my life some day. The have also added side plates and other additional protective pieces for it as well. They have got a little too carried away for me with some of this stuff. I stick to the ballistic plates, the neck and throat pieces and the “groin” protector. A shot there would make you very combat ineffective if you know what I mean.

1. The 3 part sleeping bag- You have your heavy winter bag, a lighter summer bag and then a gortex liner to protect you from the elements. The bet part is you can hook them all together to build a super sleeping bag that will keep you warm on the coldest of nights. Its also ridiculously comfortable, and it if could get away with sleeping in it back home I just might do it. Holly says it doesn’t match the sheets so I can’t.

This song quote will come from classic Willie Nelson.
“Don’t Take Your Guns To Town”

“He laughed and kissed his mom and said;
Your Billy Joes’ a man;
I can shoot as quick and straight as anybody can;
But I wouldn’t shoot without a cause;
I wouldn’t gun nobody down...”

Welcome to 2007!

Oh what a new year it was. Whew, the parties over here were just wild. I mean, this place is happening; I am surprised GQ hasn’t written about it before. (Side note- I love the magazine GQ and I recommend it to every male out there.) Okay, so of course that was all a total lie. Absolutely nothing went on over here. I actually sat here alone, watching cartoons in my CHU (Container Housing Unit) and happened to check my watch to realize, “Oh hey, its 7 minutes past Midnight, Happy New Year!” Yeah that’s how my night went, it was pretty wild.
So just like every New Years, you always have to have a resolution. You know some sort of big goal for the year ahead. I have no idea what mine was last year, but I hope I pulled it off, whatever it was. This year I have a few resolutions to try to master. First is to submit my Warrant Officer Flight Packet. See, before I left to come over here I was submitting my flight packet and I was 97% done when I went to go get my vision checked. Well it turns out the kid that has had 20/20 vision his whole life and never needed glasses doesn’t have good enough vision in his left eye when its dilated. Yeah, talk about a shot to the heart. I seriously cried I think. I had taken the test and dominated them, but no, I got stopped by an eyeball. Stupid eyeball. So that is hurdle number uno. Get PRK (Lasik) done to my eye when I get back and submit my packet.
Resolution number two is the same as everyone’s default resolution. It is simply to stay alive for the next year. Everyone plans on staying alive till next year, but this year I plan on putting a little more emphasis on making sure that happens. It’s not really like the states where life isn’t taken from you quite so easily. Every time we roll out over there is always that chance. So there are all the big plans for 07’; stay alive and become a pilot. Kinda lofty goals I have set for myself. But like it says in the “About Me” there on the right side of your screen, I am the greatest. So this should all come easily.
Don’t get me wrong I do have more planned for 2007. On top of staying alive, I plan on getting married to Holly in November( Side note- It will be the greatest wedding ever so pray you are invited.), in July we plan on going on a cruise somewhere fantastic and I plan on buying a huge TV when I get back. See I’m not all career obsessed. I care about other things too; like my Holly, vacations and big material objects! So here’s to our resolutions and here’s to the New Year!

The song quote comes from the Counting Crows.

It’s called, “Long December”.

I know its January, but the song still works.

“A long December and there’s reason to believe;
Maybe this year will be better than the last.
I can’t remember the last thing that you said as you were leaving;
Oh the days go by so fast…”