The final installment

Mission complete. I am done...home...no longer in Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Camp Atterberry or anywhere in between. I am writing this from my recliner in my apartment with my cat, Smalls, sitting on the headrest. 

Getting home was yet another adventure, and it didn't go smoothly. However, it went more smoothly for me than for the other half of the family. We were split into two groups and my group of about 50 got stuck at JBB for three days due to bad weather in Kuwait. The Air Force and Army do not like to fly if they can't see. The first group of 180 left from JBB at 9 in the morning on Feb. 22nd (I think) to fly to Kuwait only to have the pilots say they don't want to land in Kuwait because of the sandstorm. So they flew to Qatar instead. This all happened in the air as they were circling Kuwait. 

That group ends up in Qatar for three days going through one of the biggest goat rope clusters ever. By the time they flew out of Qatar to Kuwait they had waited on the plane for six consecutive hours, gone through immigration three times, turned in their weapons (because weapons are not allowed in Qatar) three times, had one shower, and slept in transient housing for about four hours. 

Meanwhile back at JBB we went to the "airport" three different times with the intent of flying only to be denied. We loaded and unloaded our bags at least four times and got the opportunity to sleep in both transient housing locations at JBB. 

Once we got to Kuwait we made it out pretty easily. Customs went smoothly for me cause I was the last one in line so the guy didn't even look in my bags. Awesome. 10 hours after we left Kuwait in a plane we were in Indianapolis Indiana. We arrived stateside on Feb. 27th and spent the next five days at Camp Atterbury in Indiana. 

It was five days of briefings and checking the block so we could go home. The family had a blast as always though. We started filming even more of our life while we were there and we got some great footage of what its like to hangout with us. The ridiculousness of our conversations, logic, and actions. 

We left Atterbury on Mar. 4th to fly home, or ride the bus if you are from Little Rock. The airport was amazing. MSG McAllen, Rogers, LT Morgan, Chappy, and myself all drank our first beer together in airport. I had a Blue Moon with a slice of orange and it was amazing. 

We all went our separate ways after that and now I am home. 

It's hard to believe its all over. For me it flew by. It was eight months of my life that I will never forget for so many reasons. The main reason being the people I met. The family that I made over there...well they are amazing. For eight months when stuff went wrong (and stuff went wrong a lot) everyone would make snide comments about how the 90th can't do anything right, how ate up the 90th is, etc. Well just for the record, I am thankful for the 90th and that I deployed with them. A little over a year ago I found out I was going to deploy with the 90th and I was scared, anxious, and pissed off about the whole situation. 

A year later, I would not have changed a single thing that happened this past year.

Awards

I finally have something to write about. MSG McAllen's promotion and the awards ceremony.

SFC McAllen is now a master sergeant (MSG) and Newton and I were the ones who pinned her. When you get promoted you get "pinned." Usually the commander and the 1SG, or in a brigade the CSM pin the soldier, but you can ask to have someone else pin you. MSG McAllen decided a long time ago that she was going to have someone else pin her. She asked Newton and I to do so, and that was very cool. It was an honor to pin her and it definitely made the ceremony more memorable to her and to us. Some people thought it was funny that she would have a sergeant and a PFC promote her...and it was, but that is how we roll over here.

Before the current uniform when you got pinned they would pin the rank in your collar and then the person would hit you on your rank and it would hurt if it was done correctly because the brass backings of the rank would hit into your collar bone. Now we don't have pin on rank, so when your rank is put on we now punch the person in the chest. When Newton hit MSG McAllen in the chest she nearly knocked her over. It was great.

I pinned her rank into her cover...in case you were wondering what part I played.

We had our end of tour awards ceremony yesterday, and it was an interesting event. It was interesting because some people got awards that I personally did not feel were warranted and others did not get the recognition that I felt they deserved for all they have contributed to the 90th.

The 90th gave out about 100 ARCOMs. Army Commendation Medal. It is given to someone who "distinguishes himself by an act of heroism, extraordinary achievement, or meritorious service which has been of mutual benefit to a friendly nation and the United States." It sounds a little over the top for going into work everyday and not messing up. Now a days the ARCOM feels more like it is given not for doing your job above and beyond what is expected of you, but just for doing your job.

There were some Bronze Stars given out and that is what really made us talk about the ridiculousness of the Army and the 90th. I personally feel that no one deserved a bronze star. Not because our mission got cut short, and therefore it feels like we were not able to preform to our highest ability, but because the bronze star is awarded to someone who "distinguished himself or herself apart from his or her comrades by brave or praiseworthy achievement or service, that did not include participation in aerial flight." The award was originally created for infantry soldiers and I feel like it should be awarded to people that distinguish themselves in battle. There are AFN "commercials" over here that tell stories about soldiers that received the bronze star and they are always related to combat and performing heroically in the face of the enemy. Everyone that received the bronze star, except for one soldier, never left the FOB.

I am thankful of the work that the soldiers performed...but I don't feel it is bronze start worthy. Maybe MSM (Meritorious Service Medal) worthy, but not Bronze star. There were a good number of soldiers that received the MSM, and I am okay with most of those awards. The 1LT who is a Physicians Assistant in real life definitely deserved hers, because she has been taken care of our broke and sick selves since we mobilized. I can only imagine where we would be without her, but more importantly you can tell that she really cares about soldiers and the medics that work for her.

I received an ARCOM. I don't feel like I deserved it. I did my job and managed to not mess it up too badly. It's whatever. 1LT Duvall put all the LNO's in for the Order of St. Martin award, and that was definitely more meaningful and something that I was proud to receive. The Order of St. Martin is an award that is given by a civilian organization, and St. Martin is the patron saint of the Quartermaster Corp. The Quartermaster Corp is a logistics corp that deals with food, water, and living quarter type things. It is called Class I supply. 1LT Duvall has a quartermaster MOS, and he received the award from his first tour over here. He put the four of us in for the award, and it is given to soldiers that work with quartermaster operations in the field of combat. In other words what the 90th did over here...supporting the mission.

It was very thoughtful of him to put us in for the award and it took him a lot of time and effort. And most importantly we can wear the medal with our Class A's.

Here is a picture taken after the awards ceremony. Back row: me, MAJ Herrick, CH Hedlund, and Cara. Front row: MSG McAllen and CPT Simpson

Super Bowl Sunday

I have been trying to think of something great to write about all week and have come up with nothing.

The only thing that you guys might find interesting is that tomorrow on Super Bowl Sunday we each are being granted the privilage to drink two beers. The interesting/ amusing part is that the FRAGO that was published with the rules and procedures for this occasion made a point to clarify that the FRAGO would use the words special beverage in place of the word beer. That alone made the FRAGO worth reading because every time I read the words special beverage I smiled. It's funny. Why not call it beer? I guess the Army thinks that the word beer implies that we will all behave badly and get drunk and act a fool....where as the word special beverage means we will all act like proper and civilized soldiers. It's two beers...call it what it is. And you have to jump through hoops to get them, so I am not certain that a whole heck of a lot of people will be drinking their two special beverages.

We are getting ready to leave. One would think that I should start packing...but I don't pack until the last second so I haven't done anything to prepare to leave this place. Cara and I need to sell our TV, microwave, refrigerator, etc. We will probably wait until the last second to do that as well. We don't want to lose our TV...how will we watch 30 Rock?

I have not posted the Ur pictures because they are on my computer now and not on my camera. Maybe I will get around to posting them this week. I have three days off a week now, and I spend the mornings drinking coffee and SFC McAllen's room which has been named Common Grounds (we stole the name...it's not original) and then I spend the afternoons at the gym. Then in the evening I have done a couple different things. Hang out with Newton, go watch Cara play basketball, and bible study are all things I have done.

Oh. Tomorrow morning is Sunday, and I am going to go swimming. I have a list of things I want to do before I leave here. I checked off swimming in an indoor pool last week, and I plan on continuing the tradition this Sunday.

Well now I really have nothing else left to report. If you guys have any questions you should let me know. Maybe I could have a Q and A blog post or something.

100

Yesterday (Thursday) we reached the 100 mark for IDF (indirect fire) attacks. Mortars attacks. Pretty exciting if I may say so myself.

SFC McAllen has been keeping track of all the IDF attacks, and on Thursday we got hit with two, so that brought the grand total to 100 attacks since we got here on Aug 28th. Now you know why they call this place Mortaritaville.

Other than hitting the 100th IDF attack nothing else exciting has happened. Oh, I did find out that during that IDF attack in which we reached 100, that the Air Force can't spell. I was watching TV in my CHU and when there is a command post message (a voice comes over the loud speaker saying "incoming, incoming, incoming") they scroll it across the TV. Well I was reading the message and noticed that they spelled vicinity "viciity". Awesome. They should hire my dad as their editor. Hell, they should hire me as their editor...they should hire someone as an editor!

I have had the past three nights off of work. That is how boring and pointless my "job" has become. I only work 4 days a week, and the other three days are spent doing nothing.

Well not really nothing. I occupy my time by working out and eating. Actually, the past three days I had off I woke up around 0900, and went over to SFC McAllen's room to drink coffee until lunch at 1200. During this time Newton and Rogers usually stopped by and hung out because they are working about as much as I am. After lunch, I went to the gym and then came home and showered. I then watched Jeopardy and Cash Cab before we all went to dinner. On Thursday night I went to Bible study and Friday night (last night) we had a cookout between the shower trailers.

It was the birthday of one of the workers who cleans the shower and toilet trailers and we decided to throw her a birthday party because a.) we can and b.) they do a lot for us so we wanted to say thanks. The two women are from Ethiopia and the two men are from Nepal. And we had about 16 people show up to sing her happy birthday and eat cookout food. Chaplain, SFC McAllen, Newton and I ended up sitting around the fire we built out of the grill till 1230 am. Actually, I had to leave for work at that time, but they were still sitting out there and it didn't look like they were leaving anytime soon. We had just started a deep discussion about religion. This happens a lot in the presence of the Chaplain. Now I am at work and smell like a fire. Guess I will be forced to shower and wash my uniform after tonight. Dangit.

The Super Bowl is in a week. We are allocated two beers for the occasion. Real beer. I am going to pass. Why? Because I am a beer snob, and refuse to drink Miller Light, Bud Light or any other piss tasting beer that the military has to offer me. I haven't had a drop of alcohol since the end of July, and I am not going to ruin that with crappy beer. I respect beer and myself to much to do that.

Don't have much else to report on. I guess that is a good thing...

ENDX

ENDX = end of exercise. I know coming here wasn't an exercise, but I didn't know how else to label a post about our mission has being curtailed. This means the 90th no longer serves a purpose in the Iraqi theater. You may be wondering what this means for me and the other soldiers over here that belong to the 90th. Well, it means we are coming home early and we have eaten up a nice portion of your (and technically my) tax dollars. Thanks for paying your taxes.

I am trying to not sound too bitter when I say that, but it is hard to not feel slighted by the Army.

Our mission ended at the end of December, and we have been sitting around waiting to go home ever since. Our mission ended for a couple reasons, but the reason I will share with you is that we are downsizing in Iraq and trying to withdraw troops so there is no longer a need for the 90th over here. So we didn't get "fired" from our job or anything like that (even though we like to say this for our own amusement). Our mission was handed over to another unit that is already in country, so they absorbed our responsibilities into their mission. Don't worry...it is a little more complicated than that, but that is due to the politics of the situation. I will leave the politics out of this blog post, because that will lead to me standing on my soap box. However, I may explain my opinion of the situation when I get home... if I am feeling talkative (and we all know how often that happens).

Anyway, the 90th is sitting around with nothing to do. Most people don't have to go to work anymore (I am not one of those people), so going to the gym twice a day has become popular. The Iraqi bazaar is probably making bank on our lack of mission, because everyone is going there and spending their not hard earned money on pirated DVDs.

We are suppose to be home and back to our units sometime in March. That wasn't a typo. I mean March, as in the month after February and before April. I am still a little hesitant that it will happen, but the wheels are in motion to get us out of here by then. I still lack faith.

You may think that I am overwhelmed with joy to be going home in a little over a month, but I have reasons to be hesitant about being excited. First of all we are not home yet so there is no need to get excited until I am actually there. Second, the whole no job thing is a little scary and stressful. And three I am not exactly sure how much stabilization time I will have when I do return. Stabilization time is the time after you return from a deployment in which you cannot be deployed, unless you volunteer to be deployed. I am fairly confident that I will get the year long stabilization time that most reservist receive, but as always I have heard two different stories as to what the policy says. Obviously, one version says we get the year long stabilization. And the other version says we have not been over here long enough, so we won't get it. That would be terrible.

Now you guys are up to date on what the 90th is doing. Nothing. Oh. To explain why I am still working and so many others are not has to do with my job. I work at the headquarters building and they (the headquarters people) feel a need to keep us up here so they can communicate with us and us with them. I don't actually do anything at work, but sit at a computer and watch movies, TV shows, use facebook in the computer lounge, and call home. Its seven hours of being a face for the 90th, but not actually working.

Currently, I am logged into the computer that we use for work and I have Zuma pulled up. I haven't even opened Outlook Express to check our in-box. I am going to beat Zuma for the second time, go check my face book and update it with a new quote, go to chow, and then I will open my email. At which time I will scroll through all the emails, and not look at any of them, unless it says 90th in the title and then finish watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Thanks again for paying me to do this.

Cars

There are a lot of NTV's (non-tactical vehicles) over here, and the overwhelming majority of them are SUV's. Most are Ford's, (I have a seen a handful of Toyota's and even a Landrover) and they all seem to be Explorers or trucks in a color of white or gray. If it weren't for remote entry the parking lots would be a nightmare. I am fairly confident that every contractor has their own vehicle, and that may be why there are so many of them. I think the contract to soldier ration is 1 to 1...I might be exaggerating a little bit. Either way, there are lots of NTV's and I do not have one. I do get the privilege of using one at work (I am thankful for this). Which is nice since I go to chow at 3 am and sometimes I need to buy something at the PX when it opens at 6 am.

Driving over here is an experience. The roads on JBB are tiny. They remind me of the streets in Italy. You think there is no way that two small vehicles can get down them at the same time, but somehow both drivers manage to pass each other and keep their rear view mirrors intact. It gets even more exciting when you pass an MRAP or 18 wheeler on the streets over here. Driving over here is not for the faint of heart (except that the speed limit is 25 MPH on most of the roads).

The best part of driving is the absolute lack of concern about the curb. We drive wherever we want...whenever we want. Need to make a u-turn? Just drive over the curb and turn around. Need to get to a building but can't find a paved entrance? Who cares?! Just drive over the curb and make your own parking lot.

Every now and then I see a car drive down the road and I do a double take. Like a real car. A sedan if you will. I wonder how those drivers deal with it? Maybe they just drive wherever they want too...but that seems a little more risky in a car. Anyway, driving over here has been fun and I will have to consciously remind myself when I get home that curbs exists for a reason and making your own driveway is not socially acceptable in the states.

Vacation

I am home. Well I am back at JBB, and this place is my current home.

Ur was amazing. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am really happy that I was able to take part in it. I guess I should start from the beginning.

We left on Thursday, but tried to leave on Wednesday. However, on Wednesday there was a terrible sand storm and a handful of planes were leaving so we kept getting delayed and finally around 1700 they canceled our flight, so that means we had to try again on Thursday. The great thing about flying in the military is they can do whatever they want to flight times and they are not obligated to tell you. It's quite amazing in that terrible sort of way that toys with your emotions and wrecks havoc on your day.

The next morning we had to be back at the "airport" at 0530 and we waited there all day before we finally got on a flight sometime in the afternoon/evening. I was wished happy birthday over the loudspeaker by my friend who works there on behalf of "the family." While waiting on our flight we had enough time to play Fact or Crap, Would you Rather, and Monopoly. I brought the first two games (thank you Caroline and Kayanne) and Monopoly was already at the airport. That's right, we were able to play one of the longest board games ever before we left for Kuwait.

We had to fly to Kuwait before flying to Ur. Don't ask me why...it's the Army. If it doesn't make sense then that is probably the SOP. So we get to Kuwait and have to spend the night there in tents on bunk beds. I was on the top bunk. Story of my life. Keep laughing Jane, Kayanne, and Caroline. I did.

We had to get up way early on Friday (I don't remember but it was before the sun was up) and catch our flight to Ur. We made it to Ur in the afternoon and spent the rest of the day relaxing and seeing what the base at Ur had to offer. It felt much more military than JBB. The reason for that is one there were hardly any contractors and two there were hardly any Non-Tactical Vehicles (SUV's if you will). So it actually felt like a military base.

Friday evening at dinner we hashed out a great mission for the 90th since we don't have one anymore. I will explain that at a latter time and post. Anyway, we thought that what this war is missing is a critiquing system that would rate all the FOB's on different aspects of base life. Such as dinning facilities, transportation around post, bathrooms and showers, living quarters, the gym, MWR, etc. We think that a mission like this could really help out morale.

Saturday was the tour. It lasted about two hours and was quite unbelievable. They let us climb to the top of the Ziggurat, walk through the tombs of the kings and queens that once ruled Ur, and walk through the replica of Abraham's house that was built about 10 years ago. Crazy.

If this place ever gets to the point where tourism is a viable industry then a tour like the one I went on will more than likely be a tale of the past. Only soldiers are allowed out there, and that helps keep down the number of people trampling all over the place. I can't imagine that they will continue to let people just walk all over that stuff like we did. It would be ridiculous, because it would destroy what little is left of such a historical place. So, I hope that in the very near future they stop letting people walk all over that stuff.

The trip back to JBB was just as exhausting as the trip out there. We woke up early Sunday morning and left for Kuwait. This time we were able to wait in the DV (distinguished visitors) lounge at Ur, because we had a Colonel with us. Awesome. Word from the wise, when traveling in the military take a Colonel with you if you can. It makes traveling a lot easier. If you have an E-7 (Sergeant First Class) let the two of them take care of everything. It is an unstoppable combination. The DV lounge was very nice, and definitely better than the one here at JBB.

We arrived in Kuwait early in the morning only to find out that all the flights to JBB were going to be canceled. Figured. So we spent Sunday night in Kuwait on the bunk beds. And guess where I slept? That's right. The top bunk.

Monday morning there was a MLK 5K memorial run, and I did not run in it. I got the t-shirt though. SFC McAllen, CH Hedlund, COL Mount, and I went on a mission to acquire a few of the left over t-shirts from the run. Mission accomplished. See what I mean about the Colonel and E-7. CH Hedlund and I were there in case they needed back-up, but they didn't. We acquiesced 5 t-shirts. I have two. Both larges. We also took a picture with the Ronald McDonald statue outside of the McD's. That was a nice bonus to the mission.

We flew into JBB and arrived just before dinner and right in the middle of a nice sandstorm. Nothing says welcome back like a sandstorm.

The whole adventure was amazing. Except for the M16 slung over our shoulder's and the lack of choice in clothing, we all felt like we were getting a break from our deployment. When I got back I was tired as hell and refreshed all at once. I couldn't have asked for anything more.

Leaving on a jet plane

don't know when I'll be back again. I am not actually leaving the country, but I am leaving JBB for a few days. I have been given the opportunity to go to the city of Ur and go on a tour. The tour is facilitated by some guy that decided that the soldiers should be able to come and look at the city that Abraham was born in and civilization began (kind of).

I got selected to go because I put my name in a hat and the Chaplain drew it. Which is very surprising seeing as how I never get my name drawn in regards to raffles of any sort. We are leaving in the next couple of days and will be back sometime next week. We are flying there and I am suppose to only bring a carry on, which is going to be hard because I have to bring some sort of bedding. Any ideas how I am suppose to get a sleeping bag liner, clothes, and toiletries in a backpack? If only Marry Poppins was real.

This trip should be pretty awesome. There are 15 of us going...I think. Including SFC McAllen and the Chaplain. Cara will not be going, and this will be the longest that we have been apart since getting deployed together. Should be interesting if we can learn how to function without the other one. I see this as a practice run for when we have to go back home.

The trip was organized by an officer in our unit that had heard about this tour and thought it would be a great opportunity for us. I plan on taking a picture of me in front of this: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/29/46769923_a35c9ac3b5.jpg

I don't know if we will get to see the Ziggurat...but my guess is that we will. Ur is apparently a huge archeological dig site and there are artifacts dating back to 2600 B.C. Now do you see why I want to go there?

So, I just wanted to let you guys know that I will be "out of the office" for the next week or so (maybe less maybe more). Flying in Iraq is not a definite thing. You can't just sign up for a flight with a guaranteed spot. There is a lot of waiting to see if there are any seats available and stuff like that.

I will be sure to take lots of pictures (1LT Duvall told me I had to) and will post them when I get back and tell you stories about the land of Mesopotamia.

It's been awhile

I haven't updated this in awhile. Sorry for my lack of updates, but that goes to show how little has been going on. Last week I did manage to get sick and get over it, but am still suffering from the lingering of a disgusting cough. Being sick over here might be one of the worst experiences I have had thus far. First of all being sick in the army is a totally different experience than being sick in the real world. You have to prove you are sick to actually get a sick day. At home if you are sick and happen to be blessed enough to have a job that gives you sick days you can use the luxury of "calling in sick" to work. Here that is not an option.

"Calling in sick" means telling your first line leader that you are sick. Then they look at you with the skeptical eye that I think is meant to make you feel bad for being sick which your first line leader hopes will result in you just going to work and not sick call. So if you are really sick, you go to sick call and the doctor will tell you that you need to be on quarters (confined to your room for rest) and give you a bunch of medicine. Of course any smart person could have figured this out, but the Army wants documentation as to why you are not at work and how long you plan on not working. Hopefully it all passes in 24 hours otherwise people really start to wonder what the hell is wrong with you. I was fortunate enough to get sick on my day off, so I just spent my time off feeling sorry for myself and sleeping. I took two days off from the gym and felt a little better, except for this stupid cough that won't leave me alone.

We played our last regular season flag football game and we lost. It was crap. We played the team that we got in a fight with, and we were all on our best behavior and so were they. They beat us in overtime. The combination of bad playing and poor reffing lead to our loss. We scored the extra point on our touchdown, but the ref didn't give it to us. I think he decided this out of fear that it would look like he was favoring our team...whatever. We get a re-match with them in the first round of the playoffs which start on Saturday. I think we will be okay.

I have received a few more awesome care packages. One from my Aunt Debbie, Uncle Paul, and my cousin Lora. Full of awesome food. Cara and polished off the Raisinets in a matter of days, but no worries. I received a care package from my Aunt Susie and Uncle Dale and the re-supplied our stash so all is well over here. Oh, and my side of the room looks like a very confused person sleeps over there.

The Nebraska blanket is from my Aunt Rogene and Uncle Tom. The Nebraska flag is from my Aunt Susie and Uncle Dale.



The Mizzou pillowcase is from my Aunt Susie and Uncle Dale and I am sure it was homemade.
Oh, and I thought I should hang the grainy black and white photos that Jane sent me one because there awesome and two because every wall needs grainy black and white photos on it.

Christmas photos

So here are a bunch of photos from Christmas dinner. The next post is all photos too. They had some really interesting decorations...for starters I think this is meant to be a snowman in a makeshift snow globe. Your thoughts?


The tree. I decided that the presents under the tree are for decorative purposes only. They are still there and it is almost the new year.


Pastries!! I love food.


The "wine" station. Sparkling grape juice.


The Christmas penguin. It isn't Christmas without him.

I think this is suppose to be Rudolf because he is standing off to the side, but it is confusing because he doesn't have a red nose and he should be leading the way.

Santa and his reindeer.



Decorative cakes were all the rage this Christmas season.

Christmas photos cont.

These are more Christmas photos taken in the dinning hall. I had to split it into two posts because they would not all fit into one post.

The 155 Brigade Combat Team (BCT) patch in cake form. We had to work with these guys a lot, but not anymore. Their LNO keeps me entertained on the night shift. Mainly because he hates his life more than most people, and LT Duvall and I find great humor in that. But not in a bad way...in a good way...if that makes sense.


The 90th patch in cake form. Oh, and no we did not get to eat these cakes. They were for decorative purposes only.


The 13th ESC patch in cake form. We fall under these people...not a big fan of them



Watermelon face. Kind of reminds me of a Native American.



Santa!


A deer? Maybe a longhorn?



Sweet dragon. I wish I had this talent. I feel like it would be very useful.


Go U.S.A.


And God said "let their be light." Okay, maybe that isn't what this says, but close enough.



Watermelon stand. They really like their watermelon over here. They still serve it to eat and it doesn't taste like anything at this point. Just water.


Fairy princess Christmas theme.



Really creepy moving Santa. His arms waved, but they only moved at the elbows...it was weird.

This is rice. Not astro turf. So if you step on it it is very very slick and you might fall on your face. Like my one friend almost did.



Decorative stuff.


Butter sculptures.


This is decorated with frosting.


The family! I will go clockwise starting with me. Me, SFC McAllen, CH Hedlund, MAJ Herrick, PFC Hyun (way in the back) then other side of the table coming back SPC Rogers, SPC Newton, SPC Ruscin (battle buddy!), and CPT Simpson.

More rice stuff.

The nativity scene.


Cara and I being awesome.

Christmas time

Today is the big day. Christmas. Woot. I know that a lot of people feel bad for me cause I am stuck over here and not with family and friends back home...but today just feels like another day. If it wasn't for the ridiculous amount of decorations in the dinning halls and all the AFN commercials wishing me a happy holidays and thanking me for my service I wouldn't know that today was any different than say yesterday or the first day we got here. Well it has cooled off considerably and I did have yesterday off which was nice. So I guess today is a little different.

Honestly I don't feel all down and sad that I am over here for Christmas. I have never been a big fan of the holiday (thanks Dad a.k.a. Scrooge) for reasons I will not get into, so I don't mind being here. Thanksgiving was way more of a beat down than Christmas. Last Christmas I spent in Plano eating dinner with my brother and his best friend Neil and his family. It proved to be a fun evening, but the following week was a heck of a lot more fun.

I went to a friends lake house for four days with some of my closest friends and had the time of my life. I would give my right arm to go back to that lake house right now with those people, and eat ourselves into a food comma and attempt to play Wii while intoxicated. For the record I still remain unbeaten in Wii tennis. Apparently real tennis carries over to Wii tennis...who would have thought that 8 years of tennis lessons would still be helpful four years later.

This morning I made my friends take a "family" picture, and I felt like my mom when she attempts to get my brother, dad, and me in one place for a family photo. The picture would have been awesome except Cara had her eyes closed. So close. Hopefully one of my friends has a better picture.

All in all today was okay. Nothing to complain about (other than not being able to go to the gym), and I have to work tonight which means I get to read and watch more Scrubs.

I hope everyone back home is having a safe and fun Christmas. I know that a lot of my friends and family are experiencing a white Christmas, so have fun with that and get into an awesome snow ball fight for me.

Vehicles

So my friend Sam has a mom that works and at a before and after school care place and her class has adopted me and been sending me amazing care packages since I got here. The latest one was a Christmas package and a bunch of the cards had 5 things they would like to see if they came to Iraq. A lot of the kids put they would like to see a tank, gun, plane, or something of that nature. So I thought I would post on here what the vehicles look like that soldiers drive around in. I am not proficient on what all the different types are meant for and the specifics of each one. All I know is they look cool and they have saved 100's of lives because of the protection they provide troops. Also, they Army doesn't use tanks like they used to because they aren't practical. So on a convoy you don't see tanks escorting the cargo, you see these bad boys.












Here is my M16. No it does not have a name, and no I will not name it. And yes that is duct tape holding on my ammo pouch. I had the option of spending 15 dollars on an ammo pouch attachment or using SFC McAllen's free duct tape. The decision wasn't that hard.

Tornadoes

I made the comment on my facebook profile status:

What do tornadoes and mortars have in common? When you see or hear one you want to go outside and look instead of take cover.

I guess I should explain why I said this. Sometime last week we were hit by a serious mortar attack. Six of them in one morning and two of them actually went off. Usually they hit and don't explode, but apparently this day the bad guys found some that still worked.

Well two of them hit really close to my CHU and I ran outside to see what was going on. Okay the story goes like this. SFC McAllen had just dropped me off at my CHU after work and we were standing around talking and we hear this really loud explosion and at the same time say "what the heck was that?" (I am trying to keep it PG). And then 5 seconds later the CRAM (a big anit-missile thing that doesn't always work...like in this instance) goes off and we decide that we want to go see what the heck just happened. Oh, and there was no siren to fore warn us of this incoming fire.

We run outside and at about this time we hear the CRAM go off again and then 5 seconds later hear another loud explosion and this time we see smoke from the explosion. It was probably 200 yards away maybe more. At this time we both realize what we have done...running outside instead of taking cover. We look around and notice that numerous other people are doing the same thing. It doesn't make it safe or smart, but it means that curiosity is dangerous. That is why it killed the cat.

There were four more attacks before noon. Two were shot down and two more landed somewhere and didn't go off. I slept through it all.

Another day...

Another day and nothing much has changed. I still go to work everyday except Wednesdays and I still do not do a whole heck of a lot at work. I have a generally boring job, but I am getting paid and I like the people I work with. Which means I am better off than a lot of people.

This week I have finished reading the Godfather and then watching the first movie. The movie did a very good job in staying true to the book. Everything that happens in the movie happens in the book, but just in a different order. I have not watched the Godfather II or III, so I will let you know if the movies start to get carried away and doing things differently. The book was great though, and if you get the chance you should read it.

I have watched more of The Office with Cara and we are almost done with season 3. We took a brief intermission to watch Four Christmases, and that was a fantastic movie. My co-worker LT Duvall bought me seasons 1 thru 8 of Scrubs from the Iraqi mart here and so I now have that to look forward to at work. I love that show.

We have played a couple football games since I last updated this blog and we won them all. We are on a three game win streak, and one of those wins includes a huge upset over the number one team in the league that was undefeated. The Cowboys got their inspiration from us. It's been a lot of fun playing QB, but I do miss playing defense. No one has gotten injured either (Cara has somewhat stayed on her feet in all of our games). We play the DC Divas (the team we may or may not have started a fight against) again in about a week and a half....I have no idea why they are letting us play again. I would cancel the game if I was running the league, but I guess someone wants to see some action.

I have faith that we won't start anymore fights though. We have learned our lesson, and were able to beat the undefeated team because we didn't let them get inside our heads with all their smack talk and illegal contact.

Only two more shopping days until Christmas. I need to get to the store. Just kidding. No Christmas presents from me this year. Sorry if anyone was expecting something from me. Apparently it takes about a month to get a letter from Iraq, so I can only imagine how long a package would take. I plan on getting my group of friends together and taking some sort of Christmas picture over here and I will of course post it.

I hope everyone has a great Christmas and stays safe. Eat an extra slice of pumpkin pie for me, because the pie over here...not so good.

Coffee

Today has been a weird day for me in that I am more miserable than usual. I can usually keep my spirits pretty high, but today I just want to sulk in my own misery. I don't know why I feel this way, maybe I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I cannot put my finger on what it is that is making today suck...but I have two ideas and they are:

1.) I am not a morning person
2.) I get annoyed with stupid questions and/or comments

It takes me a good hour before I like to interact with others, and that has caused some problems for me in the sense that I have to interact with people almost immediately after waking up and I think this contributes to my unpleasant mood. Side note: Cara does not annoy me when I wake up... she leaves me alone when I wake up (she has picked up on my "non-morning person" personality).

I work the night shift, so when I wake up at 1800 everyone is ready to go to "dinner" (this word is in bunny ears because the word dinner is subjective, for me it is breakfast and I think it is unfair to label meals in such black and white terms), so Cara and I head to the dinning hall to eat with our group of friends. It is during this time that I usually encounter the stupid questions/comments. People see my cup of coffee at "dinner" and ask the question "coffee for dinner? I could never do that I would be awake all night." When they say this, they have this tone... like what they are really thinking is 'what are you trying to stay up all night to play video games and watch TV like some immature middle schooler on Christmas vacation.' It's
annoying. Or people see my bowl of cereal and make the remark with dripping sarcasm "wow, don't get too full on your bowl of cereal for dinner."

These people annoy me. Why do these people annoy me...because their comments and questions are stupid. I always politely respond with "I work the night shift." And this usually causes a response of "ohhh, okay well that explains why you are drinking coffee and eating cereal. Sorry you have that shift it must really stink." Or something along those lines.

What I am really thinking in my head is: "You're right drinking coffee would keep me up all night and lucky for me that is my intention because this happens to be breakfast time. Not dinner. Breakfast. I guess no one informed you that war is a 24 hour sort of thing. That means someone has to be up to make sure things go smoothly during the night, and I happen to be one of those people. You must be shocked to learn that not all soldiers work 8 to 5. And as for the cereal, well what did you eat for breakfast? Indian food? I didn't think so. Annnddd, just so you know it doesn't stink working the night shift, because there are less people (like you) to distract me from
doing my job and I am on the same time schedule as all my friends and family back home which makes talking to them a lot easier."

See, I am not a morning person. I am aware that people that make these small talk sort of comments are not aware of the fact that they are maybe the 100th person to ask me this question...and they also don't realize how little I like talking to people after just waking up. I know this seems like a harsh response and my parents are probably embarrassed that I would write such sarcastic and negative things. I have been told that at times I am a little too sarcastic and I have acquired the nickname Negative Nancy for a reason. My mom says I get my sarcasm from my dad and my dad says I get my pessimism from my mom. Clearly the stork is to blame.

Moral of the story: If you see me drinking coffee at odd hours don't question it. There is a method to my madness, so just leave me alone.

Ta da...

I feel like I should post something because it has been a good four days since my last post. Fortunately nothing has changed over here and so I can only talk about flag football and working out. Those are the only two things that keep me motivated over here.

We lost our football game on Thursday. I was quarterback again, and I was definitely off my game. My throws were behind the receivers and I didn't put enough power behind some of them so they just floated in the air forever. We beat the team the last time we played them 7 to 6, but this time we lost 25 to 13 I think.

We avoided fighting, so I think the game was a success. Oh, I don't think I informed you guys about the fight. In the previous game (the one before the Thursday game) the 90th may or may not have gotten into a fight with the other team. I didn't start it...why would you think I would start a fight? I am a lover not a fighter.

The 90th did kind of start it, but we were provoked! I know I know that isn't an excuse. I did not throw any punches or have anything to do with it. I was taking a knee because I had gotten my face slammed by the back of SFC Mcallen's head. That is what started the fight.

SFC Mcallen got run over by a defensive player (for the umpteenth time) and as she was falling to the ground she grabbed a hold of the defensive's player's jersey and brought her down with her. The girl clearly did not like this and got up and tried to start beating up SFC McAllen. Much to her surprise one of our players on the field happens to be a cop in real life, so it only took a second for "cop mode" to kick in and the girl was restrained. It didn't matter though, by this time both benches were cleared and everyone was on the field.

They still let us finish the game though...I have no idea why. I would have ended it. We won the game. The team was terrible. That added to my frustration with the 90th for getting into a fight with a team that was so athletically inferior to us.

My face is fine. As some of you know my face heals surprisingly fast and therefore I lack the capability of getting a black eye. Some would consider this a blessing...but if you ever played rugby you would know that this is truly a curse.

I don't think I will be playing quarterback anymore, because our starting one should be over her thumb injury by our next game.

What else...I got a package from Caroline. Great food selection. Tell Jake thanks for the card, and I will be home shortly to save him from having to live with you and Kayanne. Poor guy.

I also got three packages from Mrs. La Fata. Also, great food selection. Cara and I have our work cut out for us with eating all this food, but don't worry we are up for the challenge. People are always impressed at the amount of food we can put away.

Oh, and Jamie you are amazing. See's toffee...I was not expecting that. Cara told me that I eat the fanciest candy of anyone she knows. I think it was meant as a compliment. I have just had the privilege of eating lots and lots of different candy throughout my life. I need to go to the dentist.

Look below.

I posted pictures of Cara's award ceremony, and they are below the "Contractors" post. So scroll down and enjoy.

Contractors

I know I said that my next post would be pictures of Cara's promotion ceremony...but posting pictures takes a really long time, and I don't have time to wait for all the pictures to download tonight. So, I am going to get on my soap box about contractors.

I want to make it clear that I have very little background knowledge when it comes to the purpose of the contractors that are over here, so I speak only on what I perceive and my own thoughts about the subject of contractors.

I am stationed at JBB, which is the largest base in all of Iraq. There are well over 20,000 people on this post and not all of them are military personnel. There are lots of contractors over here and I do not know the exact job listing of contractors but I know that there are people working at AAFESS (the store), in the barber shop, at the 13th (the headquarters bldg where I work), in the guard towers (Ugandan military), they work as mechanics, in the DFAC serving food, and I am sure they work at about 100 other jobs that I don't know about and don't want to list. I know that not all of these people are Americans too. There are lots of Iraqis that work here on base cleaning, doing construction, and serving food in the DFAC. There are also Filipinos that work in the barber/beauty shop cutting hair and giving massages. I am lead to believe that these people are probably not making a lot of money and they are providing a service that the Army doesn't train soldiers on.

Well, that isn't entirely true. The Army has cooks, but they have contracted this service out and that is why there are Iraqis serving our food. Which leads nicely into my qualm with contractors.

The military seems to have contracted out everything (I might be slightly over-exaggerating this...but once again this is what I perceive to be true). There are contractors everywhere we look, and it is really annoying. I am fairly confident that the Americans that are over here are making at least four or five times as much money as I make and they are doing a job that I am fairly confident that someone in the Army could do. Like I said, I don't know why the military contracts stuff out...I am sure there is a legitimate reason for it. However, these contractors make me feel like crap.

They get to walk around in civilian clothes, they have their own CHU, some of them have a CHU with a bathroom, lots of them have their own vehicle, and most importantly they are getting paid more money than me. Their lives are just as in danger-ed as mine...an IDF attack doesn't discriminate against who it is going to hurt. Yet, the military is paying them six figures to be over here. Well the military pays KBR (or some other business) who then pays the contractors. I am fairly confident that there are enough smart and capable soldiers to do the jobs that these contractors provide. The military would just have to provide us the training to do so, and I am guessing the military could probably save some money.

Don't get me wrong, I am not a soldier because of the paycheck. I signed up for other more honorable reasons, but it makes me feel pretty worthless when I know the military is paying an American citizen six figures to be over here because they are risking their lives to be in a war zone. Where as the military pays me an extra 250 bucks a month called hazardous duty pay. The more I think about it the more beat down I get over the whole situation.

Cara's Award

I know that Cara probably doesn't want me to post these pictures because she doesn't want all the attention, but she can deal with it. I know her mom and dad want to see the pictures so I am doing it for them...not her.

I took these photos at the award ceremony when Cara received an ARCOM (Army Commendation Medal). The reason I am not standing in formation with everyone else is that I was wearing my PT uniform and didn't want to look out of place. It was 1 in the afternoon and I was suppose to be asleep, and that is why I didn't dress up for the occasion in my ACU's. Also, I was taking photos so I was allowed to stand off to the side.

Cara received the ARCOM for her actions during the helicopter crash where she helped ensure the safety and lives of the crew. She claims that she doesn't deserve an award because she was just doing her job. If you ever meet her, don't listen to her if she says ridiculous things like that. She deserves the ARCOM and honestly she deserves a lot more than an ARCOM, but I won't get into that argument right now. With out further ado, here are the pictures. Enjoy.


Before the awards ceremony. She looks so excited.


The officers that came out to support the occasion. There is a lot of brass in this picture.


LTC Hildibrant pinning the medal on Cara.


Shaking the commander's hand after being pinned. Not the Brigade commander, but a different commander...just go with it.


A picture with the certificate.


Cara standing in front of everyone after she received the award.


A group shot of everyone who was at the occasion. Everyone is giving Cara a round of applause after being pinned. That is her standing in the front by herself.


At first he tried to get out of giving her a hug, but then he decided to be a good friend and give her a real hug. It reminded me of my brother and I when we were little and our parents told us to apologize to each other. The first apology was never legit, but then you get scolded so the second one is meaningful.


SSG Merkley giving her a handshake.


And CPT White giving her some love.


SFC Henrinksen and his awesome mustache came out for the occasion. Congrats to him for winning second place in the nasty stache November contest.



A handshake from LT Sandion. He works closely with the medics.


A hug from CPT Simpson. She also works closely with the medics.


That's my uncle . SGM Watson. He is congratulating the recipient (i.e. Cara).


That's right, the man himself came out for the occasion. That man being the big kahuna COL Spry.