Yes, I am Doing OK---Thanks for Asking

This is the longest time between post. I can't explain why it has been so long, but I guess it is because I have been preoccupied with thoughts of leaving Iraq next month and preparing for the redeployment of my unit. I can't believe that I have been out of the country for almost 11 months. Next month at this time, I will be back at FT Hood, Texas for another 3 weeks before I head home. The days are long still, and its getting real hot. The other day it was about 120. My fellow soldiers are getting what we call "short-timers" attitudes. Basically, we don't care about much right now. We see the light at the end of this very long tunnel. But still now and then we are jolted by reality when we get hit by a few mortar attacks that seem to be getting closer and closer to us. The last big attack came within a few hundred yards of me and a few guys got hit by shrapnel (but not hurt too bad). For the most part, what we are going through is not that much different that what most of you go through at your jobs. We come to work, goof off some, gossip and laugh a lot and make fun of the boss behind her/his back. But then, unlike at home, the siren goes off (air raid) and the big voice shouts... INCOMING...INCOMING... INCOMING....... and we hit the deck and pray that it don't fall right on our heads. Then we close our eyes and a few seconds later....boom.....or nothing.....or BOOM (if its close). The other day....it was....BOOM BOOM.....BOOM...BOOM! As I am sitting on the floor I am thinking....WTF????.....I volunteered for this? After awhile, we finally get the all clear, and we continue on with our day as if nothing happened. Ha ha. Not everyday is like this of course. But it does give us the feeling that we are finally earning a little of our "combat pay". Well, I have just over 3 weeks of unpredictability left. I really am hoping that there isnt a big "HIT ME" sign on my back the next time the mortars come visiting. Love to all my peeps.

Paris Hilton Needs a Hug

So the war is raging over here and there is bad news after bad news coming out of Baghdad. We are on target for another tough month here in Iraq. But THANK GOD WERE NOT PARIS HILTON!!!. I mean that poor girl...first the judge sends her to jail then the sheriff lets her out then that mean old judge sends her back to the pokey!! OH THE HUMANITY!!!!. So I am starting a FREE PARIS NOW! petition so that poor little rich girl doesnt have to spend an hour more in jail then she has too. NO JUSTICE...NO PEACE BITCHES!!! I mean, this story is big news. All the major news channels have been all Paris all the time. Even that RARELY FAIR AND NOT REALLY BALANCED news channel Fox has been spending big money talking shit about my girl. BACK OFF YOU JERKS! Paris needs a hug. And I for one want to say, as an American fighting man, fighting for all that is pure and just over here in the desert think that this oppression of Paris must stop. Just as as the American Army liberated Paris (the city in France) 62 years ago, I will lead a new band of brothers to liberate Paris (Hilton) this summer. Can you feel the OUTRAGE? Well my fellow Americans, D-Day approaches! ARE YOU WITH ME? LIBERATE PARIS....TODAY!


(THIS MESSAGE PAID FOR BY THE LIBERATE PARIS COMMITTEE AND CONCERNED CITIZENS LIKE YOU. DONATIONS WELCOME, BUT THEY ARE NOT TAX DEDUCTIBLE...THOSE BASTARDS)

Ground Hog Day

If you ever saw the Bill Murray movie called "Ground Hog Day" you will know what I mean when I say everyday over here is alot like Ground Hog Day. The same thing, from morning to night, all day long, day to day and into the next day. Wake up at 0600, get dressed for PT, run PT, back to the hooch to grab the shower stuff and then its off to the shower and and into the shower and wash my ass and back to the hooch and get dressed and put on my uniform and gear and grab the weapon and strap it to my back and its off to walk the 15 minutes to work and then its a morning meeting with me and the LTC and Major and my man Bluch (where we talk about nothing and alot) and then its into the office and checking my email and getting updates from my subordinates and working on whatever is "hot" that day or whatever the LTC thinks is "hot" and then its off to lunch and eat KBR shit and then a mid-day walk and then back to the office to review the work of my soldiers until 1900 and then its put on my gear and strap my weapon to my back and walk back to the hooch--dripping wet from sweat cause its a hundred and oh fuck...and then its take off my gear and my uniform and check the internet and turn on the tv to watch crap and then its lay in the bed and fall all sleep and then the alarm rings and shit.....wake up and 0600, get dressed for PT........". You get the point. Ground Hogs Day...You see...when you are in the combat zone...you want ground hogs day...because if the shit hits the fan...and something messes with this daily regimen...it often means something really bad happens (like a chopper going down or some soldier getting killed or injured). We have had a few days like that since we have been in country, but for the most part, its just been SSDD. Well I am hoping for the last 7 weeks or so to be just like for me. Let me know what to expect...with no surprizes. I have had enough excitement to last me a long time. Now, I just want to get home fully intact...and with my mind intact.