Guard Duty and Another Week Down

Well last night was another fun night in cozy confines of Camp Anaconda. If you all slept better last night its because I was on guard duty making sure that the farmers, and the kids and the cows did not get too close to the LSA. Damn it...I would have shot them on the spot if I ever thought that they were a threat. The cows over here are a little skinny. So if I see I fat one...I will know its because the enemy has thought of an ingenous way to kill us. Beware of the new killing machine...the IEC.....IMPROVISED EXPLODING COWS!!!...They strap a few hundred pounds of explosives on those poor creatures and they walk up to us...awwww we say...look at the fat cows...so peaceful...so cute....I want to pet the funny cow......and then BLAMMMMMMMMMM!...Flying meat everywhere...and we never saw it coming. Let's hope that this information does not fall into the wrong hands....like terrorists or even worse...PETA...that would be ugly. But I digress. Today was my recovery day from guard duty and it has been a pretty good one. Nothing like the Sundays I mentioned in last week's post, but alright for Iraq. I got two new packages from home...My friend Cathy T (who is taking such great care of Elvis)..sent us a big box of treats and a little something for Licia...I got bags and bags of jelly beans...and plastic eggs with candy in them...thank you so much Cath!...I also got a great package from Barb and Vin (they are the ones that gave me the St. Christopher necklace...which I wear every day.) I got an Elvis Gospel CD and a couple of movies, including the classic Gone With the Wind. Thanks Barb and Vin! This week we spent alot of time on planning for our redeployment. I do not have an exact date, but it will be sometime in mid-summer. Noone really wants to tell any of their family and friends definite dates (which would violate OPSEC) because they do not want them to be disappointed if we get extended. I am not sure what the future will hold for me when I get back but I am looking at many options at this point. I am enjoying the military life...but I miss my love and all my buds and all the theater. So I will have some thinking to do before I commit one way or another to anything. The war itself is raging again. The new Baghdad security plan, which seemed to reduce some of the killings in the Capital initially, has been tested again after a bloody week of bombings, kidnappings, and sectarian killings. The President, ect., continues to say that the "Surge" is working and needs more time. Meanwhile, back home....the tragedy at Virginia Tech. Its been a rough week. But it is another week off the calendar for me. Talk to you soon.

I Want My Sundays Back!

God....I use to love Sundays. Those were my days. I miss them. Getting up late, reading the Sunday NY Times or the TU, watching Meet the Press and the Sports Reporters. Then about noon...it was off to brunch with the boys. Just easing into the day. On a lot of those Sundays, I ended up going to a matinee at the theater or if I was involved in a show, I would go to rehearsal. That was quite a nice way to spend a day. I do miss them. Most of the Sundays now are spent working. There is no Sunday paper (except the Stars and Stripes...which we get on Monday or Tuesday) no brunch, and Meet the Press comes on on Monday too. Today is Sunday, I worked. The Brigade Legal Office is always busy and as the Chief Paralegal, I get my share of long days. Today was actually short (only 9 hours) but I can now see a tiny little light at the end of the tunnel. August is just around the corner. About 16 weeks...give or take few days. That means 16 Sundays until I get my favorite day back. Some time in August, I will have a Sunday back in Albany. And it will consist of all my favorite things again. Getting up late..the NYT...Meet the Press...and Brunch. Then, me and my honey....we'll go for a ride in the country or take the dogs for a walk or head to the greenhouse to look at orchids. That will be a special day indeed. About 120 days or so until I come home. I hope....ha ha. Until then I will dream that dream.

A Ghost of Easter Past

Happy Easter everyone. I hope everyone is enjoying the day. It has been a quiet day here in Iraq for me. Last year, at this time I was getting ready for my last official day in Albany. I left for Fort Hood on April 9th, 2006. A year later, I am spending Easter in Iraq. Yet another holiday away from home. All week long we have been recieving packages from back home...all kinds of candy...little plastic eggs filled with jelly beans and other kinds of candy. I was thinking about Easter sundays in the past today. One stands out to me. When I was about 7 or 8 (in the early 70s) we were living on Black River Road, between Watertown and the village of Black River (in upstate NY). I remember that the week leading up to Easter, my brother John was teasing me about how I was not going to get anything from the Easter Bunny because I had been bad. Well when you are 7 or 8, you believe your brother when he tells you such things. But somehow, I wanted to believe that he was wrong. I made sure that the last few days before Easter I was extra good. Anyway, Easter morning, my twin sister Jeanne and I got up early to see if we got anything from the Easter Bunny. Well we found a basket with Jeanne's name on it but try as we did, we could not find one for me. I remember what my brother had told me and I came to the conclusion that indeed, I was bad and the Easter Bunny had passed me by. Well I started to cry real bad, but my sister came over to me and put her arm around me and said that it was ok...she would share her basket with me. That's how she was. Always generous. Always thinking of her twin. The sad truth is that if the shoe had been on the other foot...I don't think I would have offered her the same deal. I think I would have told her to buzz off. Ha ha. I was a selfish brat back then. As it turned out though, when my dad woke up he wanted to know what the Easter Bunny had given me. I told him that the Easter Bunny had stiffed me because I was bad. My dad laughed. He told me to look a little harder. Check the garage. Which I did and there it was! I guess I was not so bad afterall. I love this story because it reminds me of how important my sister was to me back then. (and now too). She was always so thoughtful. She was always there for me. She made sure I learned how tie my shoes (and tied them for me more then once). When I was bullied, she fearlessly fought the boys who picked on me. She was my guardian angel. I was a lucky kid to have a sister. Especially a twin sister. And through all the years of growing up and in school she never let me down. Last year, she began to change her life just like I did. She went back to school and became a paramedic. She got involved in search and rescues. These are things she always wanted to do. Now she is doing them and I am very proud of her. As I am sure she is of me. I love you sis...and yes...if you don't get a basket this year...don't worry...I will share mine with you. (I get dibs on the bunny ears though!) Love you all and peace my peeps!

OMG!!!!....I have been extended in Iraq 6 months!

You know what today is? It's April 1st...April fool's day!...Ha ha. No, it's not true. We have not been extended in Iraq. Not yet anyway. So everyone can take a deep breath. Well, you never know. In the last few months there have been a few National Guard units who have been extended in Iraq for a few months, but we don't believe that we will be extended ourselves. But if we did get extended, there would be nothing we could do about it anyway, so we continue to count down the days until we are scheduled to re-deploy. Right now, we are looking at about 4 months, which would get me back to the US by late summer. As much as I have enjoyed this experience, I am looking forward to coming back to Albany to be with my friends, with T and the doggies. Let's keep our fingers crossed. Anyway, March is now gone and April is here. Last year (on this day) I had a blog entry that talked about how much I wished my orders would come so that I could leave for Ft. Hood and start my deployment. As it turned out, that week would be my last week in Albany before I headed out. But anyway, here we are a year later and I believe I am a changed man. I think I am more confident then I was. More relaxed. More reflective too. I also better appreciate the many things I took for granted when I was back home. Being with friends, sunday brunch, hanging with my family. I also have been greatly moved by what I have seen here. I understand more about the struggles that other human beings are going through. Other soldiers who have to deal with many problems here and at home. Marriages gone bad...sick spouses...problems with their kids. The fear of the average Iraqi, wondering if the next time they go to a Mosque or to the market they and their families will be blown up. The men and woman who work so hard for low pay in a dangerous environment just so they can go back to India or the Philippines or Uganda with a little something for their families. There is a lot of people struggling right now. Here. At home. All over. But it is the beginning of Holy Week. Next Sunday is Easter. As a kid, I always remember what that meant. Hope. Resurrection. Renewal. Salvation. At the end of a difficult week comes Easter. The Bible tells us this. Depression and sadness on Good Friday but joy and rebirth on Easter Sunday. It's a nice thought don't you think? Anyway, enough about religion. Let's get straight to all those wonderful Easter traditions like "Easter eggs", fluffy bunnies, jelly beans, and Charlton Heston. (or is that Max Van Sydow?) Ahhh I miss those days when we got our new stuffed animals and ate the ears off chocolate rabbits. Mom never explained to us why we colored eggs at Easter or what bunnies had to do with our Lord dying on a cross. But as kids, well we just liked getting stuff from the Easter Bunny so I guess it didnt matter. So its another holiday in the "cradle of civilization". The biggies are out of the way....Halloween, Thankgiving, Christmas, New Years...now Easter. (I don't count Valentine's Day because I was in Atlanta that day). Coming up...Memorial Day...4th of July...then it's back home. Just in time for my birthday. What a celebration that will be. But until then....Happy Easter...Happy Passover....Happy Spring!