I miss Iraq!.....Ha ha....Yeah Right

You know I don't really miss Iraq. Nothing about it really. Not the endless noice of aircraft landing and taking off....the constant hum of generators...the awful smell of stewing porta-potties...the sand and dust on everything....D-FAC food in general...nope I don't miss any of it. Naaaa...I don't miss the 120 degree days and the long long hours. I don't miss anything about Iraq. And being home...reminds me of how much I missed when I was there and how much I don't miss about it now. You know the saying....it's always greener on the other side? Well bullshit....it is greener on this side and it always will be. Ha ha. I do miss my soldiers who have stayed behind. They will be here next weekend. I am looking forward to seeing them again. I mean no disrespect to the people of Iraq. I saw alot of beautiful things when I was there. Before it was war-torn...It was a beautiful place I bet. And it is home to them. I am sure if they visited here...they would get homesick too. But for me? I am glad to be back here. And if duty calls again..I would go back to Iraq again...without hesitation. This is not a comfort to those who love me. But it is the truth. But...for the time being.......I don't miss Iraq one bit.

Dick Gets a New Battery

Today the news is reporting that our favorite chicken hawk, Mr. Dick "we will be greeted as liberators" Cheney went in to get his pace maker battery replaced. So for a few hours, Georgie actually had some power as the evil one went under the knife. But alas, the Vice President showed what he was made of and recovered from surgery and will be available to continue to fuck the American People as he has for the past 7 years. Uh thank you again Ralph Nader. Any hoo, I don't want you all to think I was wishing any ill on him...he is human after all...(?). But, you see I want Mr. Cheney to live long enough to see his impeachment and that of his butt boy Mr. Bush. A few months ago, I remember thinking that the Democrats would be wrong for pushing the whole impeachment thing...but the more I see how these guys operate...the more I see the reason why our founders made impeachment an available option under the constitution. It was put there to ensure against abuse of power on the part of the executive branch. The Republicans impeached Clinton for essentially lying about a blow job. They considered this to be "high crimes and misdemeanors". What have these two done? Damn where do we begin? Lying about weapons of mass destruction to get into a war that has thus far caused the deaths of over 3600 soldiers and thousands of Iraqi civilians. Setting up illegal wire taps of Americans. Firing lawyers from the Justice Department...mainly because they refused to indict Democrats and other political enemies and then lying about it. "Outing" a CIA agent solely to discredit her husband who had questioned the administration handling of pre-war intelligence. The list goes on and on. These guys...they are the reason the founders put the impeachment clause in. To protect us from this sort of abuse of power. This is worse then Nixon. A lot worse. So Dick, enjoy your newly charged heart. But remember, the chickens always come home to roost. Well in your case (and all your buddies) the "chicken hawks" always come home to roost. Lets get this impeachment party started. Case you haven't all figured it out.....I'm BAAAAAAAACK!

Fort Hood....The Sequel

Well here I am again. At Ft Hood Texas. Where it all began 16 months ago. It has not changed much really...at it sure seem nice to be back. I have been here since Monday. Yesterday, bright and early we reported to a outprocessing center and experienced yet more briefings to go along with gazillions we have already gone through. This was death by power point again. These briefings are just "check the box" kinda of shit that the Army feels is necessary for us as we experience reintegration into civilian society. Back in April 2006, I wrote this entry that described what this experience is all about....Death by Power Point, Redux:

Tuesday we experienced a variety of mandatory briefings for soldiers being deployed. For the better part of 6 hours we sat staring at video tapes of various briefings that the Army thinks is so important for us to learn be for we go to Iraq. They call this day "DEATH BY POWER POINT" because we have heard this all before and its still boring. Topics included riveting topics like how to avoid getting killed or a sexually transmitted disease. At one point I looked around the room and noticed that not one person was paying attention to the video that was showing. This was a horrible day because it was so hot in the room and the subject was so boring. (from April 11, 2006)

Uhhhh.....yeah....same deal. Boring shit. The lowlight yesterday was the 45 minutes of discussion about all the bad diseases we can get from having sex. You know..the clap, AIDS, herpes, Hep 1 and 2 and all that. The good news (and bad I guess) is that only a few people actually had sex over there, (present company excluded) so I guess I am not sure how they deem us to be at high risk for any of this. But they do like to scare the hell out of us by showing us pictures of diseased and infected penises and vaginas. Right before lunch no less. Well we did get through it and we continued our outprocessing today. Like I said...check the box and move out. I am not complaining mind you...the air is clear and the food taste really really good and its really quiet. No helos at 2 in the morning and every hour on the hour. The next few days will be low-key as I prepare to go to Basic NCO course in about 10 days. After that...its home to Albany and T and all my buds. There is a big party in the works. I hope!

Early Rise and on to Texas

Well yesterday was a long day and today started very early. 0200 to be exact. I awoke at that time and lugged my bags down to a bus that was waiting to take us to Philly for our flight south. We waited around and then loaded up around 0400 and headed to the airport. Yet another mode of transportation in this long long journey that started on Friday. Hopefully it will end today. My flight from Philly was uneventful except for the fact that some guy told me to hurry up in a not so friendly voice. Apparently I was taking too long to get my bag in the overhead compartment. I glared at him and in my very quiet inner voice I said....'HEY GIVE ME A BREAK ASSHOLE I JUST SPENT A YEAR IN THE EFFIN DESERT!...Of course he didnt hear me but then I look at him again and noticed that he most likely had to pay for two seats to fit his fat ass in. As he passed me I glared again and then said in my very quiet voice....HOW DARE YOU TALK THAT WAY TO ME...YOU UNAPPRECIATIVE FAT F**k...HERE I AM PROTECTING YOUR RIGHT TO OVER FEED YOUR FAT EFFIN FACE AND YOU TELL ME TO HURRY UP. Haha...YOU HURRY UP....THERES A HEART ATTACK WITH YOUR NAME ON IT BUDDY!....Haha. Oh of course he heard none of it...but thats ok...I felt good saying it even if noone ever heard it. Any way, I am in Dallas right now and feeling good. This is the last leg for awhile and I am looking forward to beginning the outprocessing phase. I will keep you all posted. Love you all my peeps!

American Soil - I have returned!

Last night, at about 0130 I left the combat zone for the last time. Well until the next time that is. Ha ha. According to the pilot of the plane I was on, we crossed the Canadian Border into Vermont about 0830. We touched down about 0945, at Ft Dix, NJ and that is where I am currently. Tomorrow I will head back to Texas for a little more then 3 weeks of training and outprocessing before I head back to Albany. I am real tired right now (my body tells me its not 1815 but 0215 tomorrow.) Thats the jet lag. It will take me a few days to adjust to that I guess. But it does feel great to be back. Already today...I went bowling, played putt putt, rode a go-cart and had a couple of "cool ones". Thats like a week of Sundays already! I have missed so much being gone. I spoke to my brother Bill, Eric and Wanda, and T, and left phone calls for my sis-in-law Sherry. Tomorrow I will make some more calls. But, I can now say, I went to war and came back with all the parts that god gave me. That is a very good thing. Now I am looking forward to working the home front for awhile. Now I need to go collapse. Good night my peeps. Daddy is back in the country!

THIS JUST IN...ELVIS SPOTTED IN KUWAIT MCDONALDS!

Well...he looked like Elvis anyway...the younger thinner one....ha ha. Hey kids, the trip back home has begun. Last night I flew into Kuwait and now am in the process of preparing for the flight back to the states...exact times are of course classified, but I wanted to make sure everyone knew that I was on my way. It is good to be back in Kuwait...although its effin hotter then hell around here. It has been an emotional week. Alot of sad goodbyes...mixed in with the joy of coming back to see all of my buds and family. Damn I miss Elvis too (that being the big yellow dawg). More to come later, I will be posting some updates and I progress. I love you all! Hmmm, Freedom is almost here!

Getting Close

Well my friends....I am can almost taste freedom. This time next week, I will be on my way home. Well at least home...as in the good old USA. My real home...Albany....where T and Elvis and little Eddie wait for me...is still about a month off. But time...is on my side now. I am almost there. I have cleared post and now its just a matter of wrapping the last minute things up...like packing and mailing stuff home...and saying goodbye to all my buds here. The last couple of weeks have been busy...I had guard duty a few times, went to redeployment briefings, went to a couple of goodbye parties and started the long process of outprocessing. It will take some time for me to adjust, but I am ready to come home. There is just so much I am excited about doing when I get back. I have had trouble sleeping because of how much I have on my mind, combined with the excitement of leaving Iraq. The rest of this week will be a killer. Early mornings and long days ahead. But by the end of the week, the hardest part will be over. I miss you America. For all your flaws, I still love you. And it will be a very happy day the day I touched down...even if it is in Texas. Ha ha. I will keep you all posted and I begin my journey home. Stay strong baby! Daddy is almost home!

4th of July 2007 - Mark...you are not forgotten!

One year ago today I was in Houston, Texas participating in a 4th of July parade in which I rode in the back of duece and a half truck with other soldiers in my brigade. The crowd was great and they were very supportive of us and really showed it. It was classic american patriotism and it was moving and unforgetable. This what I wrote one year ago:

Sometimes I try to bring a level of levity to these posts. I dont take myself seriously and I like to make people laugh and think with what I write. Today, something happened to me that I will never forgot. I dont feel much like laughing tonight, so bear with me. Yesterday I had an opportunity to go to Houston for a couple of days to participate in a Independance Day parade. It was a chance to get out of FT Hood and to see another city in Texas I have not seen yet. We were escorted by a lady by the name of Ms. Julie (don't know her last name) who heads up a group on post that works with deployed soldiers, injured soldiers and their families. The do alot of neat stuff and show support for all those who need it. Ms. Julie has lots of friends all over Texas, and two of her friends joined us in Houston for dinner last night. They actually paid! We had about 24 in our group. Today we were in a parade held in a nice part of town called the Woodlands. As we rode down the parade route, people of all ages stood and cheered as we went by. It was very moving to see young kids and older folks (especially the veterans) enthusiastically cheer as we went by. "We love you" or "Thank you" was what they yelled at us as we went by. I was embarrassed a little I guess and just said thanks back to them. After awhile, I saw a young woman being held by two other woman. She was crying and was having a very bad time of it. I felt really bad because I knew that this meant that she had experienced some kind of awful loss. A few blocks down the road, Julie stopped our truck and brought the young woman to us and told us to help her into the truck. Julie says she needed to be close to us because she lost her brother to a road side bomb in Iraq last November. We all gladly helped her into the truck and told her that we would protect her. I then began talking to her and found out her name was Amy she was from Vermont and that her brother had been one of the "Green Mountain Boys", the Mountain Infantry unit out of Vermont. His name was 2LT Mark Procopio and he was killed in action on November 2nd, 2005 near Ramadi. Amy rode with us the rest of the parade route and got hugs from all the guys at the end. I told her that her brother will never be forgotten and that we wanted to come back to Houston next year so that she could see that we all made it back. I never had the honor of knowing Mark but I know that he was loved by his family and that he was killed doing something he felt was important. I pray that I will get the chance to do the same. Until that day, I salute Mark and the others who have lost their lives in this conflict. They will not be forgotten! Amy, it gonna be alright. I promise.


Well Amy, I am almost home. I want to come to Houston again before head home to Albany. Mark has not been forgotten, nor any of the over 3500 soldiers who have died during this conflict. I hope you are well. As far as the rest of you out there...all my family and my buds...have a great day and enjoy your 4th. Don't drink and drive and eat a burger or two for me. Happy Birthday America!

Home Stretch!

It's July 1st. You know what that means? It means that I am leaving Iraq....THIS MONTH...and coming home to see all my family and friends...NEXT MONTH. Ha ha. How about that? The time has flown by and I can not believe that my departure is so close. Everyone is in count down mode. "HOW MANY DAYS YOU GOT SOLDIER?''....."30 days and a wake-up sergeant!" Everyone has a countdown clock on their computers...and mine says...20 days! Wow. There is so much that I need to do to get ready. This coming week will be real busy. I have guard duty on Tuesday and Thursday. And in between, on Wednesday, I have a DCS briefing. That is the briefing that those leaving theater have to have prior to leaving. It begins our out-processing. It is very exciting. And the saying goodbyes have begun. Since mid-May, we have been losing people to redeployment. My roommate left in May (I have had my own room since then) and a few of my buds have left the last few days. Yesterday, we had our last section party to say goodbye to one of my favorite soldiers. Jaime is a specialist from Houston. I have really bonded with her. She is a great soldier and a good friend. I know her husband and son cant wait to have her back, but damn we will miss her. You know, it was hard for me when I said goodbye to my family and friends back home, but it is equally hard for me to say goodbye to my soldiers. Because for the year and a half...they have been my family. I cherish everyone back home, but I will never forget the guys and gals who went to war with me. Who laughed and cried and worked and played all these many months. Everyone felt lonely and a little down (particularily around the holidays) this past year, but we all took comfort in the fact that we had each other. That is a bond that will never go away. I am so grateful for it. But, there is still much I need to do. The mission is not complete yet, but time is on our side. We are coming home THIS MONTH. Keep your fingers crossed and pray that we will see this one through.