Tired

Somebody please explain to me why my boss is such an ass. I'm tired as hell, couldn't sleep till around 2 in the afternoon. When I asked to leave early he tell me no, I still have to brief. As if any trained monkey can't give my briefing. I can't count how many times this asshole has come in at midnight because he was so tired and worked so much the day before. *yeah right* Or how about the 3 to 5 hour naps he takes during his supposed 12 hour shift? Yet I can't get any time off despite the fact that this is the first time I've asked. I'm working most of the day with no days off, can I get a friggin break? No, not when I work for a self centered, annoying little man. I swear, when he is about ready to leave this unit, I will probably finally tell him exactly what I think of him. I can't wait till this deployment is over and I can get out from under his thumb. Or better yet, I can't wait till July when I should be heading to Kuwait and he will be staying here in Iraq. That will be sooner, but not soon enough.

Patriotic thoughts

     I'm sure most of you now know that Osama is dead. Well, at least that's what is on the news. That is the reason that so many young Americans ran to the front gates of the White House to chant USA and sing the national anthem. Unfortunately, many of the American people believe this to be a display of Patriotism. I, on the otherhand, do not. I call this the false wave, the wave that sweeps up the nation and gathers people together for a short time under a common thread. The same wave gather sports fans together to cheer or boo their team or their teams rivals. Patriotism is not something that gathers you in a wave and surges you up with your fellow Americans. It is something that burns within us. It is a banked fire with glowing embers that warms us with the glowing love of our nation. It is silent most of the time, only within our hearts can we hear it. Patriotism displays itself when we honor our flag, when we say the Pledge of Allegiance, when we stand with our hands over our hearts or up in salute as our flag is raised and the Anthem is played.

     When a great horror or victory hits our country it is the Patriot that is composed, crying or cheering on the inside. We do not need to race into the streets. We do not need to shout as loud as we can how much we love our country or how much we need to seek retribution. We treat our Patriotism in the same way that Jesus told us to pray.

     I know that there are many who will be upset with this post. Please know that I am not trying to insult anyone with this. There are some out there who cry out when our country befalls tragedy but not so that others can hear, just because they feel the injustice, like a knife, in their hearts. They may cry out our victory but just because they know that it means that soon the sons and daughters of our nation will be coming home to them.

     My fellow Patriots, I love you one and all.

over several days

Steaks are awesome If you are reading this, know that I love you

 

I've decided I'm sick and tired of chow hall food. Unfortunately there is only one restaurant here on post and it's not all that great. Just before we got to Joint Base Balad most of everything was closed. Only a few tenatiously clung to JBB like lichen to a rock. Fortunately for me, the PX does sell some frozen meat. Since I work the night shift, I am not bothered by all the extra briefings that day shift has to put up with and attend. So for lunch on Sunday into Monday and again on Monday into Tuesday I bought a steak and grilled it. I used the instant potatoes that my sister lovingly put into a care package for me. Surprisingly enough, they were pretty good. Arica, if you are reading this, the loaded potatoes would make a great repeat if you want to send another box. ;-) Back to the steaks. Jealous eyes followed me everywhere I went as I walked my potatoes and steaks to my desk. I sat my happy ass in my comfy seat, watched Knight and Day and enjoyed a 3/4 in thick T-bone and loaded potatoes. The only thing that could have made the meal better was a cold beer to wash it all down with. Damn these dry countries anyway. I could have had an O'douls, but what the hell is the point in that? Who in their right mind wants to drink fake beer?

 

Sunday 24 APR

 

If I have to spend one more moment with this moron one of two things are going to happen, I'm either going to be short one round when we leave here and he will never be heard of again or I'm going to face a serious UCMJ for beating the crap out of an officer. Either way, something's gotta give. I'm about to just simply tell him he is to give the shift change briefing from now on since he is the one that insists half the information absolutely needs to go on it. I don't even understand most of what he wants on it and his explinations are as good as a 10 year old trying to explain quantum physics. All too often he doesn't even know the words he should use to explain something and the rest of the times he uses words that don't make sense. English is definately not even his second language, let alone his first. He gets me so damned frustrated I want to break his jaw so I no longer have to hear his crappily accented voice.

Latest and Greatest

     I know it's been a while since I have written and you're all probably thinking that I have tons to write about. Not so much. Nothing of import has been going on here. I've gotten settled in completely at work to include putting music on my computer so I have some entertainment at work. You'd be surprised how much faster this seems to make my night go for me. I've also figured out that I can use chat via gmail on my computer at work so I chat to anybody who has a gmail account and is on my friends list. If you have one and aren't on my list, shame on you!

     The biggest problem with work is that it's always Monday. I get up, get showered and change and head to work. Every day. I've not had a day off since we started working full swing. I don't know if I will get a day off. The only thing that breaks up the night is when we get attacked. Some of you may be thinking, "WOW! that must be scary" No, it's just another night in Iraq. Some of the time it's just a minor annoyance, the rest of the time it's nothing more than an alarm that sounds occasionally telling us "All Clear" A few nights ago we had a real fun night. We had 8 different attacks all within a span of about 7 to 10 min. We sat around and listened to it all go down, then shrugged and got back into our emails and reports and spread sheets and, generally, got back to work. As I said, another night in Iraq. I do plan on trying to find out just how many times we've been attacked since we took over and then I'm going to keep a running tally of just how many times the enemy has missed us. I think it would be neat to know the numbers exact.

     On lighter news, I will possibly be on the news back at home. On the way back to my CHU (combat housing unit) this morning I was stopped by our Public Affairs Office (PAO) and asked if I wanted to be recorded doing an Easter greeting. It only took a few minutes and it was done. They gave me a card where I can go and see my recording and send it out as an e-greeting. I've never really thought of things like that. I've seen them often enough on the morning news at home, soldiers greeting friends and loved ones at home during Christmas and Thanks Giving and various other holidays. I just never thought I might be one of those soldiers giving that greeting. I think it's a great thing to do. I never knew any of the ones that I saw but I can imagine what it would be like for their family to flip on the TV and see their son or daughter waving and saying hi. Sometimes, the army really does take care of us.

PTSD experiment

     You ever have one of those guys? You know the one. He asks questions whose answers nobody cares about. He has expectations that are so far out in left field they're dodging baseballs in the parking lot. He wants things done that not even his boss care about. You all know this guy and so do I. How do I know him you may ask? I work with him now.

     It's starting off as a slow night, nothing much to do and nothing much to report at the end of my shift. Hell, we're not even going to have a briefing today, which I think is pretty cool. No slide to do and update, no questions to answer, nothing. So I get the lowdown from my counterpart. He says that this is the way of the weekends. Nothing much goes on so the op-tempo is a lot slower. Less is expected of you and you don't have to report to anybody. Still have some things that must get done, but the end of shift briefing doesn't happen. I'm all smiles at this point. Then the other stack of shoes drop.

     I'm asked a question about schedule changes on things that we report. The same question that I answered last night to the same guy. I'm not going to get that report for another 2 hours, I can't update it. So he wants to know when I'm going to update my slide. I tell him there is no slide to update because there is no brief. Well, we still have to do the slide. I ask why and get the response of for historical data. Really? Historical data? Pull the other, it has bells on. So, I update the slide, as much as I can without getting the report I can't get for another couple of hours. I get done and ask where he wants it saved. Oh, just put it in the usual place. At this time I just want to slap the piss out of the guy. I can't put it in the usual place, there is no brief, there is no slide show, the usual place doesn't even exist today!  He actually goes to the guys who control the slide show and ask them to create the spot for my slide. So there will be a historical record of today's brief, complete with ONE FRICKEN SLIDE! MINE!

      I have been wondering of late if it is possible to get PT SD without being in a fire fight, being hit by an IED or having a building burn down around you or seeing something horrible. The next few months will be an experiment to test it. If I develop PT SD then it will be a success, in a way. Lets all hope and pray that the test is an abject failure, shall we?

Till next time dear followers.

MOHH  ;-)

Desert living

     The desert is hot and dry and tan, right? Not so much. Most people think that the desert is nothing but a hot arid place where nothing but cacti grow.  I'm here to tell you, it's a lie.  It rained here in Iraq a few days ago. There is grass growing around my living quarters, actually it's weeds, but it's still green. We have flowers on the deck of the office I work in and they are actually blooming. The desert actually yeilds life in so many ways. I've not seen too much of animals, though I saw a dog in Kuwait. There are tons of birds here, mostly sparrows and pigeons and a few morning doves.

     Work is going pretty good. I'm learning all I can before my counterparts go back home. I'm already doing the updates and briefings without too many promptings. We had issues with computers the night before last, but it didn't last too long and we were back up and running things. What I'm really looking forward to is something I'm curently planning. My trip to Italy.

     My plan is to bring Carrie to Italy and go on a 3 city tour of the country. I'll have right around 2 weeks to do it too. I plan on us seeing the canals of Venice, the ancient buildings and museums of Florence and all the history we can absorb in Rome. It's going to be a blast. I can't wait to see her face when we hop onto a gondola and ride up one of the canals of Venice. If anybody has any recomendations of what we should see or do while we're there, I'm all ears. I do have a Europe guidebook but nothing beats the experiences of friends too.

Iraq

Guess who'se got 2 thumbs and is in Iraq! *points thumbs at self* THIS GUY!!!

So I made it here in one piece. I've got some decent roommates and the room is not too bad. My captain and warrent officer even made sure I got a bottom bunk, a much coveted thing in any barracks with bunk beds. Chow in the mess hall is a wonderful thing. If I'm not careful, I'll come back one of the fat kids. Of course, the air force run the mess hall so food is always going to be better than army chow.

Nothing serious to report other than I'm here. I've already been given some of my basic load (ammo) but I've not yet started work. No fear though dear readers, all of my work should be in an office right here within an easy walk of my CHU (Combat Housing Unit) pronounced *chew*.  I've had no reason to and probably won't even go off base, which we call outside the wire though I have no idea why. I think I'll end here as, like I said, I have nothing to really report.