I'll never know where the positivity comes from...

maybe I am destined to be motivational for someone and it is ordained by God above. If you like this I guess you have to give him the props, I just put ink to paper...

Imagining the best possible outcome
but sometimes life isnt all fun
things come and they go
but there are certain truths i know
Loving and being loved is the greatest thing
and if we can reach Love for all, inspiring
I often see how time ebbs and flows,
you simply have to listen and watch the flowers grow
On and on we all march to our end,
but the important thing is to be a friend.
keep your head up when times get rough
and lend a hand to those who find the way tough
keep moving, onward, upward.

Overdue

No, this is not a tale of past due rentals or literary loans gone sour. This is simply a rant of the past. I have bleed, I have slept, and I have eaten, just like everyone else. Time has marched on and the lack of any communicae has, for the most part, gone the way of the do-do, so to speak. Meaning, out of sight or thought, out of mind.

Speaking of which, I must tell a quick story about a boy whom I cannot name for his safety. He lives in one of the "larger" remote towns in a random part of a war-torn country. He is small for his age, so small in fact he got angry with me once for picking him up, yelling that he was too old to be playing around like that and I should respect his age not his size. I mean it was said in hurried Arabic and broken English as he shook his fist at me, but after I put him down he said we were still friends. See, he speaks broken English too so it wasn't very hard for me to get the idea. Enough English in fact to week in and week out ask me for whatever caught his eye in my vehicle. More often than not, I would give him a soda or blow pop and even once went so far as to give him a whole bag of tootsie rolls my mother sent me. He was, to say the least, insatiable. Will I miss him? Part of me will, but the other part of me won't because I will be home and time will fade his memory. But what I will never forget is the last time I saw him. He asked me for a football, saying, "Tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow, you bring me football." (He doesn't know how to say the days of the week or any number of days, be it one, two, three, etc.) I sadly smiled at him and said, "Sorry buddy, I'm going home." He looked at me quizzically and then said with question-like inflection, "Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, me, football." I replied, "I'm going home to America man." He asked, "Home to America?!!?" Me: "Yes." He hung down his head and slowly walked next to me until I reached my truck. All I could think to do was teach him how to say, "Pop Tart, Delicious." After two tries he said it and I gave him a box of pop tarts. I closed my door as he ran off to live his life.

That sums up my time here pretty well. A brief moment in the span of lives we touched here, be it in good ways or not so good ways. Time will go on for these people. New units will continue to come and go and this nation will continue to work toward stability. Will it ever reach that end? No one can say for sure. Are there a lot of obstacles impeding the way? Aren't there always... All I can really say with certainty, is that I have done my best to make a difference and hopefully, my efforts to keep my word to the people I made promises to will live on beyond my departure.

Have I grown as a person? I don't know. Have I learned a lot about my job and had a fun, albeit unbelievable time doing it? Yes.

I'm not sure what else I have to say so I will end it here and hope this, in some way gave you a glimpse into some of the highs and some of the lows we experienced here. I look forward to reliving some of the memories and not so much for others. More to follow, as always...

For Lerl

...."whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it's because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. It's your mission on earth." ...."And when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to acheive it." Paulo Coelho from "The Alchemist"

Jewels of the Desert part 1: The sun went down as it normally is supposed to. The moon did not fail to rise, but simply delayed it's appearance for the cooler portion of the night. I normally stop to take a moment to reflect on the random happenings in this landscape. I think of a place on the other side of the world that I long to explore. There is a glint in the distance. My eyes have glazed over, but they still see. The dance and glimmer plays off of my retinas like sparkles from the most brilliant jewels I have ever seen. I think to myself that I have actually never seen anything that brilliant before. It isn't blinding and I don't have to squint. I simply let myself exists with the landscape. The beauty of the night is overwhelming. I think to myself that I am lucky to experience this desert jewel. There are many jewels in the desert if one stops to appreciate them. There is another side to everything though, an inherent duality in nature. The desert holds jewels, but if those jewels are dwelled upon too much, one forgets reality of the harshness. But then again, it is that same harsh reality, that causes people to overlook and underplay the desert's magic. All this reverberates inside of me as I think of the heat and of war and that at any moment I could cease to exist. I say a quiet prayer to God to forgive my sins. I do not fear hell, but I respect the fact that it exists. I mix religions into my spiritual prayer to my maker. I do believe he will forgive my sins and that I do not need an earthly conduit. I do not know all the world has to offer, because when it comes down to it, I am a speck. All I need to know is that there are jewels in the desert.

CR

Nature will run its course

As in typical Army fashion, "No shit, there I was..." Driving around in the middle of the night when out of nowhere the sky lights up to show the nightime landscape as if it were day. I waited for the onslaught of noise. Nothing came. I didn't feel the ground shake either, weird. I mean I remember the drudgery of physics quite well and as I recall, light travels faster than sound, so when I didnt feel a shock wave concuss over my body, I was perplexed. We continued on and I began to survey the landscape. Then, it happened again, another awe inspiring flash of light, but this time I saw its source. The heavens above were boiling in rage and the air was charged.

All I could think of was a movie I had once seen in which a man would stake the sand at a beach and collect the glass creations from below after a lightning storm. I wondered if I could make some money off of my experience in Iraq, like in the movie. Crazy, I know, But I am always wondering about ways to sell thatr next great thing. I think Iraqi Lightning Glass is a highly specailized field for those Art Afficianados. Oh well, maybe some other day, but I digress.

The storm was amazing in and of itself. I will say though that Rain in a desert climate isn't good. I mean don't get me wrong, the area has experienced a three year long drought, but the first rains can be deadly. Oils soak into the asphalt all year long and surface on the first rains, not to mention the wadis that fill instantaneously with water and then of course the flash floods. Luckily I only had to experience the asphalt this time. In all honestly, I thought my crew and I were going to get a firsthand account on a reallife rollover drill.

As we all know, and if you don't, take my word for it, the Army is notroious for drilling things into the dirt so they become second nature. It may seem mundane, but I assure you, when you are on the goaline and the audible is called with 3 seconds on the clock, you have to act, not think. Well, in this particular case, time slowed as my driver began to turn the wheel. The back of my 8 ton vehicle swung lazily to the left. Immediately I could feel the drift. I had a flash to the movie, Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift. I looked at my driver and he smiled at me. It's funny how you grow so close to someone that you think alike, well in this brief moment we were on the same page, no, the same scene in the movie. Everything was so calm and my gunner didn't even bother to say "rollover" he just got down. I braced and tried to coach my driver through it, but as I said, we were already on the same page. In the next instant, our back end was on the right side of the road and the edge of the highway loomed ever closer. Tailend to the left. "You got this Bro."

I will be the first to admit, when shit hits the fan, my professionalism turns to familism, because I honestly don't see the point in using someone's rank and last name when bullets are flying or vehicles are flipping over, lol.

Me: "You got this."

Driver: "Sir, I wasn't worried, it was like drifting back home..."

Passenger: "What the eF is goign on!"

Me: "It's cool."

Gunner: "I'm back up. I thought we were done."

Me: "Naw, he had it."

Over the Radio: "Sir, you check your pants yet?"

The Best Job in the Army....

I am in the best job on the Army, hands down. I get to have a direct impact on my life and the lives of other people. I am able, to an extent, make decisions and plan my life. The small unit I have is a microcosim. It is a challenge, but it is the best in the Army.

There are alot of things that I worry about, but how my men and I will perfrom is not one of them. I have had the privilage of fighting with the best that America has to offer and it is an honor everyday. There are challenges, but that is normal for everything in life.

I don't even know why I am writting this right now. Maybe it's because doing our job means sacrifices. I have been fortuneate thus far and have only had to sacrifice friends and family for a year. Some, people I have known for years, shared life experiences with, procrastinated on papers for proffessors with, trained next to, have paid the ultimate sacrifice. They were people I knew personally, people I played football with, roomates, frineds of roomates, but most of all, they were my Brtohers. maybe you will never understand the feelings of remose, honor, and pride of having known such outstanding and amazing people. After such a loss, I don't know what quite else to say, but know that I miss them, I remember them, and I know they are looking out for the rest of us down here that are still doing what they gave so much to experience. I thank their families for their sacrifice. I truly Love my Brothers and pray for them ceasingly.

Be thou at Peace...

Track Jack

Most people would say: I just worked a 72 hour-ish day. I slept a total of 6-8 hours in between guard shifts, and have put over 500 miles on my vehicle while help keeping a blistering hot region stable. I am going to go to take a well deserved shower and go to bed. Well, me and my guys aren’t most people. We did take a break to eat a warm meal in the chow hall, but oh the death stares! Did we look like Soldiers? Yes. Did we smell like death warmed over? Yep. Did I have dust caked boots that puffed when I walked even though I stamped out my boots before going into the chow hall? And roger. In fact, until I looked into the mirror to wash my hands and take what I like to now call DFAC (dining facility) showers I hadn’t taken the time to notice my newly forming beard growth. Can I blame everyone for looking at me and my rag tag band of tankers charging into the mess hall for what we and every tanker ever known to man base each day’s schedule on? Not really, but I definitely took satisfaction in the fact that I was dirty and out of the Army standard tolerance, not because I was lazy, but because I worked hard and wore my filth as a badge of honor.

But, I digress, the real point of the story is the fact that right after the meal, I broke formation with my men to go do “Officer stuff” while they went to start tearing up and replacing tank track. My work and meeting immediately following didn’t take overly long, and by the time I made it down to “the line” (tank line, imagine tank parking lot but done in an orderly militaristic fashion), my guys had removed one track and were putting the new one on. I immediately got down and dirty and must admit, had some of the most fun I have had in weeks.

Now some may say I am crazy or that Officers don’t belong there, and I was even told that as soon as I made a mistake or slowed them down I would be “removed” from the line cause I am “an O and O’s ‘F’ stuff up.” Well there were a lot of young and eager people there, granted all privates, but when you put a task in front of tankers involving our babies, we jump at it. Even our First Sergeant was out there cranking wrenches and what not. It was just good, old fashioned, focused, fun. Most people probably think we are crazy to choose work over sleep, but the cool of night and the respite from the desert sun during the day is cause enough to go “Ranger” and complete a mission through the night.

My guys are awesome. I can’t think of any other words to describe them or their work ethic.

C-RGR

"My Buddy, My buddy, Wherever I go, He goes..."

So this post is exclusively about my terp. A terp is what American GIs call Interpreteurs. So anyway, I have this terp who is crazy. He isn't committable, but I am sure if anyone closely related to Oprah would have him arrested and or deported back to Kurdistan. Yes, I did not make a mistake, I said Oprah.

Picture a young 14 year old kid who is excited to be in the world for the first time, seeing new things and having adventure being the order of the day. Imagine all the information he has ever taking into his brain concerning America comes from British based english classes and movies/ television. Imagine he is well to do and does not want for money (an unusal feat considerign the poverty of Iraq), now also imagine his English is so confusing you often have to explain things to him in his native language or three times in English.

Ok, I am pretty sure I beat that imagination horse to death, but I HAD to get that picture in your head so you could then picture that boy in a 30 something year old body. Now you can understand "Carl". Yes his name has been changed to protect his identity.

Now Carl has the sense of humor of a pre-pubescent male on top of everything else. Maybe all of that helps you understand why he told me, and albeit randomly and unprompted: "Sir, Do you have number phone of Oprah? I gon call and tell her I can be there in 48 hours. She needs to get ready cause I gon call her and she gon to say: 'Carl I Love you'. And I gon say, 'Okay Oprah no problem , I gon come.'"
ME: Carl You can't handle Oprah, she'd hurt you.

CARL: sometimes you have to get hurt to learn, but then you got to more and more try and then it's no problem.

ME: Why Oprah anyway?

CARL: Oh, suh, I LUV big black beautiful woman.

ME: Carl, she'd break you.

CARL: No, No, you see, Just one call.

....

Musings

So, I always wondered when the next "cycle" in American history would come about, but I NEVER thought it would happen this way. I mean, I figured at some point the phases would go from the retro throwbacks even further on the sliding scale of time into that bygone era of the boomers, but I never thought we would see the re-emrgence of militias. I mean I am all for civil liberties, but I am almost afraid to come home. Yes, I am a Soldier and yes, I have just spent over 8 months in combat and yes, I am worried about returning to America the beautiful...

Have things really gotten so bad as to have militias running around training in backwoods camps, preparing for...something. I mean who knows what they are doing! I have a pretty good idea, but I must warn you, when I do return home, I am going to use my concealed carry permit to the fullest extent of the law. I did not come over here to fight for freedom, to have mine taken away by some fanatic. Ignorance has bread a new cultrue of fear, conspiracy theorist, and down right hatred for our freely elected Commander in Cheif. People, you elected him! He can't "fix" the USA in one year and even one term would be a miracle. And what is with politicians not supporting him, i mean there is no outright dissention, but I personally believe that not nipping conspiracy theorists' ideas in the butt and allowing their paranoia to infect the ignorant is deplorable.

This is not the Nation I knew 7 months ago...

Long Time

Still don't have the net. I am using super high speed connects to do this right now. I have a ton of posts built up and am waiting for my moderator to approve them for release...appearently I have to let the Army monitor my postings. They haven't had any issues yet, maybe he is busy. Anyway, more to come when I get the OK to post. I am fine. Busy. Working hard. Average temp here is about 112+ the heat index. The wind carries dust, i.e. dust storms that feel like a gritty hair dryer on high in your face...

Not much else going on. Imagine a corn field. Imagine that corn field extending for over 300 miles. Now imagine there is no corn, add rocks and pebbles. Mix the heat and some sand that is so fine we call it "moon dust". This is my life. Hydration is a constant battle. If you don't eat at least two times a day and drink a gallon of water, you will go down, no joke...

I am not complaining, simply trying to paint a picture with words.

All Quiet on the Western Front,
CR

PS- West is relative, if you go far enough, everywhere is west or east...

Le Petit Alchemist...

Hey Tim, new post I'd like to put up:

The Little Alchemist...
"On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux."
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye...You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed...It is the time you have spent with your rose that makes your rose so important."

All sage advice. But is it just advice? or is it ponderings from above? What if God doesn't care how you get the message or in what form you get it in, but just that you get it? That would fit with the penultimate concept of God's Love for that which he/she creates.

Why have I been obsessed with seeking the light? Maybe the light is already within and I must take up the sheild and fight as one of its warriors.

If I tame the truth, it is my responsibility, as it is all of ours, to enlighten.

as for life, again i say, it is the flowers u smell along the way that make finishing the journey worth it, not finding the end of the path...

The Dreaming

I had a dream one time when I was young
Now that I'm older its a mere tip of the tounge.
I can't place the feeling, but it feels so right.
When I look at the land and feel everything in sight.
I feel one with this place, in pictures and words
I want to run and jump and swim with the herds.
It is my homeland and an odd one for me
But its a place in which my spirit is truely free.

4th of July

It's another year, another moment in time for celebration. What will I be doing? Remembering. I am not big on picking one day to "celerate" or remember people, places, things, or events. I think life is a Journey. Along the way you have ups and downs. You meet people, you live, you love, you learn. The most profound thing I have learned and I believe it to be the meaning of life is Other People. Cherish the moments with them, because someday they will be gone or you will, that fact is inevitable. The best part of life is the run you make. Fight the good fight and finish the race, but the best part isnt the finish line, it's the race! See you roses and the forest along the way, even if your forest is sky scrappers. I got on here to sy all of this because yes we are about to celebrate our independence, but let us also celebrate those who have paid the ultimate cost to give us our freedoms. I miss my friends who have gone on, I miss my commanders and other brothers in arms that have sacrificed so much. This is their day in my eyes. If I don't stop to remember them, who will? Who will remember the fallen? Who will remember you? Who will remember me?

R.I.P. ,

CR

Alone, twisted inside, turmoil?

"On lonely nights I start to fade"

What is this life I am destined to lead?
Are there answers in the clouds or in the good book I read?
One thing is true, Faith is something easy to profess;
but, in your actions, thoughts, and feelings is it truly so easy to confess?

heat induced insomnia

it's 2300, the generator just cut the power. maybe somebody forgot to refuel it. it happens. its 2320 and the heat from outside is creeping into my room. I uncover. its still hot. roomate's awake, put on headphones. drift away, hot. can't sleep. toss once, turn twice. power is back on, check my watch in the blessed a/c, 0130 indiglo time. I have to wake up in 2 hours. do I get on-line or do I try to sleep. think. what about before. i've done 36 hours on 30 minutes. that sucks. go to sleep even for a shot at 30 minutes. you have to be on top of it for your men. yeah, go to sleep. 0350, that sucks, barely slept. grab a monster, all is well. no hot coffee first, save the monster for when ur tired. oh only java monster left, meh, all the same. drink it down. liquid gold. i'm alive. I am awake. the sun has risen. it's not 100 degress yet because of the dust. glory!

the pace...

I feel like I am running a race. It's a long long marathon, but only a piece of the leg. I am fighting the fight and rising to the challenges. Is this easy? No. Is this anything school or training can prepare you for? Nope. Is it easy to run off the course or give up? Hell yeah!

I am frustrated, annoyed, but am willing to keep going. I do my job without complaint, driving on. You expect me to run, I am a runner.

Disapointments

Life is like a mispeled word sumtimes. You have expectations that are high. Sometimes they are too high and the mere fact that the outcome does not meet the expectation leaves you - yearning, longing, wanting- more. Does it happen all the time? If you are fortunate, no, but some of us often end up with a confused sense that something isn't quite right, like a misspelled word...

A shot at Love with CR...?

I was thinking of a creative title and all Ithat popped into my head was the infamous show, "A shot at love with Tila Tequila." Now I am sure you are laughing or you have no idea what I am talking about. In one instance you watch TV, in the other you don't. Needless to say (my English prof once told me if it was "needless to say, don't say it"), I won't judge you and don't feel left out because aside from the this portion of the text, the title has nothing to do with the show. LOL.

Anyway, the real crux of this post is Love. Being in it, sharing it, searching for it, loosing it. But as I write this I am beginning to understand it more. I mean think about it, If my principle is to live without regrets and that the meaning of life is about people, it makes sense that I will search, meet, fall in Love, fall out of love, and move on. The problem with my life though is the sacrifice I make for my country to serve. Somehow it always gets in the way and I gues that is why it is a sacrifice and why this job int foreveryone and the divorce rate among my profession is high.

All of this, combined with my past experiences make it quite easy, when given a cause to move on once I cut someone completely out. That is one thing I am good at, but it seems to be failing me as of late. I have't been able to move on from one experience and that has entangled my life into a web of connections.

I don't really know where I am going with this, but like I said when I first started, this is my therapy of sorts. It is for you , but it isn't. Anyway, these are thoughts that run through a soldier's mind in his down time. We can't really aford to think of it any other time. I mean think what would happen if we let our social lives influence our work lives, lol.

finally

I got a picture finally. I was trying to shy away from one of me, but the AP took it. It didnt make the website because I didnt have my glove on, politics. I had the other one on and somewhere along the way while doing my job and respectfully shaking hands to put out friendly messages, I lost it. Now I have a brand new pair! yay me, lol.

Anyway, this goes along with the "Working with the Media" spot I did.

Just remember, no news is good news so if you don't hear from me, don't worry.

CR

Working with the Media

Today I had the pleasure of working with the fine people from CNN. I have NO idea on how they will spin the story, but I could tell they were trying to find strife and controversy. All I can say is they got none. It wasn't planned and or conspired, but it was so, well, perfect. I overheard the questions they asked the local nationals, the ISF, and myself/ soldiers. All of us were unified in our declaration, that while Iraq is not "fixed", it is well on its way to being self-sustaining. They asked if there were divides between the security and if the Arab/Kurd mix of ISF acted differently towards different people, and everyone from the Turkish born to the Iraqi Born, Kurd and Arab alike, said no. They said they are glad the Iraqi Security Forces are there and when asked if they preferred CF or Iraqi and who does a better job, the answer was a simple, "They work together, they are both good!"

I doubt they will show my interview, because they only did one take of it. I also suspect, that my answers were not to their liking. HAHA. If you know me, you know I can tell it like it is, but if what it is, is good...well, like I said, I tell it like it is. I know the media likes good stories, but strife, tension, and death sell. I gave them none of that, because what we have here is the opposite. Sure, there is death, that is war. But when it comes down to it, what we have right now is PROGRESS. Will CNN like that and share all the good things we're doing over here? Well, when/if I get my hands on the video clips, I will share them with you.

I mean I don't know if the media was trying to pluck the heart strings of what they thought would be embedded strife, but all they got was the beautiful and harmonious twang of cooperation and mutual respect.

CR

Today

Nothing spectacular happened today. we cleared assisted ISF clear a neighborhood, Did a patrol, and somewhere in between had an Alvin and the chipmunk marathon. I watched the chipmunk adventure circa 1980's and the new one. I thought the new one would be silly, but I rather enjoyed it. Children's movies have come a long way and watching the two back to back highlighted that fact.

I am sure I could go into a nice psychological analysis of why soldiers or more specifically , myself, are endeared to children's movies and classic movies, but then I would have to get into our nature, our job, and about a million other factors. I will say though that I have an inkling that our tendencies to have the "knight" mentality and be from bygone days might have something to do with our love of nostalgia. I will also caveat that by saying that the services are made up of all colors, creeds, and kinds and that you can NEVER lump a group into generalizations, because you will fail at your attempt to isolate variables and make valid generalizations. That is why I make no claims and do not explore the above topic. I would need tons of research and a population base reaching to the millions and spanning decades, if not one to two centuries. Anyway, I digress even though i attempted not to digress. LOL, maybe now you can see how my tinker works and why I just give commands without explaining. I explain if asked, but i think so much bout alternate methods and variables, that more often than not, while I am human and fallible, I have arrived at the most efficient course of action.

Anyway, another long day on the morrow so I bid you adieu.

CR

update

OK, I am sure some of you are tired of these "deep," insightful," writtings so I will write about my day today. I went to sleep aroun 11pm local time after a long day of about 6 hours of paperwork doing an investigation on a soldier who made an unwise and random decision. He will be dealt with accordingly. As for that issue, I harbor no ill will and simply did my job by executing an efficient and thurough investigation on the issue. Everything is now out of my hands and left to "the higher powers" that be. My mood was tired afterwards so I watch Scrubs for a couple hours before retiring. I had to wake up at about 0400 hours or 4am for you civilian types, lol. My Job is to "advise and assist" Iraqi Security Forces, as well as maintain oversight on all projects occuring in my area of operation. Congress gave us that joy, but it makes sense considering that several billion dollars flow through this cradle of civilization. People often forget this is literally the craddle of civilization. Scholars, religious types and all sorts of folks recognize this fact and if you attempt a counter argument, you are ignorant and I will NEVER debate this or any other form of intelligent issue you with you. It would be like banging my head against a wall. Anyway, so yeah, that is what I do. Now I don't go around yelling at Iraqis to the extent the guy on You Tube did (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pecX4ZR6ZvQ&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fdigg.com%2Flbv.php%3Fid%3D13202539%26ord%3D0&feature=player_embedded ) which is a must see by the way, but I do work with Iraqis. I am sure you all read the news if you bother yourself with this blog so I am assuming that you know we are partnered with ISF and my Batallion was actually the first to successfully comply with that guidance from MND-I/ MND-N. If you want to know what that acrnym stands for, google it.

Gotta run, CR

Simple thoughts....because I love you

This is very random, but just getting your thoughts out help. I believe writing is my release, a therapy of sorts. I don't do this for the reader really, I don't do this for recognition. I don't know what it is, but I do know the words spawn understanding and knowledge is power. Will it give you power over me? Maybe, but more so it gives you power, power to know what it is to be someone else, to live my life - to an extent.

For me, Life is about one thing, People. I mean, we all control our destinies, but others influence the amount of control we have. Maybe someday you could influence me, but in a way your mere existence has led me to where I am today. I mean, maybe I don't know you or I may, but regardless, I love you and wish to serve you. Yes, I could have been a Doctor, a Priest, Lawyer maybe? Yes, all noble professions in deed, but just remember that I chose to be an American Soldier. Simply because I love you.

CR

Squiggles

Ok, so I was driving along some random, inconsequentially named road. I mean the road system names are arbitrary because, well we made them. Anyway, aside from some digressive tirade involving naming conventions and promotions in the military (its a whole-nother story and yes I make words up as I see fit to keep the stories flowing so stay sharp). So we are driving along the road and I see an Iraqi at a check point without his head gear on. Now some of you may say, hey they don't know any better, to you I say, we have been here for how long now teaching them? Exactly. Now you may also think this is an uncommon occurrence, to you I say the old cliche- "If I had a dime...". (And yes the last sentence IS grammatically correct, look it up.)

SO I tell my gunner to make the correction. As a side note I must add the temperatures here are now dancing in the low hundreds and he may have been feeling those UV effects, I say UV because I and my Senior staff make sure our guys hydrate, yes, that's a big deal in the Army. My gunner promptly yells, "Put your Kevlar on! Squiggly Squiggly ".

I had to laugh as well as chide, because it wasn't "PC" to say Squiggly Squiggly, but you have to admit, that was creative. I mean, Arabic would have been preferable, but to the untrained eye...

It is also AMAZING to me at how indigenous people do not see our perspective as to how the written language appears to the untrained eye. I have spent many a conversation relating our impressions of trying to read their language using gibberish squiggles, lol. When done in that method, they understand, well everyone but my interpreter, go figure...

Until next time,
CR

Just because I was awake...

Yes it is 6:16. In the AM. Havent slept in 24 hours. Awesome. I know. I jut bedded down the kiddies and will get some sleep so don't worry. I know my limits and im not even close, lol. Plus we had some fun last night. Anyway, I digress. I kind of wanted to write this so whoever reads it knows what soldiers go through. I mean I can't get into specifics, but You saw what I wrote on the last blog and here I am again some umpteen hours later letting you know my guys just pulled an all nighter. They didnt complain, they didn't whine. No one asked me "why us?". They did it in the most dangerous city in Iraq and then they came back, reset, and bedded down till I wake them up again for another go. That is something to be proud of. I dont care who you are, where you come from, or what you prescribe to. What I have just described is who you have watching your back so you can simply go about your everyday lives, esentially "doing you" as I like to call it. When you see a Soldier or Sailor, Marine or Airperson, just say thank you or hello or just a smile. Anyone of those things and even just a slight head nod at times make all what we do worth ever second of it.

Much Love,
CR

Back to Work

When it is time to work, it is definitely time to work...

I am not complaining, but simply giving a rundown of the last 72 hours (operational specifics left out of course):

I got on a number of planes and spent around 17 hours in the air to reach my final destination. My only wish after all that flight time was that the Army let all those miles count on my frequent flyer mileage, haha. I think if the airlines did, I would NEVER have to ever pay for a plane ticket.

I'm not sure when I slept, but I know I had to have in the last 72 hours because I only remember seeing sunlight on the planes and I definitely had a layover in Kuwait. But that isn't very relative because everybody has lay overs there and everyone knows it. LOL.

After my return here. I learned of some disappointing news and spent most of my day time not preparing for missions, but instead going from meeting to meeting and having just enough time to grab a hotdog and two egg rolls from the DFAC. (I know I am the epitome of health, lol- although I will say I am attempting to actually look like I belong in the Army of yesteryear).

Well to make a long day shorter, I had to run to my room, throw my stuff together and then hit the road. Needless to say I am at the one place I have Internet; however, on a side note I should have service in my room when I get back to it.

Again, times, dates, and key events/places left out for Al Qaedas frustration, er I mean, enjoyment. I mean we have to play fair right?

Plane rides

Ok, so 48 hours and I am that much closer to home. As always, specifics aren't allowed, but that is the nature of the beast.

After umpteen hours of briefs, searches, and flying, I arrived in Dallas to cameras, handshakes, and cheers. I was on the verge of tears at the show of support from people who don't even know me. It is funny, because I feel as though I am a part of them. I am their hands, their eyes, their thoughts. I am their vestibule. But with that comes a great responsibility. I know I am supposed to take this time to relax and recharge my batteries, but I can't help but feel guilty for not being with my men. I feel as though I shouldn't have left them there and that I need to be back as soon as I can.

Maybe it is a mild form of survior's remorse, but I can't help but sit here in relative safety from attacks- be they mortar, rocket, or suicide bourne- and feel happy to be home, at least not until we all make it back to our Loved ones, or even to the relative safety of our native soil.

God, the air even feels free here.

Happy to be breathing American Air...

On the Tigris

I sit and ponder as the water flows. I think it is an odd time for introspection. Standing next to the cradle of my belief's stories. Closer than ever to the fabled garden. I see ruins from times long ago.

With air over head we decide to take the hill, the ruins. At the top, slightly winded we behold the beauty around us. It is hard to remember that we are in a place with so much beauty. It is hard to remember because of the explosions, and random gunfire. Sometimes there are sleepless nights, but other times, we just enjoy the down time. Right now, we are few. "We happy few" to quote Shakespear. None-the-less, we are here.

Each day brings a new experience. We take in the pestilence and try to make it better. We do so with flag of partnership and peace. only a few bring desruction. We are constant guard for those few. The rest are trying to survive. It all goes back to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. We can give people the basics, we can stop the attacks.

Each day is a battle for the basics...