Random thoughts from Iraq *** warning very random***

I go through the day often times thinking and often making notes about what I should write at night. There are many things that seem of no consequence but I am sure … well not sure, but think you might like to hear about.

So… tonight I had walked over to one of the offices to make my Friday night phone calls… afternoon for most of you and as I walked out I thought Damn it’s dark. It’s not that much darker than any other night but it’s dark nonetheless. What little light we have on the FOB is stopped by the 12 foot T walls we have everywhere. So walking across the camp can be an adventure and even a little unsettling for a 6 foot 2 inch 185…. O ok 200lb guy. In one of my pictures I just posted you can see my little LED light attached to my US Army Nametape. This is everyone’s handy dandy flashlight.

Calling home is a planned event for me. It’s not as simple as picking up a phone and speed dialing your BFF; best friend forever for those of you not so internet savvy. First things I have to consider is what damn time is it back home? The best invention ever is my dual zone Timex that takes a lot of the guess work out of it. But of course this year Iraq decided not to play the daylight savings time game. Did you know that not all countries do the savings game at the same time….. It’s just crazy. Ok back on track the phone call here we go. Ok now that I have consulted my watch and done my algebraic equation (sarcasm) to make sure I’m not calling someone at 3 am well unless it’s Micca and she’s working then it’s ok. She works thirds. IT’s called random thoughts for a reason… lol Micca and I have often played this game of how did we get on this topic and would ,ap out each step for each other…. More randomness… are you still with me lol. The phone call right. Time is checked and then I walk across the camp to my buddies office. He has the good one that calls to other military phones at no cost. So I call camp Lincoln in Springfield…. This is why Friday’s are important, well any week day. So I call camp Lincoln and get somebody there. I ask them to connect me to another number. Then I pray for an answer. Now If I do get an answering machine I must leave a message and this is why. Almost everyone has caller ID these days and the number that rings in is out of camp Lincoln. So if you were a person that screened your calls and didn’t answer you might call the number that just called back. In this case Imagine my wife calling back to camp Lincoln not knowing that it was a camp Lincoln phone number. (Camp Lincoln is the State National Guard HQ) People could very easily jump to conclusions. I will leave it at that. Whew!!!
OK moms and dad’s this is where the kids stop reading

So no kidding there we were… I’m telling this joke cause it made me cry I laughed so hard and it was totally of fthe cuff. One of our group is a school teacher who teaches Biology and we got on the topic of birds and what kind we might see there. She said she would have to get a book so she would know. And one of the guys (not me) says maybe you will get to see the very elusive double breasted bed thrasher. Now reading this isn’t near as much fun as hearing it happen in conversation but thus far that has been my favorite line
If you can’t tell I’m in a writing mood tonight.
I had a great conversation with Micca and my parents tonight. It is always great to hear about home. I plan on trying to call the kids tomorrow. I feel so out of touch with their lives right now. I can’t tell Micca enough how much I appreciate her spending time with them. I know she does it because she wants to and cares for them but… well I don’t think a lot of kids are as lucky as my 2 that have such an involved stepmom. She is the best. Everyone should remember I am not the only in the family that is in the Army. My whole family is and I often think they have it tougher than I do. I have plenty of company in my misery but Micca and the kids have to go quite a ways to be able to talk with others that can relate.
My last random thought for the night… I may have mentioned this already. Did you know we have to take bottled water to the bathroom with us to brush our teeth. The water we bath in is not fit to Drink.
One last comment. I understand that a lot of people are reading what I am writing. I hope I didn’t lose you tonight.

came back to edit because I remembered something funny we were talking about in the mess hall. There are some words like Shiek i think I spelled that right that is commonly pronuced SHEEK here at home but the proper way to say it is SHAKE. We got to laughing tonight wondering if the most important people in Iraq know if they are associated with an ice cream like substance that tastes really good. ok I'm done I did lots of stuff tonight.

But please feel free to ask questions. As the year goes on I’m afraid I will bore you to death.

Thanks,

Brent