I hope all of the Mother's out there had a Happy Mother's day. I'm pretty sure that Micca and my Mom would like to have me home but I will be there next year to celebrate.
Today was fairly quiet except for some unkown reason the contractor that maintains our facilities decides Sunday morning is a great time to change out our wooden steps for another set of wooden steps that have to be screwed into our little trailers and cut to size. Of all days they decide they want to do this.
Now they hadn't quite reached my trailer but I had heard something going on when Bob my next door neighbot busts out of his trailer and yells you have got to be kidding me. He wasn;t quite that nice. It was very obvious that he had been very much asleep. Keep in mind we have been pretty busy around here lately so sleep is in short supply. Now this is obviously a significant emotional event for Bob. It's made even funnier by the fact that Bob's thinning hair is standing straight up and he's got his blanket in his hand and stomps off saying he is going to go to sleep in our playhouse which is a little rec room we have set up.
In the mail I got today I also got a lot of letters from Ashtyn's class it was very sweet and I will be replying to them here as soon as I can.
Now this next story happened the other day. I was finishing up my run hatinf life when a pretty good song came on my IPOD by AC/DC you shook me all night long. Then as I'm starting to pick it up just a tad two blackhawk helicopters coming trucking in, it was a very cool pick me up and made me feel proud.
Later,
Brent
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Busy day
Today started off like most other groundhog days. For those of you that have been following my blog I'm talking about how I've gotten into the habit of doing the same stuff just about every day. Today was a little different.
I was out on my lunchtime run like usual and was just finsihing up when I was told that I needed to be ready to leave in 30 minutes because we were going to take a general out to one of the Iraqi stations. Well we were a little short handed so we had one of our Ukrainians drive and I was in the turret gunning. Well lets just say that our driver ended up pushing the Hummer to its limits of lateral control. He was going to fast for a turn and I swear he about rolled the sucker over. Needless to say I wasn't a very happy camper.
Not much else happen today. Our providence is really quite quiet and is setting the example for the rest of Iraq. Good for me, quiet nights are good nights.
Well wearing all of that body armor really wears me out. So I'm not writing anymore. Thats all i've got for tonight, I've got to clean up my room. With all of my quick changes it is not it's usual organized self.
Later
Brent
I was out on my lunchtime run like usual and was just finsihing up when I was told that I needed to be ready to leave in 30 minutes because we were going to take a general out to one of the Iraqi stations. Well we were a little short handed so we had one of our Ukrainians drive and I was in the turret gunning. Well lets just say that our driver ended up pushing the Hummer to its limits of lateral control. He was going to fast for a turn and I swear he about rolled the sucker over. Needless to say I wasn't a very happy camper.
Not much else happen today. Our providence is really quite quiet and is setting the example for the rest of Iraq. Good for me, quiet nights are good nights.
Well wearing all of that body armor really wears me out. So I'm not writing anymore. Thats all i've got for tonight, I've got to clean up my room. With all of my quick changes it is not it's usual organized self.
Later
Brent
Friday, May 9, 2008
Nothing much
I haven't posted in a couple days because I haven't had much to say. If you have ever seen the movie groundhog day, this place kind of reminds me of that. In ground hog day I think it is Bill Murray plays the same day over and over and over again. Well it's not quite that bad but it's getting there.
Lately I have been pretty good about running everyday. Micca sent me my new running shoes and a little adapter that plugs into my IPOD that tells me how far and how fast I'm running. When I get on theinternet it synchs up to a webpage and shows you a lot of statistics about your run. There are also challenges people put up, I'm currently in a challenge to see who runs the furthest in 15 days. I'm in second place right now we will see where i end up. You can also set a goal and I set mine for 60 miles in 30 days. I thought that should be pretty easy for me. My shortest run is about 2.6 and my last 3 runs have been about 3.75. It's a pretty cool toy and the different feedback provides some motivation to run that is sometimes hard for me to muster on my own. I have also decided that all of the food at the chow hall is going to make me fat so I figured I better start doing more. I started at 202 and I have gotten down to as low as 193 after a long run. I was obviously dehydrated but not that much.
So I understand that not everyone is totally famailiar with the Military in general. So I thought I would explain the difference between an Officer and enlisted soldier. It's probably easier to tell you what you have to do to become an officer. First I should specify that there are two types of Officers one is a Non commissioned officer often reffered to as an NCO and the other is a commissioned officer. I am now that latter and the way I went about it is the less conventional of the 2 methods. The primary defining qualification is that all officers have college degrees, that isn't to say that some NCO's don't have degrees too. That was the case with me. I was on my way to earning my degree and applied for officer candidate school (OCS), upon completion of that program along with my degree I became a commissoned officer. Prior to OCS I was a non commissoned officer. I was a Sergeant First Class (SFC). I wa by no means the norm. Most SFCsdon't go to OCS because they have established themselves as a fairly high ranking NCO. I t would have only been possible for me to get promoted twice more as an enlisted soldier. Enlisted meaning not a commissoned officer. Enlisted means you basically walk into the recruiting station and say sign me up. If you pass the test and the physical then you go to basic training and your specialized training. All services work under the same basic principal. Ahhh I forget the other method of becoming an officer. There are colleges that have programs called Reserve Officer Training Program (ROTC) thes college students go above and beyond the normal college student and attend military classes and spend extra time on weekeneds and the summer partici[ating in military type stuff. Upon thier graduation they become officers.
I could have explained that a lot better, I hope I don't leave you to confused please feel free to post questions and Ican clairify.
I used plenty of acronyms today so no need to post any more.
Later
Brent
Lately I have been pretty good about running everyday. Micca sent me my new running shoes and a little adapter that plugs into my IPOD that tells me how far and how fast I'm running. When I get on theinternet it synchs up to a webpage and shows you a lot of statistics about your run. There are also challenges people put up, I'm currently in a challenge to see who runs the furthest in 15 days. I'm in second place right now we will see where i end up. You can also set a goal and I set mine for 60 miles in 30 days. I thought that should be pretty easy for me. My shortest run is about 2.6 and my last 3 runs have been about 3.75. It's a pretty cool toy and the different feedback provides some motivation to run that is sometimes hard for me to muster on my own. I have also decided that all of the food at the chow hall is going to make me fat so I figured I better start doing more. I started at 202 and I have gotten down to as low as 193 after a long run. I was obviously dehydrated but not that much.
So I understand that not everyone is totally famailiar with the Military in general. So I thought I would explain the difference between an Officer and enlisted soldier. It's probably easier to tell you what you have to do to become an officer. First I should specify that there are two types of Officers one is a Non commissioned officer often reffered to as an NCO and the other is a commissioned officer. I am now that latter and the way I went about it is the less conventional of the 2 methods. The primary defining qualification is that all officers have college degrees, that isn't to say that some NCO's don't have degrees too. That was the case with me. I was on my way to earning my degree and applied for officer candidate school (OCS), upon completion of that program along with my degree I became a commissoned officer. Prior to OCS I was a non commissoned officer. I was a Sergeant First Class (SFC). I wa by no means the norm. Most SFCsdon't go to OCS because they have established themselves as a fairly high ranking NCO. I t would have only been possible for me to get promoted twice more as an enlisted soldier. Enlisted meaning not a commissoned officer. Enlisted means you basically walk into the recruiting station and say sign me up. If you pass the test and the physical then you go to basic training and your specialized training. All services work under the same basic principal. Ahhh I forget the other method of becoming an officer. There are colleges that have programs called Reserve Officer Training Program (ROTC) thes college students go above and beyond the normal college student and attend military classes and spend extra time on weekeneds and the summer partici[ating in military type stuff. Upon thier graduation they become officers.
I could have explained that a lot better, I hope I don't leave you to confused please feel free to post questions and Ican clairify.
I used plenty of acronyms today so no need to post any more.
Later
Brent
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
So.... what is it like
To be in a war zone? Well I know I have talked a little bit about this but you will have to induge me if you are going to keep reading. For the most part my day to day routine isn't to much different from what I would normally do. There are some little things that we take for granted at home that we don't have here.
If you want drinking water it is going to come out of a bottle. We have running water but it's not entirely safe to drink. We shower with that water and shave with it. Our bathrooms and showers are usually a short walk away no plumbing in your room except for a fewer of the nicer places.
We work more hours but it's not really that big of a deal since there isn't that much to do. The best thing to do is to keep busy.
The worst thing about being here is the what ifs. You try not to dwell on it but you can't help but think about it. The what ifs are alwalys in the back of your mind which is good because it helps you react when the time comes to react but you also find yourself reacting sometimes we you don't need to. I will just give one example but there are many.
There is a speed bump about 75 Meters or yards away from where I sleep. And when an empty semi truck goes over it just right there is this sound that is similar to a boom. The reaction isn't to go run to a bunker but it is more like if someone scared you. It's often reffered to as an exagerrated startle response. It can be more prenounced in some people than others, you may have heard about people dropping to the ground when they hear a car backfire or something like that but it can be something that is internal as well. I have found that I jump just a tad but I catch myself before I go into the full fight or flight mode. My heart ends up beating faster and the adreniline starts to kick in. It usually seems like this happens right before I go to sleep as I am pondering all of the what ifs before I go to bed.
It's just one of the little things that we deal with every day and don't much talk about. Every once in awhile there will be something that happens that gets us all and we end up laughing at each other.
So on a lighter note in a war zone something that we have to deal with is our mail shows up about once every 2 weeks. Imagine if all of the mail in town wasn't delivered for two weeks and then the mailmen and women were allowed to deliver it in a day or two. Another thing is the PX which is more like a very small walmart very small. Ours has 4 isles and each isle is about 25 feet long. Imagine if that place got stocked once a month. You can imagine that some things are very hard to find and the popular stuff goes quick.
Enough of that, not much else is going on today. We have another dust storm. The swiffer duster Aunt dawn sent me is getting a work out. Micca is sending me on of the Flylady's feather dusters too. If I'm not careful I end up being a full fledged flyguy lol.
Just thought of something I think I will do an acronym of the day. I'm sure I won't run out. Todays acronym is PIC Provencial Iraqi Control. This is somthing that we are working towards with the Iraqis. It is basically giving over certain areas of the country to Iraq and telling them they are now responsible for the security and welfare of the occupants. This is what is going on in Basra. Obviously it is going a little rough but that is to be expected. The insurgents want to cause as much problems as possible as to destabilize the government and turn the Iraqi people against thier government. The Iraqis actually have done quite well in Basra and continue to do better.
Well anyways I'm done teaching for the day.
Later for now
Brent
If you want drinking water it is going to come out of a bottle. We have running water but it's not entirely safe to drink. We shower with that water and shave with it. Our bathrooms and showers are usually a short walk away no plumbing in your room except for a fewer of the nicer places.
We work more hours but it's not really that big of a deal since there isn't that much to do. The best thing to do is to keep busy.
The worst thing about being here is the what ifs. You try not to dwell on it but you can't help but think about it. The what ifs are alwalys in the back of your mind which is good because it helps you react when the time comes to react but you also find yourself reacting sometimes we you don't need to. I will just give one example but there are many.
There is a speed bump about 75 Meters or yards away from where I sleep. And when an empty semi truck goes over it just right there is this sound that is similar to a boom. The reaction isn't to go run to a bunker but it is more like if someone scared you. It's often reffered to as an exagerrated startle response. It can be more prenounced in some people than others, you may have heard about people dropping to the ground when they hear a car backfire or something like that but it can be something that is internal as well. I have found that I jump just a tad but I catch myself before I go into the full fight or flight mode. My heart ends up beating faster and the adreniline starts to kick in. It usually seems like this happens right before I go to sleep as I am pondering all of the what ifs before I go to bed.
It's just one of the little things that we deal with every day and don't much talk about. Every once in awhile there will be something that happens that gets us all and we end up laughing at each other.
So on a lighter note in a war zone something that we have to deal with is our mail shows up about once every 2 weeks. Imagine if all of the mail in town wasn't delivered for two weeks and then the mailmen and women were allowed to deliver it in a day or two. Another thing is the PX which is more like a very small walmart very small. Ours has 4 isles and each isle is about 25 feet long. Imagine if that place got stocked once a month. You can imagine that some things are very hard to find and the popular stuff goes quick.
Enough of that, not much else is going on today. We have another dust storm. The swiffer duster Aunt dawn sent me is getting a work out. Micca is sending me on of the Flylady's feather dusters too. If I'm not careful I end up being a full fledged flyguy lol.
Just thought of something I think I will do an acronym of the day. I'm sure I won't run out. Todays acronym is PIC Provencial Iraqi Control. This is somthing that we are working towards with the Iraqis. It is basically giving over certain areas of the country to Iraq and telling them they are now responsible for the security and welfare of the occupants. This is what is going on in Basra. Obviously it is going a little rough but that is to be expected. The insurgents want to cause as much problems as possible as to destabilize the government and turn the Iraqi people against thier government. The Iraqis actually have done quite well in Basra and continue to do better.
Well anyways I'm done teaching for the day.
Later for now
Brent
Sunday, May 4, 2008
12km or 7.42 miles it hurts either way
Ok everyone it's story time!!! I can't really start out the story starting today. I need to set the stage by starting with yesterday. Yesterday was the Polish Independence day and they had a 5km run to start it off. THat run started at 8 in the morning. The time is the key point in my story. You see Even though I have been in the Army for almost 17 years I still have never learned to like waking up. I do when I have to but generally if I can wait until the last minute I do. I'm a night owl and hate getting up. So yesterday I decided that I was to tired to run and wanted to sleep a little more. So i missed the 5Km run that started at 8 am. That brings me to today. Today's run started at 0700 and was 12Km long. So now you see my stupidity.
So we kick off the run and run 3 times around the camp. Some people walked and others ran. I never walked but I did run very slow at times. When we started the race it was about 80 degrees when we finished it was around 94. Now you have to picture our route. It is mostly gravel and there are these 12 ft walls that we run against. The walls provide a bit of shade except for some of us taller people. It provides shade for most of my body except for my head. SO those that are shorter in stature has a slight advantage in that they got to stay in the shade longer.
Today's goal was for me was to just complete the race without walking. I accomplished my goal so I was happy with myself. I ran it in 1 hr 16 min and change. Nothing to brag about but I did it so I'm happy. There is this one saying that came to mind today. "I am so far behind I think I'm ahead". At one point I had lost sight of everyone in fornt of me and there was no one even close to being behind me. So I self annoited my self the leader of the slowbies. OK enough about my little run.
Mail came today and I had a bunch of boxes. I got my new shoes... just a little to late for the race. I also got my helicopters and a bunch of plants from Dawn and Don and a Yo-Yo.
Well I have lots of stuff to do and put away so I've got to go. I really appreciate all of the mail it was almost like christmas today :)
So we kick off the run and run 3 times around the camp. Some people walked and others ran. I never walked but I did run very slow at times. When we started the race it was about 80 degrees when we finished it was around 94. Now you have to picture our route. It is mostly gravel and there are these 12 ft walls that we run against. The walls provide a bit of shade except for some of us taller people. It provides shade for most of my body except for my head. SO those that are shorter in stature has a slight advantage in that they got to stay in the shade longer.
Today's goal was for me was to just complete the race without walking. I accomplished my goal so I was happy with myself. I ran it in 1 hr 16 min and change. Nothing to brag about but I did it so I'm happy. There is this one saying that came to mind today. "I am so far behind I think I'm ahead". At one point I had lost sight of everyone in fornt of me and there was no one even close to being behind me. So I self annoited my self the leader of the slowbies. OK enough about my little run.
Mail came today and I had a bunch of boxes. I got my new shoes... just a little to late for the race. I also got my helicopters and a bunch of plants from Dawn and Don and a Yo-Yo.
Well I have lots of stuff to do and put away so I've got to go. I really appreciate all of the mail it was almost like christmas today :)
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Technology is great
Today was a quiet day. I had every intention of getting up and running in a 5K race the had here but I decided to sleep in instead. Tomorrow is a 12K race and I think I am going to go run in that one. That's a little over 7 miles.... I will have to just gut that one out. THere is no way around the fact that it's going to hurt. Why you may ask.... well it's a challenge I suppose. I think that's one of the reasons I was drawn to the military. I've never shyed away from a physical challenge although a marathon is probably a bit much.
Technology is great was my title...... I guess I was thinking again how lucky I am to have the internet and what not. Today I got to not only talk to, but see Micca, Drake and Ashtyn. Skype or any other video conferencing program is great and it's free to use.
So tomorrow I will tell on myself if I decided to get out of bed and run or if I blew it off.
Later,
Brent
Technology is great was my title...... I guess I was thinking again how lucky I am to have the internet and what not. Today I got to not only talk to, but see Micca, Drake and Ashtyn. Skype or any other video conferencing program is great and it's free to use.
So tomorrow I will tell on myself if I decided to get out of bed and run or if I blew it off.
Later,
Brent
Friday, May 2, 2008
Nothing really new
Well today was one of those days were I went to work and kind of hung out. Work has become more difficult now. It seems that my coalition counterparts don't have quite the amount of things to do that I do. They like to come in and ask my opinion about everthing from computers to camcorders to food and whatever else you can think of. One particular Ukrainian LT likes to come in and use me to practice his English. He speaks very well. I'm quite jealous of my counterparts that speak English, I really don't speak any other language. Many of my coalition friends speak at least 2 some speak 3 or 4 or more. English is clearly the dominant language but it wouldn't be bad to learn another language or two.
So everyday is interesting and learn something new almost everyday. We have 8 other countries that work together here.
Oh so anyways my young Ukrainian LT friend invited me to play basketball, he is only 22 and is quite cocky. He is only 5' 8" or so... so tonight I paid special attention to him and made him eat a few of his words. It was quite fun to hear the Ukrainians break into thier native language to try and get their act together to school the americans.
That reminds me... I need to go into work tomorrow and make a sign using powerpoint making a fake sign that offers basketball lessons. They are very good natured and appreciate the ribbing that I give them. I use a lot of different phrases that they like to hear. The english language is very complex and there are phrases that if taken literally can be totally missed. For instance taking some one to school or down in the dumps. both have double meaning and I think they are using me to learn which ids fine by me, but damn I'm going to have to start closing my office door to get some work done.
Well enough for now maybe more tomorrow
So everyday is interesting and learn something new almost everyday. We have 8 other countries that work together here.
Oh so anyways my young Ukrainian LT friend invited me to play basketball, he is only 22 and is quite cocky. He is only 5' 8" or so... so tonight I paid special attention to him and made him eat a few of his words. It was quite fun to hear the Ukrainians break into thier native language to try and get their act together to school the americans.
That reminds me... I need to go into work tomorrow and make a sign using powerpoint making a fake sign that offers basketball lessons. They are very good natured and appreciate the ribbing that I give them. I use a lot of different phrases that they like to hear. The english language is very complex and there are phrases that if taken literally can be totally missed. For instance taking some one to school or down in the dumps. both have double meaning and I think they are using me to learn which ids fine by me, but damn I'm going to have to start closing my office door to get some work done.
Well enough for now maybe more tomorrow
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