MERRY CHRISTmas

2nd Platoon on Christmas day in front of the C-RAP's
PULL MY C-RAP YOU DAMN REINDEER!!!!
Me and my roomie!
Ahhhh shit Garrison 4 more!
You make daddy very proud young padawan!



Well Merry CHRISTmas!!! Ya the post is a little late going up but we were experiencing Internet difficulties for a little bit.
Christmas Eve, we found ourselves on gate guard. It wasn't to bad we took our new C-RAPs (MRAP) down and spent guard duty in comfort and style. It didn't start out as interesting as our last time guarding the gas station. When we were at the gas station one early morning, we happened to notice two dogs going at it (humping). Everyone started to cheer and root the dogs on. Then something happened where the dogs fell over each other and it looked like the male dog had mounted the female dog in the missionary position. That was great, I wonder if dogs would call it 'people style'. Well they finished and tried to part ways except they were stuck together. They were both butt to butt and trying to go different ways but they were stuck. Usually you would have to pay for entertainment like this but not on this dreary morning. One of the Iraqi's that worked at the gas station sees this going on and goes over and points and laughs and tries to shoo the dogs away. Well it really wasn't like they were going anywhere, so he walks away and comes back with a mop handle and starts beating them. That seemed to do the trick though it looked to be quite painful. Are you laughing hysterically yet? NO?!? Well maybe you had to be there........ What were we talking about again...... Hey maybe dogs humping doesn't interest you but you try sitting one place for hours on end, then you would get a kick out of something as trivial as a dog shitting. One of the guys will see a dog shitting then he'll point it out to everyone, "Hey look that dogs taking a shit!!" then we get all excited and we are like "Oh hell ya!!" So you could possibly imagine how thrilled we were to see these dogs in such calamity.... Oh yeah any way.....
.....So ya there we were at the gate the lonely gate. Our relief came out and told us Merry CHRISTmas. I looked at my watch and realized that we had just spent CHRISTmas eve together in the C-RAP. It sure didn't feel like CHRISTmas. In a way I was glad to spend it with my extended family. The next morning we woke up and got the whole platoon together. One of my guys was re-enlisting on Christmas day. We got the Platoon outside and dawned our Christmas hats, snapped a few pics, and other soldiers walking by decided to stop and snap pics of our little spectacle.
Myself and Baum held the flag for Garrison as he once again swore his oath to defend his country from all enemies foreign and domestic. It was another very proud moment for me. Both Setz and Gar, I've watched them from when they were just shithead cherries, and they have come up and really molded into outstanding Soldiers, all the men from 2nd Squad have. Then being there to watch them voluntarily continue their careers in the Army is really a humbling experience. Where ever they go I know that they will do great and be successful, and I wish them all of the best.
After the ceremony I went and called my wife, I figured that the kids would've woke her up way early and all of the presents would have been opened seeing that it was about 8am stateside. I called and she let me know that she had just gotten up and the kids did see what Santa brought them but they hadn't opened any presents yet. I could hear the kids in the back round freaking out so I told her I'd let them get down to business and I would call later.
I screwed around for a bit and Setz and I went and had Christmas dinner at the chow hall. The chow hall was all decked out for the holiday. I was hungry as hell since earlier in the day I went to have breakfast but the chow hall was closed for the preparation of the Christmas meal. The grab n go line was open so I thought I could get a egg mcmuffin, but all they had was cereal and sandwiches. No problem. I told the little Indian, or Pak guy that I wanted a tuna fish sandwich with mayonnaise. I guess what he thought I said was I wanted 2 sandwich's. No no just one sammich guy, with tuna fish and mayo. Ya so he slaps a shit ton of mayo on the bread and closes it and hands it to me..... No, for fuck sake t-u-n-a-f-i-s-h. Who the fuck orders a mayo sammich? Needless to say I was starving all day.
After some turkey and stuffing we went down to the phone center where the line wasn't really that bad about a 30 minute wait. I got a chance to talk to all the kids and find out what they had gotten for Christmas, they were a little more interested in the toys than to talk and I can understand that so my wife and I chatted, exchanged I love yous, and holiday greetings, I went back to my trailer and went to bed.
We awoke the next day to a busy schedule. None of us were to happy about the plan of events for the day since they were all to much like the events that happened on SEPT 04. Everyone was a little on edge but we were able to make it through our list of tasks without incident. We went out to give business grants to local businesses and we went to a school to see if there was anything that we could help them out with. We then went to a Christian church which looked like they building an addition to. I know it sounds odd to you but you would probably be surprised as to how many Christian Church's there are, not a lot but more than you would expect. We returned to the FOB and showered up and got ready for bed.
Later that night I get a knock on my door and told that we need to be ready in 45 minutes to go get a bad guy. I tell my team leaders and they have the men and equipment ready in 20. We have done this so much now that its almost a second nature to us. We rolled out, and our platoon was the supporting effort. It was probably one of the fastest snatch and grabs we've done in a while. That was it, got the guy came back and went to bed. Those are good days!
About 3 or 4 months left to go which equals out to just about an eternity. Time feels like its slowing down considerably. Thank you for your continued support. Merry belated CHRISTmas to all!
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!!!!