Blessed are the days that we are released at noon. By the way which is like everyday so far. It sure is nice too let me tell you. Today we did PT for the first time as a squad (which is a bit of a fluke cuz were not supposed to do organized PT until after block leave). I've been running and biking a little on my own to try to get back into shape. Apparently humping around all sorts of heavy shit is a lot different then running in short shorts and a PT shirt. I took the guys on a slow run around the hill. As we neared one of the motor pools and explosion went off which for a split second had us ducking our heads a little. "Thats fucked up!" was the consensus. It was pretty funny though.
Block leave is getting closer to becoming a reality and I very much so plan to set up a slide show on here if anybody still reads. Not much to write about as my secret identity life is pretty mundane. We spend most of our time with just Soldier maintenance trying to get everyones affairs in order and such. This weekend Setz is trying to organize a Squad sky diving session so we will see how that works out.
Another thing I have noticed is that at times I find myself extremely fucking bored. I watched the show DEA the other night and those guys are out doing raids and what not and I was there on my couch routing them on like it was some kind of Superbowl of sorts. I haven't held a weapon in weeks and I miss it.
My children keep me thoroughly entertained though for the most part. My oldest daughter was discussing a business venture that her and her BFF were planning. They were planning to make bracelets and sell them at school. I was pretty impressed, she even had a name for these bracelets. She says "We even have a name for them." "Whats that I asked." "TWOTS." she simply replied. Hmmmmmm. I thought to myself my ears ring pretty loudly and I'm not quite sure she said what I think she just did. "What was that baby? What are you calling them?" "Twots you know its a twist with a knot at the end." she said obviously annoyed by my lack of hearing. At this point my wife has hit the floor laughing and the look on my daughters face is utter confusion, she doesn't understand what is so funny about her business idea. "Indeed. Well thats great." I said. "So your going to be selling twots at school then?" My daughter looked at me and shook her head then looked down at her mother on the floor with a puzzled look on her face.
Through gasps of air between gut rolling laughter my wife explained to my eldest daughter what a twot was. We all had a good laugh at her embarrassed expense. The next day when she got home I asked her if she had sold any bracelets at school, and she gave me a false laugh and a smirk.
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Chillin
Well I've been home for a week and some change now. Nothing really going on to much, just getting rid of the jet lag and spending time with my family. Coming home this time was different than the first time, I'm not checking the sides of the roads for IED's or anything. I catch myself more just taking in the scenery (my wife hates when I drive). Kansas has some nice scenery to take in thats for sure. I haven't ate out as much as I thought though you know I had to hit up the Flame Broiled Mecca for a beastly steak burger. I can definitely understand why the dude in the commercial powered his way to the window.
Our week has just been filled with in processing stuff or reverse SRP if you will. Making sure that our admin stuff is squared away and doing some medical check ups, a lot of briefs about reintegrating into real life. We are pretty much out at noon every day which is really nice. Nobody I know so far has gotten into any trouble. I'm proud of those guys before we left I would at least get one phone call on the weekend but since we've been back they have stayed pretty low key.
With getting out of "work" early I had the opportunity to go to my kids school and have lunch with them which is very interesting. I had lunch with my youngest and listened to a heated discussion between 2 boys and a girl. The one boy was saying how he wished he could get bitten by a spider like in Spiderman so that he could have Spiderman powers. The other boy he was talking to was like ya that would be cool. A young lady who over heard their conversation butted in (like women do sometimes) and made an attempt to squash their hopes (also another trait of women) of being bitten by a radioactive Spider. They went on back and forth until it was almost time to go to recess. I told them if they eat their peaches that it would give them the ability to run faster. Since this privy knowledge came from an adult soon the whole table had wolfed down their peaches and were prepared to go outside and try out their new power.
That situation in itself was very different since I was able to communicate with the children and there was no language barrier. The kids in Iraq loved us and would surround us for hand outs and be talking a mile a minute in their native language and through broken Arabic and English we could communicate a little bit.
I did find that I have a few quirks and one being I cannot stand the sound of dogs barking. I have a dog and she is the sweetest but her barking drives me in-fuckingsane. The quiet is another thing, after the kids go to bed it is so quiet. In Iraq there usually is a generator somewhere in the back round or dogs, or birds or some thing. Since it is so quiet the ringing in my ears is amplified, or I guess noticeable now and it is so loud that it irritates me.
My final bitch for now, we had a brief at the wee hours of the morning and it was over quickly so we decided to hit the chow hall for some breakfast. We waited an hour for it to open when we noticed people going into the front door. Taking the cue and thinking that they had opened fifteen minutes early we mozied on up to the door and went inside. Pretty much the whole DFAC staff which are civilians and Soldiers started bitching that they weren't open yet and being pretty rude about it. Well we didn't unlock the fucking door, so we waited in the breeze way for them to "Open". They opened and we got in line. At the DFAC in Iraq its ran by KBR and all of the people that serve the food are foreigners, from all sorts of different countries. Here the servers are Soldiers. I got in line to get my omelet, and the women making it was an E-4 a pregnant E-4 and she complained the whole time, did a shitty job making my omelet and took for fucking ever. In the box at least the dude though we didn't speak the same language understood ham, cheese, and mushroom, and could cook more than one omelet at a time, and moved down the line for some scrumptious bacon, and there was a male E-4 behind the counter. "Bacon." I said. I watched this high speed individual serve me up some scrambled eggs, you know of course I have an omelet and I really want so more fucking eggs? I tell him bacon again but this time a little louder. Fuck me I thought to myself at least the dude in Iraq could understand me. Well I ended up with a shit ton of eggs and some bacon.
Thats an update of my now boring but blessed life I apologize for stealing precious moments of your day. Once I become not so lazy I'm going to try and set up a slide show and probably in the future go over things that happened in Iraq that I forgot about or ready to talk about.
Thats it for now. Once again thank you for all of your support.
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!
Our week has just been filled with in processing stuff or reverse SRP if you will. Making sure that our admin stuff is squared away and doing some medical check ups, a lot of briefs about reintegrating into real life. We are pretty much out at noon every day which is really nice. Nobody I know so far has gotten into any trouble. I'm proud of those guys before we left I would at least get one phone call on the weekend but since we've been back they have stayed pretty low key.
With getting out of "work" early I had the opportunity to go to my kids school and have lunch with them which is very interesting. I had lunch with my youngest and listened to a heated discussion between 2 boys and a girl. The one boy was saying how he wished he could get bitten by a spider like in Spiderman so that he could have Spiderman powers. The other boy he was talking to was like ya that would be cool. A young lady who over heard their conversation butted in (like women do sometimes) and made an attempt to squash their hopes (also another trait of women) of being bitten by a radioactive Spider. They went on back and forth until it was almost time to go to recess. I told them if they eat their peaches that it would give them the ability to run faster. Since this privy knowledge came from an adult soon the whole table had wolfed down their peaches and were prepared to go outside and try out their new power.
That situation in itself was very different since I was able to communicate with the children and there was no language barrier. The kids in Iraq loved us and would surround us for hand outs and be talking a mile a minute in their native language and through broken Arabic and English we could communicate a little bit.
I did find that I have a few quirks and one being I cannot stand the sound of dogs barking. I have a dog and she is the sweetest but her barking drives me in-fuckingsane. The quiet is another thing, after the kids go to bed it is so quiet. In Iraq there usually is a generator somewhere in the back round or dogs, or birds or some thing. Since it is so quiet the ringing in my ears is amplified, or I guess noticeable now and it is so loud that it irritates me.
My final bitch for now, we had a brief at the wee hours of the morning and it was over quickly so we decided to hit the chow hall for some breakfast. We waited an hour for it to open when we noticed people going into the front door. Taking the cue and thinking that they had opened fifteen minutes early we mozied on up to the door and went inside. Pretty much the whole DFAC staff which are civilians and Soldiers started bitching that they weren't open yet and being pretty rude about it. Well we didn't unlock the fucking door, so we waited in the breeze way for them to "Open". They opened and we got in line. At the DFAC in Iraq its ran by KBR and all of the people that serve the food are foreigners, from all sorts of different countries. Here the servers are Soldiers. I got in line to get my omelet, and the women making it was an E-4 a pregnant E-4 and she complained the whole time, did a shitty job making my omelet and took for fucking ever. In the box at least the dude though we didn't speak the same language understood ham, cheese, and mushroom, and could cook more than one omelet at a time, and moved down the line for some scrumptious bacon, and there was a male E-4 behind the counter. "Bacon." I said. I watched this high speed individual serve me up some scrambled eggs, you know of course I have an omelet and I really want so more fucking eggs? I tell him bacon again but this time a little louder. Fuck me I thought to myself at least the dude in Iraq could understand me. Well I ended up with a shit ton of eggs and some bacon.
Thats an update of my now boring but blessed life I apologize for stealing precious moments of your day. Once I become not so lazy I'm going to try and set up a slide show and probably in the future go over things that happened in Iraq that I forgot about or ready to talk about.
Thats it for now. Once again thank you for all of your support.
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Finally
I sit here posting this one from the comfort and safety of my own home. Hanging out with my wife and she finishes up some homework she has due on Monday. It felt like forever from Rusty, to BIAP, to Kuwait and then to here. I stay in Kuwait was nice and short and they have the Customs portion down to an exact science it seems. With customs knocked out we were herded into the waiting area until our plane was ready for us. The weight of 15 months slowly started to drift away as the pilots roared away from Kuwait. We ate a light meal on the plane watched a movie and before we knew it we were in Germany. A quick pit stop and much needed smoke break for all the smokers and we were back on the bird for the long leg of the flight. I sat next to Doc so I had access to the best sleeping aides. When I woke up I saw the green hills, and forests of Maine. We were almost home, we were finally in the good ol' U, S, of A. We landed in Bangor Maine and were greeted by veterans of WWII and Vietnam and several other volunteers. They had free cell phones for us to use and also took a bunch of pictures which they posted seethepics, check out you might even see me in a couple of those.
We landed in Kansas and had to take care of some admin type things before we would head down to the ceremony. We mustered into the building and they formed us up. Everyone was thinking the same thing, "Hurry the fuck up." We've been waiting around for days now lets do this. We filed off one rank at a time into the main area where the families were waiting. I was one of the last people to come out and as the first entered the building you could here the cheering from the families watching to see which hero was theirs. They played the National Anthem, a quick prayer, and an even quicker speech from some Colonel I didn't even now and with a dismiss from the 1SG the families poured out of the bleachers. I saw mine, made my way to them, my daughters jumped in my arms. My son was a bit more hesitant but it was 3am after all. He came to me and I picked them all up. Tears welled up and in my eyes and spilled over it felt so good to embrace them instead of just their pictures. All the times that I spent wondering if I would ever get to this day all that emotion surfaced. My son spoke to me and it was so weird hearing his tiny voice in person I laughed.
We went home and settled down for essentially what was left of the night. I dozed off for about 2 hours when I opened my eyes my sons head was level with the bed and he was staring at me. He took off running and I woke up and went down stairs and made him breakfast. We didn't do to much that day. My daughter had soccer practice and before that I wanted to go see my friend. We drove to the Fort Riley cemetery and I walked among the rows of fallen heroes until I came across a newer looking marker. I knelt next to my friend and set a flag down for him and some other things. I thanked him for watching over us, and once again assured him that he will never be forgotten.
Today was great as my son woke me up early and told me "Daddy you need to come down and make me breakfast." No one can resist such an offer and I picked him up and treated him to some Trix. (Hey thats what he wanted!)
Home finally and it feels so good to be here. It was great when Setz came over and brought his family. His little girl played with my kids and I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was happy to be home and was completely in love with his lil lady. Everything is pretty surreal. Sleeping in a nice comfy bed next to my lovely wife. Raiding my own fridge, not having to walk 30m to the shitter, having my own private personal shitter, channel surfing.
When you are gone its like stepping into a time warp and when you come home you are hurled into ever day life. Apparently from what I understand the K-State students are excited to have the battle hardened Soldier's home apparently one lucky student was escorted out of a window by one of the returning Soldier's.
I know this post is pretty random but there is a lot of things going on right now. The jist of it is that I'm home. Finally, this time I really never felt like these days would get here. Thank you once again to all of you that have came here to read about what goes on over there and for all of your support. All of our friends at Soldier's Angel's, Books For Soldiers, and our friends from 15 minute Lunch. To everyone that stopped by. I really do appreciate all of your support.
I'll keep posting as I continue to sort things out and get my thoughts and feelings and everything in order. I did eat at AppleBees today and that was great not the best but its a 5 star compared to the KBR DFAC. Alright folks thank you again, and to all my brothers still out there stay safe and godbless.
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!!
Pitcher's
Coming back from the DAK and these guys were looking all tough until the bullets started flying.
This is a busy street and nobody was out and they parted a set this NP truck ablaze seconds after this pic was taken we started receiving heavy gun fire from all sides and found ourselves in a fire fight until we got back to the COP.
Back at the COP shooting militia pidgeons.
The cooks had left us to fend for our selves. Here Davis and Setz are grilling frozen lasagna and they used diesel fuel for extra flavoring.
Chilling in BIAP waiting for the bird to take us to Kuwait.
Me on the bird going to Kuwait.
America land ho!
The good and true Red White and Blue!!!!
D-Roll and Naughton Keep occupied at Bangor.
HOw do you keep grunts well behaved at the airport? Put one of those whirly quarter things in the Airport.Ok I was really gonna try to make whitty comments for all the pics but the format for this shit is really kicking my ass and pissing me off.
Deuce Deuce Out!!!!!
Friday, April 11, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Half Way There
Just making a pit stop about 11 teen hours to go...................
deuce deuce alviederzein...!!!!!!
deuce deuce alviederzein...!!!!!!
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Purgatory
Well, I'm in Can'tWait now fucking finally got in here this morning at 3am tried to throw myself into a medicated slumber until somebody decided to wake me from it. As if I needed anymore time awake in the nightmare that I'm already living. We were stuck in limbo in Iraq for awhile waiting for a flight out. Finally got the word to go and boarded a big Chair Force plane. Nothing like sitting elbow to elbow with all your gear, bag, body armor, and weapons. The plane roared to life and we were off. We all cheered and breathed a sigh of relief to be the fuck off the ground and headed south. The pilots pulled into a steep climb which produced more cheers, hands went up into the air like some kinda psychotic roller coaster ride. The cheers from the Grunts in the back motivated the pilots for more gut wrenching maneuvers in a giant airplane. I'm sure the pilots were having a grand ol' time, and I was too I'm not gonna lie. Then they did one more and instead of cheers there was mostly grounds. I smiled happy to be making distance between Iraq and me. Not out yet but close enough to smile.
We touched down in Kuwait and were hurried on to bus after bus, some not having time to pee after the big plane ride, and took the opportunity to hang the wang out the window of the bus and piss on the go. I'm wondering what the bus driver in the bus behind us was thinking when both sides of our bus sprung a leak.
Kuwait is nice, I like it its find sand, its a little humid and your most positively out in the middle of no where. Nothing as you drive from camp to camp. Pitch black emptiness, and its quiet. We arrived at the camp and down loaded the gear. Unfortunately I was a man short because do to a serious fucking miscount they told us the plane was full and we had to drop 2 people. Sorry if your last name starts with Z, and Y. Then we get here and they tell us that a small portion will have to stay behind for the next flight. Most of us were pretty pissed and WTF was thrown out at will. The boyz of Charlie lucked out as we all made it on. We have a good portion of Charlie on the way home as I write these words. We were broken up a little bit, but shit as long as everyone makes it home I'm cool with that.
Honestly I can't even believe I'm here and its so close to going home. Granted I was here about 6 months ago for RnR but that was a lot different, I was going back to the shit hole and was uncertain whether or not I would get to be on the trip home. I find myself thinking of Joel and things we would be talking about, about how the pad in BIAP had changed and the deployment and all. I can't help but feel a little empty because I know that we did not bring everyone home. It kinda feels as though we left them there in Iraq. I know in my heart though that they are at peace on American soil in a better place, together watching over us. How else really could you explain everything that happened during the uprising and none of us being hurt or killed.
I'll be here for a few more hours, not gonna give you any times cuz that would just be really stupid of me but I will let you know when we are all kissing American soil, and our families. In the meanwhile I've to make a pit stop to get rid of the pizza thats seeping its way through my colon. Kuwait is great! They have a McDonalds here of all things. The internet is kinda pricey 5 bucks for an hour and considerably slower. Riddle me that one. Thats all the update I have for now. To all my brothers still in the shit keep your heads down and your trigger fingers itchy! To everyone else no shit, I'll catcha you on the flip side!
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!!!!!!!!
PS
If anyone from 2/16 is reading this trying to get info on when we we are coming back keep contacting your FRG rep or go to the website. I understand that some FRG's really don't have a clue about whats going on right now (I know from talking to my friends who are married and my wife) but just keep contacting them if you haven't got an answer as of yet. I apologize for not putting anymore than I already now but unfortunately I cannot do that on a public website. I apologize for the inconvenience but we will be home soon.
We touched down in Kuwait and were hurried on to bus after bus, some not having time to pee after the big plane ride, and took the opportunity to hang the wang out the window of the bus and piss on the go. I'm wondering what the bus driver in the bus behind us was thinking when both sides of our bus sprung a leak.
Kuwait is nice, I like it its find sand, its a little humid and your most positively out in the middle of no where. Nothing as you drive from camp to camp. Pitch black emptiness, and its quiet. We arrived at the camp and down loaded the gear. Unfortunately I was a man short because do to a serious fucking miscount they told us the plane was full and we had to drop 2 people. Sorry if your last name starts with Z, and Y. Then we get here and they tell us that a small portion will have to stay behind for the next flight. Most of us were pretty pissed and WTF was thrown out at will. The boyz of Charlie lucked out as we all made it on. We have a good portion of Charlie on the way home as I write these words. We were broken up a little bit, but shit as long as everyone makes it home I'm cool with that.
Honestly I can't even believe I'm here and its so close to going home. Granted I was here about 6 months ago for RnR but that was a lot different, I was going back to the shit hole and was uncertain whether or not I would get to be on the trip home. I find myself thinking of Joel and things we would be talking about, about how the pad in BIAP had changed and the deployment and all. I can't help but feel a little empty because I know that we did not bring everyone home. It kinda feels as though we left them there in Iraq. I know in my heart though that they are at peace on American soil in a better place, together watching over us. How else really could you explain everything that happened during the uprising and none of us being hurt or killed.
I'll be here for a few more hours, not gonna give you any times cuz that would just be really stupid of me but I will let you know when we are all kissing American soil, and our families. In the meanwhile I've to make a pit stop to get rid of the pizza thats seeping its way through my colon. Kuwait is great! They have a McDonalds here of all things. The internet is kinda pricey 5 bucks for an hour and considerably slower. Riddle me that one. Thats all the update I have for now. To all my brothers still in the shit keep your heads down and your trigger fingers itchy! To everyone else no shit, I'll catcha you on the flip side!
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!!!!!!!!
PS
If anyone from 2/16 is reading this trying to get info on when we we are coming back keep contacting your FRG rep or go to the website. I understand that some FRG's really don't have a clue about whats going on right now (I know from talking to my friends who are married and my wife) but just keep contacting them if you haven't got an answer as of yet. I apologize for not putting anymore than I already now but unfortunately I cannot do that on a public website. I apologize for the inconvenience but we will be home soon.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
A giant fucking Leap
Ohhhhh SHIT SON!!!! I just got done having DA DA DA DAAAAAAA...... BURGER KING!!!!!! and a nice cold monster. Thats right ladies and gender benders we have made it the fuck off of Rocketmiyah. Fuck Rocketmiyah you can have that shit. We made it off and trust me haaj gave us a pretty sweet send off.
We had our CIB (Combat Infantry Badge) ceremony early on in the afternoon. The SGM and BC had just finished with my Squad and started on 3rd when I hear the faint but familiar screeching of a Rocket flying over head. The alarm failed to registar that one until it hit, and I laughed out loud and thought to myself, "Hell ya! Our platoon would get rocketed during the CIB ceremony." The SGM yelled out "Incoming!" just as the siren started to blare. We all broke ranks and hauled ass for cover most of us laughing. Simmons was right behind me and I yelled "Stay away from me you son of a bitch!" He laughed and said "What?" I know those fucking rockets follow that asshole. With rockets done and exploded we finished up the ceremony and moved along the streets to eat our final lunch at the haaj restaurant.
Later that day we finished cleaning and the 1sg came by inspected rooms and we moved out to the assembly area. We loaded our rucks onto a truck and then moved to the helo pad. There was at least over 100 of moving in a single file line with body armor, helmets, weapons, and assault packs moving to the helo pad in a single file line that stretched at least about 200m. Suddenly- WAAAAA WAAAAA WAAA INCOMING INCOMING INCOMING. With one bunker in sight we made a mad dash to it as we heard the rockets scream over and impact near by. A rocket makes a distinct sound when it reaches its final destination its weird its like a crushing sound followed by boomness. With all this shit on not all of us could make it in and we hunkered out side. With that close call behind us we finally made it to the pad. As we waited haaj decided that one more attack would be nice and we heard the sirens again and close, it was if someone was calling in our movements as once again the rockets impacted nearby. One final rocket attack at Rocketmiyah no one hurt and we were waiting for the birds. You know who I was standing by every fucking time??? Simmons that right! Simmons the fucking Rocket magnet. He told me I didn't have to worry that we was good luck. I had to remind him of the guy running behind him from the rocket attack a couple of days ago that caught a hot piece in the back. Everytime we could hear the chop of the rotorblades people would cheer then we would realize they weren't ours and everyone would sigh. It was kinda like a big rollercoaster ride. Eventually the birds landed and we boarded. Everyone hoping the bird would take off soon to avoid any rockets if haaj cared to share again. The bird pulled power and lifted into the night the cabin erupted with cheers as we were off.
No more Rocketmiyah. Right now were in limbo in transit waiting for that big bird to send us into Can'tWait. I won't say where though if you've been to Iraq you know! I will say that they have a big PX (Not as big as the big big PX nearby) and you heard it in the begining the church of Flame Broil. I still have the after taste of Whopper lingering on my taste buds. Maybe not so much as lingering but dancing and playing and making love to my toungue! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. Not to much longer folks and the big National Lampoons Iraqi vacation will be a not so distant memory for me and my days of sitting on the porch sippin my Sweet Iced Tea with my wife and kids in SC are just down the street.
Well thats it for now and I'll let ya know as soon as the men from Charlie 2/16 are safe at home. Back to the reality of real life in the real world. Until then.........
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!!
UPDATE
Apparently we got out of there just in time as I came across this hot little article on yahoo. Rocketmiyah
We had our CIB (Combat Infantry Badge) ceremony early on in the afternoon. The SGM and BC had just finished with my Squad and started on 3rd when I hear the faint but familiar screeching of a Rocket flying over head. The alarm failed to registar that one until it hit, and I laughed out loud and thought to myself, "Hell ya! Our platoon would get rocketed during the CIB ceremony." The SGM yelled out "Incoming!" just as the siren started to blare. We all broke ranks and hauled ass for cover most of us laughing. Simmons was right behind me and I yelled "Stay away from me you son of a bitch!" He laughed and said "What?" I know those fucking rockets follow that asshole. With rockets done and exploded we finished up the ceremony and moved along the streets to eat our final lunch at the haaj restaurant.
Later that day we finished cleaning and the 1sg came by inspected rooms and we moved out to the assembly area. We loaded our rucks onto a truck and then moved to the helo pad. There was at least over 100 of moving in a single file line with body armor, helmets, weapons, and assault packs moving to the helo pad in a single file line that stretched at least about 200m. Suddenly- WAAAAA WAAAAA WAAA INCOMING INCOMING INCOMING. With one bunker in sight we made a mad dash to it as we heard the rockets scream over and impact near by. A rocket makes a distinct sound when it reaches its final destination its weird its like a crushing sound followed by boomness. With all this shit on not all of us could make it in and we hunkered out side. With that close call behind us we finally made it to the pad. As we waited haaj decided that one more attack would be nice and we heard the sirens again and close, it was if someone was calling in our movements as once again the rockets impacted nearby. One final rocket attack at Rocketmiyah no one hurt and we were waiting for the birds. You know who I was standing by every fucking time??? Simmons that right! Simmons the fucking Rocket magnet. He told me I didn't have to worry that we was good luck. I had to remind him of the guy running behind him from the rocket attack a couple of days ago that caught a hot piece in the back. Everytime we could hear the chop of the rotorblades people would cheer then we would realize they weren't ours and everyone would sigh. It was kinda like a big rollercoaster ride. Eventually the birds landed and we boarded. Everyone hoping the bird would take off soon to avoid any rockets if haaj cared to share again. The bird pulled power and lifted into the night the cabin erupted with cheers as we were off.
No more Rocketmiyah. Right now were in limbo in transit waiting for that big bird to send us into Can'tWait. I won't say where though if you've been to Iraq you know! I will say that they have a big PX (Not as big as the big big PX nearby) and you heard it in the begining the church of Flame Broil. I still have the after taste of Whopper lingering on my taste buds. Maybe not so much as lingering but dancing and playing and making love to my toungue! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. Not to much longer folks and the big National Lampoons Iraqi vacation will be a not so distant memory for me and my days of sitting on the porch sippin my Sweet Iced Tea with my wife and kids in SC are just down the street.
Well thats it for now and I'll let ya know as soon as the men from Charlie 2/16 are safe at home. Back to the reality of real life in the real world. Until then.........
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!!
UPDATE
Apparently we got out of there just in time as I came across this hot little article on yahoo. Rocketmiyah
Friday, April 04, 2008
So Close but so Far Away
The last couple of days have been really busy. 2nd Platoon's done there left and right seat rides and traded places with our replacements. We've turned in our gear and other equipment. Today me and my roomie just finished field daying our room. Earlier this morning Val and I were out burning left over junk when suddenly the incoming alarm went off. The burn barrel was only mere feet from the bunker so both of us calmly made our way to the bunker. That is until the rocket landed on the other side of us and a huge chunk of shrapnel made a whirring sound as it flew over our heads. We then leaped into the bunker and started laughing. Even though we are not going out anymore we are still dodging rockets. Once again Simmons comes up lucky as he was running for the bunker the guy running behind him got hit with a piece of shrapnel, on the 28th Simmons vehicle was hit with an EFP, before that an incoming rocket landed right behind him as he was coming back from the shrapnel. Note to self, stay away from Simmons the remainder of the time I'm here.
Our last missions pretty much consisted of driving around to IA and NP checkpoints to make sure they were out doing their jobs. During the uprising all of the checkpoints had been abandoned. Driving around sector that day it was just completely different, stores were opened, people were out, the roads were congested. I laughed when we rolled up to one check point and there were only 2 NP's there. No wonder why they ran, shit I would run too if someone left my ass hanging out in the wind like that. "Here you go men, you two sit here and hold down the road!" Right?
We had to go have a pow-wow with the head doctor this morning. They wanted to get a feel for where every bodies heads were at since Sept 4th. She did most of the talking and we for the most part clammed up. We talked about the events together with each other, but it almost seems harder to talk about them in front of everyone, especially when an outsider is present. Those guys were our family, our brothers its something only the families of the fallen and we can understand.
Yesterday we attended the memorial of the 2 Alpha Company soldiers who were KIA, Specialist Durrell L. Bennett, and Private First Class Patrick J. (PJ) Miller. The Chapel was packed with Soldiers who came to pay their respect. I didn't know them personally but being so close to going home it hit everybody pretty hard. They will never be forgotten.
The days are coming to an end for us in Iraq real soon. I will post again when we are out of here.
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!
Private First Class Patrick J. (PJ) Miller
Our last missions pretty much consisted of driving around to IA and NP checkpoints to make sure they were out doing their jobs. During the uprising all of the checkpoints had been abandoned. Driving around sector that day it was just completely different, stores were opened, people were out, the roads were congested. I laughed when we rolled up to one check point and there were only 2 NP's there. No wonder why they ran, shit I would run too if someone left my ass hanging out in the wind like that. "Here you go men, you two sit here and hold down the road!" Right?
We had to go have a pow-wow with the head doctor this morning. They wanted to get a feel for where every bodies heads were at since Sept 4th. She did most of the talking and we for the most part clammed up. We talked about the events together with each other, but it almost seems harder to talk about them in front of everyone, especially when an outsider is present. Those guys were our family, our brothers its something only the families of the fallen and we can understand.
Yesterday we attended the memorial of the 2 Alpha Company soldiers who were KIA, Specialist Durrell L. Bennett, and Private First Class Patrick J. (PJ) Miller. The Chapel was packed with Soldiers who came to pay their respect. I didn't know them personally but being so close to going home it hit everybody pretty hard. They will never be forgotten.
The days are coming to an end for us in Iraq real soon. I will post again when we are out of here.
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!
Rest in Peace
Specialist Private First Class Patrick J. (PJ) Miller
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