July 2009
6 posts
It was a good day
It feels good to put in a full day’s work. We were out on the lake again today, making sure our stuff works on the very off chance we ever get to use it. I think being on the water is what has kept me coming back. I don’t know what I’ll do for that when I get out. Funny, I joined the Army to get on the water.
Headed back out tomorrow, and might have a chance to get some of...
Loss
It’s a year. Take a year at home and stuff happens. Babies are born, people die. Circle of life and all that crap. When we deploy, that circle doesn’t stop even though we feel so far removed from it. One of my troops missed the birth of his child, and another squad leader missed the birth of his second. Last night, one of my team leaders lost his mother.
This is the hard part. ...
My 4th of July
The palace stands in stark contrast with what I have seen in the rest of Iraq. They all do, Saddam’s palaces. Often times they are glamorous in a cheap way – fake crystal chandeliers and golden faucets that don’t run. But this is a truly classy joint, without some of the overblown murals and gaudy extras that I have seen elsewhere. It sits in the middle of a man-made lake, stocked with what I...
It was a playground
Spent the last two days on Slayer Lake working with our boats. That’s not the real name of the lake, I don’t know the real name. For our purposes, it is a lake on Camp Slayer and is therefore “Slayer Lake.” It’s a man-made hole, about the size of Lake Calhoun, I think. It was kind of a retreat for Saddam in the middle of Baghdad. There’s an island palace...
June 2009
8 posts
Who does that?
So perhaps you’ve asked yourself, “Who does that? Who joins the Army?” I thought that maybe I would give you a brief textual snapshot and maybe you can come away with a little better idea of just who might “do that.”
There are a dozen of us at the moment. Average age is 26, but most are younger. The youngest turned 20 two months ago, and the oldest is 42 - he...
I'm Back
So I committed to writing daily, but I forgot there are days when I can’t write, like when I’m out on mission. That was the last few days for me. We took off and inspected a couple of bridges and did some minor repairs and got out into greater Iraq for a couple of days. It felt good. While there is added stress in being out and about in a combat zone, I find trips like that...
Gut Check
That’s really what a PT test is. It is more of an endurance/attitude test than a physical test. I mean, yeah, you have to be in some kind of shape to pass it, but passing it requires much more mental or intestinal fortitude than straight physical apptitude. So in my opinion, my failures today (two of the eleven) failed the gut check more than they failed the APFT. Passing is 180 points,...
Big Day
Yep, tomorrow’s a big day. I am conducting a “diagnostic APFT” for my squad. In layman’s terms, I am making my squad do the Army Physical Fitness Test, but it doesn’t really count - it’s not “for record” - unless they want it to. You have to do as many pushups as you can in two minutes, as many situps in the same time, and run two miles. Really...
Rollin' and Tumblin'
Hello. This is round two of my blogging extravaganza. I have been writing over at Open Salon under the name Six Foot Skinny, and while I fully plan on continuing, I’ve hit a serious case of blogger’s block. Those are more cohesive, literary essays, and not much in my life is cohesive or literary these days. Hopefully this will free me up to do some more of that kind of writing, and...