An Army Janitor/Mover/Driver (and rarely Medic)

tattoo

2006-07-21T22:10:00.000-07:00

Support the troops but not the war?

2006-07-01T14:50:00.000-07:00

COMMENT: Letter from Iraq: They're not supporting the troops
By Anthony Ippoliti
The Ridgefield Press

Almost every week, I open The Press and find an article or letter to the editors denouncing the coalition effort in Iraq. Invariably, the individuals behind these anti-war letters and rallies mask their political agendas by asserting that they support the troops but not the war.

They read off the names of the dead and claim to show support for our troops while urging lawmakers to bring them home. They believe that the U.S.-led coalition should never have entered Iraq. What they are really doing is using our lives and the issue of our safety and well-being as a means to achieve a political end.

Supporting the troops but not the war is like saying that you support filmmakers but not making films. One cannot claim to support an individual in a given profession but not support what the said profession entails. This is essentially a slap in the face to those in the service.

I have never once received a letter from an individual who claims to support the troops, not the war. Not a single Marine I know has received anything that could be considered remotely supportive from any of these people or the groups they represent. We have received phone cards, hygiene supplies, food, etc. from members of state and local government, radio stations, schools, private individuals and organizations, but never once from any group claiming to support the troops, but not the war.
How can they support us if they are essentially saying that our blood and sacrifices have all been given in vain? How can they support us if they say that our comrades and brothers who have been wounded or killed in action have done so for a hopeless and morally questionable cause?

They can't. I see the Iraqi people every day. The protesters do not. I speak with the Iraqi people every day. The protesters do not. I dont sit behind a desk and do paperwork or resupply efforts in the military. I am an Infantry Marine and I walk the sewage-filled streets of this city every single day.

In Fallujah, the people watch Al Jazeerah. However, they also watch CNN. A lot of them fear that the United States will soon cut and run. The people of Iraq see when our country is divided. When they see rallies to Bring The Troops Home, they see that as a sign that we will end our efforts prematurely.

Furthermore, they know that the insurgents will not end their efforts early. That leads them to the conclusion that when we leave, the insurgents will still be there. Therefore, if they help us, their lives and the lives of their loved ones will be in great jeopardy the minute we leave ó if we donít finish the job. Much that they see on American television leads them to believe that we intend to abandon our efforts before the new Iraqi government is capable of defending itself and its citizens.

The actions of these aforementioned organizations and the heavy media coverage their rallies often generate serves as fuel for the insurgency. Insurgents believe they can drive us out through the idea of death by a thousand cuts. The longer they persist in their efforts, the more the American public becomes disenchanted with the coalition effort.

The insurgents aren't fighting simply to drive America out of Iraq. They are fighting to destroy any semblance of the Iraqi government so that they can impose their will on its people.

Publicly protesting our efforts in Iraq fuels the insurgency. Doing it under the pretext of supporting our troops is disgraceful. Using deployed service members as a mask to serve your purely political purpose is downright shameful. If your desire is to protest the war, then protest the war, but don't use me or any reference to our troops as a tool to bolster your purpose.

http://www.acorn-online.com/news/publish/article_7107.shtml

Soldier slams the NYT

2006-06-29T15:33:00.000-07:00

A word from Lt. Cotton

Lt. Tom Cotton writes this morning from Baghdad with a word for the New York Times:

Dear Messrs. Keller, Lichtblau & Risen:

Congratulations on disclosing our government's highly classified anti-terrorist-financing program (June 23). I apologize for not writing sooner. But I am a lieutenant in the United States Army and I spent the last four days patrolling one of the more dangerous areas in Iraq. (Alas, operational security and common sense prevent me from even revealing this unclassified location in a private medium like email.)

Unfortunately, as I supervised my soldiers late one night, I heard a booming explosion several miles away. I learned a few hours later that a powerful roadside bomb killed one soldier and severely injured another from my 130-man company. I deeply hope that we can find and kill or capture the terrorists responsible for that bomb. But, of course, these terrorists do not spring from the soil like Plato's guardians. No, they require financing to obtain mortars and artillery shells, priming explosives, wiring and circuitry, not to mention for training and payments to locals willing to emplace bombs in exchange for a few months' salary. As your story states, the program was legal, briefed to Congress, supported in the government and financial industry, and very successful.

Not anymore. You may think you have done a public service, but you have gravely endangered the lives of my soldiers and all other soldiers and innocent Iraqis here. Next time I hear that familiar explosion -- or next time I feel it -- I will wonder whether we could have stopped that bomb had you not instructed terrorists how to evade our financial surveillance.

And, by the way, having graduated from Harvard Law and practiced with a federal appellate judge and two Washington law firms before becoming an infantry officer, I am well-versed in the espionage laws relevant to this story and others -- laws you have plainly violated. I hope that my colleagues at the Department of Justice match the courage of my soldiers here and prosecute you and your newspaper to the fullest extent of the law. By the time we return home, maybe you will be in your rightful place: not at the Pulitzer announcements, but behind bars.

Very truly yours,

Tom Cotton
Baghdad, Iraq

2006-06-18T21:27:00.000-07:00

Sunburn....I really dont have an answer so don't ask

Ok there are a few things wrong with the picture right above me. I'll start out with the obvious, it makes me feel gayer than a football bat just looking at it. Why post it on the net for everyone to see? I don't know...I really don't have an answer. But the guy is my roomate, and his girlfriend took the picture. The second thing wrong with it is those stupid hand signs we're making. This is the kinda stuff I imagine seeing on some idiots myspace that makes me wanna gouge my eyes out. If you ever see me make this hand sign again, please kick me hard and aim for the trachea and/or teeth. After writing all that i'm sorta debating wether or not to delete it, but I just spent 15 minutes writing and I don't wanna waste my time. I'll let the Army take care of that.

But the deal with my back is just nonsense. I can actually tell you what happened, I tried to be all independant and refused help to have someone put sunblock on my back. Maybe it was pride, or maybe it was not wanting some other guys stupid hands all over my back... but as you can see I payed the price...and it feels about as good as it looks, believe me.

(I cant think of a title)

2006-06-14T09:45:00.000-07:00

Lately i've been noticing small things that have really been pissing me off around here....as you can probably see from the previous topics. One huge example that i'm actually trying to get acknowledged is our BAS and food situation. You see, we get paid 270 a month for a food allowance, but the govt. takes back basically all of it, forcing enlisted Soldiers to eat in the chow hall. Now, thats fine with me, if I had time to eat in the chow hall all the time. The reality is I don't, and that's not changing anytime soon. I'm constantly pulling medical coverage on everything from ranges to railheads. In other words, by not taking advantage of the meal i'm paying for, the govt is STEALING money from me, and I have no choice. The reality is that in order to ward off starvation and/or malnutrition, i'm forced to purchase food from my own pocket. This adds another 10-20 bucks a day to the 10 that was already stolen from me.

So in this case I actually have a plan of action. I've started a detailed spreadsheet of every meal i've missed and it's cost to me and what I was forced to purchase instead. My plan is when I feel justified enough to make a case, to turn it in at the lowest level and work my way up. Eventually (if I don't find a fitting resolution) I plan on contacting Congressman Mark Green, a Republican with strong military backing from WI. What must be remembered however is that my unit isnt at all a contrubuting factor in my argument. It's a DOD policy im blowing the whistle on, not any wrongdoing by my leadership.

I won't stand for Soldier abuse or robbery, and thats what this DOD policy is.

Date of meal missed Reason Cost to Soldier(Per Diem) additional money to eat

June 12 2006 Medical coverage from 7.10
Breakfast 0500 till 1830 on railhead +12.50
Lunch
Dinner
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

June 13 2006 PT Test from 0515 till 0906 1.40
Breakfast +2.00

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Congressman Mark Green
Washington, DC
1314 Longworth Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-5665
mark.green@mail.house.gov

Another interesting thought

2006-06-10T14:15:00.000-07:00

Weapon safety is a huge concern here in the Army. An accidental discharge that puts someone down will earn you a trip to leavenworth and a DD quicker than you can say sorry. I agree with this policy...

The other day at a range however a Captain was sluggin around with a cocked, loaded, and unsafe weapon. I guess since it was in a hip holster it was ok...fine, great. If I was to make that same mistake I would have been councled...As I should be for such a serious mistake....and possibly given a company grade...which I probably should be. In fact I probably should be initially buttstroked in the face.. Thats fine, I guess thats why we have medics at ranges, to plug bulletwounds from accidental discharges

I had an interesting thought...

2006-06-08T18:56:00.000-07:00

While sitting in the back of a humvee today I came up with an interesting thought, a conundrum of sorts. We have a policy here that if you have a female in your room at the barracks, ur supposed to keep the door open. Now seriously, I'de take an article 15 before I followed that guidance but the thought still is very troubling. But that itself isn't what pulls at my common sense. What gets me is the conflicting set of orders given out. We have been told that we must keep our doors locked at all times, when we are in the room or not. I guess this is to prevent a break in, rape, or soviet nuclear attack but it doesnt make any sense if the "open door female" policy is in effect. So if i'm here alone or with my 190 pound angry roomate, the door must be locked to avoid a written counsling (because by god, its a safety concern). The second a female walks in, the brigade rules call for that door to be open wide. Interesting... whoever made these rules up obviously spent plenty of time thinking it over.

The argument can also be made that if i'm living in government housing, I have to obey the rules set forth. One of them would be the "open door" nonsense. I guess it makes sense because the govt. is paying for my room water electricity etc. BUT, the govt is also paying millions in BAH and just as much for on base housing. This too is considered "governemnt housing". So the same rules should apply, an E-7 should have to keep his door open when he has company. The bullshit meter is past the high mark and its spinning out of control.

ranting

2006-06-07T18:27:00.000-07:00

I just clicked the "next blog" feature on my blog and it brought up some black guys blog about his awsome zx700 whatever mitsubishi car with a probably body kit and stupid paint job...and dont forget stupid sound system. I'm a white guy, yes, I called him a black guy. I didn't call him an African American because I don't know if Lebron is from Africa or jamiaca or haiti or england or whatever. Black guys live in other countries but Africa. It would be racist for me to say otherwise.

But anyways, now i'm deviating, kinda like my nose is deviating after be punched in it. The whole point is the sweet zx700 with its impressive boise soundsystem or whatever its called. I'm really really sick and tired of listening to other peoples music while driving, rucking, or living. I could care less what you listen to, just don't let me hear it. It's almost like a personal statement when you ride around with jayz or ludacris or any other thug garbage, drain on society rapper blairing over your "hey I have status and am respectable" loudspeaker. Nothing about listening to loud rap music makes me think, "wow your independant and cool". It makes me think wow, where is a brick i can lauch through your stupid tinted windshield. But despite what I may think, hundreds of drivers here on post drive with their stupid spinner hubcaps and their stupid loud music ruining my relaxing driving experiance.

I dont write enough

2006-06-07T17:50:00.000-07:00

Sorry I havnt been writing so much. I cant really say i've been real busy, just sort of lazy, or busy in other aspects of life besides the Army. I'm still doing alright out here, in fact, I kinda like Fort Riley. My chain of command is exceptional from the bottom up...but ive said that before and I really don't wanna get repetative. Nobody wants to read about repetative shit. Anyways...

I have Air Assault comin up here pretty soon. I talk alot of shit about Ranger school and all that, but basically I was reporting on hearsay... my leadership was getting verbal information, not written it seems. So I don't even know about any of that, all i know is that i'm headed to campbell in around 20 days. I'm really not too concerned. The only thing in question though is that I recently had my nose broken in combatives pretty good. Some kid sorta panicked and he threw a cheap hook when we where sparring for submission. It cracked my nose pretty good and I ended up sitting 3 hours in the ER for some vicodin and naproxin, little else. My nose was shifted pretty good, but now that the swellings down, it doesnt look so bad. I'll grab some pictures and get em on here later on.

My name is not "high speed"

2006-05-18T15:29:00.000-07:00

One thing that seriously seriously bothers me is being called "high speed" or "wildman" or any other unnecessary name by anyone. I have a name and its printed clearly on the front of my ACU's and it's Ackerman. My name to anyone and everyone should be PFC. Ackerman, hell even Ackerman. I don't think thats asking too much but by god, the amount I hear "hey give me a hand there highspeed" is amazing. I work just as hard, if not harder than just about anyone in my unit, and I still am not afforded the professional courtesy of my actual name. In all honesty i'de rather be called shitbag or garbage than high speed, at least then I could ask what my deficiencies are, and then correct them in the professional and expediant manner I currently do my job, day in and day out. I don't call my Sergeants high speed or wildman. Why you might ask, because we have a rank structure, and that rank structure moves both up....and down. I'm an E-3, not a wildman or crazyman or high speed or shitbrick or whatever other derogatory name ever thought of. But my opinion doesnt matter much, so from now on i'll be looking out for me and me alone.

Pancho Man

2006-05-14T10:45:00.001-07:00

In the army, there is a form of punishment called an RBI (Reinforcement By Indorsement) in which the soldier is required to write a 1,000 word essay to describe his errors in judgment and so on. This is the actual scanned letter....below is it written out, the scanned one has little pictures http://anticipatoryretaliation.mu.nu/poncho/ponchoman.pdf

(Referance By Indorsement)

on why it is important to bring my equipment

By: Private Dumbass

It is extremely important that I bring my equipment every day because if I don't the drill sergeant makes me write a stupid R.B.I, which I must write, because if I don't the army will kick me out, instantly ruining my life because I will be unable to get a job, and I will end up living in a cardboard box because sometimes society can be a cruel, cruel entity.

Therefore, I will always from now on bring my poncho to chow because everyone knows, it often rains inside of the mess hall. I also do not like to live in a cardboard box.

As a delta dog, I should have known better and brought my poncho but the darn common sense of mine keeps getting in the way, dog gone it.

Another reason the poncho is useful in the mess hall is because of it's camoflaging properties. For instance, if a drill sergeant catches me getting cake and ice cream,and is about to throw a tantrum, I put on my poncho and "POOF!" I am rendered virtually invisible. I blend in with my surroundings and disappear!

Another important function of the rain poncho is that it can also be used as a portable, mini green house, very useful for growing some stunning orchids or perhaps a rhodendron. Normally, as civilians we had to pay $19.95 for a mini greenhouse, but was as soldiers get this valuable piece of plastic for free. and I foolishy didn't bring mine with me to the mess hall, dog gone it.

It is because of my own incompetance that I didn't bring my invaluable, priceless poncho. But wait a minute, why was I shipped here three weeks early? Thats right! Incompetance! Incompetance on the part of beaurocracy because everyone knew that echo company would be closing a year ago! Dog gone incompetance! But I digress. I am off of the subject here.

I love my poncho! We will never be apart again! I can't think of anything else to write, so now I'll just copy stuff from my smart book.

PONCHO: The poncho is made of coated nylon and is waterproof. (duh, really?) It can be used as a rain garment, ground cloth, or sleeping bag. It can also be used to make a shelter or tent. (Figure 2-26 S.M.A.R.T. Book). Two ponchos can be snapped together to make a two person shelter. If possible, air dry the poncho before folding it up. It should be hand washed with warm, soapy water.

Here are some uses for the poncho that the military hasn't thought of yet.

Kevorkian Parachute

Camoflage Colostomy Bag

A hot, uncomfortable turban

Appropriate wear for those spur of the moment combat toga parties

One size fits all prophilactic

I know that this is completely off of the subject of my poncho, but it is intrigueing nonetheless. Sometimes I just wonder, what ever happened to chef boyardee? I mean the actual chef boyardee, the guy who started the beef and cheese ravioli legacy. What was his first name, and is he alive or dead? If he's dead, how did he die? If he's alive, where is he now? And does the eating of ravioli make him puke, or is he some sort of obsessed sicko eating it every day, for every meal, for years and years? The answer is.....I don't know. I'm just a curious guy I guess. I wonder if HE had a poncho.

Well, I'm almost to the end of this R.B.I. I'll bet you didn't think that anyone could write this much stuff about a poncho, huh? Well, I admit that it was a challenge, but I did it. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it (take that any way that you want, HOO-AH!). But seriously, this wasn't a punishment, it was fun. I love creative writing! Especially in this military environment where a smidgen of creativity or humor is squashed out of existence.

Drill sergeant, thank you for conditioning my mind and my writers' cramp. please fell free to do so at any time. I will now recover.

Wow! Thats impressive! My lovely poncho has more uses than the wheel! (Another excellent object!)

I stil can't think of anything else to say, so I'll just write anything that pops into my head. When the drill sergeant says "R.B.I." it kind of sounds like "RIBEYE!" so "WRITE ME A RIBEYE PRIVATE!" Well, to make sure I didn't misunderstand the drill sergeant, I will write a ribeye, here....

A ribeye steak -------->

mmmmm! Looks good, huh? Heres a song I wrote about my poncho....

PONCHO MAN

I say, young man, are you getting all wet?
I say, young man, are you cold and upset?
I say, young man, do you want to be dry?

Then, why, don't, you, be, a.....

doot, doot, doot, doot,

i'm talkin 'bout a,

Pon-cho, Pon-cho man!
I wanna be, a Poncho man,
Pon-cho, Pon-cho man!
I wanna be, a Pon-cho man!

oh, P-O-N-C-H-O!!!
P-O-N-C-H-O!!!

It's got everything to keep you dry,
It will hide you from enemy eyes,

oh, P-O-N-C-H-O!!!
P-O-N-C-H-O!!!

You don't have to be smart, to put the thing on,
It's got only one big hole,
I'm talkin 'bout a Pon-cho, pon-cho man,
I wanna be, a Pon-cho man!
Pon-cho, Pon-cho man!
I wanna be, a Pon-cho man!

Here is a list of words that sort of rhyme with poncho...

Honcho
Sancho
Rauncho
Launch-o
Bunch-o
Lunch-o
Punch-you
Crunch-o

I can't think of any more words that rhyme with poncho.

I know Abraham Lincoln wore a poncho, when it was raining, this is a documented fact, and can be looked up somewhere that I don't know of. I think. All of the forefathers of our country wore ponchos as well.

extra words
extra words
extra words
extra words
extra words
extra words
extra words
extra words
extra words
extra words
extra words
extra words
extra words
extra words
extra words
extra words
extra words
extra words
extra words
extra words

Now you know why I am no longer in the army and am currently in the air force, the end.

Intersting leadership methods

2006-04-24T17:22:00.000-07:00

It's been pretty busy lately. I've been doing efmb practice for the past 2 weeks to prep for the test starting in early May. We did a really nasty 12 mile ruck march that basically turned my feet into meat for a few days. The site is at Indiantown Gap in PA, which sounds like pretty bland. I really have no clue what to expect. I know it's gonna be hard but even if I don't get the badge, i'll know what to work on for the next round. I feel somewhat confident though. It's gonna be the insane details and badge protectors, not my job proficiency that gets me sent home.

We've gotten a whole bunch of new people into our unit and I'm not sure i'm too impressed. One of the new NCO's is one of the "hardcharger" (self described more or less) types that goes for uneeded physical punishment. I personally havent been dropped or yelled at but I don't understand the reasoning behind an NCO dropping a Soldier in the field, or garrison (downrange goes w/o saying) for making an honest mistake or just simply trying to do their job, though it be wrong. This guy walks in and demands...and I mean demands instant and unswerving respect. I'll respect the rank someone holds, but thats as far as I go if you havnt earned it. I look at myself as a professional, so I feel that myself and my peers with the same attitude need to be treated as such. Dropping a Soldier for simple mistakes that don't involve behavioral issues is unnacceptable and poor poor leadership. I might respect the chevrons on the shoulder, but am I gonna be as loyal to a rotten NCO as I am to a quality smart and loyal leader? Thats an easy answer, which would be magnified in a combat environment.

I guess i'll take this knowledge with me when I one day pin NCO stripes. General non behavioral smokings do not work, they lower morale, and create disdain for leaders. I am a professional as are most of my peers. Explaining mistakes and resolving them is all that needs to be done. If I truelly am striving for excellance, the same mistake will not be done again. And its up to leaders to instill that drive. I will say this, such pisspoor leadership applies nowhere in my chain of command from the bottom up. I know i'm lucky in that regard.

2006-04-05T16:12:00.000-07:00

Today was probably my first real life hands on casualty…. If you really wanna call it that. I was pulling medical coverage for one of the companies today when a call came over the radio that a .50 cal round had misfired and peppered some kids leg with “shrapnel”. When a call like that comes over the radio after hours of waiting it gets you kind of pumped up. I was setting up, when the guy walked over and showed me what looked like ant bites on his leg… Great injury huh, I was expecting some decent bleeding but this guy had the injury equivalent of a paper cut. I guess they just wanted me to look at it anyways so I threw some alcohol on the affected area and told him to keep it clean. All that excitement for nothing. Later in the day a girl slammed her finger in the bolt which required nothing more than a band-aid. I guess in a way it’s good thing, but I wouldn’t mind working on a real person for a change.

There’s one thing ive really been meaning to write about. I’ve noticed something lately that just doesn’t sit right. Everyone in leadership positions around me preaches about how where a light infantry battalion and we are gonna be doing some great training to prepare us for war. Now, the training I’ve received thus far has somewhat missed that mark. Case in point, we used to do combatives every Thursday. Combatives is the “new” Army hand to hand program that is leaps and bounds above anything previously taught. In a war where room clearing is a daily occurrence, hand to hand combat may be a vital piece of the wining puzzle. Unfortunately, we don’t do combatives anymore. The reason being some guy ruptured his pancreas. We stop an entire training program here in the United States Army because of a ruptured pancreas. Amazing. So when my buddy developed bilateral stress fractures up and down his lower leg a month ago, should we have stopped running? What if my tricep tears during pushups, is upper body exercise gonna be banned from occurring? No, I don’t think so. It just seems like the vast majority of people here sit around to collect a paycheck and be lazy. I knew more high speed, motivated people in my high school gym class than I really think I know at Fort Riley. We’re at war and we stop training because of a ruptured pancreas. It’s attitudes like that that are gonna get me a quick trip to the afterlife in actual combat. In all fairness though, my companies mentality from the top down seem to echo my concerns somewhat. I feel surrounded by a fair amount of quality NCOs, but from what I’ve seen in other units within the battalion, that just isn’t so. In my personal opinion, you could take 50% of the Army and send them packing. Leave it to the other 50% of able bodied Soldiers to take care of fighting and winning wars. What we have today isn’t bold, lethal, fit, and definitely not efficient.

I’ll just throw an example out here. Lets say my FLA gets hit by an IED in Iraq and starts on fire. The impact knocks me cold and the vehicle starts on fire. Is a 5 foot tall 125 pound woman gonna be able to pull be clear? Lets be honest with ourselves here, the answer is probably no. Or what about serving with a Soldier with asthma, epilepsy, hepatitis C, AIDS, etc. And don’t think I’m kidding, since I’ve been at here, ive seen all of that among the Soldier population. A scary but very real thought. I really think the Marine’s have it right. They ‘re a fraction of the Army, but pound for pound a much better fighting force. Every Marine can fight and that’s the exactly right attitude when wearing the US Flag on your shoulder. The Marines have medics too, and those guys are called corpsman. I never thought I’d say it but the Navy seems to better suit my interests. Living being one of them.

2006-02-23T10:04:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I actually posted anything of real substance on here. I was home for a while this past weekend which really relieved a ton of stress thats been building up over the last month. My job here is pretty much 24/7 it seems, so a break is always nice. Plus I got to spend a few great days with my girl.

Training here hasnt been too practical lately in my opinion. We go through these battalion standard classes that really seem to lack substance. They have these phase classes that go over everything from marksmanship to convoy ops. The problem is, we really are lacking equipment so the training is pretty lame. Maybe in the future i'll get more out of it when actual equipment starts filtering in. In my opinion we need more medical classes, even for the non-medics in my unit. Starting next week though me and another guy are headin out to the crew served weapon ranges to pull some medical coverage.

Something to think about

2006-02-13T16:57:00.000-08:00

Caution: Don't even think about calling a Muslim a towelhead
or a sheethead, that might incite a riot. And refrain from
drawing a mustache missile face on Muhammad or you might
have your head handed to you.

But rest assured, as far as Muslims are concerned, the following
behaviors are condoned, even celebrated with dancing in the
streets:

Fly commercial airliners into buildings in New York City.
No Muslim outrage.

Religious police blocking the exit where schoolgirls are trying to
escape a burning building because their faces were exposed.
No Muslim outrage.

Cutting off the heads of three teenaged girls on their way to a
Christian school in Indonesia.
No Muslim outrage.

Murdering over 80 tourists with car bombs outside cafes
and hotels in Egypt.
No Muslim outrage.

Attacking a missionary children's school in India. Killing six.
No Muslim outrage.

Slaughtering hundreds of children and teachers in Beslan,
Russia and shooting children in the back.
No Muslim outrage.

Kidnapping and killing several athletes at the Summer Olympics.
No Muslim outrage.

Firing rocket-propelled grenades into schools full of children
in Israel.
No Muslim outrage.

Beheading Iraqi troops and police because they wanted a free and democratic country.
No Muslim outrage.

Murdering more than 50 commuters in attacks on London
subways and buses. Injuring more than 700.
No Muslim outrage.

Massacreing dozens of innocents at a Passover Seder.
No Muslim outrage.

Murdering a large group of innocent vacationers in Bali.
No Muslim outrage.

Publishing anti-Semitic cartoons on a daily basis in
local newspapers.
No Muslim outrage.

Beating the charred bodies of Western civilians with their
shoes, dragging them through the streets, kicking around
any loose body parts, then hanging the bodies off a bridge.
No Muslim outrage.

Dead children. Dead tourists. Dead teachers. Dead doctors
and nurses. Death, destruction and mayhem around the
world at the hands of Muslims.
No Muslim outrage.

On the other hand, publish a cartoon depicting Mohammed
with a bomb in his turban, and you'll see Muslim outrage
all over the world - outrage demanding the execution of
the cartoonist who created it, burning down non-Muslim
embassies, rampaging and burning flags, looting, firing
guns into the air, and looking for Europeans to kidnap,
threatening innkeepers and generally raising holy Muslim hell.

Social issues that burn my soul right up..

2006-02-08T17:47:00.000-08:00

My entry into the "Draw Mohammed" contest.

I've had just enough of the crazy muslim mentality. The cartoon nonsense that is currently driving the Arab world into a blood frenzy does nothing but confirm the thoughts felt by millions of people around the world, that Islam is a religion of hate. I understand that the majority of Muslims are not evil people, but where are they at when Zarqawi is sawing heads, or a mob burns down a diplomatic embassy? I gotta say, these people do nothing but piss me off. You don't ever see a rabid group of Jews or Christains assaulting an Embassy or lighting cars on fire every time an anti-religious cartoon is printed. So why are muslims given the pass? It's becoming more and more clear to me. The prisoner abuse stuff was bad and gave the US a huge black eye, but in all honesty, the only thing these people know is violence. Plain and simple. We need to do some serious cleaning up around the world. When dealing with radical Islam, violence is the only answer.

And I also saw a news segment today that upset me on a riot that went on in a jail in California. I just got to thinking, the people in this jail are societies worst. If they wanna disobey the punishments society has handed down on them, maybe they should face some real consequences. For starters, if I had it my way, the prisoners involved in the riot would be shot and those who survived would spend 6 months in solitary confinement. A jail sentance would be a jail sentance and no bullshit would be tolerated.

The same hardline stance goes for illegal immigrants. Me and my buddy where talkin about this today. For starters, we need to stop the invasion from Mexico. And anybody who doesnt think it's an invvasion is severly misguided. I firmly believe that the military on the border is the right answer. We should make it very clear that if you try to sneak into our country and jump the fence, you will by shot. Or better yet, howbout a vast minefield with thousands of crippling antipersonel mines. It would almost be like the DMZ in Korea. I feel bad for the poor folks of Mexico, but maybe they should enter our country the right way, and not at midnight through a stretch of desert in New Mexico.

busy...sort of

2006-02-04T19:54:00.000-08:00

The past week or so has been pretty busy. I had a phase two marksmanship course that was pretty interseting that went on over the course of two days. It was basically designed to introduce marksmanship using a CCo or close combat optic. It's just a nice little laser sight that mounts onto our m-16's or m4's. We had two qualification ranges which where pretty cool to shoot on but it was damn windy, and damn cold, so it was kinda nasty. The Kansas wind is awful, it just goes on for probably hundreds of miles without a serious windbreak.

I also found out some great news about Ranger school. I'm probably gonna be gettin a slot. Supposidly, theres 10 slots within the entire brigade and my PT scores are high enough to make me a serious prospect. I guess thats exciting but in all honesty, its sort of a gut check. Ranger schools is no damn joke. Most guys loose 30+ pounds over the 2 month course. Ranger school is designed to place leadeship and command within a Soldier under the most awful of circumstances. It's about 2 months of 20 hour training on 1 MRE a day. Most guys are absolutely destroyed after their done. I guess i'm also gonna be doing "ranger PT" here pretty quick. That basically means getting my ass kicked for 2 hours a day. I guess it's really an honor though. I'm right now a support Medic, and if I get a slot here, it's really kinda rare. I'm pretty excited though.

Larry the cable guy

2006-01-31T13:18:00.000-08:00

This is a post from my buddies blog that i just gotta share.... here goes

Gunslingers thoughts on Larry the Cable Guy:

What more needs to be said about this abomination. Now look, I'm from Texas and am just as country as the next guy that grew up in the small town I did. But this Larry the Cable Guy dude...he makes inbred look like a mild case of gastrointestinal discomfort. I would even go so far as to say that I dislike him more than that "David Blaine" character. I mean, he stands on stage doing his "act", which really is nothing more than saying a bunch of random words and then saying "Git er done." So the basic comedy routine for him could consist of this.

Larry the Cable Guy: Hot air balloon rides billy goat atropine Grady from Sanford and Son. GIT ER DONE!

Audience: (hysterical laughter.)

Am I the only one who does not think that this overweight, camo cap wearing, sporting the rebel flag while saying it's heritage not hate idiot is not funny? Now, I used to think that guys like Foxworthy and that Engvall guy were okay. But they played their tired little catch phrases out. "Here's your sign," and, "You might be a redneck if..." have all gone to where all tired catch phrases do. They have gone to catch phrase hell where they can mingle with such classics as, "Where's the beef," "Time to make the doughnuts," and Dude, yer gettin a Dell!"
Seriously, the guy is not funny. He is not funny to the point that it makes my cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine hurt. He is not funny to the point that the intercostal muscles of my ribs want to come off my chest, do a little jig, screech "Git er done!" and slap the shit out of me. If you really want to "Git er done", here's what ya do Larry. Take your 1982 Buick Regal down off the blocks in front of your double wide, throw some tires on that bitch, gas it up, change the oil, start the engine, get them shits up to about 80 to 90 mph and slam into the side of a tree and/or telephone pole. Then you will, in fact, have finally gotten er done.

Larry the Cable guy, what a retard.

The link can be found here

Another long CQ

2006-01-31T08:06:00.000-08:00

Well the time has come again for another 24 our staff duty. I really don’t know if it’s even possible to top last months bout of delirium so I’m not even going to try. Maybe by 6am tomorrow morning I’ll feel more capable but we’ll see. I don’t have to much to complain about except the usual and god knows if you’ve been keeping up on this blog, you know all about that. In fact, things have been going real good for me lately. I almost feel like I have nothing to write about because of it. It’s probably smart I don’t actually, if I let anybody know the specifics of why things are going better here, the government would probably come steal it away.

I knew this was gonna be a long night so I downloaded a whole bunch of Iraq footage just to keep me occupied. One of the videos that I collected was an Islamic music video to some American rock song that has clips of IED’s and rocket attacks. Another couple are from Zarqawi’s group that likes to behead it’s hostages for the glory of Allah. Now I don’t really enjoy watching people get executed or fellow Soldier’s take sniper rounds and ied blasts but I feel its sort of important that I do. I guess i’m in a way, purposely desensitizing myself to it. I’m almost to the point where the stuff has no shock value anymore. Maybe it was 16 weeks of horrible photos in Medic school that helped the most but this stuff is desensitizing me in a different way. Watching an American get beheaded simply reminds me of why where in Iraq. It’s either over there, or in downtown New York, Chicago, and eventually in my front yard. Now I’m not the most Catholic of Catholics but I do know that killing is fundamentally wrong. But I also believe that if I splattered some Hajji all over a brick wall the day after he tortured and killed a family of 4, God wouldn’t be all that upset. In fact, I hope someday I do get that opportunity, many times over. Every time I see a story on the news of an IED blast or new hostage execution video, it just reminds me of the need for us to stay in Iraq. The people who are doing this bullshit need to be killed. Maybe that makes me crazy, but in a time of war, I think that makes me an American.

On the topic of the Iraq war, there’s a group out in Topeka Kansas that calls itself the “Westboro Baptist Church.” The website for the cult is www.godhatesfags.com so you can probably get a pretty good picture of what their agenda is. But they stretch far beyond the bounds of being viscerally against homosexuality. These people actually travel to planned rallies at the funerals of US Soldiers to spread the word that another “fag enabler has gone to hell.” Their website has an up to date listing of Soldiers funerals all over the US that they intend to protest. I’ve never been much of a fan of anti-war protests but I can see that most are not anti-troop. People like this are the enemy plain and simple, and I probably have more respect for the insurgency in Iraq, at least they picked a side. What these people are doing is beyond anti-American, it’s a form of domestic terrorism. I hope someday they walk into the wrong town, and an open season on traitors is what they find.

I just have to pump myself up here again for a second. A few hours ago as the Col. was leaving, he approached me and said ‘So your Ackerman huh”. Now this is a senior officer in command of a 500+ man battalion. I was kind of stunned and really wasn‘t quite sure what to say. I just said that indeed I was and he replied “With 110 pushups on your last PT test, we need to see about getting you into Ranger school”. After that we talked a bit about it and he said he’d get me movin here quick. That right there just made my last 19 years of life complete.

Earlier I found out that in a town about 10 miles away there’s a Gracie Ju Jitsu house. I guess they have classes on Mondays and Wednesdays and open mat competitions on Sundays. This is the news I’d been praying for. Gracie Ju Jitsu is what the Army uses as a base for its combative program so obviously it’s a pretty effective fighting system. The Gracies are about as legendary as Michael Jordan if you know anything at all about sport fighting or martial arts. The stuff they teach isn’t about breaking boards or fancy kicks, its about survival fighting and breaking bones, exactly why the Army adopted it. I get an adrenaline rush even thinking about it.

But like I said earlier, things are going real good for me. I’ve got a really great girl waiting for me to come home and already talking about coming here for a while this summer. There hasn’t been a single problem yet and I really cannot foresee anything drastic coming up to change that. And on top of that, she laughs at my awful humor which just adds to everything else that makes her wonderful in my life.

Not too much news

2006-01-26T16:47:00.000-08:00

Things have been goin pretty decent lately. Yesterday I finished up phase two training which includes 4 classes on vehicle recovery and searching. It was 2 days and was actually kinda interesting. The personel searches where a pretty good time because I got to rough some people up who had "weapons" on em. I also talked to a guy who washed from Medic school who I hadant talked to in about a half a year. He's in the brigades cav unit now.

We had our first PT test today here in my unit. It actually went a lot better than I expected. Believe it or not, I cranked out 110 pushups in 2 minutes. I missed max score by 9 seconds on my run which kinda sucks but I can deal with. The pushups though really kinda shocked me. 110 is seriously alot of damn pushups. Thats almost a pushup a second for 2 minutes. I have kind of an interesting method I've been using for about a month now. Everytime I get up for something, I knock out 40. Most of the time it's to grab another cold one, but as long as it motivates me, who's to say it's wrong.

Charter Communications is a sign of the apocolypse

2006-01-21T09:08:00.000-08:00

I’ve completely had it with Carter Communications. I called today to reschedule my appointment to have the net reinstalled and they told me the next available date was the 31st. Now that would be 21 days without the internet which is so blatantly unacceptable it makes me ill. I actually throw up in my mouth when I think about it. For the love of god, I’ll be training all day the 23rd, which by the way is in preparation for the defense of the capitalist market of the United States, which is the only thing that allows Charter to exist. It only got better from there. I then asked if my 3 months of reduced price “sale” internet service was also suspended with my account. Well I bet you can guess the answer to that. I sure could, that’s why I asked the question to begin with, just to have something to set me off a little bit more. Believe it or not charter actually shocked me, and not much with them shocks me anymore… Not only is it NOT suspended, but it’s completely gone. They said when I was forced to move by the UNITED STATES ARMY, the sale price was no more. So much for a contract huh. I’m a Soldier in the damn United States Army and I’m being blatantly abused by this company. So I went to my First Sergeant and he totally agreed that it was a bad situation and I was getting robbed. Within the hour he got in contact with the Battalion Command Sergeant Major who wanted a report of all the information I had on the problems with Charter. Now I don’t care who you are, but on a military post, a CSM is pretty much top dog. Nobody wants a CSM after them.

I’m actually surprised I made it through that whole thing without cussing more. It was damn hard not too cause my head was filled with a swirling mess of obscenities and awful awful words that I made up by myself, for this post alone.

Training... but not really

2006-01-21T09:05:00.000-08:00

Well I just about finished up my drivers training today. Tomorrow we do a road test kinda thing in what most people know as a hummer. HMMVW is what it really is. High mobility multi wheel vehicle to break it down. The military is full of acronyms if you didn’t know it so maybe I just educated somebody. Anyways, the training was pretty much a waste of time. We watched about 18 slideshows on winter safety, convoy junk and all other nonsense. After this I’ll have sort of a certification to drive a bunch of big toys….

We had a Medical platoon sergeant come by from 2/16 INF the other day asking when we where gonna start filtering Medics into the battalion to be organic infantry Medics. Up front that sounds like a really awesome deal. In fact, it’s what I joined the Army for. All I’d probably need to do is volunteer myself up for a unit transfer and since their looking, it should go pretty quick. Today though, I was eating lunch and our First Sergeant sat down and we talked for a while about it. I told him I was really debating on whether or not to ask for the transfer and he basically told me he’ prefer I didn’t but he would help me in whatever I felt was the best. I just don’t know what I want out of the Army right now. If I get into Ranger school, I have a feeling it’s gonna make or break my decision on what I wanna be doing for the next 10+ years. I just really hope my short term ambitions don’t screw up what’s good for me in the long run. Here it’s all business…from the beginning of the day to the end. Every single day, It’s not even like I have a good way to unwind. I just have this thought that the only way I’m gonna be happy is by bein back home. That’s the wrong answer and I know it is. The way it looks right now though, I’m getting the hell out after my 4.Maybe by then I’ll have my E-5 and I could get back into my old reserve unit and become a drill sergeant. I wouldn’t mind that at all. I just feel like I’m seriously lacking something here. Maybe it’s just a positive attitude.

My Buddies David Blaine post

2006-01-17T14:42:00.000-08:00

This is my buddies thoughts on magician David Blaine...hes a little out there with this one but its funny anyways...

http://gunslinger.blogstream.com/v1/pid/37076.html?CP

Another Long Day

2006-01-17T14:36:00.000-08:00

Today was one of the longest most annoying days I’ve had in Kansas. Maybe it’s because I woke up about 30 times last night with awful dreams about things ide rather not remember. This isn’t the time or place to get into that but it pretty much ruined the entire day.

First thing I had to do was grab a ride with my buddy over to the dealership I bought my car at to turn it over for a new clear coat and oil change. They had me out on a goose chase for about an hour hopping from one service center to another before I found the place to get my oil changed. After that nonsense was done I went back over to the body shop to get my clear coat. I guess it won’t be done for about 3 days so I just headed back to the barracks forgetting my room key was on my car keys. Well after my buddy dropped me off I forgot my tragic mistake. The best part was my roommate was in Lawrence which I guess is a few hours away. Good deal…So I borrowed another guy’s car and started back out to the dealership. I then realized his 2 month pass was in his name so I couldn’t get back into the gate if I left so I had to head to the guardhouse and get a new pass for myself under his car. God what a sweet day. So I’m without a car or the internet once again. Boy do I just have great luck.

Just before PT today our First Sergeant told us to start taking training real seriously because Iran is starting to really heat up. He said things could get ‘real busy” for us next winter. That’s really not too good of news. Iran is a bit more fanatical than Iraq and would probably be a nasty fight. “Get your personal business in order” where his exact words. Great to hear. I guess it’s why I joined so it shouldn’t be too much of a shock. I just feel I should add that his basis for feeling that way is more from news available to everyone and not anything obtained through material not publicly accessible….if you get my drift.

On a more positive side note I meet somebody just before the end of my leave that ive been talking to quite a bit. Being in Kansas makes things realistically impossible but I guess it’s something. And something’s better than nothing. It’s just gonna make leave that much sweeter whenever the next time rolls around. She even had O.A.R. playin in her car which says a lot right there ha. When all is said and done I’m probably just making things harder on myself but I might as well enjoy what I can. I just wish I was back at home to see how this all would play out. But I’m a realist and pretty much a pessimist so ill be ok no matter what. It just sucks.

2006-01-14T16:38:00.000-08:00

The Army finally came to its senses and moved me out of my NCO room the other day. It’s almost a relief in a way because now I don’t have to worry about it anymore. I figured it was coming soon anyways. Only bad part is I’m now in like a dorm room style barracks with another soldier. He’s a Vietnamese guy I went to AIT with so it works out I guess. He’s really not much of a talker so I almost feel like I’m livin alone anyways. One nice thing is that he’s meticulously clean. He vacuumed the whole room last night while I sat on the computer and looked at dirty pictures or something. I’m kidding about that but he is really clean. I’m not so bad myself but now I have a higher standard to adhere to. The guy also has more food with him that I thought existed. You could feed a tribe of Kenyans for decades with the amount of food he has. He’s got like a gazillion packages of raman noodles and boxes and boxes of soda and Gatorade and shit. He just like forces it on me too and of course I’m gonna accept free food. So it’s not all bad I suppose. Ide rather live alone but living with the Iron Chef isn’t a bad deal. He’s a pretty good guy. As a side not I have to get my internet changed over to my new room so it’s hard for me to get on. It’s gonna be connected again the 23rd which is about 10 days away. Glad to see charter is workin hard for their customers.

The other day our First Sergeant handed out DVD’s just loaded with SF Medic instructional videos and demonstrations. Almost all of the material is from live tissue training, some of it on pigs and some of it on other guys. It really does a great job of walking you through the steps of doing some important life saving procedures. On one of the videos the medics do a live tissue cric with a set of car keys. A cric is an emergency surgical airway that allows air to pass through a hole cut into the throat rather than through the mouth which may be obstructed or swollen shut. Its really not one you wanna be doing to your best friend but it works and videos like this are important so you get a decent grasp on how to do it right. They also have plenty of pictures from Iraq with some wonderful IED shrapnel wounds. Theres a section on the importance of protective eyewear that shows in multiple cases what happens to your face and eyes in an IED blast. I tell you what, when we finally do deploy, I’m gonna be wearing my eye protection everywhere I go. Imagine a grape in a blender as wrong as that sounds and you’ll get the general idea about what kind of trauma your eyes go through when some burning steel tears into em. Along with the DVD, I was given a book about Tropical Medicine and instructions to have a report done by Tuesday on Cholera gastroenteritis. Big words that pretty much translate into a really bad day if you have it. It’s definitely not the infection you want.

I really cannot stress how great it is to have a veteran SF Medic as a First Sergeant, I’ll just come out and say it, he’s probably one of the best field trauma management personnel alive today, anywhere in the world. I heard today he’s going to pull some strings to get some live tissue training for us here soon. In other words, shooting a goat and teaching how to keep it alive for hours. It’s just really a great opportunity I have here. At first I was pretty pissed off about being in this type of unit but now I feel damn lucky. When I went through Medic school they told me that I’d get most of my training right there. Bullshit, Fort Sam taught me a lot, but here I’m learning what it means to be called “Doc”.

I need to get this off my chest. I have a real problem with the way initial training is done in the military. My biggest problem with it all is AIT….Basic is what it is and I guess it works. Now I really don’t know how the rest of the Army runs its AITs but Medic school is pretty much a mess.. My AIT was awful to say the least. I was in Echo Company 232, without a doubt the worst company at Fort Sam Houston. Things that occurred there where pretty much unacceptable and knowing what I know now, should have been reported to IG. My leadership ignored every single aspect of soldier care from the Drill Sergeant up to the CO himself (to be fair there where about 2 decent NCOs there). AIT should be about learning your job, not getting smoked for 3 hours straight because someone had a tin of cope in their locker. That’s the hours I could have been hitting the books. By god, its not like I was in a course that 50% of the troops wash out. By AIT, Soldiers should be excited about being in the Army, not hating it. The contrast between AIT and my unit now is amazing. Not once have I been yelled at or smoked for someone else’s shit…. It was a daily occurrence at Fort Sam. That’s just unacceptable. Things need to change. Drill Sergeants are NCOs first and I think they’ve forgotten their NCO creed. Soldier care is their responsibility and most fail absolutely miserably. To be honest, my best DS put me in the most by far the most physical agony and pain. The funny thing was he was a born again Christian and refused to cuss while smoking us. The Soldiers name was DS Wilding from Delta Co 2/54 Inf at Fort Benning. He smoked us sometimes till the ceiling dripped from condensation and troops where slipping on the floor. He also sat us all down numerous times and talked to us about the pride he had about being in the Army and serving his country. What an abstract idea to teach your troops what it means to be a Soldier. It’s not all about being an asshole, its about producing a smart, strong, quality Soldier. Thank god for the professional DS, from what ive seen there aren’t too many of them out there.

CQ Insomnia

2006-01-09T07:48:00.000-08:00

So I’m a little over halfway through my CQ shift and I’ve completely run out of things to do. I’ve watched just about every video clip I have saved on my computer and am bored to death with all the games. It’s a 24 hour shift that started this morning at 9am. So here I am stuck without the internet or anything productive to do. I’ve also got this heartburn goin on or maybe its just an alien ready to burst through my Mediastinum. I’m allowed to use words like that since I’m a medic….. No not really. On the subject of aliens, the cooks where showing that in the mess hall today on the TV’s. Now, I’m not so sure if that’s the kind of show I want to be watching while eating some Army slop at 10 in the morning. It could be worse I suppose, they could have turned on some rap channel or BET or whatever the hell its called. I’ve said it before but I truly believe that the screams of an elderly woman falling down a flight of stairs is more appealing than the vast majority of rap music. Maybe its because my only exposure to rap music in Oshkosh has been from all the tough white gangsters I went too high school with. Or maybe it’s because rap is awful and should be uninvited. It’s people like Kenya West the anti-America rap star that turn me off the most to rap music and the culture that goes along with it. Maybe that makes me a racist. Big deal, I can handle that. I also hate communists and Nazis and last time I checked, both the Russians and Germans are predominantly white. And besides, Communism isn’t blatantly shoved in my face these days (I don’t get CNN in my room) so there’s nothing to fuel the fire. I just remember when Kenya went on that telethon and started telling people that George Bush doesn’t care about blacks. I’m thinking Kenya West needs to lay off the left handed cigarettes. You know what, if file sharing really is taking money from the pockets of the poor musicians, I’m going to go download every single song, on every single file sharing network I can find that has the name Kenya West slapped on it. I firmly believe that rap music, along with MTV and BET, are the opening stages of the Apocalypse. That right along with the possibility of Hillary Clinton getting elected in 08. I can almost feel those lions ripping apart my Catholic body this very moment.

I just have to let everyone know that if they want good reliable internet service stay far away from Charter. I was on the phone with customer service for no lie, 4 hours last night. I really cannot comprehend why I was put on hold for 30 minutes but it happened. I was fiery mad and a little tore up at the time so I let my temper get away from me. Now, I really don’t think Steve at the Charter support desk is a communist sympathizer but last night I informed him that he was….along with a long list of other friendly gestures. After about 4 hours and 20 some odd transfers I had enough. I did what any normal man would do and just started to break things. No, not for any real productive reason, I just started to break anything around me that pissed me off. For I while I really thought I destroyed my router but then I just saw it was simply unplugged…. And guess what, my internet still isn’t working. But since your reading this I probably have it working. I can’t wait to plug back in and watch filthy German videos that make my soul burn.

I’m really beginning to think this blog is becoming more of an outlet for my frustration and sick humor than a way to communicate with the outside world. Thank god for the internet otherwise ide probably be up in a bell tower somewhere with a bolt-action 30/30. I really do have to watch myself though, I have relatives that read this this thing daily. This is pretty much the inner workings of my mind, in all of its raw beauty…or probably ugliness in all actuality. Well it seems I really have covered all my bases with this post. Leave a comment or something so I feel important.

Interesting piece

2006-01-07T15:02:00.000-08:00

Heres a story from the Army times I just figured everyone should be made aware of.. http://passtheammo.com/?p=812

Found this the other day. Take a look.

In Iraq an IED explodes,
An American soldier dies,
But that blast will grow as the media blow
It up before our eyes.
And trumpet to the watching world,
These fifth column falsifiers,
Like sheep they bleat we face defeat,
Our foe’s force multipliers.

Osama and his minions know,
In combat they can’t beat us;
So they hope and pray will come a day,
Our own media will defeat us.
Ignoring all the good we’ve done,
Liberals focus on the gore,
On losses mounting and body counting,
To prove we’ve lost this war.

They disgraced us once in Vietnam,
So now these leftists feel,
That again they’ll win with media spin,
And make America kneel.
But defeatists aren’t the only ones,
Learned lessons from the past;
Back then we swore we’d lose no more,
This time we’re standing fast.

The Internet’s exposed them,
As elitist media liars;
They stand unclothed and widely loathed,
Our foe’s force multipliers.
Some day when all our troops return,
With Iraq on freedom’s path,
The liberal elite who sought defeat,
May face some Righteous wrath.

Russ Vaughn
2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division
Vietnam 65-66

And i'm actually getting paid for this shit...

2006-01-05T17:47:00.000-08:00

Some mayo sandwiches for the road. mmm mmm good

Any good American would appreciate a hearty box sandwiches like this..

One of my buddies here absolutely hates mayonaise....im talking hates it. I'm not even sure why he hates the stuff so much cause it's beyond normal. He cannot even be in the presence of a bottle of heillmans or he gags... So the other day when he gave us 4 bucks to go get him "anything" for lunch, me and my other buddy knew what he really meant. He was hinting at us to get him some mayo sandwiches on wonderbread.... these where some hearty sandwiches to say the least... I wish I could have videotaped his reaction and the disgusted look that flashed across his face when he opened up the box of mayo laden sandwiches.... he actually tossed them into the hallway while I was rolling on the ground. And just incase he changed his mind we left the bag and bottle out by has car... Somehow I think he went hungry that day.

And your taxdollars are actually paying for me to do this kinda shit... Amazing. Anywhere else but the Army and i'de be fired yesterday.

Oh and I put som new pictures up...just follow the picture link on the righ of the page.

First Day Back

2006-01-03T18:52:00.000-08:00

My truck is pretty much shot so now im gonna have to dig deep into the savings and buy a new car. It broke on the way to KCI but I managed to hobble into the parking lot with the intention to worry about it when I got back. It worked out I guess, cause now some auto shop is taking a look at it in Platte City, MO. That thing is toast though, really. I'm really thinkin someone should just buy me a car. Howbout it, then you could earn the right to wear that bright yellow support our troops ribbon on the backside of your car. Nah, i'm kidding...but if someone bought me a car I wouldnt be complaining.

Anyways, I saw my buddies plans for our workout schedule and they really are pretty intense. He's got like 18 mile ruck marches on there....the most i've ever done is like 10 and I was pretty tore up. Ruck marches that long are no joke, your feet are the biggest problem. I might have to just cut my boots off when i'm done.

Just bout the only thing I really did today was talk to our new First Sergeant. I really believe this guy could write a book about his life. He's been just about everywhere imaginable . I found out today that he even was special warfare instructor of the year at Fort Bragg...Thats some pretty crazy stuff. He was talkin about some of the PT they used to do and he braught up one of his buddies that did 600 pullups in like 4 hours. He said his first set was 120....120 straight pullups. I can do about 18 right now and it feels like my shoulders are on the verge of seperation. I have never heard of anything like that in my life.

Back in Kansas

2006-01-02T14:47:00.000-08:00

This pic was taken just before Kyle slipped with the knife. We all laughed as I applied manual pressure.
...Well everyone except Ben.

Well i'm back in Kansas for a while after a few days of leave. If I didn't call ya or let you know, dont think too much of it, I wanted to keep in quiet so I could just unwind on my own terms a bit. I think i'm entitled to that. Anyways, I had a pretty good time seein my buddies from high school again. I didn't get much accomplished but thats the point of leave I suppose. It's gonna be awhile before I have block leave now though. As nice as it was bein home, it makes it that much worse being here knowing what I could be doin. I really am very limited in what I can do here by way of enjoying my time outside of work. Enough bitchin though, I had a good time.. Especially new years.
Anyways, its back to reality now. I probably couldnt survive the way I was living back home anyways. I need to find a girlfriend here or somethin, i'm gonna go crazy.

Iraq videos

2005-12-23T10:38:00.000-08:00

Found a video here with some footage that you won't see on any news channel. Some of it is kinda rough to watch so be warned. It's nothin too bad but I know that some people don't handle this stuff well.
The video itself is from a fairly large attack by insurgents on Abu Ghraib in Iraq. Here it is.

It takes a bit to load up and there isnt a way to download it so be patient, it will go.

Heres another one made to the song Dead Bodies Everywhere by Korn. The guy who made this is a corpsman, or medic, attached to a Marine unit during the Fallajah assault. This might be the best video ive ever seen of Iraq. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4648991943077487273&q=Iraq

War Stories

2005-12-19T12:02:00.001-08:00

Just recently we started holiday half days so now I do absolutly nothing at all. So today three of the other medics where tellin some stories about all the stuff that went on during their deployments. Alot of it was pretty amazing to me primarily because i've never heard of the stuff before. That leads me to believe I should probably keep my mouth shut about it. No bullshit, some of its pretty wild.

Probably the one of the "safe" stories are from Bosnia. My squad leader was there in 98 (I think) when Clinton sent troops in to stop the Serbs from killing the Albanians. It was a peacekeeping mission but basically it sounds like we kept the peace by killing Serbs. He was a medic for a scout unit that operated in light hunter killer teams that would laser designate targets for artillery and airstrikes as well as hunt and kill Serbian tanks. I never realized how much actual ground combat went on in Bosnia until today. He said one time they went to a house with the intention of just taking some Serbs prisoner but these guys where in there like the Alamo. Eventually they used 203 rounds to mark the target for A10's who leveled the shit with rockets and main gun ammo. I guess from the way it sounds, A10's are some mean mean airplanes.

The seal dude was also talkin bout Korea a bit too. That sounds like it's gonna be the next stop for America, but the news says that just as much as I do. Nobody who's been to Korea wants to fight the North Koreans though. The DPRK are some hard boys. Granted we have a much much better military but DPRK has about a gizzilion soldiers. ROK Army is pretty hardcore too (which is the South Korean army). Then again, the Republican gaurd was supposed to be a premier military unit and we rolled all over them in a few hours back in 91 and again in 03. Maybe the differance in Korea is that Kim Jong Ill probably will have nukes here soon, if not already. Maybe thats a good thing though because if Kim decides to go Nuclear, we wouldnt really have to worry about much anyways. Because if he went and nuked SK or the DMZ, North Korea would be a sheet of glass. Thats what I don't understand about these countries who test our might like Iraq Afghanistan and Iran. If we wanted to, we could release the hammer of God and they no longer would have a country to do nonsense from.

Well just like everything else im surrounded by, my computer is having some problems. I hooked up xbox live tonight and then my internet didnt work for like 5 hours. I have no idea what I did to fix it but its working now. So the list now grows...my fridge doesnt work, my computer is jacked up, my car was broken for a while. I guess everything I have looks nice, but really doesnt do any sort of actual task for me. Oh and god how could I forget...my heat either is either on to the point where cups of water evaporate, or its off and they freeze. I keep having to trip the breaker to shut the damn thing off to. It also sounds like the Army just threw up a jet turbine engine in my wall. I suppose if the blazing furnice next to my head doesnt keep me up at night, the 747 engine mounted in my wall definitly will.

It's on

2005-12-16T22:36:00.000-08:00

I found out a few hours ago that my good buddy Kyle got jumped today by some "guys" back in Oshkosh. When I found out who they where I just shook my head. These guys are absolute trash and have no active purpose in society. Even though he got jumped, I guess he still held his own and did some pretty good damage. It's going to be interesting next time I come home if this kinda crap is still going on.

Friday

2005-12-16T15:01:00.000-08:00

Today we had a newcomers brief which defined our battalion mission. As the name says, its a support unit which kinda dissapoints me. Alot of what we do I guess is convoy operations which really doesnt sound too fun considering all the IED footage i've seen from Iraq. Convoys are not the place to be by any means. You can't do anything to stop an IED either. The Iraqi's will bury those things in the ground or melt them right into the road. A medical vehicle is a target just as anything else would be. My platoon is going to be an evac platoon that basically rides around in FLA's to pull front line wounded to rear medical facilities. Problem with that is you can't mount a crew served on a med vehicle, its against the Geneva convention....fun stuff. Anyways, somethin off the subject a bit that one of the other medics was tellin me about the Iraqis... The insurgents will wrap plastic bags around thier RPG's to defeat the force field on an M1 Abrams tank. They actually believe the tank has a force field like the shit on Indpendance Day. I guess that says something about the durability of our vehicles...or the stupidity of the Iraqis.

Our new First Sergeant is really going to be a great leader. Like I said earlier, he was SF for the past 15 years or so and he seems to have been just about everywhere. He was even an SF instructor for a while. Hes also the guy pushin hard for me to get into Ranger school. He gives me and my buddy updates almost daily on the status of our request.. I really believe our unit got lucky to have him. Hes just a wealth of information. He chews non-stop though...ive never seen him without some cope in ha.

A few pictures

2005-12-15T17:43:00.000-08:00

This Iraqi tank is outside of 1st Brigade HQ. I think Santa was better off last year.

2005-12-15T05:45:00.001-08:00

Well, I finally got my truck back and it only cost me about 320, so it wasn't nearly as bad as the estimate. Unfortunatly i've become the thankless taxi service again. I really dont even remember the last time I recieved a simple thank you, much less some damn gas money (probably cause its never happened). I really have no problem at all asking but I don't feel I should have to. My new deal is I just get in my truck and if anyone hops in they get a ride, if not I just leave em. I did it today and the kid ran like a mile and was late for formation. Maybe he should be early next time for my shuttle service. I just can't wait to start combatives with these guys, it's gonna be relieving.

I really need to get some more pictures up on this thing. There's a captured Iraqi tank outside of 1st brigade HQ that's all full of Christmas lights with Santa on the turret that i'll try to remember to get a shot of. I also don't mean to sound like a big queer that reads poetry and all that crap but the sunrises and sets here are pretty lookin. It's usually clear out unless the snow rolls in so the flat area gives a good view, especially during mornin PT.

We recently got our new First Sergeant as well. He's an 18D SF Medic who's been all over. An SF Medic is pretty much a field surgeon who can not only stabalize patients, but can also treat them and perform numerous operations. They can do just about everything from dental to vetrinary care. It's a pretty amazing program. The navy guy said his SEAL corpsman was even making prosthetic legs for amputees during one of their deployments. SEAL corpsman go through the same course as the SF medics do according to him. Pretty high speed stuff so I should learn alot.

I'm just relly hoping I get attached to a line unit here in my Brigade at some point soon. I didn't join to be a pogue rear Medic who never does a patrol or clear a building. That's kinda why i'm hoping to get tabbed here in the next few months. Supposidly, the brigade is going to have it's own Ranger company directly attached to it for specialized missions. I'de really like to get into that and with my PT scores, I should be a good candidate. That's my buuddies goal too..neither of us wanna be aid station medics. I wanna be where the metal meets the meat, or so they say ha.

DA Schools

2005-12-13T03:54:00.000-08:00

Things are really gonna get cranked up here pretty quick. I found out yesterday that just after the first of the year my units gonna start sending us to DA schools like Airborne or Air Assault. I guess where just overflowing with money right now and our equipment hasnt even been made yet. The nice part is where getting brand new FLA's. It like a battlefield ambulance for those who dont know. Anyways, with the school thing.. Theres another medic who served like 4 tours with the seals who said hed pretty much take me in and teach me what he knows. He's got like SF intentions but want's his tab just like I do before JRTC. The workout plan for us to get ready hes tellin me about is pretty crazy, swimming with BDU's and boots on and like a hundred+ pull ups a day all while running 30 miles or more a week. Theres a whole bunch of other shit too. If I stick with a program like that I should be ready in a few months. I'm gonna be pretty tore up at first though. At least it will give me somethin to do other than be a bum.

I dont know how many of you saw my stupid movie of me and my drunk friends I made a year or two ago before I left for the Army. Well my buddy here used to make movies when he was stationed in Germany and Japan and he was showin some and they're just hilarious. I'm gonna try to get em loaded up somehow. He's got one of some fat Army chick failing her PT test that looks professionally done. I was in tears when I first saw it. This guy is pretty hilarious.

Grouchymedia.com

2005-12-11T15:01:00.000-08:00

I just gotta mention this site quick. It's got some really great videos with military footage everyone should check out. There's a new one up every month or two so if you like em check back every once in a while. Just hought i'de put that out.

www.grouchymedia.com

2005-12-11T10:18:00.000-08:00

Well I finally got cable and the net hooked up in my room. At least now I have something to do other than watching Steve-o videos all damn night. Plus this way I can start some online courses. The Army factors in credit hours into promotions so if nothin else I can start workin to get my specialist waiver. Specialist basically is handed out after a certain amount of time but I found out the Army doesnt count Reserve time as time in service for rank purposes. That probably doesnt mean anything to 90% of the people reading this. Broken down, i'm gonna be a damn PFC for another year unless I get a waiver.

My truck is in the shop now too. It died on post the other night on my way back from the commisary. You know what they say about how when you need a cop their never around? That's pretty much exactly what happened. It was freezing out and I wasn't goin anywhere for a few hours. I ended up calling the staff duty who hooked me up with a number for a tow service who's also gonna fix my truck. I guess it should be done Monday with a cost of about 500 bucks. Thats almost two weeks of pay right there gone on my stupid truck. I've spent more money on that truck than I wanna think about. I forget who told me this but GMC really means Gods mechanical curse. Sounds about right.

Maybe if the Army wouldn't take so much money out of my check for just about every damn tax known to man, I wouldnt be so pissed. After I look at my check deduction table I wonder how I'm making anything at all. My base pay is about 1500 a month and after taxes and all the communist deductions they steal from me I see about 1100 of it. I guess i'm not paying for room or half my food so I should prolly just suck it up.

Bad weather

2005-12-07T14:17:00.000-08:00

The weather here on base is pretty awful right now. Theres probably about 6 inches of snow and the roads are pretty slick. It's so bad they sent us all home from work early. I really wouldnt have guessed i'de ever get sent home early from the Army but it happened. Problem is i'm just really bored now. Theres nothing to do here anyways, but now im pretty much just stuck in my room. The net place isn't to far from my barracks so I managed to make it here. I really don't know what im gonna do for the rest of the night though. I've watched just about every movie I have and I don't feel like spending more cash to buy more at the PX. I'm sure i'll figure something out. It just sucks bein cooped up cause all there is to do is think and then I just get all pissed off about being here. I guess i'de rather be working as crazy as that sounds.

2005-12-06T16:18:00.000-08:00

I dont know really why I have all this crap on...guess I just wanna be cool or something.
There may have been some kool aid involved.

Well I guess this place isn’t really so terrible anymore. It still kinda sucks but now that I’m a bit more stable, things seem to be picking up a bit. My days have been pretty easy so far. I almost feel a bit lazy if anything. Things kick off at about 630 with PT till 8. It’s not so bad cause we do all our PT in a really nice gym with some good equipment. I guess when it gets a bit warmer out we move too outdoor PT. After PT we break until 930 or so when the day actually begins. Then we break at lunch at 11 till 1pm. We usually get off somewhere between 3 and 5. That’s like 3-5 hours of work. I guess I cant argue with that. They keep telling us that everything is really gonna pick up soon though. By spring 4th IBCT is gonna grow to about 5000 Soldiers. I think we’re at less than 1000 right now. In a few months, Fort Riley is going to be packed. There’s gonna be like 20,000 troops living on post at the point ive heard. Construction is everywhere around here but I still don’t see how their gonna be ready for that amount so soon. I think the Army was banking on 1st brigade going to Iraq in January but now it doesn’t look like it’s gonna happen. They need to find places to house all those Soldiers cause the barracks just aren’t big enough.

I guess one thing that sort of bothers me is that I’m like the only new guy here with a car, so ive suddenly become the damn taxi service. What bothers me more is that its almost become kind of assumed so I rarely even get a thank you. Granted these guys live in the same barracks as me but if they want to ride in my truck everyday, they can pay for my damn gas and insurance.

I’m getting the net turned on Saturday in my room so I’ll probably be posting a bit more cause there isn’t much else to do in the evenings. I’ll be enrolled in some college courses here pretty quick if all goes well. There’s plenty of medical related stuff and hopefully I’ll be able to get my Paramedic before my 4 years is done.

It pays bein a Medic

2005-12-04T10:58:00.001-08:00

Well I’m finally at my unit and I got hooked up. At first I was a kind of upset with the fact that I wasn’t directly attached to a cav or infantry unit in the 4th, but now I’m so glad I didn’t. The room they assigned me is just awesome. I seriously cannot believe they did this on purpose though. I never imagined a barracks room would be this nice. It’s basically a one person hotel room but I get a walk in closet, bathroom, full fridge, microwave, and another sort of closet thing for storage in the hallway. I doubt a college dorm exists with all this stuff. And the best part is, I don’t even pay for it. I guess the only downfall is that I might one day earn the room by getting blown the hell up ha. My buddy on the other hand who got attached to 1/16th INF got probably the nastiest barracks on post. He’s in a 3 man room with one dorm style bathroom for about 20 rooms. The bathroom is pretty terrible. I bet the prisoners at Guantonomo bay are living in conditions 30 times better than what he is. This place looks like the bad side of town too. It’s just nasty, and I feel bad for him.

The only bad part about my room is that the fridge is kind of jacked up. It really doesn’t keep food all that cold even on the highest setting. I’m just afraid to report it to housing because I’m thinking they might realize a mistake was made and move me. The freezer barely even freezes ice. If that’s my biggest complaint though, I guess im lucky. I just hope the Army issues me body armor that works a little better than this piece of Mexican made shit they call a fridge. It works to an extent though. I'm gonna try to get some pictures of my buddies room over in the INF barracks just to show the differance. It's pretty bad over there. It's like the ghetto...the nco who assigned him his room even apologized haha.

My unit is also pretty cool. It’s still a bit under strength but all that will change soon. The thing I said about going to schools is dead on too. My CO had everyone write down a list in order of preference what schools they want to go to. The guy next to me wrote down like Ranger and pathfinder and stuff. I’m still kind of processing so I didn’t write anything just yet. I guess I wouldn’t mind at all goin to ranger school but I just need about a few months get more ready. If im going to go, failure or quitting wouldn’t be an option unless my legs break or something. I just want that tab bad. I might just settle for Airborne for the time being. I’m not gonna rush into it. We’ll see, the doors are wide open right now.

Long day

2005-12-01T15:47:00.000-08:00

Well another pretty long day here in Kansas. We had about 8 hours of briefings today about everything from anti-terrorism to suicide prevention. We watched some ied stuff from Iraq that was pretty nasty too. Guess it comes with the territory. The other thing we got a brief on was bein careful not to give info to the enemy through things like emails or blogs like your readin right now. They said 80% of the info terrorists and shit get is from open sources on the web. I just gotta be real careful what I write in here cause it could get me into some trouble down the road. Supposidly i also need to report the address of this thing to my superiors I guess so they can make sure im not writin anything that falls into the intel catagory.

Yesterday we got our initial issue. I got some really good gear. I bet its almost 5 thousand bucks in gear. We got a 4 piece gortex sleepin bag thats like 500 bucks alone. Also got my interceptor body armor and 2 sets of really really nice polartech fleeces. They gotta be like 100 bucks a peice easy. The IBA isnt cheap either. I don't even know what it costs but im sure it't pretty damn pricy.

We also got our shots and bloodwork done yesterday. After I got mine taken care of they asked if ide come and help out so i was there for a few hours stabbin people and takin blood. Pretty neat stuff. One of the other medics in the also told me that a four year tour in riley is sometime called the KK tour. I guess alot of guys go to Korea from Riley after their times done here. Thats really gonna suck from what I hear. This plae is also called little korea I guess. Not a good thing...

We meet with our units liasons too. I'm gonna be in Charlie Co 610 BSB. Like I said, its a medical support unit to the infantry units in the brigade. I'm pretty happy with it I guess.

Processing all day

2005-11-29T16:40:00.000-08:00

Today was another pretty long day. I'm still inprocessing into Riley so it's a whole lot of hurry up and wait right now. We had medical stuff today and then had to work on our life insurance stuff. The life insurance took all day cause there where two civilians workin who didnt care much about speed or efficiancy. I think I probably waited in line for about 5 hours.

Found out what unit im headed to today though. It's still 4th/IBCT but they broke it down a bit further. Im gonna be in a medical company in support of 2nd Bn, 16th Infantry and 1st Bn, 28th Infantry. Both are light infantry units and supposidly im gonna be attached to one of those out of my medical support unit, or so im told. The unit itself isnt even activated yet though. 4th goes online January 12th im fairly sure. It's completely understrength right now so i'm not gonna be doin much for a while. I also found out that the only thing on the schedule is JRTC next November. Basically that means I won't be deployed anywhere for at least a year. The unit I thought I was goin to my friend from AIT wound up in. He got 1/16th Infantry. His deployment outlook is completly wide open right now. You might have seen on the news how troops rotations are kinda bin toyed with right now and probably scaled back. He might leave January 3rd but nobody knows for sure. It's all on hold for the moment.

I guess one thing I gotta appreciate is that with a brand new type of combined unit like 4thIBCT, I'm gonna get to work with some really experianced people and some really really good equipment. Riley is even pulling in something like 2 attack helicopter squadrons and a blackhawk squadron. Theres gonna be 105 choppers out here when its all said and done. Because of this, Air Assault school is also coming to us as well. Since we are sort of the premier unit in the Army's new brigade vision, it should also be pretty well funded. An Army Times article said we're gonna be observed and photographed from day one to be sort of a test of how the total brigade idea is working. With the money also comes schools. A guy from 4th came in and said we would have plenty of time to go to alot of differant schools since our deployment outlook is so far off. I guess my goal would be to get my Ranger tab before JRTC next November. I'm not at all ready for it now though and I'm sure ide prolly wash out. If I go, I need to be totally confident in my ability to complete it. I got some pretty good opportunities here despite all the bitching ive been doin lately.

With that being said I also found out something a bit interesting...Manhatton and the surrounding area outside of Riley has one of the highest STD rates in the US. Most areas around bases are bad but according to another medic I was talkin to today, around here is one of the worst. Fun stuff, just another reason to hate this place.

Cold

2005-11-28T16:30:00.000-08:00

Well the weather here has been pretty crazy lately. Yesterday two tornadoes came through the base and messed up a few officer houses. Nobody got hurt though fortunatly. Then today, the weather dropped to about 20 degrees. The problem with Kansas is the wind though. Its so flat that nothing acts as a windbreak and the gusts travel for miles and miles. Makes it feel colder than it really is. Heres just a quick picture of what im pretty sure are some MP barracks. Also shows the great weather.

need to whine a bit

2005-11-27T23:05:00.000-08:00

Well another day gone by at Fort Riley. I really have no idea what I’m going to do with myself while I’m here. I figure I’ll probably visit the education department here on base and enroll in some medical classes at Kstate or maybe do correspondence courses online or something. I need to find something productive to do or I’m going to turn into a bum. I guess on the bright side I’m going to have my own room in the barracks at 4th/IBCT when I finally get there. My roommate now has a couple of buddies over there that he hangs out with so he filled me in.

Im just stuck in sort of a tough spot in thinking right now. I want like hell to be home but its bearable…. I’m not going to go crazy or anything anytime soon. I jut am caught between trying to keep up taking to people back home a lot, and realizing that’s not where I live anymore. I had it pretty good back home and didn’t even really realize it. I guess until it hits you in the face, taking things for granted is pretty easy. In saying that about talking to people back home, its not that I don’t want to, its just that sometimes when I get off the phone, I feel almost worse then when I was dialing. It’s a pretty weird feeling, I guess that movie Jarhead is pretty much right on when the guy is describing how he feels about life in the Marines. I’m not saying I dislike the Army cause that’s not it at all. I just feel like I made an early exit from the lives of a handful of people that I really cared about….shit sounds gay, believe me, I know….its true though. I remember sitting here trying to sleep the first night thinking about how I should have stayed in the Reserves and went to UWO or Fox Valley to become a Paramedic. I would have had the easy life, and ide be a hell of a lot happier.

I had to get that out or I was going to go crazy. Thanks for listening to me whine for a bit, I can sleep peacefully now. Oh and sorry for the language, I told myself I was gonna try to keep it clean… believe it or not, we do cuss in the Army…I just gotta remember my grandma reads this thing .

I hate Kansas

2005-11-27T11:29:00.000-08:00

Well im here at Fort Riley and i gotta say, this place is about 20 times worse than I could have ever imagined. Its gonna be a tough couple of years livin out here. I'll explain more of that in a bit though.

I found out what unit im gonna be assigned to. It's the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. It's one of the first units that the Army is trying to transform itself into. It's a brigade made up of a couple of light infantry battalions, a field ambulance unit, and a cavalry troops. I wont know exactly what battalion im assigned to till tomorrow im thinkin but its gonna be the 4th IBCT. It's gonna be designed so that the entire brigade will deploy at a time, eventually the deployment tempo should be reduced for everyone in the Army...i guess thats the goal. The unit itself doesn't activate till 12Jan06 so i'm not gonna be doin much of anything till then. The way it's lookin now though, there may not be a deployment at all from Riley goin to Iraq. Everythings kinda on hold right now but if they go, its gonna be January 1st. I won't be a part of that though, so I guess im lucky. I'de almost rather go to Iraq to get out of this place. I might not ever see Iraq to be honest, a guy who i've been talkin to a bit said that 4th IBCT is gonna be rotating into Afghanistan in about a year. I'de rather go there than Iraq anyways.

Gettin back to why I hate this place so much...The base itself is just huge. It takes like 15 minutes to get from one side to the other, if not more. The two main towns next to it are Junction City, and Manhatton. Manhatton is home to kansas state so it's not all that bad. Only problem is that the people there don't like military guys too much, or so I hear. Junction city is just dirty. Theres a differant kind of people that live here too. Probably the kinda people you would imagine liviing in small town Kansas. That also really limits the women around here. See, Kansas students dont like Army guys, Fort Riley is combat arms heavy (no women in Combat Arms) and in Junction city, half of em are abominations. I think maybe they did nuclear testing or something out here in the old days cause it's pretty bad. Wisconsin has pretty good lookin women believe it or not, nothin like San Antonio though. Appreciate what you all have, believe me.

Anyways, I would imagine my lifes gonna be pretty simple for a while. At first I was pretty depressed about bein here but I got a good buddy with me from AIT so where livin it up best we can. I made up the joke the other night that a night you don't remember is a good night at Fort Riley. Probably unfortuntly, thats gonna be alot of what I do out here. I guess I should be careful but I might as well enjoy myself. I can't even listen to half the music I used to right now, it just reminds me of home and either just pisses me off or depresses me. Kenny Chesney especially, I hate that guy now ha.

I'll try to keep writin in here, u guys whould post a comment or something just to let me know who's all readin this thing, or if im just wastin my time. I just figured this would be easier than writin emails all day, i think just about everyone wanted my email address before I left. I'm out, hopefully my truck makes it back ok. I think that ethonol crap they put in the fuel here is makin my truck run bad. I had to get towed into gas station on base by an MP earlier, then I tried it in a few minutes and it ran fine. I might have to get it looked at in the next few days.

Night Before Riley

2005-11-22T22:39:00.000-08:00

Just finished up my last evenin in Oshkosh for a while. I'm not sure when's the next time i'll be able to post in this thing but hopefully it will be pretty soon. I'll sit in a reception holding tank for a few days once I get to Riley then hopefully once im assigned to a unit i'll have net access right in my room. I'm thinkin i'll probably buy a laptop or somethin just to stay in touch with everyone easier.

Gonne be tough leavin this place though, always is. Had a good early Thanksgivin with my family Sunday. Tonight I watched Boondock Saints with Kyle and Ben which turned out to be a pretty damn good movie. Just sucks leavin friends like those two guys who i've known for years and years.

Packin

2005-11-22T11:06:00.000-08:00

Well today's my last full day before I head out to Fort Riley. I tried to get up early and start packin, but I stayed up so late last night makin this stupid blog I finally got up at about 1 in the afternoon. Hopefully i'll be out of here by 1 or two tomorrow afternoon. I'ts about a 12 hour drive so I figure i'll stop in Kansas City and rest for the night. Or who knows, I might just go all the way and get there tomorrow night or early morning Thursday.

Guess i'm goin to a send off dinner or something at my buddy Reese's house with his family and a few of my buddies who are still around. Reese is still in Daytona goin to some motorcycle school. Should be a pretty good time though. It just sucks knowin im not gonna be around here for awhile after this. I don't really know what's going to happen once I get to Riley. I've heard alot of differant things about Iraq and how January is when 1st ID deploys. Supposidly alot of guys are goin to 1st ID but we'll see, I really don't want to speculate right now. I'm just kinda pumped up for a change, alot of people dissapointed me quite a bit when I came back to Oshkosh. I still got some great buddies i'll be missin though.

welcome

2005-11-21T12:50:00.000-08:00

Welcome to what I hope turns into quite an extensive online journal I plan to keep of my experiances during the next 4 years as a Combat Medic in the US Army. I figured since just about everyone wanted my email to keep in touch, this might make things a bit easier to keep everyone informed of whats goin on with me.