sooooooooooo. im trying to do a better job of keeping up with this thing for a bit. we finished our mission segment, we started our 2 weeks of camp Fiji today. a good thing, no combat missions for the next 2 weeks wooh wooh. My back has been bothering me for the last week so I finally went to see a dr. today. My squad leader did not want me to have to work for other squads while we are doing camp fiji. i got a 2 week profile that says i cant run any combat missions (basically no wearing my gear), no pt for my back, and any other pt is at my own discretion. he gave me some heat pads and some naprocen for 2 weeks. im hoping it just got kinda irritated the other day when i did squats and that the rest will take it back to its normal annoyingness (im making up words now).
with everything that is going on with my back i am glad i didnt get moved to brigade. it stinks to say because at the time i really wanted to go but i know things would have been worse if i had. i miss lee a lot but its probably better for her to be there than for me. it stinks realizing every once in a while, what i want may not be the best thing for me. im trying to remember that and hold on to it through everything here.
were coming up on 2 months since weve been in country. seems like weve been here forever though. glad to say we still havent had any kind of incident in the company. i found out i will get my 2 weeks leave in september which im excited about. i wont know when in september until the middle of august but atleast its close to carrie and moms birthdays. and its my favorite time of the year at home... and of course... auburn has a home game every weekend in september ( not that this had anything to do with my decision but i was very excited when i saw that yesterday!!).
my classes are keeping me pretty busy, next week is the halfway point so i have midterm papers due in both classes. ill be glad to get these out of the way, its a lot of work but so far it has been manageable. i will have to decide afterwards if i can take more or not, depending on the classes and how much our schedule changes here soon.
im gonna lay down, i love you all!
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
soo carrie got mad at me for not posting anything recently... try and sum up a couple of weeks worth here. ummm been pretty busy the last week, lots of work time. the other day we were out for 15 hours because we had to escort a couple of guys from battalion to another camp and then do our mission and then go back pick them up and bring them back home. yesterday they had a company wide fun day where we all went over to the gym and they had a bunch of games goin on, basketball, softball, football, soccer, just different things to have some fun. i didnt feel good so i didnt play anything but most people had a good time.
Were finally settling into a set schedule, we will be going out about 3 times a week with 1 or 2 off days a week. other days will be filled with stupid, i mean.. important.. training. wasting our times teaching us stuff we already know just so if something goes wrong they can cover their own butts and blame it on us. never will we be out in sector and have something happen and be like "oh yeah, i remember this from that class, i will def. respond in this way." its just dumb, but whatever!
the shooting last week was weird. on our way to the gym for the games yesterday we walked over by combat stress, where the shootings occurred. everything is all roped off like a normal crime scene. just hit home a bit because it is really not fair for anyone to be told thats how their soldier got killed. especially the dr.s who worked there, how many psychiatrists do you see volunteering to come over to iraq to help soldiers in their transition? then the ones who do get shot and killed. crazy stuff
things in my squad havent been too bad recently. my team leader was on the list of approved promotions today so he will soon be pinned with his sergeant wooh wooh! very proud of him, he deserves it. he is also going up for the NCO of the quarter for battalion later this month. hes a very good guy and def. deserves it. im going to to try and prepare to put my packet in in july to try and get my sergeant. i have to take a pt test and knock out a bunch more correspondence courses before that though.
Ive been spending a lot of my downtime working on my classwork. weird to say that. so far i think im doing fairly well in my classes though. 2 weeks down, 6 more to go and ill be that much closer to finally being a sophomore haha.
so my best friend got moved to work for brigade. she doesnt live here anymore and she thought it was only going to be for a month but theyve changed it now. shell be there until brigade leaves in october and then she will be back with us until we leave in january. kinda depressing, shes one of the few people i talk to but now shes another person i have to talk to on skype just like everyone else. people are starting to go on leave, also kinda weird. weve been here for 6 weeks now. it all is so routine i seriously catch myself realizing this is iraq. sometimes you kinda forget, i mean there are so many worries and thoughts about coming over here during training. now that im here though like all of that is gone. yeah there is still a fear when we roll out on missions but it is so different now. looking forward to being home sometime soon though.
today is the last day in the 90s for atleast 10 more days. so were starting to get into the heat. obviously in july and august and those months we will be talking about 120 and 130 but its already pretty dang hot. i think i will stop eating meals during those months just so i dont have to go to the chow hall!
umm thats my short summary of life in iraq, thanks for reading. love yall!
Were finally settling into a set schedule, we will be going out about 3 times a week with 1 or 2 off days a week. other days will be filled with stupid, i mean.. important.. training. wasting our times teaching us stuff we already know just so if something goes wrong they can cover their own butts and blame it on us. never will we be out in sector and have something happen and be like "oh yeah, i remember this from that class, i will def. respond in this way." its just dumb, but whatever!
the shooting last week was weird. on our way to the gym for the games yesterday we walked over by combat stress, where the shootings occurred. everything is all roped off like a normal crime scene. just hit home a bit because it is really not fair for anyone to be told thats how their soldier got killed. especially the dr.s who worked there, how many psychiatrists do you see volunteering to come over to iraq to help soldiers in their transition? then the ones who do get shot and killed. crazy stuff
things in my squad havent been too bad recently. my team leader was on the list of approved promotions today so he will soon be pinned with his sergeant wooh wooh! very proud of him, he deserves it. he is also going up for the NCO of the quarter for battalion later this month. hes a very good guy and def. deserves it. im going to to try and prepare to put my packet in in july to try and get my sergeant. i have to take a pt test and knock out a bunch more correspondence courses before that though.
Ive been spending a lot of my downtime working on my classwork. weird to say that. so far i think im doing fairly well in my classes though. 2 weeks down, 6 more to go and ill be that much closer to finally being a sophomore haha.
so my best friend got moved to work for brigade. she doesnt live here anymore and she thought it was only going to be for a month but theyve changed it now. shell be there until brigade leaves in october and then she will be back with us until we leave in january. kinda depressing, shes one of the few people i talk to but now shes another person i have to talk to on skype just like everyone else. people are starting to go on leave, also kinda weird. weve been here for 6 weeks now. it all is so routine i seriously catch myself realizing this is iraq. sometimes you kinda forget, i mean there are so many worries and thoughts about coming over here during training. now that im here though like all of that is gone. yeah there is still a fear when we roll out on missions but it is so different now. looking forward to being home sometime soon though.
today is the last day in the 90s for atleast 10 more days. so were starting to get into the heat. obviously in july and august and those months we will be talking about 120 and 130 but its already pretty dang hot. i think i will stop eating meals during those months just so i dont have to go to the chow hall!
umm thats my short summary of life in iraq, thanks for reading. love yall!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
hey guys.. so nothing too exciting going on here. had today off which was really exciting. i finally got the drivers training i was waiting for so im ready to get my truck back. i still wont be able to drive my own truck for a bit because i have to drive the rear truck for a couple more days. hopefully sometime soon ill be back with my team. we go to fiji at the end of this week for either a week or 2 weeks? someone said 2 but i dont really know. it should give us some time off.
times moving pretty quick, feel very settled in already and weve only been here for 3 weeks. weve been doing a lot of cooking out around the grills, a whole lot of fun to just hang out sitting around the grill. weve already gotten to know each other really well just from that. i really wish i had more to say but all these days kinda run together an nothing too exciting has happened this past week. missing auburn, and of course missing home. i enrolled in a couple of online college classes, trying to knock out about 6 hours in the next 2 months. the classes are only 8 weeks.
times moving pretty quick, feel very settled in already and weve only been here for 3 weeks. weve been doing a lot of cooking out around the grills, a whole lot of fun to just hang out sitting around the grill. weve already gotten to know each other really well just from that. i really wish i had more to say but all these days kinda run together an nothing too exciting has happened this past week. missing auburn, and of course missing home. i enrolled in a couple of online college classes, trying to knock out about 6 hours in the next 2 months. the classes are only 8 weeks.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
easter sunday
sooo it was really good to see so many people today. im sorry the connection was bad but i did get to see yall! wish i could have been there to celebrate easter with everyone. today was a good day, we got to sleep in because we had the day off. i went with a couple of my buddies to church this morning, it was the gospel service. a little different than what i am used to but it was good. it was nice to have the chance to go. im not sure when my next chance will be, they gave us today off for Easter but i expect to work most sundays. i was suposed to go to class to get licensed on a different truck today so i can rejoin my team buuuttttt i got hung out to dry. so i have another week in a different truck with a different team. they are good guys, i dont have a problem working with them but i am ready to get back to my team.
were starting to settle into a routine here, this past week we had a bunch of downtime because of our work over at the Iraqi Police (IP) academy. they only need 6 of us each day and its 5 days. gives us some time off and some time not in full combat gear which is always a major plus. we spent the last 2 days on the road (even though one of them was a complete waste because we got a disabled truck and couldnt go to the station).
I hope everyone had a great easter!
were starting to settle into a routine here, this past week we had a bunch of downtime because of our work over at the Iraqi Police (IP) academy. they only need 6 of us each day and its 5 days. gives us some time off and some time not in full combat gear which is always a major plus. we spent the last 2 days on the road (even though one of them was a complete waste because we got a disabled truck and couldnt go to the station).
I hope everyone had a great easter!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
sooo im really sorry for not having written more. we have been soooo busy. like, they told us we would have a bunch of long days, especially until the company were replacing leaves. i had no clue how true it was though. the last 4 days have been atleast 12 hours long. and that doesnt count waiting around afterwards to find out whats going on the next day. like last night i went to bed at 10 and got woken up 3 times during the night. to tell me when to be awake in the morning and to try and figure out some of the logistics of stuff going on around here. its 1045 right now and i dont know what time im suposed to be awake. so its def. long days here. it will get much better once the other company leaves and we settle in.
weve rolled on missions for the last 4 days. theyare kinda boring. my squad is assigned 3 ip stations so we have gone to them a couple times. weve also checked out the closest coalition support (other fobs.. we generally check those out around chow time and the dfac os where we do most of our recon) to our stations. basically trying to get familiar with the area while the 340th is still with us.
the missions have been boring actually , which i know everyone is excited about. were very much like police over here, we just kidna drive around and check things out. we could get hit but were much more likely to not get hit than we are to get hit in our area. the area we work in is very westernized. i told mom it kinda surprised me, most of the people walk around in jeans or those soccer kinda sweat suits. there are hotels and b6 or 7 story buildings. like it could pass for a city in the states in places. other squads are in worse areas but were not in a bad spot at all.
theres more to tell obviously but im going to try and crash, hopefully ill have a better chance to update later. im sorry. and im sorry for everyone i havent been able to talk to much, time is crazy over here and normally when i have any kinda quiet time its while youre asleep or im trying to get to sleep as soon as possible. i love you all though and it will get better soon.
weve rolled on missions for the last 4 days. theyare kinda boring. my squad is assigned 3 ip stations so we have gone to them a couple times. weve also checked out the closest coalition support (other fobs.. we generally check those out around chow time and the dfac os where we do most of our recon) to our stations. basically trying to get familiar with the area while the 340th is still with us.
the missions have been boring actually , which i know everyone is excited about. were very much like police over here, we just kidna drive around and check things out. we could get hit but were much more likely to not get hit than we are to get hit in our area. the area we work in is very westernized. i told mom it kinda surprised me, most of the people walk around in jeans or those soccer kinda sweat suits. there are hotels and b6 or 7 story buildings. like it could pass for a city in the states in places. other squads are in worse areas but were not in a bad spot at all.
theres more to tell obviously but im going to try and crash, hopefully ill have a better chance to update later. im sorry. and im sorry for everyone i havent been able to talk to much, time is crazy over here and normally when i have any kinda quiet time its while youre asleep or im trying to get to sleep as soon as possible. i love you all though and it will get better soon.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
iraq
welcome to camp liberty, iraq. we left our tents about 2 am and arrived in iraq around 8. spent the morning getting keys issued for our rooms, trying to move in, explore around our area, and had an inbrief to tell us some of the rules here. our rooms are great, almost everything is super convenient. we live on a t intersection, across the street in one direction is the PX, and local bazaar, and across the other street is the dining facility. within a qtr of a mile we also have the laundry facility and a chapel. we are only far away from the gym and the MWR (which has computers, phones, pool ta ble, pingpong, and some of those kinda morale things.) the only thing that stinks is that my room is kinda far from most of my friends and the bathroom. it really is crazy how nice everything here is. in my room i have 1 roommate and we each have a bed, bedside table, and locker (not like an alluminum one, its wooden and actually looks kinda decent). the bathrooms here have like 8 showers and 5 stalls all in one building (much better than the portapotties were used to. it stinks to get ready for a shower then realize you need to go to the latrine and have to get dressed again to go outside!) and its only about a minute or 2 from our room.
i paid to get wireless in my room.. it really stinks because it is 65 dollars a month. weve heard the connection is really bad but i havent had any trouble with it at all. i think it may have to do with where my room is though. we live in blocks and my room is on the first row. im thinking maybe im close to the tower since im the closest to the road. i dont know, im just hoping it wasnt a fluke and that my computer will be that fast all the time.
its weird being here.like kuwait was sooo barren, it was just sand and here there are trees everywhere ,cannals with weeds growing from them. when we were waiting for our keys we were sittting in a pavilion type thing and with all the trees arund and the landscaping it really seemed more like a resort. my perceptions will change in a couple of days after we run our first missions and actually see the real baghdad but so far its way different than i expected.
we met the 340th mp yesterday ( the guys were replacing). some of them were coming in from a mission and saw us walking. the gunner jumped up in his turret and asked if we were the 81oth. when we said yeah, every one of their trucks started honking at us and all the gunners and guys outside of the truck started screaming that they loved us. it was really cool to see how excited they were, theyve been here since july and really just got to fob liberty in feb. from july until feb they lived basically out in the middle of baghdad with none of the luxuries here. im glad we get to send them home, they def. deserve it. it also makes me look forward to when we can have that reaction. just gotta get through 8 or 9 months first!
rumor on the street is htat my squad did get the PSD mission( driving around important people from our battalion and being their personal security). im praying we did because it would be a great mission. i head today though that it might have changed and im a little nervous.
were doing more driving training today so we can go ahead and get licensed on the mrap and be able to drive on missions. hopefully when i get back there will be more information on psd.
lee loaned me a book the other day, i think its called a table in the presence by lt. cash. he was a marine chaplain on the surge into baghdad. it ws a really good read and has made me very thoughtful. next on my list is Psalm 91 (it was packed in a bag I sent ahead to Iraq). I am really looking forward to reading it, a couple of my friends and i have been talking about different Psalms that mean things to us so I def. want to read this. the chapel here had copies to so lee got a copy also. im hoping we will have the oppertunity to go to chapel services here, all depends on how our schedule is.
one of the things mentioned in a table in the presence is the story of the amalekites form exodus. i need to look into that story but there was a particular part that caught my eye. chapter 17 verse 12: When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. 13 So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.
it just made me think of yall, i dont know what youre going through back on that end but i know it isnt easy, probably harder than being here. just know that i appreciate the sacrifices you are making also, youre in my thoughts, and your prayers do help. i love you all
i paid to get wireless in my room.. it really stinks because it is 65 dollars a month. weve heard the connection is really bad but i havent had any trouble with it at all. i think it may have to do with where my room is though. we live in blocks and my room is on the first row. im thinking maybe im close to the tower since im the closest to the road. i dont know, im just hoping it wasnt a fluke and that my computer will be that fast all the time.
its weird being here.like kuwait was sooo barren, it was just sand and here there are trees everywhere ,cannals with weeds growing from them. when we were waiting for our keys we were sittting in a pavilion type thing and with all the trees arund and the landscaping it really seemed more like a resort. my perceptions will change in a couple of days after we run our first missions and actually see the real baghdad but so far its way different than i expected.
we met the 340th mp yesterday ( the guys were replacing). some of them were coming in from a mission and saw us walking. the gunner jumped up in his turret and asked if we were the 81oth. when we said yeah, every one of their trucks started honking at us and all the gunners and guys outside of the truck started screaming that they loved us. it was really cool to see how excited they were, theyve been here since july and really just got to fob liberty in feb. from july until feb they lived basically out in the middle of baghdad with none of the luxuries here. im glad we get to send them home, they def. deserve it. it also makes me look forward to when we can have that reaction. just gotta get through 8 or 9 months first!
rumor on the street is htat my squad did get the PSD mission( driving around important people from our battalion and being their personal security). im praying we did because it would be a great mission. i head today though that it might have changed and im a little nervous.
were doing more driving training today so we can go ahead and get licensed on the mrap and be able to drive on missions. hopefully when i get back there will be more information on psd.
lee loaned me a book the other day, i think its called a table in the presence by lt. cash. he was a marine chaplain on the surge into baghdad. it ws a really good read and has made me very thoughtful. next on my list is Psalm 91 (it was packed in a bag I sent ahead to Iraq). I am really looking forward to reading it, a couple of my friends and i have been talking about different Psalms that mean things to us so I def. want to read this. the chapel here had copies to so lee got a copy also. im hoping we will have the oppertunity to go to chapel services here, all depends on how our schedule is.
one of the things mentioned in a table in the presence is the story of the amalekites form exodus. i need to look into that story but there was a particular part that caught my eye. chapter 17 verse 12: When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. 13 So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.
it just made me think of yall, i dont know what youre going through back on that end but i know it isnt easy, probably harder than being here. just know that i appreciate the sacrifices you are making also, youre in my thoughts, and your prayers do help. i love you all
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
For Katie!!
Hey Bug!
I just wanted to send this to you to show you that we are thinking of you --
Love you!!!
I just wanted to send this to you to show you that we are thinking of you --
Love you!!!
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