Transition

November 13th, 2005- I talked to a soldier in our unit about why we are here in the middle east. My argument ultimately came down to the fact that we are making an investment here, knowing that there will be returns (of many types) in the future. I had solidified my own reasons for being here a long time ago, but also realized in the course of the evening that I am indeed making an investment in myself. I had to come and see what things were really like here- I had to come and be a part of history while there was history to be made, at least for the time being. I'm here to learn how to be a leader, because higher leadership can't be tought doing trust falls. I'm here to learn skills that cannot be learned in a classroom. I'm here to make some kind of difference. Perhaps this is why I had such an easy time explaining things to him. When politics evolve (or digress, depending on how one analyzes the situation) into military action, the 'why' part is already old news. 'Why' will always be a factor, but it will have a different role. Thus it is important to know why you are there, and not why we are there. The two are rarely the same.

I got to talk to mom and dad for the first time today, and had the luck to take a hot shower. My how the little things make a huge difference. We had a brief tonight concerning IEDs that I had sat through probably ten or eleven times in different various forms. I was disinterested enough to start daydreaming a bit, thinking about different times and places. Despite what people may say to you, sometimes you wonder if anyone really knows you're gone.

November 14th, 2005- We went to another range and did Zeros and Qualification with our M16s and M4s. It seems to me like that's all Kuwait is- one long ass range sitting upon a load of crude oil. We also did some Close Quarter Battle training, which is a refreshing change from the 'old style' of military marksmanship. Instead of training to pick off swarms of Soviet Infantrymen rushing through Eastern Europe, we train to bring our weapons up quickly and engage targets without necessarily using our iron sights. The goal is to develop muscle memory. I think that the soldiers had fun during the CQB stuff, but were pissed that we spent the day doing yet another qualification range.

Before we took off I sat and wondered if Iraq will change me all that much. We'll see.

November 15th, 2005- The days seem to run together. There aren't really days with names anymore, but rather each 24 hour period has been reduced to a number on a calendar. I used the calendar feature on my Ipod to check what day it is. Tuesday. Live Monday night football was on in the gym this morning when the LTs went to work out. It's kinda weird when you see that for the first time. I was focusing on my workout, thus I forgot who won. We're in the gym lifting to help us with our job and stay alive. Professional Football seems kinda trivial at the moment.

November 16th, 2005- Camp B (name changed due to OPSEC) isn't that much fun. It has turned into quite the military mecca since our unit arrived a few days ago. It takes much longer to get through the chow line and to use the phones. A random Captain said there were many thousands of troops coming through here in the next few weeks, which has been pretty obvious. I don't really like hanging out with National Guard units here, but they do serve as a reminder that our own unit isn't as jacked up as we previously thought. (Definitely not a blanket bash on the National Guard, as I have seen some squared away Guardsmen and Reservists) Being in-country affords one either way too much or not nearly enough time to think about things back home. You wonder about the coulda-woulda-shoulda types of things, mostly because you have no control over such things here. Oh yeah, it started raining last night. If there weren't enough issues keeping equipment and clothes clean (not to mention ourselves) now sand and dirt is turning into mud. The desert sucks, lets just get that fact out of the way right now. For the most part, rain sucks too (learned that during my last 'vacation' to Georgia). Rain in your tent which is in the desert really sucks. I am interested to see how everyone fatigues over the next few weeks and months. I wonder about myself too.

November 17th, 2005- The 25 passenger Toyota buses units use to move Soldiers around the base and Kuwait in general look a lot like 'The Mystery Machine' from Scooby-Doo. They've been affectionately nicknamed Scooby-Doo buses (or simply Scooby-Doo) by the Soldiers here, including the ones from my own unit. Today I sat in the last row of one being flung (literally) from one seat to another as the bus propelled itself over sand berms and through huge dips in the road. Six Flags has nothing on the Scooby-Doo bus. Today we moved temporarily from Camp B out to a training site, which was out in the middle of the Kuwaiti desert. We're scheduled to do additional Convoy and Gun Truck training before ultimately moving up to Iraq. It kind of feels like the months spent at Bragg training to run convoys was a waste, and that we need yet more help in getting our preverbial crap together. The Army thinks we need another week of training to top everything. Honestly I shouldn't be complaining, as we're happy to receive any additional training that might help us peform better and keep everyone alive. As good as it is, being out here seems like another week or two spent rotting in the desert, no matter how good the training is.

The Beginning

My journal from the first few days of deployment. Beware, it is unedited.



Monday, November 7th- I spent the last night in the United States sleeping on the floor of my empty apartment. The day before I hung out by a small lake on the outskirts of Fort Bragg with a buddy and his wife. I'm not sure if it was the right way to spend the day, as I had a load of things I still needed to do and I was seriously rushed this morning. Oh well.

Tuesday, November 8th- Our civilian airliner left Pope Air Force Base at roughly 0440. It was a fairly comfortable aircraft, save for the rear echelon motherfuckers (REMFs) that hogged all the business class seats on OUR aircraft. I will not allow a bunch of fucking non-combat privates to take seats that belong to hard-working troops that have seen the elephant ever again. We stopped for a a few hours in Germany, drank some coffee and tea, then left for Kuwait.

November 10th- "Fuck you." I'm not sure what ellicited that somewhat sarcastic response from my mouth, but I remember I said it very eloquently as I took another puff of my cigar. LT K chuckled quietly, then took another puff of his own cigar. Tonight we actually had some free time to hang out and pretend not to be in charge of this whole complicated operation for 20 minutes. I decide that when I go on Rest and Relaxation Leave I will go somewhere that encourages drinking. I'm not sure what spurred this thought, but it seems like a good idea at the moment.

November 11th- "Go find me some [M]203 targets. I want some cool-ass shit!" -The CO
Myself and another Lieutenant drove around the Camp today searching for objects that would make good grenade launcher and machine gun targets. Items found (and pilfered) included sinks, toilets, doors, traffic cones, and one large water heater. It's not a good idea to tell two vindictive LTs to go find things to shoot with heavy weapons and leave it at that. Because we *will* find stuff, regardless of the situation. We had enough M249 (light machine gun) rounds to nearly saw the water heater in half. It was a pretty good day. In Kuwait we use Mitsubishi Monteros (called a 'Pajero' here) instead of Humvees. That's fine with me, as now we have stereos in the vehicles and Kuwaiti radio really isn't all that bad. Cheers.

Wherever You Go, There You Are.

Or in my case, here I am. I want everyone to know that I've made it successfully to Iraq, and the overall things are fine. Kuwait was pretty boring apart from a week straight of training out in the middle of the desert. I can't and won't be too specific about things, but I've been sleeping a lot less and trying to do as much as I can to get my soldiers ready for upcoming missions.

I've been keeping a daily journal of everything going on, and will post all non-sensitive items from it as soon as I have a chance. We've got a lot more internet access now, and I happen to have stumbled on a way to post more frequently by accident. I'll also send out an email to everyone I've gotten an address from in the past few months. I will say that the dust is no joke here, and it's playing hell with the lungs of myself and my soldiers. I've got a lot of interesting stories to tell, and will post updates on how things are going from my point of view. Either way, stay tuned.