It's 1700 somewhere

i figured i'd explain military time for anyone who is unsure how it works. it's actually quite simple. it's exactly the same for the A.M. just replace "o'clock" with "hundred hours." eight o'clock is zero eight hundred hours. to change P.M. time to military time, just add 12 and "hundred hours." 4+12=16. four o'clock is sixteen hundred hours. simple stuff, but i got a post out of it.

Like father, like son

when we go on patrol, i usually bring individually wrapped candy with me. as we roll past kids i throw it out to them from my turret. i feel like santa clause at the thanksgiving day parade and all the kids suffer thru weird floats just to see me with my treats.

The NFL and me

a few of the st. louis rams cheerleaders came to my COP a week or two ago as part of a USO tour. unfortunely i was out on a mission at the time. but it's alright. it's not like they were the redskins cheerleaders.

Ranks

Joes
E1 - private - PVT
E2 - private - PV2
E3 - private first class - PFC
E4 - specialist - SPC

NCOs
E5 - sergeant - SGT (in charge of a team)
E6 - staff sergeant - SSG (in charge of a squad)
E7 - sergeant first class - SFC - platoon sergeant (PSG) (highest enlisted soldier in a platoon)
E8 - first sergeant (1st SGT) (hightest enlisted soldier in a company)
E9 - command sergeant major (CSM) (highest enlisted soldier in a battalion and up)

Officers
O1 - second lieutenant - 2nd LT - platoon leader (PL - in charge of a platoon)
O2 - first lieutenant - 1st LT - platoon leader (PL - in charge of a platoon)
O3 - captain - CPT - commanding officer (CO - in charge of a company)
O4 - major - MAJ - rarely commands anything, a fairly useless rank :-)
O5 - lieutenant colonel - LTC (in charge of a battalion)
O6 - colonel - COL (in charge of a brigade)
O7 - brigadier general
O8 - major general
O9 - lieutenant general
O10 - general

Units of units

below is a quick breakdown of the division of forces in the army, at least as it applies to my division.

-team (ground) is 3 soldiers (2 riflemen and 1 SAW gunner) + team leader (E-5) / vehicle (mounted) is 2 crew members (driver and gunner) + vehicle commander (E-6 or PL or PSG)
-squad (ground) is 2 teams + squad leader (E-6) / section (mounted) is 2 vehicles commanded by one of the E-6s
-platoon is 3 squads and 2 sections + PL and PSG
-company is 3 platoon and a headquarters platoon (administration) + CO and 1st SGT
-battalion is 2 infantry companies, 2 tank companies, 1 enginer company, 1 headquarters company, 1 support company + LTC and CSM
-brigade is 3 battalions, 1 support ballalion (where the support companies come from), 1 headquarters company + COL and CSM

we deploy in brigade, so that's the highest that matters. i have to go now, but i'll explain the abbreviations later

2 Months into Iraq

and i'm still curious what being in a war is like.

Clarification

i guess i wasn't clear about my job change. i didn't misplace my MRAP, it was taken from me. bad men (with rank) took it from me to give it to other people. this is not robin hood, this is prince john. not happy with this mystery person.

Work harder, not smarter

the new army motto

The bad economy reaches the army

i've been laid off. i lost my job as the LT's driver when we lost the LT's MRAP. i've been moved to a dismount squad, but i'll often be gunning on the squads humvee. but sometimes i will actually have to walk like a lowly peasant. it's a rough life.

REM

when i was a kid i used to have day dreams about being a soldier in some great war. maybe we were fighting the soviet union or maybe the nazis came back through some weird time portal. whatever. now that i'm actually a soldier in a real war(kinda), i fantasize about getting 5 hours of uninterupted sleep.

Real men of genius

i want to know who the first person was to settle in this area. who walked into this vast wasteland and thought, "well, there's little water, little food, and my whole family will probably pass out from heat exhaustion twice a week, but look at all this sand!"

Blade

we had our first sand storm a couple days ago. not as bad as i expected it to be, but they probably get worse. one cool thing about it tho is that the storm gave everything a yellow tint. it looked exactly like putting yellow tinted sunglasses on. also, there was enough sand flying around to cause a haze that allows us to stare directly at the sun. looked like a really bright full-moon.



anyone who can figure out how the title of this post fits gets 500 points. i really want to see if anyone knows. using the internet is cheating, but if no one gets it before too long, i will allow it.

Good

Cliff Cornell fled the U.S. Army four years ago for British Columbia when his Georgia artillery unit was ordered to serve in the Iraq War.

On Wednesday, Feb. 4, Cornell was deported from Canada, arrested in the U.S. and booked into the Whatcom County jail.

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/102/story/784599.html

HOO-AH!

hooah (hoo ah) adj., adv., n., v., conj., interj., excla.
Origin Unknown - Slang.
1. Referring to or meaning anything and everything except "no". 2. What to say when at a loss for words. 3.a. Good copy. b. Roger. c. Solid copy. d. Good. e. Great. f. Message received. g. Understood. h. Acknowledged. 4.a. Glad to meet you. b. Welcome. 5. "All right!" 6.a. I don't know the answer, but I'll check on it. b. I haven't the foggiest idea. 7. I am not listening. 8. "That is enough of your drivel; sit down!" 9. Yes. 10. "You've got to be kidding me!" 11. Thank you. 12. Go to the next slide. 13. You've taken the correct action. 14. I don't know what that means, but I'm too embarassed to ask for clarification. 15. Squared away (He's pretty hooah.) 16. Amen!

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?page=term=hooah

The children are the future, and the present

we can get a good feel for how friendly a neighborhood is by how the kids react to us. they haven't quite learned how to conceal their feelings like their parents. if the kids are smiling, waving, and giving us a thumbs up, i can assume they've heard some good things about us from their parents. if, however, they scowl at us, pretend a stick is a weapon they're firing at us, or throw rocks at us, i can assume their parents haven't exactly been singing our praises. of course, they're usually smart enough to wait until we've passed to throw rocks, and they have yet to hit my truck. somebody needs to introduce them to baseball.

Free time? We don't need no stinkin free time

watching movies on my laptop is one of my primary sources of entertainment (thanks don). so a good idea of how busy i've been lately is that i've been working on the same movie for the past week.

No candy for you!

my platoon rolled through a villiage that wasn't so much fun. it was about 2-3 miles of narrow roads, random allys, tall buildings, lots of people and not a friendly face among them. my eyes were constantly moving, searching for the one guy stupid enough to try something. i was definetly happy to be out of there.

Show and Tell

sometimes when i'm writting these posts i feel like a 6 year old writting a paper about what they did over the weekend. i had a cheeseburger. it was good. we watched tv while we ate. my dog wanted some too. his name is crusher. the end.

So bring me two Coors Light. I want one for each hand.

unfortunetly i wasn't able to watch the superbowl or the commercials that go with it. but even though i couldn't watch the game on tv, i played a different game myself called "drink the beer." i won. we all got 2 beers to go with the cheeseburgers served at midnight. it was a good meal.

RIP

JRP

When we get back to the fog, mkay

i went back to the FOB and was able to get a haircut, a massage, and a pizza. best day in a while.

Thank you

Mr. Flood

Beggers can't be choosers, but they can be allegories

whenever we stop somewhere in a village most of the kids in the area inevitably gather around our vehicles. they know to stay a safe distance away, but also how to get close enough to let us know they want something. luckily for them, i also like giving them things and have started carrying candy with me in my turret. the problem is that there is always more kids than candy and they always want more.

once i throw out some candy, a pattern emerges. more and more kids get closer and closer trying to be the next one to get whatever i toss into the crowd. eventually they get too close and i have to shoo them away. more kids join the group, and after a little bit of standing back they get bold again and come closer, and i have to shoo them away again, maybe after throwing out some more candy.

after going thru this one time, i suddenly had a feeling like i was back in ocean city, nj. i couldn't figure out why until i realized they were acting just like the seagulls who were constantly after my food. give them a little bit, and they'll keep coming back as long as there's a chance for one more french fry.

#2) they're like sand people. easily startled, but they'll be back, and in greater numbers.

So far so good

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090201/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq