Fudge

speaking of fudge, it got good reviews. i shared it with the guys living in my C-HUT, and the general reaction once they put a piece in their mouth was wide eyes(literally) followed by, "where did this come from?" and "give me another." good job mom.

Package

i recently received a package from home. in it were some peanut butter crackers, various num nums, and the best homemade fudge in the world. but the best part of that package was the pic of all my nephews and nieces together. the food will go away, but the pic will stay on my wall till i leave. thanks.

WHAT?

right now, as i type this, there is literally water falling from the sky! also, this may or may not be a coincidence, but there was also water falling from my ceiling. i'll have to get some scientists in white coats to work on that.

The Fall of Baghdad

i was talking to some of the terps here at the cop, and one in particular struck me. he speaks very good english, actually lives in the U.S. (that's where he joined the terp company) and will officially be an American citizen in a few months.

anyways, on 9 apr 2003, i was in my dorm room (freshman year) watching iraqis take sledgehammers to a giant statue of saddam in baghdad. the terp i was talking to was watching the same event, a block away from the statue. very cool.

Job Title

i've had several different call signs while in iraq. when i was in first platoon, i was a dismounted rifleman, saw gunner, a gunner and driver for the lt and first squad, and RTO(radio telephone operator) for the lt. now that i changed platoons, i'm a paladin with 18 charisma and 97 hit points. i can use my helm of disintegration and do one D4 damage as my half-elf mage wields his plus-five holy avenger. oh, i'm in black platoon.

Ramadan

so, we're coming up on the end of ramadan. i was going to write about this when ramadan started, but time flys when you're pulling 17 hour work days. anyways, i don't know how much you've heard about ramadan, but it's probably true. while the sun is up there is no: eating, drinking, smoking or looking at women. you can look at your wife, but that's it.

it is also a time to try to be a better muslim. be nicer to people, perform favors, all that good stuff. that's where my interest comes in. a few days before ramadan started, we got a brief on it. we don't drink or eat while out on patrol now for the sake of the iraqis who are fasting. but there was also a security aspect to it.

does being nicer to people include us? will insurgents say, "it's ramadan, i'll be a good muslim and not attack the Americans right now" or will they say, "it's ramadan, i'll be a good muslim and attack the Americans now." result? no change. they don't like us but are too scared to come out and play with us.

Return of the Sand

a few days ago we had a massive sandstorm roll thru here. didn't last long, but visability was cut down to about 10 feet. then, right afterwards, it rained for about 20 seconds. most(only) water that's fallen from the sky since about march. the end is near.

War

don't try it at home

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local-beat/Pa-man-fires-cannon-hits-neighbors-house-57650817.html

Psychology

it's strange. i know i complained a lot about doing pointless stuff. that's primarly because my job as an infantryman is to close with and destroy the enemy. that's a real description. instead i was asking iraqis what their job was.

now i sit behind a desk and don't come anywhere close to doing an infantryman's job. but that doesn't bother me nearly as much, probably because my job is now to push papers and i'm at least doing my job. very strange.

Ask Not, Want Not

everytime i open internet explore at the mwr the home page includes a pic of President Obama, and underneath his pic is written "President Obama wants to hear from all active duty US military personnel"

no he doesn't

Random Thought

i think every soldier's secondary MOS is complaining.

"They're like a big, gray, enchanted forest"

i've heard rumors of a mystical place called "outside the wire." i have a vague recollection of seeing it, then again that might have been a dream. oh, no. every day is exactly the same.


p.s. anybody capable of following and understanding everything in this post needs to check themselves into a mental health facility immediately.

Position! Position!

just a couple days after i started my new job pushing papers, people who out rank me and have been in the army 3 times as long as me started asking me questions about how parts of the army work.

btw - the title to this post comes from me waiting for the copy of fiddler on the roof i ordered from amazon to get here. i googled the song (you better all know which one), but i think the internet is lying to me. i don't know for sure, but i thought the song is slightly different from what i found. troubling.

Everything Is Going To Be OK

no, i haven't been taken captive by AQI. i've just been real busy with my new job. hence the lack of postings. but i think i'm making up for it today.

I Have A Dream

i had a dream a couple days ago that i was back in America. i wasn't doing anything. i just looked around and said, "it's good to be back in America." end of dream.

Leave

when i get back for this deployment i'm taking 30 days of leave. that's a lot of time to fill, so i'm looking for ideas. i've got the relax and do nothing part covered already. it's high on my list. but i'm looking for other ideas as well. i'm looking for activities, not "hang out." like a baseball game, except not baseball. so far i have:

poker at atlantic city
one of those small theater thingys where the actors are also your waiters (what is that called?)

i've been thinking about leave for a while, since about the time i got on the plane to come back here, but it's mostly just been general "i'm gonna be home!" thinking. i need to get focused. so, any help would be appreciated.

NCOERs

part of my new job envolves correcting the spelling and grammer (yeah, me. crazy, right?) of the NCOs and officers who turn in paperwork, such as awards and NCOERs (NCO evaluation report). officially my job is to correct, but this eventually ends with me writting it over. well, pretty close to it. i should take some of the forms back to f&m. college students would have a heart attack looking at all the red ink.

My Job

ok, so i've had a few people ask me what i do now that i've switched jobs. basically, i do all the paperwork and administrative business for the company. if battalion needs info, i'm the one to collect it and give it to them. if someone in the company has a problem with their pay, they come to me and i contact the right people. if they want to go to a school, get promoted or go on leave, they come to me. people like me.

they also like to bother me now. everytime i go to get chow or to the gym i expect to hear "spc potts to the toc" come over the loud speakers. that's a big reason for the lack of posting.