Just another day?

0600, thats 6 am to you civillians. I decided to "sleep in" this day and get up at 06 instead of 0530. I was just heading to the shower house when there is a knock on the door. "Hey, can you go out with us this morning? Sorry for the short notice, but we are short one troop."
"Sure, no problem" and within the hour I am rolling out through Baghdad look for those nasty bombs they put along side the road. And again, I am amazed at the amount of trash that is just everywhere, but I also notice that a lot of it is disappearing. A little here, a little there.
It is a bright morning, and it would be a good morning for a drive, except that I am here to look out the window and look for anything that could be an IED.
To make the story short, nothing was found, and back inside we came. End of story.
The weather has turned around 180 degrees today-it has gotten windy, cloudy and cooler. So much so that I have dug out my polypro and put it on! And yesterday it was 80! I thought only Ohio flip flop with the weather like this.
I borrowed the second season of Smallville and everything turned out ok (in case you were wondering) and continuing on with my watching.
Along with the wind comes the dust and I am wondering if one of these famous sand storms I have heard about is on its way. Only time will tell.
You may have heard about the big battle where US and Iraqis took out an insurgent training center and killed a whole bunch of the bad guys. This is one case where less is more is true. Less insurgents and more peace, less bombings and more quiet, less actions and more likely we'll go home.
Well, that's all in the day of my live here in the sandbox. Enjoy your day.

The weather is cool, the skies are clear and the ground is finally, finally drying off. When I walk I feel ten pounds lighter since I am not wearing my overboots to keep my feet semi-dry.
But, certain areas are still muddy and wet so work is progressing very slowly. Slow days mean boring days, boring days mean you count the days left.
I try not to count the days here or days left. I just live one day at a time. It seems easier that way.
One of the soldiers in my squad lent me the first season of Smallville on DVD to watch. I had watched it a little with m y daughter, but not a lot. I must admit I have gotten hooked on the series. I will now have to borrow the second season since the last episode ended in the usually cliff-hanger! Aaaaggghhhh! I have got to kn ow what happened!
You would think that this was one long trip away from home (no, really?) and you kinda start into a routine until you hear that big boom outside the wire. Then you return to where you are. Or there is a knock at your door and you are told you are going out tonight on a mission.
Really, I suppose I ought to write prose about how I dread leaving the wire, etc. etc. but really I look forward to those trips. Yes they pose danger, but I have to admit, it is kinda cool to speed through a city and have the cops p ull over o ut of your way!!
I won't be able to drive normally when I get back home....

The Amazing Desert!

Thinking of Iraqi, I, like most people do, thought it is one big desert. To my chagrin, I have found out otherwise. Today I woke up to rain that had continued from the night before (actually the day before) and the consequences of all this rain is huge puddles of water everywhere. I dug out my overboots, slipped them on and ventured out to work. Only I found out that work today was canceled because vehicles were getting stuck and also of the risk to people (falling off vehicles, trying to get un-stuck the vehicles in the mud. The only people out and about are those who actually need to be. So today I watch a DVD and took a nap, watched the rain come down and down and down. Worked on my vehicle some, wrote up some of its problems to be fixed and watched the rain come down and down and down.
The other day I went out of the wire on a mission. This is what I saw. Along one stretch of road is a huge garbage dump-like in the past when Americans just dumped their garbage on top of the ground and set it on fire---that is what happens here. So I am looking out the window at acres and acres of garbage when I notice an odd clump of garbage--and I figure out that it is not a pile of garbage, but someone's home! Made from things cast off. Then I see a boy herding goats among the garbage and then there is a herd of cattle grazing in the garbage.
This is Iraq.
One street the house look very nice, then next you are reminded you are in a war zone. You pass cars zooming up and down the roads, just like back home and then you see the black crater left from an ied. ... and you remember where you are...
I was told there were things I wouldn't forget, and they were correct---the smell and the trash.
But they didn't tell me about the rain! So now I have three things to remember, the smell of Iraq, the trash of Iraq and the rain!

Problems

If you haven't noticed lately, photos haven't been posted often. It has become difficult to post photos due to computer restrictions here. I can't seem to run the software so it may not be possible to post photos anymore. Stay in touch and we'll see!

Hello!

Hi! If you are a regular visitor, you may wonder, why no new posts? Well, there just isn't much to write about, that is why. I have a fairly regular routine (what in the Army isn't regular and routine?) and it probably is very boring to you as to me.
The really cool stuff is off limits for posting, so sorry, you will just have to tune into CNN and watch the latest propaganda opps, I mean news for interesting stuff.
I have deleted some photos for certain reasons, sorry about that too, but this site will stay up.
While you Ohioans are shoveling snow, I am putting on sunscreen. Yes, I have had a sunburn allready and have red face. It has hit 85 overhere already. PT is done in shorts and t-shirt now and I doubt I will see any rain for quite a while.
Back home I can see the green March grass and the bare trees on the hillsides. The cold March wind and the thought will March go out like a lion or a lamb? Since I am not there, I wonder how did March enter 2005?
It won't be long before spring break will be here and then school will be out. Picnics in the park, fourth of July-all the things we do that make us Americans.
The difference is here. I feel the cool evening breeze and close my eyese and think of Ohio in the spring and then open them up and here is Iraq.
BUT< It isn"t that bad-yet. Summer hasn't arrived! I hear stories about summer, but I will save that for another day.
Enjoy your snowy day, it will be gone before you know it.