Weather report

For Northern Iraq we will have some rain in the morning, followed by sleet. Yes I said sleet, and a little hail I think. It will clear a little and then a sporadic mortar shell here and there for the rest of the day.

Yes sports fans, it looks like we’ll have an indirect fire delay.


All is well. I am keeping busy with my job to say the least. It is hard sometimes dealing with soldier issues. I have no one to vent on, so I spend a lot of my time trying to figure out the best solution to a problem that does not show up in the Army manuals. That is a typical task of any Commander.

Some decisions are easy say, kicking out a bad soldier. The soldier is a dirt bag, so I’ll save the tax payers a few bucks and send him home. Some fall in the infamous grey area: You have a really good soldier who likes his job, loves the Army and all that stuff. He is constantly late to work. What do I do? I slap him on the wrist, I give him corrective training, and he performs well at his job, but is constantly late. Do I crush him? See, a grey area.


But back to the forecast:

We did have sleet today. We did our homework and found out that it snowed here Mar 12 of last year. Snow! I left my cold weather gear back at Drum!

Well, at least I have my coffee….Damn, burnt my tongue!

The funniest thing you have ever seen. Seriously, if you don' t find this funny, then theres's something wrong with you.

K sports fans!

Laura picked the game, Seattle and Pittsburg. Now she is also picking Seattle over Pittsburg. I must remind Laura that the professionals in Las Vegas are picking Pittsburg. I haven’t decided who I am going for.

Last week, Carly Goodwin, a country singer, came through our hospital. She was impressed and moved at what she saw. You can read about it on her website/blog: Carly Goodwin I normally don’t advertise other websites, but there is a good picture of her with a little girl here, and a good narrative by her. If you read back over the archives, you'll find she mentions Col Polo, my boss. She does talk about a Chris, but it's not me, just another dude with the great name of Chris.

It is still cold here. When is it supposed to get hot here? I probably shouldn't complain. I hear it gets a little warm here in the summer and I'll probably be bitching about the heat then.

Technology

Just the word causes us to think of walking on the moon, MP3 players, lap top computers, and the cell phone. It started with primitive man making the wheel, creating bronze, and navigating using a north pointing needle. But let us not forget one of the most import inventions ever created, the spill proof, insulated travel coffee mug!

Please don’t get me wrong, I love this thing. Mine even has a built in coffee press! I couldn’t imagine a civilized existence without it. However, with every great invention, there is a price. Say it isn’t so, but it is. This coffee mug I have is awesome. I think it is bullet proof even! The press works like a charm, the lid screws on to avoid spillage, and there is a no slip grip! But DAMN, it is so insulated, that an hour after I make the coffee, I still burn my tongue!

So this morning, I took my shower, and got dressed. I made my morning coffee, and went to chow. I left my coffee in my room with the idea that it would cool down while I am gone to breakfast. I enjoyed my scrambled eggs and cantaloupe. I come back to my room, brush my teeth, and grab my coffee. No, I don’t drink it yet, I am trying to get every minute of cool down before the great moment of coffee savoring. I get to my office, check my email, and slowly grab my mug.

I feel that the mug is warm, but not as warm as when I made the coffee. This is a good sign, I think to myself. I smell the vanilla creamer mixed with the coffee. My mouth starts to salivate. Every coffee drinker can relate to the moment right before you drink a good cup of coffee. I think to myself, ha, I beat this mug. I take the mug and raise it to my lips, and take a swig (it’s been over an hour remember). DAMN!

Thanks!

Thanks for the comments. They make me smile when I see them. Thanks to the US Army, I now have to register my Blog with them to make sure I am not saying anything I am not suppose to say. No, it’s not a big brother thing, (really) but more of making sure that operational security matters are not blasted across the internet for our foes to read. (it's a good thing!)

The weather forecast here is cold followed by more cold, and get this, possible freezing rain and snow by week’s end. Nowhere in the Bible (‘cause I am in the area of the world where a lot of that stuff happened) does it speak of snow. Global warming my hiney, it’s global freezing here!, It's colder here than it is in Virginia, that's for sure.

Nothing much else going on here, which is good if you ask me. I guess it’s too cold for the enemy to do what ever he does. Heck, I don’t blame them. If it was up to me, we’d all be home for the winter, snuggled up watching the Super Bowl during regular hours instead of early hours of the morning over breakfast.

By the way, who do you think is going to be in the bowl this year?

And a shout out!

A shout out to all my peeps that read the blog. Post comments! They make me feel all warm inside.

Ok, fine.

I have been criticized lately for being a little negative. Maybe I have, but I've had a bad, busy week. So, I will try to be a little more on the positive side and lighten things up a little

I finally moved into my new, private office. I now have an official office where I can chew a little butt or slack off on the computer and nobody will know the difference. Pretty cool. For my room, Laura sent me some pillows, pillow cases from home and cork board squares for that MOD look. Now my CHU (Containerized Housing Unit), or trailer, looks like a dorm room inside. I also got two blazing pink flamingos, but they won’t go out until it stops raining. Hard to believe, but it rains here, a fucking lot.

Laura also sent the most important thing I could have out here, a coffee mug with a built in coffee press! Laura, you can have whatever you want because of this! I mean it! There is nothing like a good cup of coffee in the morning-even if you are in the middle of nowhere. Now just keep sending the creamer I like.

I sort of have given up sweets! Hard to believe, no more dark chocolate for me! I have been trying to eat healthy, and lose some weight, and work out a little more. I went down from a large belt to a medium one! And now, my pants are starting to get lose! I really have to use the draw strings in my pants otherwise I will give this part of Iraq a show!

Here is a special B-Day greeting to Kate! Happy Birthday Kate! Friday the 13th is always good for a party! I want to see pictures of debauchery and drunkenness! Boobs would be good too!

Got to get going and start surfing the net, - I mean work on my machine. The door is closed (in my new office!), who’d know?

Same old situation...

I was going to ramble on today about third world workers on how it takes three months for them to do a project that takes the west three days, but my daily duties brings me up to an old friend, paperwork.

Today, I was signing paperwork that is required every month to account for all items that I am responsible for in my unit. I need to have a copy of all the paperwork for myself (CYA), my supply room, and my higher command. I am sure that my higher will probably make a copy and send that to their higher. Just my three copies ended up over 80 pages! Now, multiply this by a twelve month deployment and you get 960 pages! Now don’t forget the amount of printer toner that I will be going through and that there isn’t necessarily a Staples that I can go to and get toner that quickly!

Oh, and here is the kicker, if I don’t need this paperwork, I can shred it! So now I have to go through hoops to get a shredder to make more of a mountain with this paperwork. So, I have 960 plus pages and if I don’t need it, I can shred it to make it fill a dumpster! I thought the Army was trying to be ecologically friendly. I see their plan is to kill all the trees so we don’t have to worry about them!

Sometimes, I just don’t understand the Army. I really don’t. It is like the thinking the Army is trying to instill in Army medicsàbe a trained killer, but if you don’t kill the guy, render the best medical aid possible. That is like a car body mechanic being a contestant in a demolition derby. I just don’t get it, I can’t multi task.

So,

I guess I could apologize for not posting lately, but why do that. I’ve been busy. I have traveled around visiting the other half of my unit, and catching up on paperwork. Hard to believe what this Army was like before paperwork. Imagine, an Army where bullets were bullets, weapons were weapons, and no paperwork for any of them. Is there a Santa Clause?

I digress. If you have been keeping up on current events on the world stage, you might have noticed the rash of violence in my part of the world. I am safe and sound, I promise. However, we have been very busy dealing with the aftermath. We had a busy night, and I am paying the price today with the lack of sleep.

I apologize, but I must go on my tangent again about paperwork. What is it with the Federal Government and accountability? I understand in the rear and all, and I am for it. However, when bullets and mortars are firing, do they really expect me to account for every one of my unit’s rounds that I use against the enemy? The answer is a big, fat YES! (I can tell you stories of back at Ft Drum and Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan) Yes, if my soldiers must use their weapons, I must account for every round that they fire. Can someone tell someone who will listen that this is like how many waffles are eaten in a Waffle House? Now, I must do this on all items of property. From telephones to rifles, from computers to compasses, from rounds of ammunition to unit flags, that is what a large part of the Army, and command, is all about. I thought it was leading troops to meet the enemy on the battlefield, engage the enemy, and destroy the enemy. Live and learn.

I learned a lot in the past week of so about how the Army sees junior leaders. I also learned that many senior leaders don’t always agree in how something is said, yet agree on the message. Yet, because the manner the message was delivered was not “correct” they (senior leaders) will tend to blow off the message. I have been called a “Great Action Guy” meaning that if you need something done, I am the man to see. If you need something said, don’t ask Washack unless you want to hear some pink elephant truth that we really don’t want to hear or deal with. I know I am sounding a little bitter, but on the battlefield, you need to be action and not words or ceremony( don’t get me started on ceremonies).

I went on long enough. I hope everyone had a good holiday season (i.e. Christmas). I wish I could have been home, but nope. I would promise that it won’t happen again, but who knows when I’ll deploy again. Hopefully, not too soon.