Bout Time I got One of These

Okay. I got a blog. There's really only one purpose for this blog and that's so everyone on the mainland and elsewhere can keep updated on what I'm doing in Iraq. I'll post videos as often as I can, but I'm not sure how much internet connectivity I'll have available to me once I'm downrange. (Downrange: In a war zone, esp. one with active combat) I'll also try to explain any jargon I use, like I just did.


This is where much of my "off-duty" thought-process should take place. I'm not usually such a public person with what it is I'm thinking all the time, but I figure if I don't become that kind of person I'll lose my mutherflunking mind. That's another thing. I'm going to try not to use profanity, but when you're around a good deal of it 24/7, it's hard to separate your thinking and grunt speak. So if I accidentally slip one in here or there that isn't comically redone like the mutherflunk above, then I apologize in advance. Not meaning to offend anyone, just putting up thoughts quickly to the time I get allotted.

It is the 2nd of January, 2011. This year, I will get until the end of January, and eight days into February to be any semblance of a normal person. After that, I go away, not to come back until 2012. It's almost a harrowing thought. But I have a lot to come back to, so that takes the edge away. I think I've just become so used to the idea that I'm not going to be here for a year that I'm numb to feeling scared or tense about it. Kinda taking on the Nike mantra, "Just Do It", to heart. I'm going to go over there, and I'm just going to do it. Do it and get it over with. Maybe even get a couple college classes done as well, and perhaps start learning a new language.

So I haven't been entirely clear with what it is I'll be doing while I'm in Iraq. Until recently I was going to be a mechanic, which generally means I would stay behind the wire (Behind The Wire: On safe ground, in a U.S. controlled base) and just fix the vehicles that Infantry and Scouts would break. This is not the case anymore. Now I'm going to be a Gunner on the gun trucks. (Gun Trucks: Hummvs with a free rotating turret-hole at the roof for the gunner to survey the surrounding area that the gun trucks pass through. In Iraq, gunners man an M240B.Or an M240 "Bravo". For the specs on the weapon click here.

That's all for now, really. Went on an awesome date last night, going to get coffee with a good friend today and possibly have dinner with that date again. Should be a good last few days of leave.