posted @ 22:53...

This morning as I trudged through the sand to work I heard a voice from a speaker far off in the distance. These morning prayers are sounds of which most Americans have only heard from limited clips on the news. There was something cool about it, yet also a little eerie. It was further proof that this isn't just some bad dream; I really am clear across the globe from from all familiarity.

posted @ 03:22...

The mouse problem continues. My wife found no less than four more mice, and that's just in my son's room! She is subsequently spending her nights at a friend's house. Meanwhile, the maintenance guy told her that the contracted company who runs our housing area was having a meeting about the mice problem. So that's a step in the right direction. Nothing against the maintenance guy, but I'm glad it's being addressed at a higher level than just him.

Here's some text from my latest email to housing:

Thank you for your response. I appreciate it. Thanks also for passing along our issue to the property manager.

However, if the extent of their solution to our mouse problem is merely the placement of more traps, you will be hearing from us again -- repeatedly, if need be, until the problem is solved. Please feel free to pass this information along, not only to our property manager, but also to your supervisor.

That didn't sound too threatening, did it? I just want to problem taken care of, and I feel completely helpless sitting here over 6,000 miles away.

posted @ 07:05...

I have a problem. I'm not doing a very good job at keeping my blog "completely nonpolitical." Oh well. 'Tis the season, I suppose...

Kerry: I Love My Illegal Chinese Assault Rifle

Some text from the article:

"John Kerry blasted President Bush two weeks ago for failing to push for an extension of the assault weapons ban, saying he's never met anyone who wanted to use an AK-47 to shoot a deer. But that was before Kerry admitted in a magazine interview that he owns a Chinese assault rifle.

"My favorite gun is the M-16 that saved my life and that of my crew in Vietnam," Kerry tells Outdoor Life in its October issue. "I don't own one of those now, but one of my reminders of my service is a Communist Chinese assault rifle."

The Kerry campaign stonewalled questions on their candidate's illegal gun stash, with spokesman Michael Meehan telling the New York Times only that his boss was a registered gun owner in Massachusetts.

My first thought after reading this article was... "The M16 is your favorite gun?"

First, any self-respecting member of the military refers to the M16 as a "weapon" or a "rifle," not a "gun." Guns are a lot bigger.

Second, the M16 is largely considered to be a piece of junk. Thankfully, the more modern M16A2 is vastly upgraded from it's ancestor that first became famous during Vietnam. And now, most infantry soldiers use M4's, which are basically M16A2's, but they're lighter and have a collapsible stock. (Insert military weapons facts ad nauseam...) Anyway, while the M16 is thought to be fairly accurate, even the A2's are very hard to keep clean (especially in the desert), and therefore, very hard to keep from jamming. If you'll remember, Jessica Lynch seemed to have had this problem.

John Kerry probably never shot a weapon besides when he used his M16 in Vietnam, and therefore has no frame of reference. But here he is droning on about his weapons for a magazine article in an attempt to relate to the readers of Outdoor Life. If the interview was for Cosmo, he would have talked about supporting his wife's career decisions (and perhaps "10 ways to please a man"). If it was for Easy Rider, he would have talked about his Harley (whether or not he actually owns one).

Anyway, you get the point. He's funny but tedious to listen to - the slow, droning voice, as if every sentence were a bold, grandiose announcement of some kind. Unfortunately, you can usually predict what he'll say before it wafts toward you... something about how Bush lives in a fantasy world, and so on... but nothing about how he could do any better. Politicians tend to use a lot of the same old words to say so very little... and yeah, (I'll admit) Bush included.

They tend to repeat themselves too. "So, Mr. Kerry... explain it to me again. You say you disagree with how the President is handling the war? That's news to me. I had no idea."

or: "Mr. President, you believe America must stay the course in Iraq? Wow, I had no idea you felt this way!"

Tell me something I didn't know already.

posted @ 02:49...

C-130 rollin’ down the Strip

It’s been just a few days since I stepped off the C-130 at the Baghdad airport and set foot once again on this desert. Still a bit down emotionally, I have to keep reminding myself that each day is 24 hours closer to seeing my family again. In all, R&R was great. I didn’t set foot on post, except to get a prescription for my wife.

I realized that in the excitement of being home, I completely forgot to write about my flying adventures, so here goes... The trip home was eventful, once I got through waiting nearly twenty hours at BIAP (Baghdad Int’l Airport). Apparently, the plane had mechanical problems. So we waited in the two big tents that served as a passenger terminal. Even soft waiting room-quality chairs grow hard when you sit on them for long enough. I watched endless hours of the Armed Forces Network, and finally got a little sleep on the plywood floor.

Once the plane was ready, at around 0500 hours, we lined up along the aircraft walls and sat down facing inward. Like most Air Force equipment, this C-130 seemed very new and clean, in contrast to just about any vehicle the Army has. The two crewmen in the back warned us that the first twenty minutes of the flight might get a little interesting, since we’d be flying over God-knows-what until we gained enough altitude and distance to be out of range of rounds and rockets.

And so about 15 minutes into the flight, the plane started dipping and weaving, taking evasive maneuvers. At the same time, we heard the machine gun-like sounds of the flares shooting out at a rate of five to eight per second. These flares are hotter than the aircraft’s engines, and therefore serve to grab the attention of heat-seeking missiles, as if to wave their arms and shout, “Hey, over here! Look at me!” Several of the guys didn’t know about the flares and thought we were receiving machine gun fire. Even so, it was a bit tense for everyone. Once that situation calmed down and we’d gone to about 10,000 feet, a little alarm went off toward the back of the plane, and the air inside suddenly felt thin. We saw the two Airmen look at each other and grab their air masks. (I guess it was okay if the passengers passed out. We weren’t in charge.) Once on the ground in Kuwait, we were informed that there had been a leak somewhere and that the cabin had depressurized. We all felt a little woozy, partially from the lack of oxygen and partially from thinking about the potential for disaster such malfunctions present. Thankfully, we were all okay, and eventually we got on the chartered DC-10 for our trip to Germany… with continuing service to Atlanta.

This entry is way too long; gotta write more later.

posted @ 08:10...

Made it back from R&R okay, but in a very pathetic state of mind. I made sure to call my wife from Germany. I was doing alright until I heard my little boy's voice, his oblivious laughter belied the fact that his daddy had just been flying away from him for the past day or so. At that point the tears came. Standing at a pay phone at an Air base in Germany after along plane ride, it finally felt real. Ugh!

The time with my wife and son were some of the happiest moments of my life. I've had to say goodbye to her in the past (when I went to basic training, when she left on her trip to Texas), and it was plenty hard then. But now there are two people to say goodbye to!

If we have any more kids, I'm gonna have to stop going off to war. (As if I had a choice!)

posted @ 08:44...

Yesterday, as I walked into the kitchen, I saw in the corner of my eye, something scurry across the room. We bought mouse traps. Here are the results of our limited hunting expedition. Viewer beware: It's icky.

posted @ 13:39...

We just got some professional pictures done. I promise I'm not being paid to say the following, but Picture People is the place to go. We had some particular poses in mind to try, and the photographer basically said, "Whatever it takes." They didn't rush us, and were more than accommodating when the child started to get fussy. We ended up with some really good shots, and the photos were ready in an hour. We've always liked more candid shots and not the posed stuff so much.

This great experience was a night and day contrast to my wife's experience a month ago at Sears Portait Studio. There, they force you to sit through four of their poses before they let you try one that you want. And they have those cheesy backgrounds, like stars, trees, or party balloons. We wanted simple, and my wife had a specific pose she wanted to try. The photographer, who obviously didn't really like her job, or want to be there, replied, "It's the policy of the store to take four of the store's poses. And after that, we can let you try one of your own." Well, we ended up getting one done anyway, and only purchased the pose that we had wanted. Part of the overpriced package we bought included an 8x10, which we didn't receive when we went to pick up the pictures. Why did we have to go pick up the pictures, you ask? Sears makes you wait three weeks!

Picture People is definitely worth the money if you're used to dealing with outdated places like Sears.

posted @ 16:59...

NPR recently did a story about bloggers in Iraq. Some military bloggers have gotten in trouble because their writings run the risk of revealing too much information. In the interest of operational security, they say, such blogs should be censored. The bloggers, however, believe that the superiors are just trying to censor the soldiers' true feelings about the war. Yeah, believe it or not, some soldiers don't like the fact that we're at war. Soldiers are just people, and people will believe according to their convictions. You can't tell a soldier how to feel.

I don't like the war either, but on the other hand, part of my job is to be loyal to my unit, my superiors, the Army, and my country. As much as I may hate things that are happening in Iraq, I understand that we're all doing an important job.

Some folks are just listening to the media too much, and getting sucked into the whole anti-war sentiment. It's fun to bash the guy in charge. Truth is, being president involves incredibly difficult decisions. Being the commander of an infantry unit has also got to be unbelievably stressful. But with as much criticism as the President and military commanders receive, those critics couldn't do any better.

posted @ 08:07...

I know I just said "I endeavor to keep my blog completely non-political" ... but I couldn't resist getting these thoughts in my head out onto the blog. They're a little about the war, a little about the presidential race. So if you like my usual non-political blog, go ahead and skip it today. I'll write more about my son next time.

Right now, we know that attacks are repeatedly being carried out against US troops for the sole purpose of discrediting George W. Bush, so as to do their part to influence the election. That's...

1. attacks by the enemy
2. to help John Kerry win the election
   

Got that? The enemy wants Kerry to be our president. The terrorists, if they could vote (and yes, some of them can) would vote for Kerry. They know he'll be softer on them. Sure, Iraq isn't Afghanistan, and maybe Saddam didn't have any part of knocking down the towers (although I'm sure he loved that it happened). But at this point, terrorists are everywhere, and they all hate us.

They know that George W. Bush will stay true to his word by continuing to hunt them and bring them to justice. They know Kerry will not. What they don't realize is that when public opinion shifts, and killing terrorists is suddenly popular again, Kerry will flip-flop (again). Unfortunately, it'll probably take another terrorist attack on American civilians for people to remember what it felt like three years ago. And the somewhat familiar feeling of anger will come on us, and people will ask, "How could they get us again? Why haven't we been hunting them down and making sure this wouldn't happen again?" And there will be those of us who respond, "Well, you morons voted for the guy who wanted to be nicer to terrorists. So there were no more pre-emptive strikes to nip the problems in the bud, or to take out their leaders so planning was impossible."

Kerry is noisy about service to his country that happened over 30 years ago. That was 30 years ago. What have you done for me lately, Mr. Kerry? Not a whole lot.

posted @ 05:11...

I got a weird email yesterday, which I suppose is one of the biproducts of the LA Times exposure. The email, which called itself a "flyer," rambled on about how rich people are better off in criminal trials and how poor people get the shaft. "Well, that's too bad," I thought. I'm not rich, but I'm not starving either. But the main thing is I don't do illegal things. That's the key to not getting arrested. Sure, there are a few who are wrongfully accused. But for the most part, the people getting arrested are those for whom the authorities have arrived at a probable cause. In other words, it's apparent and likely that the individual in question has done something wrong. And if the person is innocent, that's why we're considered innocent until proven guilty. The sender of this email also included the text of a letter to Louis Farrakhan, in which he drones on about a black guy he met at a court house, and so on.

How do you say "sorry, not interested" without sounding like you're at odds with the beliefs and politics? Here's the text of my reply to him:

Ummm, why did you send this to me?
I'd rather read stuff in a blog than have it emailed to me. That way, I have a choice as to whether or not I read it. Therefore, please take me off your list.

I also see that you listed my email address and my blog's web address in the body of your email. Please omit my information in future, as I do not wish to have anyone misled as to my position regarding your politics. I endeavor to keep my blog completely non-political, and I don't want it to appear like me or my blog takes one position or another. Thank you, and have a great day.

Brian

posted @ 10:38...

Well, I was formally initiated into fatherhood this morning, in a solemn ceremony officiated by my son. The fountain of urine shot about two feet. It got me wet, along with his clothes and the carpet. The wife (and son) both thought it was funny. I frightened my wife by yelling "honey!" She thought something might have gone horribly wrong, and in my eyes it had. I had been peed upon.

posted @ 19:18...

Wow! Thanks to today's Opinion article in the LA Times, my number of unique visitors went through the roof. How cool is that. Thanks for being interested enough to read. Thanks also to Hugh Hewitt for listing my blog in his blog...

I arrived back in Northern New York this afternoon, and met my son for the first time. It was awesome. I can't tell he still doesn't know quite what to think of me. But my wife says he's taking to me pretty well, since he doesn't fuss at all when I hold him. Also, I changed my first diaper today. That went surprisingly well, but my wife's a great teacher.

I'll be writing more later; right now I'm gonna enjoy my family.

posted @ 08:15...

Surreal Moment of the Week
If I had heard someone tell me two years ago that in the late Summer of 2004 I’d find myself sitting in a toilet stall somewhere in the middle of Iraq, listening to a small middle-Eastern woman sing American Gospel hymns as she mopped the latrine floor, I would have said, “I’ve got to quit drinking.” Well, I’ve long since quit drinking. But it’s still a little unnerving to sit there and do your business as the woman’s voice flutters through the portable building, her broken English melodically effusing the words to “How Great Thou Art.” But I’ll get used to it, just like I’m getting used to all the other weird things around here.

These weird things include stuff like… the heat. There are the helicopters, which fly low overhead and shake your very soul. There’s the occasional “boom” out there somewhere, and with it I wonder if there will be more following it, closer to where I am. There’s the fact that I walk crazy distances all day (almost a mile to do PT, then the same distance back to take a shower to get dressed, then back up to the legal shop to work, then back down to the unit to check in, then back to the legal shop, and so on…). Then there’s the bazaar, near the PX. You walk in and are immediately overtaken by the nausea-inducing cloud of perfume samples. They have an incredible number of fragrances to choose from, but they all assault the nostrils at once. You can buy local clothing and metal bowls at the bazaar, but also musical instruments like guitars and drum sets. Or you can visit one of the smaller so-called “Haji Shops” and stock up on the latest bootlegged DVD’s for only a few bucks each. Anyway, all this is to say that these things are no longer weird to me. I’m too used to them. Upon my return to Northern New York, sometime next year, I’ll probably look up and wonder why the Black Hawks are flying so darn high as I freeze to death in the 90-degree summer. I’ll probably grab my helmet and body armor before I get in the car, purely out of habit. I’ll walk into the mall and wonder why it doesn’t reek (aside from the fumes from that manicure shop at the Border’s entrance). I’ll be heard repeating the mantra “drink water” in my sleep. I’ll also wonder why the locals aren’t wearing man-dresses. Well... no I won’t.