29 October 08 - Picture tags quesionnaire

I google image searched some facts about me. Interesting results:

First Name

Middle Name

Nickname

Age

(TV series 24)

Occupation

(I wish I could explain that)

Birthplace

Current Place of Residence

Former Residence

Best Friend

(If only this Nikki was as good looking as my Nikki)

29 October 08 - Promotions and Awards

Today I got a promotion and an award. The award was actually "awarded" about a month ago, but it just took a while for the certificate to find me. It was for my "tenacious decisiveness" that "led to the capture" of a high value target. Really it was for being in the right place at the right time. It's strange that I see other things that I have done as more deserving of recognition and see that particular moment as mere coincidence. Honestly, I see others who have done much more than me who go completely unrecognized. Strange. I guess that's how life is sometimes. We work hard and nobody notices. Yet when we get lucky everybody seems to notice. Unfortunately, oftentimes the attention lucky people get isn't always positive.

I was also promoted. Well, the promotion was offered to me. I declined. Just kidding. Of course I accepted. I'll get a bit more pay and a lot more responsibility - that's how it works, right?

All in all I'd say today was a very benificial day toward the career that I have vowed to end when I get home.

24 October 08 - Random Pic

I decided to follow the random picture tag trend. This is the fourth picture of my fourth picture folder.















This is a random marketplace or bazaar. It's empty because we'd just conducted a raid on a bad guy's house. Usually they're bustling with people.

23 October 08 - 3 Things about me

The original is "8 Things About Me," but honestly, I don't think I even watch 8 TV shows EVER, so we're going with 3.

3 Favorite TV Shows:
The Office
Survivor Man (Man vs Wild isn't hardcore enough, it's all staged)
Mythbusters

3 Things I did yesterday:
Cleaned my rifle
Moved - for the fourth time in a week
Planned a foot patrol mission

3 Things I look forward to:
Going home (it's been almost a year)
My baby (I can't wait)
Calling my wife

3 Favorite Restaurants:
Black Angus
Brick oven pizza
Wendy's

3 Things on my wish list:
A complete house renovation
A holster for my gun
A better choice for president

16 October 08-Thankful Thursday

So now that I've had a WHY-ny Wednesday, it's time for a Thankful Thursday.

• The internet-Man it's nice to be able to keep up with my friends and family back home. I don't know how soldiers did it with a letter a month or two months. I've also started online classes so I can finish my Bachelors. Without the internet here, I'd be pretty stretched for ways to continue my education
• Sleep-If you've red my last post, you've seen that I haven't had much of it in the last few days. It was so nice to finally get a full nights sleep.
• Gratitude-I was told thank you today. I don't get that often here, so it felt real nice. I think I'll make it a point to be more grateful, because if I don't see it, it's likely that others don't either.
  

15 October 08 - Whiny Wednesday

I've been trying to be really positive in my blogs lately, but I feel like I could use a little venting. So, without further ado, I give you WHY-NY WEDNESDAY:

• WHY do things always get really really busy as soon as you're put in charge? I've been second in command of my unit for some time. The man in charge just went home on leave, so I'm in charge now. It seems that as soon as he left, things got crazy. I've been incredibly busy for the last few days and I'm not sure what's so different. Some of the absolute strangest things have been happening. I wish I could give examples, but if I told you I'd have to kill you.
• WHY do people who are supposed to "support" you always back out when it's convenient for them? My three man team got stuck pulling guard duty for a detainee for 20 hours while the hundred man unit that is supposed to provide "needed support" said they were too busy to help. Now I understand that they have obligations, but when I've had four hours of sleep in two days and am still pulling guard duty while I can see a dozen guys with nothing to do sitting around a fire thirty feet from me smoking and joking, I get kind of aggravated. It took me another day and a half to catch up on all the work that I missed while I was pulling guard. Hopefully tonight I can catch up on the missed sleep.
• WHY do people who have no idea what they're talking about insist that you're doing your job wrong? I'm the expert in my field, not you. Let me do my job. I don't tell the cook how to make spaghetti, why should he tell me how to run my operations?

Please, don't get me wrong. I love my job and feel a lot of gratification from it. I just have a limited audience to vent to here, so I'll vent into cyberspace.

08 October 08 - Thankful Thursday (on wednesday)

Today is a special thankful Thursday. I'm grateful for:

• My best friend - Your support has been constant. It's been a mainstay for this entire deployment.
• My confidant- When nobody else will listen, I can talk to you
• My hero - Your strength in times of difficulty has been an example for me.
• My inspiration - Even at your weakest you exceed my strengths. I can only hope to be half the person you are.
• My wife - You are all of the above. Happy Birthday.

02 October 08 - Thankful Thursday

It's thursday again:

• Midday naps. I don't get them often, but man it's nice to relax and have a little nap.

• Weight rooms. Good exercise is a great stress relief. There's a great weight room here, so I get to release a lot of stress.

• Honest people. The army has a tendency to attract liars. It seems like every local I encounter tells me what he thinks I want to hear rather than the truth. It's like a breath of fresh air when I talk to somebody and they tell things how they are.

• Good interpreters. They're hard to come by, believe me.