Ok, I am sure everyone who has seen the news or read a paper knows, all of us lucky soldiers have been extended to 15 month deployments instead of 12 months!  Thank You democrats!  So you decide to cut our funding and instead of coming home early, we have to stay longer with shorter periods at home with our families.  With friends like you, I sure don’t need enemies!

On top of all this, the IRS decided to wax my family for $4000 we don’t have!  Here I am serving our nation and the freaking IRS wants to take what little I do make.  Thanks! There was a man (I don’t know if he was a congressman or not) that was trying to present a bill wherefore all Service members would not have to pay income tax as long as they served.  Maybe then I wouldn’t have to struggle just to have my funds taken by the government I serve.

Anyway, enough ranting for now.  This place is getting to me lately. 

... if there is such a thing in Iraq.

Anyway, its been a bit since I posted anything new, but the net here isn’t nearly as reliable or fast as it is in the States.  Not much is going on here right now.  Its gotten pretty hot already, but it is still raining from time to time.  Its actually pretty green here if you can imagine the desert with a thin carpet or sparse green grass (covered by refuse).

Got hit by another IED a few weeks ago.  Nothing big.  Didn’t even do any damage.  I have been working in my off time at the Aid Station so I get to see some interesting things and it helps the time pass.  Outside of that, its basically the normal daily routines - patrol, secure, inspect, drink chai, and come back.  We did a dismount in the market the other day and I wish I had had some Dinar.  Some of the fruits here are awesome this time of year, and Iraq is known for its dates.

Hope I didn’t bore the one or two people who look in here from time to time, but the Army doesn’t like us telling too much about what we are doing because the “Ali Baba” (Bad Men) are watching.

Hello from Lovely Iraq!  I actually have a few free minutes to catch up on things, so I thought I would send out an update.  Seems winter is over!  Its starting to get hot here already.  The mornings are nice, but by afternoon we are sweating pretty good.  Lucky for us, the seasonal high is only about 120F where we are.  With all the rain lately, its almost pretty.  There is actual greenery sprouting up! Too bad it only lasts a few weeks.

What have I been up to?  I was interviewed for some newspapers a few weeks ago (I can let you know where to look privately), I have been involved in teaching CLS classes to US troops and Iraqi Troops, and treated a few patients in the BAS.  Still no heavy fighting here, although the IED count is going up.  I am learning a bit of Arabic which helps a lot in just getting around here, especially when the Iraqis find out your the “Doctor” and start molesting you with all their ailments. Unfortunately, I don’t carry the things they need and end up directing them to the local hospitals and doctors.

Today, we put anti-sniper canopies on the humvees so our gunners have less profile when they sit up there.  Not the kind of “Pimp My Ride” mods most people would thing of, but its a good addition here.  Just don’t ask where the materials came from..

Besides that, its pretty much patrol after patrol, eating some goat or chicken, and patrol some more. 
Time to go.

Hmm, lets see.. Oh yeah.. We got hit by an IED the other night!  I was about 20-30m (60-90 ft) behind the vehicle struck. No injuries, but the vehicle is messed up pretty good.  It was a rather large boom noise, but not as big as I thought it would be. I was in the front row for the show and it lifted the back of the vehicle if front of me off the ground. I saw the explosion through optics and I think that if we had been traveling less tactically it would have hit either that vehicle full on or my vehicle. Instead we think a majority of the projectiles went between our vehicles.

Anyway, I guess I got my CMB. I am just glad there were no injuries, just a few bruises.

Santa came to visit on the FOB over the holidays. 

Merry Christmas everyone.  Been a little bit since I had time to post.  We’ve been pretty busy patrolling and such.  In fact, for Christmas we got a 4 hour patrol though no man’s land.  Thanks Santa! 

Anyway, nothing much new to report.  One day is pretty much like the rest.  We have handed out candy, school supplies, and all kinds of goodies to the locals.  I am getting tired of being trampled by kids for candy, but I guess its better than bullets.  All in all, the time seems to be going by fairly quickly.

Well that’s all I have time for right now.  Not much, but better than nothing!  :D

Little update for all my friends and anyone who cares to read this pitiful excuse for a blog.

We have, in fact, reached our final FOB.  We may be hear the entire year, we may not.  Who knows… government works and all.  We are currently relieving the unit here and we officially start our patrolling and such soon.  I have managed to buy a few cheap DVDs and unsuccessfully look for a 500 watt transformer and a little lamp that runs on 240v.  Its odd the things you can find here though.  We did manage to rate some “chews” to live in (Containerized Housing Unit - CHU).  Its kinda like living in a railroad boxcar with a door, but I do have my own space at least.  I have an actual address now too!  So send all those care packages I have heard so much about!

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Who would have thought a desert such as this would be cold and rainy!  It’s freezing here in the morning, and this morning we woke up to some really cold rain.

We are currently on a more or less, staging camp. Its been pretty much train, eat, sleep, train.  The food is pretty good.  World’s better than the DFAC we had back home.  If I am not careful I’ll end up getting fat.  The other day I actually had a cappucino served by and Indian. We received the upgraded body armor and a few other goodies and we should be leaving out of here sometime soon for our destination.  Sorry, I can’t go more in to depth on what is going on, but Big brother is watching as always.  Besides I wouldn’t want some terrorist about to get his due to know what is going down. 

Later.

We finally have our deployment orders.  The date is set and its much nearer than I hoped for.  I will barely have time to get to know my family again before I leave.  The upside is that the area we are going to is not quite as hot as where we thought we were going and I’ll be home earlier since we are leaving earlier.

Besides that I finally got my Sergeant pinned on, and we are settling into our new government quarters.  After sleeping on the floor for a week, I can’t wait for the furniture to get here though.  Hopefully tomorrow.

A few weeks ago I received an e-mail requesting an interview about my blog from a new site, The Blog Reader.  They interview the authors about the content, thier views on issues, and thier reasons for blogging.  My interview has been published.  All in all its a good interview, although a few of the points of my interview were edited by necessity.

If anyone is interested, I might post a copy of the raw text of the interview in my Wiki if they don’t have any objections.  At any rate you should check out The Blog Reader as its a good way to get insight on your favorite authors as well as finding new reads. 

The interview is below:

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