<em>This particular dream occurred about a month before I came home.  Now that the holiday is over and the superstitious deja vu that accompanies strange dreams cannot occur, I decided it was safe to relate. The dream hasn’t recurred at all, but it has sort of stuck around my subconscious…

So I have made it home again.  We arrived back a few days ago and I have been spending all my time enjoying my family and catching up on all the stuff that I have missed.  Its kind of surreal right now.  My mind and body is on one set…

If you haven’t guessed by now, updates may be few and far between for the next month or so.  Why? Because I am getting ready to leave this God Forsaken country, and access to the internet is getting scarce. So please bear with me and I’ll…

Due to a complete lack of anything interesting to write about, I bring you the boredom that is my current situation.... We are definitely winding down.  My CHU is packed and I am just waiting on word to move to the temporary billets. We have to get Connexes…

Its here… almost!  My time in this hellish wasteland is almost at an end!  Last night my internet was cut off, and I have my lower priority baggage packed and ready to be loaded for shipment.  Soon we will be moving to temporary housing, then comes RIP/TOA!  I can’t wait…

So, I have been healing up for the past week or so.  I have been working at our BAS, and off the patrol schedule.  Its been a good time, and I have been really productive.  I live for patient care and I have treated more people in the past 8…

So I’ve been in the hospital for the last few days with what is called a Non-Battle Injury. In other words, I was not wounded in battle, I had an urgent healthcare matter that required surgery.  I got a whirlwind tour of the medical evacuation system for Iraq and Kuwait…

Ok, so I guess its time to stop the freakish ramblings and give up some more ”<em>Tales of Hell</em>.” If you read my little post from the other day, then you’ll realize that not much has been going on that hasn’t been going on here for months.  There just seems…

I just don’t seem to be that motivated to write anything lately.  I don’t know if its the fact that not much new is going on, or whether I just don’t have energy anymore.  I read other milblogs for ideas, but new material is hard to come by here.  Its…

Its been a few days since I last posted, but we have been really busy.  Our re-deployment date is visible on the planning calendars now and the command has decided that we need to ramp up operations.  Something about the bad guys knowing when we are due to leave, so…

We went out on patrol the other night down in the South of our AO.  We went out on a more or less “feel good” mission.  The kind of mission where you interact a lot with the people, get to hand out toys to kids, eat Iraqi Chow (<em>which I…

I just returned from about three days (<em>I lose track of time here</em>) of continuous patrols and raids, so this post will be brief.  However, I thought it important to share with the handful of readers I have, and maybe a few others what our enemy is really made of. …

I am so sore today.  We had a diagnostic APFT yesterday morning followed by a long day of classes and NCOPD.  After a few hours to ourselves (long enough to eat and get a shower), it was time to hit the trail. We went on some raids with…

Its been a busy week.  The raids and engagements never seem to cease.  Here I thought things were supposed to slow down as your redeployment date neared!  I have come to the conclusion, though, that one of our IA commanders hunts insurgents like people in the US hunt deer.  He…

Sorry its been a bit since I left a post, but life here just kind of seems to drag on.  The days seem to be getting longer now that our redeployment date is nearing.  The days themselves are slightly cooler, but thats only because the sun can’t sear the desert…

Guess which one won?  This is what happens when you use a Dell Inspiron as target practice during Reflexive fire.  I dug a round out of the hard drive for the owner when we all got done…

I managed to get my watch fixed.  Can you believe that our PX actually had the right watch battery in stock?  Such an obscure item, and it was actually on the shelves, unlike such things as USB Sticks or socks.  Had to pay with my new fangled

I was <em>attempting</em> to get some rest before our patrol tonight, but I guess that isn’t going to happen at this point.  I was lying in my bunk staring at the ceiling with a lot of different things going through my mind. Our time here in hell is starting to…

I just got back from the memorial services for a friend of mine and two others that died in an IED earlier this week.  That was harder than I thought.  I was doing good till the end.  They were traveling down…

So the other day we are out on some raids.  We were specifically looking for some name brand bad guys, but ended up getting some others too.  We had the IA with us, as usual.  They have full independent authority here, and they use it.  It turns out that recently…

We pull into this village under the cover of dark. Its dark, really dark.  So dark that even using night optics, its still hard to see. Everything is quiet as we pick our way through the streets, even the radio.  Under the cover of night, this village seems relatively nice…

So I have had the past two days off.  Haven’t done a whole lot, but on the first day off I sat in maintenance from 0630 till 1500 with our borrowed truck.  They replaced the oil filtering system with a new dual filter system. That’s all they did!  Its supposedly…

Its been one long continuous patrol this week.  Its all blended into one never ending day.  Out all day, up all night.  Patrol this, secure that, drive way the hell out to this place.  Its gets tiresome. …

I was standing out on patrol the other day when I looked over and saw some small children outside their house staring at us.  They weren’t doing the normal abrasive “Gimme! Gimme!” that most of the children do so I went to the truck and got a soccer ball for…

As you know, I am paying for internet in my CHU.  Most of the month it has been useless.  The connectivity is generally in the bytes/second range if there is any at all.  It takes upwards of two hours to check my e-mail, if it connects.  I…