Well I guess I will start with the books. No pictures in them either (so disappointed). The first was called “The Immoralist”. The Catholic Priest gave it to me (was he trying to tell me something?). Anyways, it was written in 1902 and the thing I liked most about the book was just how our society (not just American society) has changed since 1902. The way I figure to be considered an “immoralist” one must really be immoral. I mean, not just your avg person is an immoralist. True we are immoral but to be an immoralist, to me, means you are completely consumed by immorality. No spec of goodness left in you, is my definition of an immoralist. Well the guy in the book is the immoralist and I’ll be honest…I didn’t think he was that bad of a guy. Not that I would hang out with him, but I wouldn’t classify much of what he did as immoral until the very end when he cheated on his dying wife. I realize that sounds really bad, and it is…but that happened at the very end. It was the point I think he really crossed into immoral. Before that point he was just a selfish person. He didn’t care about others, he lied, he didn’t love his wife enough, he had no backbone to take responsibility for his actions, he was selfish, he was a fair weather friend and left his “friends” high and dry. Now don’t confuse this, I’m not saying he was a good person, it just strikes me as funny as to what was considered immoral over 100 years ago. I mean, lets be honest… I don’t care enough about others, I lie, I don’t love my wife like she deserves, I have not taken responsibility for my own actions at times, I am selfish, I have been a fair weather friend and have probably left friends high and dry sometimes… does that make me an immoralist? I don’t think so. I think you can get a better picture of today’s “immoralist” by turning on MTV around 1000/1100 at night. Or even turn on your evening news and take a look what’s going on in the world and in your area. That to me is the 2009 standard of an immoralist… very different from the 1902 standard. 
The second book I read was the Great Gatsby… I have said is before that I am just not as quick as most people in this world. Most things take me more effort to understand or grasp than most. I didn’t get the book The Great Gatsby when I was forced to read it in High School. I had a hard time understanding what was going on and found it difficult to read. This time though, I actually liked the story. I was able to stay interested and keep up with what was going on. Now, I can’t tell you honestly the deeper meaning of the story, talk to you about the metaphors the author used or write a five paragraph essay on who was more the tragic hero in the story like I could back in high school, but I can tell you I liked the book unlike in high school.
So those were the books, what was next...
Toby Keith… so he came to Afghanistan as part of the USO tour. I guess he was the only part that came here but regardless. This was known for some time now and I didn’t think much of it. I wasn’t even sure if I was going to go to the concert, yet alone try to meet him. Well the day he was here I was out and about, “making the rounds” we call it, talking to people, trying to solve problems, (way too many commas in this sentence) when around the corner Toby Keith and his entourage walk up. Toby walked right up to the guy I was talking to stuck out his hand and said “hello warriors”. So I shook his hand back and gave him a lout and motivated “oo-rah!”. Just kidding, I don’t think I even said anything. I just shook his hand and maybe said hello, I honestly don’t remember. I was so surprised to 1. see him and 2. have him walk up and shake my hand. So after meeting the guy I figured I had to go to the concert. The few days before he showed up here at Leatherneck he was out visiting the smaller bases none of you have ever heard of doing smaller performances. He didn’t bring his whole band to the smaller bases, just him and his buddy that play the guitar. But at Leatherneck it was the full band. He only played for like 50 mins which I thought was crap, but afterwards he signed autographs and took pics with people, which was pretty cool. Early the next morning he took off on a C-130 and was gone.
The concert FYI was pretty good. I was glad I went.
My sister, Lu (the one that was jealous I went to the NKOTB concert and she didn’t), got me an LSAT prep book for my birthday. I know, what a lame gift giver she is. So I took the assessment test and did ok on it. I got better as the test went on. It was just getting back into the “how to take standardized test” frame of mind. The first section I would read the question, sort of read the answers and select on that sounded good. I was very worried about running out of time. I ended up finishing with plenty of time, and plenty of wrong answers. By the last section (of 4) I only missed a few. So I think if I were to take it again I would do much better. Not going to say what the score was, because it sucked and was in no way good enough to get into anywhere decent. But it was an assessment test, so I left answers blank because I didn’t want to accidentally guess a right answer. I wanted to get questions wrong that I didn’t know how to do, so I can work on them. What good is getting lucky on an assessment test? Now with that out of the way, I can begin my studying portion. The book calls for a five week study program where you cover something everyday. I think I am braking mine down into a 5 month study program where I cover things on a weekly basis. If I finish in five weeks with a prefect score, it won’t do me any good out here in Afghanistan.
The tent I was living in had no A/C. The A/C was perpetually broken and would only stay fixed for one day a week. The thing it did have going for it was that it still blew air, just not cold air. But the air flow through the tent helped some. At night the tent would cool off so that it was comfortable, but in the day you could die. If you took off all your clothes and just went around in your underwear, it was manageable mostly do to the air flow, but the tent was not a place to be in the day time. After complaining long enough we finally got moved to a tent that has A/C. It isn’t great, but the A/C works. Now the days are better and the nights are cold. Which works well for me.
The other day (two weeks ago) I was walking out of the G-4 (MEB logistics) tent and I looi up and I see one of my buddies from 1/5. We were Lts together and he picked up Capt now too. He is the Logistics Officer for the Battalion. We can call him Capt Jamaica. He is from Jamaica and has a cool accent. So Capt Jamaica was here with the other big important guys from 1/5 but none of them made it to Camp Bastion where I am. There were off somewhere else so I never got to see them. Then two days ago as I am walking back from the chow hall a truck pulls up next to me and stops and I look over and the truck is full of some more of my old buddies from 1/5. Different guys, all were still Lts but I know all of them from at least the last deployment I did. They are here on the 1/5 advanced group to show up. The Bn XO is here and I talked to him for a long while last about what (if anything) I could do to help them out. It is good seeing them not just because the are my friends but it helps now doing a lame desk job knowing that I am directly helping the guys that pull triggers. You can always tell yourself you are doing something for some purpose, but until the fruits of your efforts can be seen directly impacting that purpose it doesn’t really hit home. So now when these guys have a problem I can actually help them, unlike my old job in O-town where I was helping no one. So not all of my buddies are out here yet, they are scheduled to be here in a little while, but in the mean time the sun shines a bit brighter and the days aren’t so bad…
So those were the books, what was next...
Toby Keith… so he came to Afghanistan as part of the USO tour. I guess he was the only part that came here but regardless. This was known for some time now and I didn’t think much of it. I wasn’t even sure if I was going to go to the concert, yet alone try to meet him. Well the day he was here I was out and about, “making the rounds” we call it, talking to people, trying to solve problems, (way too many commas in this sentence) when around the corner Toby Keith and his entourage walk up. Toby walked right up to the guy I was talking to stuck out his hand and said “hello warriors”. So I shook his hand back and gave him a lout and motivated “oo-rah!”. Just kidding, I don’t think I even said anything. I just shook his hand and maybe said hello, I honestly don’t remember. I was so surprised to 1. see him and 2. have him walk up and shake my hand. So after meeting the guy I figured I had to go to the concert. The few days before he showed up here at Leatherneck he was out visiting the smaller bases none of you have ever heard of doing smaller performances. He didn’t bring his whole band to the smaller bases, just him and his buddy that play the guitar. But at Leatherneck it was the full band. He only played for like 50 mins which I thought was crap, but afterwards he signed autographs and took pics with people, which was pretty cool. Early the next morning he took off on a C-130 and was gone.
The concert FYI was pretty good. I was glad I went.
My sister, Lu (the one that was jealous I went to the NKOTB concert and she didn’t), got me an LSAT prep book for my birthday. I know, what a lame gift giver she is. So I took the assessment test and did ok on it. I got better as the test went on. It was just getting back into the “how to take standardized test” frame of mind. The first section I would read the question, sort of read the answers and select on that sounded good. I was very worried about running out of time. I ended up finishing with plenty of time, and plenty of wrong answers. By the last section (of 4) I only missed a few. So I think if I were to take it again I would do much better. Not going to say what the score was, because it sucked and was in no way good enough to get into anywhere decent. But it was an assessment test, so I left answers blank because I didn’t want to accidentally guess a right answer. I wanted to get questions wrong that I didn’t know how to do, so I can work on them. What good is getting lucky on an assessment test? Now with that out of the way, I can begin my studying portion. The book calls for a five week study program where you cover something everyday. I think I am braking mine down into a 5 month study program where I cover things on a weekly basis. If I finish in five weeks with a prefect score, it won’t do me any good out here in Afghanistan.
The tent I was living in had no A/C. The A/C was perpetually broken and would only stay fixed for one day a week. The thing it did have going for it was that it still blew air, just not cold air. But the air flow through the tent helped some. At night the tent would cool off so that it was comfortable, but in the day you could die. If you took off all your clothes and just went around in your underwear, it was manageable mostly do to the air flow, but the tent was not a place to be in the day time. After complaining long enough we finally got moved to a tent that has A/C. It isn’t great, but the A/C works. Now the days are better and the nights are cold. Which works well for me.
The other day (two weeks ago) I was walking out of the G-4 (MEB logistics) tent and I looi up and I see one of my buddies from 1/5. We were Lts together and he picked up Capt now too. He is the Logistics Officer for the Battalion. We can call him Capt Jamaica. He is from Jamaica and has a cool accent. So Capt Jamaica was here with the other big important guys from 1/5 but none of them made it to Camp Bastion where I am. There were off somewhere else so I never got to see them. Then two days ago as I am walking back from the chow hall a truck pulls up next to me and stops and I look over and the truck is full of some more of my old buddies from 1/5. Different guys, all were still Lts but I know all of them from at least the last deployment I did. They are here on the 1/5 advanced group to show up. The Bn XO is here and I talked to him for a long while last about what (if anything) I could do to help them out. It is good seeing them not just because the are my friends but it helps now doing a lame desk job knowing that I am directly helping the guys that pull triggers. You can always tell yourself you are doing something for some purpose, but until the fruits of your efforts can be seen directly impacting that purpose it doesn’t really hit home. So now when these guys have a problem I can actually help them, unlike my old job in O-town where I was helping no one. So not all of my buddies are out here yet, they are scheduled to be here in a little while, but in the mean time the sun shines a bit brighter and the days aren’t so bad…
Well the sun actually shines a bit hotter and the days still suck, but my friends are here.
As I only get 30 mins of internet at a time, I write the blog when I am able then copy and paste. So I will finish this post next time.
1 comment:
What a nice, long post. Thanks for updating us, and enjoy your new tent with A/C. I love you and miss you!
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