The most fun I have had on this deployment (so far)

Another long one... you may want to sit down for this...

Let me explain something to you all, incase you aren’t aware. There is a digital revolution going on in America and the young people (how old do I sound saying “young people”) are leading the revolution. Say goodbye to CDs, DVDs and live television… no I’m not talking about IPods and Tivo, I mean gone are the days of movies and music being on a disk and TV shows being only on your TV. Everything you can watch and listen to is available digitally and can be shared with thumb drives, even passed via blogs. I came out here with an empty 250MB external hard drive (if you are already confused about what I am talking about find the nearest person under 30 and have them translate) that is now almost completely filled. Filled with what… um almost every good movie ever made, every good TV show that comes on, and thousands of songs. It is common practice for Marines (who are continually linked to the latest batch of 18 year old high school graduates) to swap out hard drives and copy the good stuff from one hard drive to another.

Now, while I watch movies and TV shows every so often, I consider myself to be musically inclined and somewhat a walking music anthology. You like 80’s rap, I got it. You like classical, I got you covered. You want the latest cool bands not on the radio, easy. You want music from when my parents were kids, I got that too (assuming you like big band from the roaring 20’s).

Recently I was going through a co-workers hard drive and I saw a folder the contained the Billboard top 100 songs for every year from 1970 until 2007. Think about this for a second. Each decade has 1000 songs. So I got the top 3700 songs from 1970 and on. Not only that this guy had the Rolling Stone (magazine not band) top 500 Rock and Roll Songs of all time as of 2007. What a music find!

Not I added them all to my ITunes, but I am too OCD to just let the song title, artist, album title and genre be filled in by the last guy. I consider the song Fame (which was song 66 in 1980) to be 80’s pop while others would consider it 80’s soundtrack or just soundtrack. I can’t have that kind of mislabeling going on. Some songs don’t even copy the title and artist into ITunes. So for the past two weeks or so (when I wasn't reading or working) I have been going song by song putting in the correct title, artist, album, and genre for each song; and I am deleting songs I already have as to avoid having duplicates. Now while this sounds on the verge of dysfunctional and tedious the fun part has been remembering songs I might not have heard in like 15 years. While that in itself is fun, the fun part has been having crazy flashbacks to days of old in my life. And since the songs are arranged by year, I am slowly going back in time. Prime example… if you asked me what girl I had a crush on in the 4th grade I would not have been able to tell you. I probably wouldn’t have even remembered having a crush back then. Girls probably still had cooties. I would have denied the whole thing. BUT, when the song “1,2,3,4" by Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine came on… I was instantly back in my elementary school auditorium for the school talent show. A girl (a 6th grader at that, ooh scandalous) and her musical partridge family-like siblings performed that song. She was the lead singer of the family which was why her family was allowed to enter the talent show-like event. I don’t think it was actually a talent show but not the point. Bam! Just like that I time traveled to the 4th grade (btw that song was song number 62 in 1988) and when I was 7 years old. It took a few mins but I was even able to remember the girl’s name. I don’t remember anything from 1988 except the LA Dodgers won the world series when Orel Hershiser pitched and Kirk Gibson hit that home run where he pumped his arm the whole way around the bases to win the series for LA. Hey, that was a big event in the life of a 7 year old boy in LA. Other than that I can hardly tell you who my teacher was in 4th grade yet alone anything else. There have been other fun moments traveling down memory lane but I will save those for some other time. The flash backs have been fun, but not enough to go back to my high school reunion. While I think it is fun to remember days of old and the silly stupid things young boys do, I like being able to cut my stroll down memory lane off when I choose to.

Now for those of you thinking “ohh, I want to know who you had a crush on in 4th grade” get over it. I’m taking it to my grave. And for those of you thinking “ohh, what does wifey think about your 4th grade crush?” Get over it. She had a boy name their pig after her when she was younger in an effort to win her affection. So when it comes to old stupid crushes from like a million years ago, I got her beat hands down. What? Was that too personal? Sorry.

Now, while the list of my past crushes is short (but growing) it is all in the past and just silly now. The whole point here was just how much fun I have had listening to the chart toping bands/songs such as:

- Sisqo’s Thong song - #14 of 2000
- Miami by Will Smith - #53 of 1999
- All For One by Sting, Bryan Adams and Rod Stweart (from Robin Hood Prince of Thieves) - #12 from 1994
- Now and Forever by Richard Marx - #23 from 1994 (memory lane story – I was in Jr High 7th grade and during his speech for Student Body President one candidate (9th grader) brought his buddy on stage and they performed this song playing their guitars. Not sure what else he said in his speech but he won. It also took a while to remember his name but I finally did it - Steve Chung. He ended up being class president at the high school too I think.)
- Nothing my love can’t fix by Joey Lawrence (whoa) - #83 from 1993 (yes that guy from Blossom made a CD and happened to make the top 100. Let’s just say 1993 was a weak year for good music, that or the power of the teenage girl was realized once again.)
- All I Want Is by Toad the Wet Sprocket - #65 from 1992 (memory lane story – this CD was the first CD I ever owned. I got a new gismo called a CD player for Christmas and got this CD and the CD from the TV show “The Heights”. You may remember their song “How to You Talk to an Angel”.)
- C’est La Vie by Robbie Nevil - #16 from 1987 (oddly enough I heard this song on the British radio station just this morning. I think the last time this song was on the radio was 1987... even in England.)
- Borderline by the then young and pre-karbala Madonna - #35 from 1984
- Who Can it Be Now by Men At Work - #30 from 1982 (oddly enough this is the ring tone my Mexican Marine friend has as his ringtone on his cell phone)
- And the number 1 song from the year I was born – 1981…
Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes… some of you probably remember that song when it came out in 1981. And to those who can remember this song I say – you're old.

I will have all these files available to any of you to copy when I get home. So you can have your own fun down musical memory lane.

And I finaly got to the 7's music and I must say the 70's had crappy music. I realize that since I wasn't around to fully "appreciate" the times I may not fully "appreciate" the music. I am sure PO will have the same thoughts on music from the 80's and 90's but I won't let him utter the words "the 80'd had crappy music". A person could get beat up for something like that. Bands like Bananarama and Culture Club are timeless.

With that I'm out.

What have I been up to lately...

I have been reading… stand by this is a long list.


I think the last book I reviewed was “The Great Gatsby” which means the next book I read was “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Housseini. Let’s see here a book written by an Afghani author about the recent history (last 80 years) of Afghan history… hmmm I think this might just be a winner. Ok, not really. The book was about two women (although they both started off as girls) who end up married to the same man. And what starts off as a bitter rivalry between two wives turns into a story of two women that are both victimized by the same man and together they find power and eventually turn on their husband. When the husband starts beating one of the wives the other ones ends up killing him. The murderous wife gets caught but not before the other wife manages to escape and lives a long and free life in Iran… (although I think that is where the fiction really begins) and the other wife ends up being executed by Taliban justice in a soccer stadium while the whole town cheers. Oops did I just ruin the ending for you all, darn. Don’t waste your time. Life sucks over here for these people, but they still haven’t learned how to use toilet paper, so they probably deserve what they get.


After that heart warming feel good book, I turned to “How to Kill A Mockingbird”. This is the wifey’s favorite book. I was a bit disappointed. After reading the title I thought the book would be more of a “How To” than a fictional drama set up in a racially charged era in small town Alabama. I was expecting to learn some tips on how to kill mockingbirds instead I learned of a touching story Jem and Scout Finch and how good always triumphs bad. Ho-hum. I guess expectation management would have really helped. If I knew I was getting into a fiction story I might not have been so disappointed. But, I learned nothing of how to kill mocking birds. So those birds remain on my “not sure how to kill it” list and may stay there until I can find a REAL book on how to kill a mocking bird.


After the disappointment of the 1950’s racial biased era, I felt the need to no be disappointed again. So I picked up a John Grisham book and made sure to read the back of the book so I knew what to expect. This one was called “The Broker”. This is the story of a power hungry lobbyist lawyer who was representing clients that “discovered” a secret satellite surveillance system. When his clients end up dead and his multi-million dollar deal goes south he finds himself landed him in Federal Prison. The CIA convinces the outgoing President pardoned him and banish him from the USA; living a life incognito. That is until the CIA leaks his location to the Chinese, Israeli, Russian, and Saudi intelligence agencies and then watches to see which agency kills him first. But they forgot they were dealing with “The Broker” who turns out to out smart every major intelligence agency in the world and their highly trained assassins. In the end “The Broker” outsmarts the bad guys, convinces the CIA and the Washington Power Elite to help him and returns to Italy to the arms of the woman he fell in love with but never even knew his real name. Yeah, I see that working out. Way to start a relationship on about a thousand lies. Uh huh. Ok, this guy got out of Federal Prison, escaped a dozen of so assassins, got the secret satellite info back into the USA where he continued to outsmart assassins… and the part I find hart to believe is that he actually has a shot at love with the female lead character… wow. I guess if Tila Tequila can have a shot of love (or 3) then this guy should get the chance too.
And I read that book in 24 hours. I found myself stranded at a different base with nothing to do but read. So I did, and I read the entire book in one day. I didn’t mean to there was just nothing else to do.

Anyways after that book I read one my in-laws sent me. Now I have to credit my mother-in-law with the book since it was her name on the return label of the package it was in. But let me tell you the book started off with two strikes against it. When I opened the package I started digging through the box like it was Christmas morning and at the bottom of the box was a book. But all I could see of the book was the “Oprah’s Book Club” logo stamped on the cover. I was immediately deflated and I rolled my eyes. You know how most people complain about their crazy in-laws? Well while the wifey actually has valid reasons to complain I have been very fortunate not to have any “crazy in-law” movements. But when I saw the Oprah’s Book Club logo, I thought to myself “what kind of ‘get in touch with my feminie side’ crap is this crazy woman sending me?” Now to be fair and up front I will admit before I go any further in this story that I was wrong. She didn’t send me any “get in touch with my feminine side” crap and she isn’t crazy. But you can’t blame me from thinking that. It is just the Oprah thing threw me. I mean Oprah was able to convince Dr Phil to completely sell out his own kind, emasculate himself daily on his show “Oprah part II”, and she has convince him to almost completely neutered himself. She has some sort of evil witch power over him and I didn’t want any of that evil on me. Anyways… That was strike one on the book. Strike two was, the book is a thousand pages long. Let me simplify that: 1,000 pages!!! Seriously, 1,000 pages. I pretty much max out at like 250. And books with that many pages have to have pictures in them. This book… no pictures. OMG! Seriously. Oprah endorsed the book AND there are a million pages!?! I had no chance or winning. But utter boredom finally won out and I started reading. The book is “The Pillars of the Earth” by Ken Follett. It is set in the 1100s and although it takes place in the 1100s the characters don’t talk like it is 1100 in England. The cuss using words we use today. And they talk about things probably not talked about back then. I think one character even said “as if”. Like she was a valley girl or something. I thought that the modern language helped. I didn’t get tied up with sentences like “Does thou thither and whom doust thou thither unto?” What does that even mean? Anyways… The story spans like 80 years and each section has years associated with it and a section may fast forward several years from the last section. The first 1/3 of the book is character development and none of the characters tie in together. Chapter 5 has nothing to do with Chapter 7, and none of them were connected to Chapter 1. But as most stories go, all the characters end up connected at least at one point in time and the story quickly builds to that point. Slowly character X runs into character Y and character B crosses path with character G. At the end all the characters are tied together and the aftermath of their encounters are nicely tied up. All in all, this book was one of the best books I ever read in my life. Good recommendation Papa-Bull and Mama-Bull. If any of you have the chance (say a summer vacation or a ten days in the seventh ring of hell (I mean Louisiana) and need a book to read, read this one. You probably wont finish the book as quickly as I did (I read 378 pages one day) but it will be a good read.
But for those that do read the book here is a discussion topic:
With all the characters in the book I ask the question of “who is the main character?” Who is the story really about?
I have my ideas but I will await to hear from you on your thoughts. And I do realize this could take like years to wait for people to get through a billion page book like this but I am patient. I will wait and discuss this later. Did you notice how I never told you anything about the story, I just talked (at length) about the book itself. Now you are curious; maybe even curious enough to read it yourself? Hmmm?


After reading a zillion page book, I took a break. But I succumbed to boredom again, and I read one my dad sent me. “The Last Patriot” by Brad Thor. Just the right book at the right time. A Grisham-like book that villianizes the muslim religion and sets the stage for a counter terrorism fight that started with Thomas Jefferson and the Marines fighting the (muslim) Barbary Pirates in Tripoli. Apparently, Tom Jefferson (or Tom Jeffy as he liked to be called) had found evidence that the Prophet Mohammed had a final peaceful revelation from Allah saying no more religious wars (jihad) and was then executed by his closest friends after he told them about this revelation. Tom Jeffy found evidence that could revolutionize the muslim religion but (much like the DaVinci Code) Tom Jeffy used riddles, codes and code machines to protect this information from falling into the wrong hands. And in the end, the good buy wins and the dirty muslims die. Ok, they didn’t but the good guys (USA) still won. Score one more point for the patriot act! Suck it ACLU!! Bo-yah!
But after reading the book I wondered what would happen if this book became as big as the DaVinci Code. Cause we know how much the Catholic Church loved the DaVinci Code. I think the Pope personally did 100 “hail Marrys” each day damning Dan Brown to hell. So I am sure the muslim world would love this book. If only someone would make a movie about it. Cause the Catholics are too lazy to really do anything about a book twisting the history of their religion but the muslims nation… they are just looking for a reason to put a Jihad on someone. As if Britney Spears and The Real World weren’t reason enough to hate us, let’s make a movie twisting the truth about their most revered leader. I mean, it isn’t like these animals would kill anyone over a fiction book, right?

After that book, I started to read another one my dad gave me, something about human psychology and the different mindsets we have (the child, the adult and the something else). This book was way too much for me. Way too technical and I finally put it down with no intentions of picking it up again. Sorry dad, I tried.

I am also reading the “Screwtape Letters” by C.S. Lewis. Another book the Catholic priest gave me. So far so good. Not much of a story, but I will wait until I finish it to review it.

Anyways, That is enough for one day, I’m out.

A bit of perspective for your day…

I could write about how things are going. I could tell you all that my tent is now without A/C and how hot it is here. I could tell you that my LSAT prep course is going well. I could tell you about the books I have read recently. I could tell you about my daily activities but I will save all of that for another day. Today I want to give you a bit of perspective as I see things.

As I write this two Marines are sitting in the hospital here after they had both of their legs blown off. A Marine was killed a few days ago, and another one lost his eye.

Also, there is a woman waking her children up preparing them for another day doing what most average American mother does on a daily basis. She is living her life as she has done every day, except today she lives out the fourth anniversary of the death of her husband. Four years ago her world came crashing down around her. Her husband was serving with me in Ramadi back when it was a bad place to be. He was killed during combat operations and he died leading his men. But, that was four years ago and to most of the world it is just any other day, like any other. But to some of us, this day is a reminder of priority, or perspective, and a reminder about focus…
To this woman, this day is about re-opening the wounds she has tried to heal for four years. She tried to carry on day by day by herself. I have no idea how she finds the strength each morning to even get out of bed, but she is a strong and courageous woman who lives her life for her children and in her husband’s memory. I have no idea, how she manages to carry on with her life, but like I said, she is strong. I wish I was that strong and that brave.

But her husband was not the only husband/father to be killed four years ago. On that same day, another good man was killed. And so today, another woman is out there struggling to make it through the next 24 hours. She too will struggle with how to raise her children without her helper and partner. She struggles with knowing that her children will never know their father. They will never know that man he was. They will never be tucked in at night by him, they will never hear another bed time story from him. She struggles with the questions from these youngsters of “where’s daddy”, “why isn’t daddy coming home” and the dreaded “daddy who?”.

It tears me up inside to think that some how for some unknown reason my life was spared and these men’s lives were not. How many times was my life in the crosshairs and why is it that I made it back alive. Why was I so fortunate enough to get to see my beautiful wife face again, to see my family again, to get to be given this gift of life…

While I have no answer to these questions, I try not to let these questions go too far from my mind. I try NOT to forget about these two women who have gone these past four years hurting. I try not to forget about those Marines that are awakening this morning to the realization that it wasn’t just a bad dream; they don’t have legs anymore. I try not to forget that you don’t have to be in a combat zone to remember that each day you wake up is a glorious day, a day to be lived vigorously, a day to smile and a day to thank God for.

I am not sure what is going on in your life or what struggle you face each day. I know times are hard and anyone’s future is uncertain. But no matter how shitty your day is, I suggest you get down on your knees and thank your God you still have knees to get down on. You thank your God that you are alive and privileged enough to have shitty days. The sun is shining or the sky is dark and dreary, either way you are alive to experience it and there are many people I used to know personally that no longer have that privilege. Remember these men and these women today. Take a few moments to hug and kiss your children more than you normally do. Call your parents and tell them you love them. Don’t let the sun go down today without telling everyone important in your life that they are important in your life. You may not be lucky enough to get tomorrow. Or worse they might not be lucky enough.

Now some of you may be thinking that the story of those two women sound familiar but a newer version than the story you remember. You may be thinking I know a woman like that, or maybe you are thinking I know children like that. For those of you who know this pain on a personal level let me just say I admire your strength. I admire your ability to have gotten past those dark days. I admire your courage to go on. I do not know how you did it or how you continue to do it today. You are a stronger person than I am, and I am humbled by you.

Let me close this with this:
Wifey… I love you so much. I am a horrible husband to you and I am utterly selfish. You deserve so much better in life but never forget that I love you and I consider myself blessed to have you in my life. You are the greatest gift I have ever received. It will be October before you know it. Stay strong. I love you.

Mom and Dad, I love you and I am sorry for being a punk ass kid (even still).

Kat and Lu - you are my people. I love you both as my sisters and my friends. I have learned so much from both of you and am eternally grateful to be your little brother.

To everyone else, family and friends - I love you all. Never forget that and never doubt it.

To anyone else who might have just stumbled across my blog, know that there are people out here manning the wall who care enough about you to put their lives on the line. Never forget the sacrifice that we are making for you. You don’t have to agree with the politics of war, but never miss an opportunity to thank the men fighting this war and the loved one staying strong back home. You owe us more than you can ever repay, but you can begin with your gratitude.

This isn’t a goodbye any means, I am still here and will still continue to be. Don’t worry about me as I am still safe and will continue to be smart. I now have a rifle and ammo, in addition to the pistol I sleep with at night.

This isn't goodbye just simply a reminder that life is bigger than we can comprehend. It is too big and too valuable to fathom. I wanted to remind you of how precious life is and to remind you to be grateful for this day and for the next. Get down on your knees in gratitude and live this day like it was your last.

I love you all...
ARSM

Part two...

Ah yes, the guitar came in. I am not much of a guitar player and only play around. I’m no rock star except when it comes to rock band then I am awesome. But I know how most people seem to play a little and seem to enjoy guitars. So I went online to find the cheapest guitar I could find. My plan was to buy a guitar put it in my guitar case and mail it out to Afghanistan, take it out of the case, mail the empty case home and the guitar will stay here forever. I am planning on giving it away when it comes time for me to leave here. As few guitars there are in country, I figured it would be a good thing to leave here once/if I finally got it here. Well when it came in the mail to our house in FL, it was packaged so good that I decided to leave it in the box, cross out the label and have the wifey mail it in the box. Well once I figured out what my mailing address was, she mailed it out here and it finally arrived. Yeah. I have it hanging up in the office here and when people see it, they light up and ask if it is mine. It is with pride that I tell them yes and they are amazed that I was able to get one over here. But, for the right price you can get anything over here. Well for around $200 I got a guitar, strings, a tuner and a soft sided case shipped all the way to Afghanistan. Not a bad deal, for not too bad a guitar. A very fun treat and I have told people the guitar is community property, so sometimes while I am working I can hear someone in the back of the tent strumming away at some song. I am sure they sound good in their own mind, just as I do.

No more t-shirts…There is an ongoing debate amongst the Infantry side of the house between the junior officers and the senior enlisted. I believe there to be a rule saying a Marine must wear an undershirt under their cammie top, but many junior officers think it is cooler (temperature wise) to not wear a t-shirt, so they don’t. This only serves to upset the senior enlisted Marines even more. Well with the raising heat index I thought I would try it out. So I stopped wearing the under shirt and put the cammie top on by itself. What a difference it made. Now a breeze or an A/C vent blows directly on my skin and feels great. When there is no air flow or A/C vent I just sweat which is no different than when I did wear a t-shirt. I now change my cammies more regularly and I have fallen in love with gold bond powder. There is no place gold bond powder doesn’t go. I bathe in it. Head to toe;, the stuff is powdered gold. I have bought some at the PX, but got most of my supply of the addictive white powder from the Chaplain’s office. I guess many churches have mailed in toiletries for distribution by the Chaplain’s office. Bonus for me.

My new pet peeve… ok picture if you will porta johns being the better alternative for bathroom facilities as compared to the bathrooms with plumbing. The porta johns are bigger (size wise) and if you go at night much cooler (temperature). The “indoor” plumbing toilets here are cramped. I’m not that big of a guy but my knees hit the wall when I sit on the toilet. And I have to change my clothes before I go into the bathroom because there is not enough room in the tiny stall to bother with unnecessary clothing. So I have to go to my tent, put on shorts and a t-shirt and then go to the bathroom. So trust me, the porta johns are the better choice. Anyways, the pet peeve is when people don’t put the toilet lid down after using the facilities. I drink 8 liters of water a day (yes, that’s four 2 liter bottles) and subsequently have to pee often. How much worse is a porta john when someone leaves the lid up. I am in there to pee and I must confront the mystery blue water of death. Why can’t people just put the lid down. Now don’t confuse this with the age long debate of putting the toilet SEAT down. No this is more. The toilet lid keeps odors and other things at a minimum…putting the seat down would do nothing for me in my battle against offenders of the porta john rules. Just like in a normal bathroom there is etiquette for guys on which urinal to use and how to use it. Never use a urinal next to another man and NEVER look at the guy next to you and talk only if absolutely necessary. Examples of necessary conversation include but not limited to: you are on fire, there is a guy with a chain saw and a hockey mask behind you, and the earth is about to get hit by a giant asteroid unless Ben Afleck can save the day…run for your life. No where in there is: what time is, nice day we’re having, so how bout that Obama guy… these type of conversation starters must be saved for the hand washing station. But I digress… Put the toilet lid down in a porta john. It is just common courtesy people!

ARSM out

Part one of a series

Well so much to report on and so little time. Well since my last post I read 2 more books, met Toby Keith, took the LSAT, moved tents, ran into my 1/5 buddies, got my guitar in, I stopped wearing t-shirts and I have a new pet peeve. Where to begin…

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…

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.