WOW

If you haven't read the previous comment by my buddy, click on it in the prior post comments and read about Habakkuk. Habakkuk was a favorite of my grandmother's when she was alive. The words in the book always spoke to her and for some reason it's one of those things I remember. Anyway, it's a good booster for anyone, despite your situation or lack there of. I will contend one thing though. The National Guard could actually make even God get up on the Sabbath to wonder what they're thinking!
Thanks Scotty.

Ecclesiastes

Let me preface this as this is an ironic joke. I don't want anyone thinking my normal level of PTSD has been elevated to an intolerable degree. Truthfully, my PTSD is from dealing with fairly incompetent leadership more than the few TICs I've been in while over here. Frankly, the Taliban are easier to deal with. You just shoot em and its over. Everyone sleeps well.
So, back to my little story. I get these "verse of the day" emails to balance the rather impure world I live in. It can't hurt to find a little balance you know! So, today's verse is Ecclesiastes 7:4. "A wise person thinks a lot about death, while a fool thinks only about having a good time." The irony comes into play in that all we want to do is go home and be "fools" but we're here sweating the equivelent of an Umpa Lumpa off every hour or so wishing we could shoot ourselves just for the medivac home. Corrigan is sleeping in the bunk next to me. Mid morning he was lying in bed, sweatin g his Umpa off and rolled over and said "Doc, I've got one round left......set me free," or something to that effect.
It amazes me that our command has had a year to prepare for our departure and now, a year later, can't even tell us an approximation of when we're flying home. Baffling and more frustrating than anything we've endured all year long. HMM. Operation Enduring Freedom. Wonder if this is what they're talking about........
Anyway, forgive me my Lord if I only want to trade my wisdom for foolishness for a season or so. Forgive me if I don't read Solomon's teachings for a few years as well. They're pretty damn depressing.

Inevitable

It was bound to happen. Anyone for a week delay in country? What more can I say?

The Wall

The "Wall."
No, not Pink Floyd or the Runner's.
Not the Chinese Great one or your local bar.
Not the Wailing Wall or the Vietnam Memorial one.
Not the Berlin Wall or the one in New York that causes us great pains at the gas tank.
Not Hadrian's Wall or the one's that fell around Jericho (albeit they may be closer than I think). Not even Fenway's Green Monster or the Wall of Troy.
I'm naming a new wall. The Soldier's Wall. The one I've come close to many times over the last 15 months but have now become intimate with and thus my move from what's become home away from home to another. All this spinning down has taken me with it so I'm going into the Land of Milk and Honey.........ie Tim Horton's, Green Bean and chow hall's that provide food for you. A place where roughage isn't canned corn or reconstituted mashed potatoes. A place where salad isn't the weed you pick from between the gravel. A place where TV doesn't bestow the virtues of everywhere but the Western World. A place where working out won't cause a tetanus panic. A place where walking outside the small walls won't risk increasing your weight by one 7.62mm brass round. A place where Portuguese and Bulgarians shop there hearts out in between long perimeter guard shifts. A place you don't just dream about where your scat goes, but you can smell it because its right next to you. Oh, yes, the scat pond.
It calls to me. It says, "break the mold." "Be brave.....Come back to me." So, I will heed the call and and try to break away from my funk. I will return to where it began almost 12 months ago.

I'm trying

I'm trying to think of something worthwhile to report but the only thing that comes to mind is getting the hell out of this country.  We dropped off three of the original guys a few days ago which is a good thing because they're going home and because I'm not sure if we could get a lick of work out of them if we had to.  The two of us, SGM and myself, are out of here a week and a half or so.  

So, nothing to report.....good, I guess.

Still Progressing

Solomon wisely said "There's nothing new under the sun."  Einstein so brilliantly paralleled the wise leader's words with his own scientific knowledge.   (paraphrased)  "Energy is neither created nor destroyed, just transformed from one form to another."  It's the same here.  Nothing new and the energy allotment for this area of the world is low and exists at a minimum from day to day, form to form.

Yes, its getting tough to wait it out!

No Appropriate Title

Well, 9Apr08 has arrived.  Things are spinning up in order to spin down, at least for us.  The trickle exchange of new for old is occurring as you read this.  Soon I'll be moving and you'll hear me bitching about the Romanians and Bulgarians on the internet and in the PX as I did about a year ago.  To the right is Goddard's comment about the Romanians stood for quite a while before I removed it.  As a reminder, "Those Romanians love them some internet!"  It's hard to believe (not really) that almost a year has passed since he said that and soon there after we parted ways, half our team north and half west.  Soon we'll be coming back together and heading home to our respective places to assimilate.  

The difference now is that the Fobbits of Kandahar won't be as irritating to me, Kuwait will have essence of a Mediterranean beach and Ft Riley will be a welcome site and the horrific Atlanta traffic will probably draw up a certain amount of peace for me instead of the road rage of old.  

When I see my wife, daughter, family and friends I won't look at them the same.  I can't.  I wasted so much time on the things that don't matter, wrapped up in the American Dream of consumption.  With the benefit of hind site and near death experiences, my picture is more balanced and my appreciation for my family, friends and life in general has taken a new level.  With God's (the real one) help I'll maintain this healthier, simpler view and carry on contributing to His grand scheme.

With all that soulful growth stuff in mind (I can't go down the emotional path too long without veering off), I look forward to coming home to my house, taking a walk and eating dinner with my family, sampling my way through Whole Foods with Mandy and Leah, visiting every brewery within traveling distance, vacations with all my family and friends, having my wife reign in my daily visits to Starbucks on the way to work and  going to the hospital, getting pages all day long and standing in the OR discussing the crap equipment while driving a Synthes nail (good plug, eh) into a femur.

These are just a few of my favorite things!