well i am all packed up and waiting on go. got a hint that our journey back home will start tomorrow. that would be the best christmas present i can think of. posts will probably be few and far between, as these next few days will be filled with "go here's" and "go there's." i hope that all of you have a very merry christmas and a happy new year. maybe i will be able to help celebrate on the 31st, fingers crossed. take care, love and miss you all, and hope to see you very, very soon. bc

a once deserted and quite f.o.b. bernstien has now turned more populated.  new troops, which happen to be our replacements, have started flowing in.  normally problems associated with a high number of soldiers, such as no hot water and longer lines at the chow hall and phones, would drive us mad.  seeing how this is one more hint that the end is near we all take it with stride and welcome the new guys from the 278th with open arms.  now we just pray that the military hits its proposed timeline on our departure. 

time has seemed to halt as we have all almost stopped our daily missions.  boredom is now our new best freind, which is fine with me becasue i have missed it a little in the previous year.  sorry i don't have alot to talk about this post, i promise to try and do better next time.  love and miss you all.

bc

 

almost there.  hopefully within a month of departure.  all is well, cold, but well.  the last two weeks have been chilly.  temps have dropped down into the lower 40's and some nights, 30's.  we even had frost a few mornings, which i thought would be rare in the desert.  nothing like a good cold morning to remind you of home.  of course, everything is reminding me of home at this point.  soon enough.

although this years thanksgiving dinner was not “homemade,” it was good.  i cooked lunch myself and had chow hall for super.  using the word “cooked” is a strech.  more like “heated.”  for lunch we had canned ham, baked with honey and pineapple, collard greens, corn, stovetop stuffing, pinto beans and french fries as a poor substitute for mashed potatoes (all canned food).  the only part lacking was the nap.  chow hall supper was nice, but still “chow hall food.”  for those of you who don't know what chow hall food is, remember when you were 10 and the school had thanksgiving dinner the last day before you left for the holiday weekend.  that was better. 

we are now fighting a new enemy here in country, stupidity.  seems like they, being the “rule makers,” have rolled out the red carpet for stupid regulation here close to the end.  more rules and such have came out in the last little bit than the whole time here.  the lastest is speed limits.  yes, we have been told to slow down, quit driving so aggressive and be nicer on the roads.  we can only employ the learned tatics of survival on the streets in “danger areas.”  excuse me, but i missed the meeting where parts of this country we deemed safe.  as a buddy of mine put it, when you leave green ramp, your'e in indian country.  we even got a call from higher today, while on a patrol, telling us to slow down, we were speeding.  we joked about missing our flight home because of possibly having to make an appearance in traffic court. 

anyone semi-knowledgeable of the military, knows we are an army of acronyms.  i have developed a new one, which is in the testing phase as we speak.  nearing the end of deployments, soldiers tend to get lazy and try to cut corners, thinking they are home free.  to use the militarys favorite word, complacency, is a no-no.  we have been told that statistics show a higher rate of fatal accidents during this time.  that brings me to my acronym, STD or short-timers disease.  easy to remember, gets a soldiers attention and my favorite, another acronym.  stay alert and help fight STD.  catchy, huh. 

bc

anyone familiar with the military knows all about the briefings associated.  as we are coming toward the end of our deployment, it seems we have a new one to attend every day.  we get briefed by jag about regulation, the chaplain about suicide, the pysc. ops. guy about re-entry and flashbacks.  enough already.  i shouldn't be complaining.  i mean, it is easy money.  could be out there “working.” 

we got a little bit of unusual weather last night and this morning.  a few fierce thunderstorms, which are my favorite, came by last night.  we even got a little hail mixed in.  this morning we woke up to temps somewhere in the fiftys, with a wind chill of less. hard to guess the temp when you have no news to watch, or atleast any in english. a few storms of sleet and freezing rain, if there is a difference, passed through this morn as well.  i also woke up to a nice puddle of water in my floor, thanks to a lack of window caulk.  i spent the afternoon putting up plastic on the window and am now the “shabby house” on the block.  what i would give to be able to run to home depot. 

still no final date of departure, which seems to occupy more and more of my thoughts each day.  i have an idea, but the “information hoarding nazis” don't see fit to tell us common folk.  a typical tactic by the military to keep the "worker bees" in the state of dependance.  hopefully most of us are within 30 days of freedom.  fingers crossed. 

a big thanks to all who had a hand in the “freedom fest” fundraiser in rockingham, nc.  it was a great success and the soldiers of the 105th are greatful.  a special thanks to shawn lewis and the Richmond County Daily Journal.  shawn you are a good friend and a true patriot, God bless.

love and miss you all and look forward to the big reunion.

bc

all too often we take things for granted.  i am sure that it happens in all cultures, but being american, we have the upper hand.  being a soldier, deployed in a foriegn contry, this comes up alot.  many a day, or conversation heads towards that which we will never take for granted again.  we talk about that as much as we do anything.  it has really shown true this week, as we entered the rainy season.  something as simple as rain has such dramatic consequences on life, in this region.  i can't imagine how the people of this country, or similar environments, must depend on rain.  i know it has been worth its weight in gold, to us, just for dust control.  i thougth i would share a few more things that we say we will NEVER take for granted again. 

first our freedom.  if you have been in the military you know what i mean.  the very thing we fight for, it seems often, we get deprived.  regulation, regulation, regulation.  never again will i take lightly the choices i have as a civilian.  to wear what i want, when i want, where i want and with who i want.  to be able to be LAZY, if i want.  seems trivial, but you've got yours.

flush toliets.  i need not go into the trials of ten months spent “downloading” into prota johns, in the desert.  let your imagination run wild.

building codes.  since the rain, many electrical problems have surfaced here at our quaters.  when you come from the showers, with wet feet, a nice jolt of electricity meets you when you grab your door knob.  haji just doesn't have the regulation that keeps things like this from happening, as we do in the states.  be thankful.

speaking of showers.  being able to shower barefoot, with out being terrified you will catch something on your feet ajax won't take off.

grass.  absence makes the heart grow fonder.

well time is up and i have to run.  leading me to another thing i miss, boredom.  love and miss all.

bc

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all of the time we have been in this country, we have heard of the “rainy season.”  lately, i had begun to wonder if a rainy season even existed, anticipating it more than a child does santa.  rumor had it that the rainy season started in november.  yesterday, november 1, the rain came and not a minute late.  the weather has been chilly and dreary, and down right cold at night.  it is a nice change of pace, since the only weather i have seen for the last seven or eight months has been sunny, sunny, and sunny.  for once the dust is under control, although we now have a new enemy, the mud. 

hopefully we will wake up tomorrow to see that G.W. has been re-elected and will be around for four more.  take care, miss and love you all, and god bless.

bc

one of the first things we were taught while being briefed about the arab culture and religion was, “don't talk about it.”  religion is a very fragile subject, especially because most of the insurgents believe that our motives, as westerners, are based on religion and our want to spread christianity.  i had the opportunity a couple of days ago to meet two iraqi christians. the topic of religion came up by accident when i appologized for eating in front of one of our interpreters.  during the islamic holiday, rhamadan, muslims must fast, and refrain from tobacco and all conjugal activities, during the daylight hours.  i thought i might have offended him and appologized.  he quickly told me that he was not muslim, but instead christian.  i talked a while with both of them and touched a little on thier beliefs, as well as mine.  you could definitely tell a difference in some of the beliefs, but i am southern baptist, and lord knows we agree with no one.  one of the men, the elder, explained how sadam had affected christianity in iraq.  he said that before sadam came to power in 1979, there were approx. 4 million christians in iraq.  now he said there are about 500 thousand.  while i hesitate to accept this for fact, i imagine he is close in his figures. i mean, who would now more of the topic and of christian persecution than him.  he explain he had been a p.o.w., prisoner of war, in iran for a little over eight years.  he was captured during one of the many conflicts between iraq and iran in 1982 and was released in early 1990.  i asked why he was held, and why so long.  he told me it was because he was iraqi, of course, and that he also, was a christian.  while i am not sure that denouncing his faith would have led to his release, i am sure, because he explained, it would have saved him from some “special treatment.”  don't think i need to go into detail on special treament for p.o.w.s.  i thought this story was well worth sharing and could be a testimony to other christians.  i would love to think that i would react in the same manner and keep my allegiance to god, but hope the situation never arrises where i must prove it.  never thought an iraqi interpreter would be such a witness to me.  love and miss all.

bc