Begging face down on the floor. You sold your soul, now they want more.
These are lyrics to a song that's been stuck in my head all day long. The title of this post, I decided, will be my anthem for this deployment. Breed it, and Bear it; I know I'm going to war in Afghanistan. You know I'm going to war in Afghanistan. So I've created some sort of positive vibe about the whole situation that I can embrace during the preparation stage. When the preparation stage is over, then I can bear the suck and fight the good fight. Afghanistan will become my narcotic of choice, because, well, I don't really have a choice. Embrace the suck.
I would check out this song if I were you; it's called simply, "Narcotic," by DEAD POETIC. I like this band because it is made up of guys I went to high school with. They sort of made it big, too, until one of the members decided he didn't want to be in a band any more. It kind of ended after that, but they do have one album left on their contract, so it's not totally over.
I do not have a whole lot to talk about today. I am hoping and praying that my pass will get approved so that I can go home one last time this weekend. I really need it, in a bad way. I just want to get out of the military scene one last moment. After that it's going to be balls to the wall hardcore army every day for 15 months. I heard rumors today that there is no Internet access whatsoever in the area we will be operating in. I hope this isn't true..for one, how will I continue this blog? And two, it's a great way to communicate back home.
I can hear shots being fired right now. Must be a late night out on the firing range. I really didn't think I lived close enough to base to hear gunfire, but I guess I am. You can't mistake the the rat-tat-tat of an M249 or a .50 caliber machine gun.
Anxiety is starting to take it's place in my mind. We have to get everything squared away with getting rid of our apartment and making sure all of our belongings are properly stored. What am I gonna do with the bills that will arrive in my mailbox at an apartment that I don't live in anymore? I won't even be in the US when they come; I guess I'll have them forwarded to my parents. We also have to make sure we have all of our personal military gear..We are each responsible for too much gear in my opinion. If I could possibly hand carry all of the stuff I've been issued I'd be buried by it. Asphyxiation by equipment, what a way to go!
Well, I guess I will sign off for now. Pray for the pass, pray for the pass. I want to go to Ohio.
Cheers
-J
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Bye Bye Birdies, among other things..
So we went to work at 2am on Friday morning to see the aircraft off. Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie company each own eight aircraft. Our armament shop cares for all 24, so we need to be present when the aircraft depart in case they have problems on initial runup, etc. The companies' aircraft left about 2 hours apart, and I was there until about 10am. We split up the entire day into shifts because people needed to be at the shop while the aircraft were en route to port in Florida. One of my buddies was in a trailing blackhawk as part of a DART (downed aircraft recovery team) mission to make sure all the aircraft made it safely to port.
All the aircraft were gone before I finished my shift that morning. When the sun was just beginning to creep above the trees I went out to the flight line to have a look. The normally busy, bustling flight line lay completely empty; a huge vacant tarmac. Usually the Apaches sit in neat rows of eight with maintainers swarming around, tool boxes in hand. Now, there was just a soft, quiet breeze and the remnants of what looked like an abandoned airfield. It was really kind of sad and eerie at the same time.
With all of the aircraft gone there is little work for us to do until we leave at the end of the month. This is a commander's worst nightmare because the soldiers become restless and bored. A restless and bored soldier can become a liability as we all know, so the commanders release an atrocious list of rules and regulations to keep everyone in their place. While some seem rediculous, I can understand why the rules are set. It just adds to the whole "long december" theory.
A lot of people are starting to ask me questions. The one I get the most is, "are you scared?"
I'm not scared, because I don't know what it's going to be like. What makes me most nervous I guess is the whole traveling part once we get into country. We won't be flying straight in to where our operations are, so we'll have to get there somehow. Some say we'll fly on helicopters everywhere we go, but who knows for sure? We might end up on some damn convoy ground pounding all the way to the forward operating base. I will be slightly nervous if we end up on convoys. I'll just have to keep my eyes open much, much wider.
That's all I have to talk about right now. I love the holiday season but I feel as if I am too worried about getting everything ready for deployment to enjoy any of it. I hope everyone else is, though. It's a time to be with family and appreciate all the good things in life, especially christmas ham. I'll have my own little holiday somehow. Take care everyone.
-J
All the aircraft were gone before I finished my shift that morning. When the sun was just beginning to creep above the trees I went out to the flight line to have a look. The normally busy, bustling flight line lay completely empty; a huge vacant tarmac. Usually the Apaches sit in neat rows of eight with maintainers swarming around, tool boxes in hand. Now, there was just a soft, quiet breeze and the remnants of what looked like an abandoned airfield. It was really kind of sad and eerie at the same time.
With all of the aircraft gone there is little work for us to do until we leave at the end of the month. This is a commander's worst nightmare because the soldiers become restless and bored. A restless and bored soldier can become a liability as we all know, so the commanders release an atrocious list of rules and regulations to keep everyone in their place. While some seem rediculous, I can understand why the rules are set. It just adds to the whole "long december" theory.
A lot of people are starting to ask me questions. The one I get the most is, "are you scared?"
I'm not scared, because I don't know what it's going to be like. What makes me most nervous I guess is the whole traveling part once we get into country. We won't be flying straight in to where our operations are, so we'll have to get there somehow. Some say we'll fly on helicopters everywhere we go, but who knows for sure? We might end up on some damn convoy ground pounding all the way to the forward operating base. I will be slightly nervous if we end up on convoys. I'll just have to keep my eyes open much, much wider.
That's all I have to talk about right now. I love the holiday season but I feel as if I am too worried about getting everything ready for deployment to enjoy any of it. I hope everyone else is, though. It's a time to be with family and appreciate all the good things in life, especially christmas ham. I'll have my own little holiday somehow. Take care everyone.
-J
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