Rainy Day Off

I finally got a day off. It is not as exciting as I was hoping. It is 10am and I am bored to death and it is giving me too much time to think about things and people that I am missing. With it being 1am for everyone at home, I can't just pick up the phone and call and talk to anyone. That part really sucks for me. I guess I have more time to write more and think of things that I keep forgetting to mention.

For one, I my own little "Disney" here. The main road where we all live and where everything is Disney. I get tired of saluting nonstop while walking down the sidewalk. We are hoping that General Schloesser will stop it when he takes over in a few days.

I have been working pretty hard cleaning up the mess that the 82nd Airborne left for us. They left files lying around everywhere and we have to figure what is going on. That is a huge project by itself. I also get several emails a day wanting to know the status of awards and I have to search for them and try to get back to the people. At the beginning of the week I have over 50 emails that I needed to follow up on and I am down to about 30 right now. But, with taking a day off, I am sure that there are going to several more for me tomorrow. My section has already developed some pretty good relationships with some higher ranking people. For example, PFC McCollough helped out a Colonel and a Lieutenant Colonel with some things that the 82nd dropped the ball on and it paid off pretty well. Yesterday the Colonel called McCollough and asked if we had anything that needed picked up in Kabul and we did. He brought it back to us and had his soldiers carry it up to us instead of telling us to come and get it. It was quite a bit of NATO medals. He told PFC McCollough that is what happens when you help some one out.

We are even developing relationships with people in Kuwait and Germany. This wll be beneficial later on I am sure.

We have been having some pretty nice weather too, except for today. It has been raining for several hours, which makes me a little happier I am off today. Another good reason to be off today is that the laundry service must have lost my clothes. It was supposed to be back two days ago. We are only allowed to turn in 20 items at a time. I went ahead and turned in another bag yesterday and I hoping to get it today or tomorrow because I am out of clean underwear and t-shirts and my PT uniform is starting to smell really bad.

A little not so good news. Yesterday we ran over 5 miles for the first time since I got here. I was struggling quite a bit throughout the run. When we finally got back I did my normal puking. But this time it got worse. A few minutes later when we were doing our cool down stretches I started getting dizzy. I continued on until I started blacking out and hypervenilating. It really scared me and my platoon sergeant. It took me a while to calm down and catch my breathe. That has never happened to me before and I hope it never happens again.

Also, I went to the doctor the other day and I had pink eye for the first time in my life. Of course it spread to my other eye. The doctor told me it is going pretty bad here. Atleast if I get it again I have the drops and don't have to go to the doctor again.

Jeremy called me at work the other day. I am assuming he is on his way to Kuwait, if not there already, so that he can get to Iraq. They changed where he is going again. Now he is going to be outside of Mosul instead of at Mosul. I just hope he is careful and with a group of guys that now what they are doing. It also makes me feel better having a prior infantry guy who was in Iraq as infantry telling how it works with the medics. It made feel a lot better when he was explaining it to me the other day.

I putting some pictures on here in random places for you to see. These mountain pictures I took yesterday. I had to climb up on a bunker in the morning to get the shots. These are all from right outside of my hut. Yes, I am living on the "wire", which on the outside of the post. On a clear day, you see a small village on the side of the mountain. When we have another clear day, I will setup the tripod and zoom in on it and get it posted here.


You have PFC McCollough on here before.

Here is a picture of the SSG Cundiff showing his best side.













And here is one of SSG Butler taking a picture of me.















Well, I am going to try and find something to do on this long boring day. If I can find some paper, I am going to handwrite a letter or two. I am wanting to get one out to Courtney as soon as I can and today is the day to get it done.

I hope everyone at home is doing good, and until next time AIR ASSAULT!!