So the day that I was suppose to leave Iraq has come and gone. We are waiting for a flight, I will know in about an hour if there is one for tomorrow, but I am doubtfull. With all the free time on my hands I have gone on a buying frenzy, mostly old coins. I have had this old coin collection for years and havent done anything with it. Well I am going to break it out when I get home and see if its worth anything. Now that I am a little older I can understand the in's and outs of collecting, trading, and selling coins. I think I will be able to make a little bit of money and have fun while doing it.
Another thing that has been keeping my mind busy is the options I have. Options on where I can take my life. I know that I am going to go back to school and finish up my Bachlors in Anthropology. After that I have some choices to make. I can go right to work, and I have a few options there. I know a good job offer is a rareity for newly graduated people, so its something to consider. I could get my Masters, it would only be another 2 years and wouldnt cost very much. This would also open up a few more jobs for me, so its something else to think about. I could go to OCS and become an officer. If I did this I would make good money and have a good career no matter what happends to the economy. I could also start a business. I have done alot of research over here and could make a pretty good go of it. If I chose this option I would do Judgement Recovery. There are a lot more things swimming around in my head as far as my options go, these are just the ones that really stand out. Thats all I am going to talk about tonight, Thanks for reading!!
PS Still cant figure out whats wrong with the spell checker, I think its just the connection over here. Also if I dont post for a few days that means I finally got outta here!!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
The pages are turning
Well the next chapter is almost here! There are only a few steps to take and I will be home. I know I have rambled on about this alot, but its a big deal. I have been gone for 10 months, I took 2 weeks or leave but chose to go to Australia instead of home. Some people were not to happy about that one. But why wouldnt I take a free plane ticket to somewhere I will probly never be able to afford to visit on my own. It was a trip of a life time. I intended on summing up my time away from home but I think I am going to focus on my trip instead. I think its worth having its own post and I feel like talking about it.
So we left Iraq and flew to Kuwait where we found out that we were missing some paper work (thats 250th). So it was a mad rush to get everything in order. Once we did they took us to Kuwait international Airport where we changed into civilian clothes. From there we went to Dubai, where we also fell asleep at our gate and missed our plane. So we had to wait in the terminal for 15 hrs for the next flight. When we finally did board the plane I found up I had been bumped up to business class. Guess it pays off to be nice (One of the guys I was with was really mean to the lady working to ticket counter). Best plane right I have ever had. We made it to Sydney at around 6 pm.
We spent the next couple days checking out the area. Our plan when we chose to go on this trip was not to have a plan. Well that was the best idea we could have had. We rented a campervan on our second night. We were just walking down the street and saw the rental place and decided to check it out. The next day we flew up to Cairns. Coolest town I have ever been in! while we were there we checked off alot of things on our bucket lists. Two of the major things were skydiving and whitewater rafting. The whitewater rafting was the most amazing thing I have ever done. Not excluding the fact that I fell out in a rapid that killed 2 people a month before and almost drowned. I was also side by side the guy that played Steve the pirate from Dodgeball!
From Cairns we went to Airle Beach, which is the launching area to go to the Whitsunday Islands and Whitehaven Beach. The beach was breathtaking, I really cant put it into words so I wont try. Pictures just dont do it justice. I also went diving on the Great Barrier Reef, which was actually a little disapointing. This was all done during a liveaboard cruise I took on a retired racing yacht. I met some really great people, and like most of the trip I was the only American. When I first arrived on the boat I was afraid I would be the only English speaking person. I was lucky though and there turned out to be 3 Canadian girls and 2 guys from Britain all of us got along great. After the cruise we all went out that night, I drank WAY to much and some of the details are foggy. When I woke up no one was mad at me and we were all in one peice so it must have been a good time. We left Airle Beach that afternoon.
From Airle Beach we went to Byron Bay. It took us about 15 hrs to make the drive and made it to Byron at about 2 am. We drove around and checked out the town liked what we saw so set out to find a campground to park and get some sleep. Well everything was closed so we decided to just camp in a park parking lot that night. Which resulted in a parking ticket, Byron is the only place in Australia that you cant camp on the side of the road. We were just about to turn in when someone knocked on our door asking if we wanted a beer. I got a great memory that night, there were about 10 of us standing around drinking a few beers and talking about our differnt cultures. Out of the 10 of us there were 6 differnt nationalites. It was a great time. I tried surfing the next day and almost drowned for the second time when I got caught in a rip tide. After that I decided to stick to scuba diving from now on. We also went out to a few pretty cool bars and had some great times. By then our trip was coming to an end. We left Byron and headed south again, after about 14 hrs of driving we figured we had had enough so we started looking for a place to camp. Well we got lost and then got the van stuck several miles from civilization. So we had to walk to the gas station we pasted a few miles back. The whole time being followed by dingos. That was a crazy night.
We were almost to Sydney and had a day left so we went on a little side adventure down a small two lane road called Waterfall Way. It was so worth it. We slept on top of a mountain and watched a few movies on my laptop. One of which was Greenstreet Holigans, great movie. Now how many people can say that they watched a movie about an American hanging out with English soccer holigans on top of a mountain in Australia? Not many I would think. The next day we took in some of the most breath taking views I have ever seen, and even got to see a few Kangaroos.
Well that was pretty much the end, the next day we turned in our van, and got on a plane and started our journey back to Iraq. Although there was a really cool park that had a swimming pool cut out of the rock that was feed by the ocean, I have added a picture so you can see how cool it was. This is just a short discription of the most amazing 2 weeks I have ever had. Made even better by the fact that I had spent several months in Iraq before it started. I have left somethings out to keep it short and I dont feel like typeing every detail, because it would take way to long to talk about every detail. I hope you enjoyed it
So we left Iraq and flew to Kuwait where we found out that we were missing some paper work (thats 250th). So it was a mad rush to get everything in order. Once we did they took us to Kuwait international Airport where we changed into civilian clothes. From there we went to Dubai, where we also fell asleep at our gate and missed our plane. So we had to wait in the terminal for 15 hrs for the next flight. When we finally did board the plane I found up I had been bumped up to business class. Guess it pays off to be nice (One of the guys I was with was really mean to the lady working to ticket counter). Best plane right I have ever had. We made it to Sydney at around 6 pm.
We spent the next couple days checking out the area. Our plan when we chose to go on this trip was not to have a plan. Well that was the best idea we could have had. We rented a campervan on our second night. We were just walking down the street and saw the rental place and decided to check it out. The next day we flew up to Cairns. Coolest town I have ever been in! while we were there we checked off alot of things on our bucket lists. Two of the major things were skydiving and whitewater rafting. The whitewater rafting was the most amazing thing I have ever done. Not excluding the fact that I fell out in a rapid that killed 2 people a month before and almost drowned. I was also side by side the guy that played Steve the pirate from Dodgeball!
From Cairns we went to Airle Beach, which is the launching area to go to the Whitsunday Islands and Whitehaven Beach. The beach was breathtaking, I really cant put it into words so I wont try. Pictures just dont do it justice. I also went diving on the Great Barrier Reef, which was actually a little disapointing. This was all done during a liveaboard cruise I took on a retired racing yacht. I met some really great people, and like most of the trip I was the only American. When I first arrived on the boat I was afraid I would be the only English speaking person. I was lucky though and there turned out to be 3 Canadian girls and 2 guys from Britain all of us got along great. After the cruise we all went out that night, I drank WAY to much and some of the details are foggy. When I woke up no one was mad at me and we were all in one peice so it must have been a good time. We left Airle Beach that afternoon.
From Airle Beach we went to Byron Bay. It took us about 15 hrs to make the drive and made it to Byron at about 2 am. We drove around and checked out the town liked what we saw so set out to find a campground to park and get some sleep. Well everything was closed so we decided to just camp in a park parking lot that night. Which resulted in a parking ticket, Byron is the only place in Australia that you cant camp on the side of the road. We were just about to turn in when someone knocked on our door asking if we wanted a beer. I got a great memory that night, there were about 10 of us standing around drinking a few beers and talking about our differnt cultures. Out of the 10 of us there were 6 differnt nationalites. It was a great time. I tried surfing the next day and almost drowned for the second time when I got caught in a rip tide. After that I decided to stick to scuba diving from now on. We also went out to a few pretty cool bars and had some great times. By then our trip was coming to an end. We left Byron and headed south again, after about 14 hrs of driving we figured we had had enough so we started looking for a place to camp. Well we got lost and then got the van stuck several miles from civilization. So we had to walk to the gas station we pasted a few miles back. The whole time being followed by dingos. That was a crazy night.
We were almost to Sydney and had a day left so we went on a little side adventure down a small two lane road called Waterfall Way. It was so worth it. We slept on top of a mountain and watched a few movies on my laptop. One of which was Greenstreet Holigans, great movie. Now how many people can say that they watched a movie about an American hanging out with English soccer holigans on top of a mountain in Australia? Not many I would think. The next day we took in some of the most breath taking views I have ever seen, and even got to see a few Kangaroos.
Well that was pretty much the end, the next day we turned in our van, and got on a plane and started our journey back to Iraq. Although there was a really cool park that had a swimming pool cut out of the rock that was feed by the ocean, I have added a picture so you can see how cool it was. This is just a short discription of the most amazing 2 weeks I have ever had. Made even better by the fact that I had spent several months in Iraq before it started. I have left somethings out to keep it short and I dont feel like typeing every detail, because it would take way to long to talk about every detail. I hope you enjoyed it
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Room checks tomorrow
Well my room looks pretty much like it did when I got here. All my crap is in one corner and ready to go, just gotta throw my computer in my backpack and put on my IOTV (bullet proof vest) and I can get on a plane. A lot of people are leaving me comments and what not about how pumped they are to see me and what not. Feels good to know that I was missed. I am looking forward to seeing everyone, almost makes me wish I would have gone home for leave and not to Australia (close but am happy with my choice). I also was told by a few people that they have been reading this. Leave comments of what you think. Gotta keep it short tonight cause its getting late!
Friday, August 13, 2010
My bags are packed
It finally feels real! My bags are all packed up and I am ready to roll. Just two more days and we will be on call to get the hell outta here. It might take a couple days to actually leave though. Thats the worst part, waiting here then waitng in Kuwait for flights. Traveling with the Army is a nightmare. One gets pretty good at the waiting game. I figure it should take a little less then two weeks till I am back at my house in good ol' Levering. This is the longest I have ever been away from my home town and I hope this is the longest I am ever away. Words really cant discribe how ready I am to be back. After 8 months in Iraq I have had my fill of the middle east. Its late so I am keeping it short, thanks for reading.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Iraq sucks
OMG I AM SO BORED!!!! This place is starting to get to me. I have watched 4 movies today and am pretty sure I cant sit through another one. I finished another book last night, World war Z it was really good. The book is a bunch of interviews of survivors of a zombie apocalypse. Its the story of how people first realized the threat, lived though it, and then took there life's back from the undead by force from around the world. It got me thinking about what I would do in the event of any world threat that could potentially end civilization on planet earth. Where would I go, what would I need, and who would I want with me. If it was zombies I would say northern Canada, the long winters and isolation would give you several months with no threat. The list for what I would need is long maybe if I ever get on this zombie kick again I will make it its own post. The people I would need would have to have certain skills that cant just be learned on the Internet or in a book. People like doctors or therapists, Dr's for obvious reasons and therapists to keep moral up. Moral would be one of the biggest factors of living or dieing. Once an acceptable living area is set up and all the means to stay alive were in place the biggest threat would be your own mind. In a state of hopelessness the human brain can do some pretty scary stuff. Just look at some of the things that have happened in Iraq and Afghanistan. When people lose their hope and will to live its only a matter of time before that life ends. Well I think that's enough on zombies and the end of the world for now. Leave a comment and ask for more if you are interested.
Like I said I am very bored. I feel like I am literally going crazy! What do people with weight problems do when they are bored? That's right we eat. I am some what lucky though, I don't really have any food in my room and its a really far walk in the heat to go to the PX or one of the fast food places we have. But none the less its still making my goals that much harder to reach. The longer I sit in my room like this the harder its going to be when I get home. I know what some of you are saying, "then why don't you get off you lazy ass and do something then". Trust me I feel ya. Believe me if there was something to do I would go out and do it. I am lets not forget in a war zone. So there isn't a whole lot of options. I could go and talk to some people in my Platoon who are just as bored as me, but I have been with them everyday for a year now. There really isn't many new topics to talk about. So I am stuck. Oh well, I can deal with it. I am only 4 days away from leaving the hot box. I suppose all the boredom will be worth it. I think I have ranted and complained enough for one day. I will leave you with a question. If there ever was a zombie outbreak how would you survive?
Like I said I am very bored. I feel like I am literally going crazy! What do people with weight problems do when they are bored? That's right we eat. I am some what lucky though, I don't really have any food in my room and its a really far walk in the heat to go to the PX or one of the fast food places we have. But none the less its still making my goals that much harder to reach. The longer I sit in my room like this the harder its going to be when I get home. I know what some of you are saying, "then why don't you get off you lazy ass and do something then". Trust me I feel ya. Believe me if there was something to do I would go out and do it. I am lets not forget in a war zone. So there isn't a whole lot of options. I could go and talk to some people in my Platoon who are just as bored as me, but I have been with them everyday for a year now. There really isn't many new topics to talk about. So I am stuck. Oh well, I can deal with it. I am only 4 days away from leaving the hot box. I suppose all the boredom will be worth it. I think I have ranted and complained enough for one day. I will leave you with a question. If there ever was a zombie outbreak how would you survive?
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Just another day in the Army....
Well another day down, that much closer to being home. Its going to be wierd having freedom again. To be able to do what I want when I want, its going to take some getting used to. This will be even weirder then when I came home from basic. I was only gone for 15 weeks then and I came home for Christmas half way through. Although it was much stricter living. At least here we have some freedoms, like phones, computers, and tv's.
Today we had an award ceramony where people got coins and medals. The Army has so much cerimonial crap that goes with anything that they do. We had two rehersals which consisted of us standing and sitting a few times, and reading the words for the Soldiers Creed and the Army Song. It was a waste of time. Not that I really have anything all that productive to do anyways. I suppose it was a good thing to have a reason to get out of my CHU. Well I guess I am keeping this one short cause I dont really have anything else worth saying.
Today we had an award ceramony where people got coins and medals. The Army has so much cerimonial crap that goes with anything that they do. We had two rehersals which consisted of us standing and sitting a few times, and reading the words for the Soldiers Creed and the Army Song. It was a waste of time. Not that I really have anything all that productive to do anyways. I suppose it was a good thing to have a reason to get out of my CHU. Well I guess I am keeping this one short cause I dont really have anything else worth saying.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The long boring days
Well there are only a few days left in my deployment. We have nothing left to do, so my days are filled with try to keep busy. I dont have very many options either. So I have been filling my days with reading and watching movies. Its to hot to go outside unless you have to, so I spend as much time in my room as possable. Thank god we have A/C!
I will touch on my plans when I get home. Its inevitable that there is going to be a fair amount of partying. Thats fine with me. I think I have earned the right to spend a few days in a drunkin haze. After that though its time to buckle down. I came here weighing 240 lbs, and I am going to leave weighing about the same. Which means I have spent over 8 months in 100+ temps working alot of long days and havent lost anything. Even worse I have gained some. My plan was to drop at least 30 but I defently droped the ball. I am not going to make exuses, its my own fault and thats all there is to it. When I get home its going to take some considerable will power to not fall into a routine that will slow my possitive progress. With the closest gym being almost an hour drive from my house exercise is going to be my biggest challenge. So I am going to count on P90X to meet those goals. If any of you have ever tried P90X you know that sticking to it is a feat of will power. I am confident that I can though. For eating right, and in the right proportions I am going to cook all my meals for the week on sunday and then freeze them. I know myself and know this is the only way I will stick with it. It will save me money also. I will be far less likely to order from the Chicken or go up to Clydes when I am feeling to lazy to cook my own food. I will talk more about this "plan" in future posts.
I said that I have been reading alot lately and want to talk about the past couple books I have read. The first is The Dark Tower by Stephen King. Its a seven part serise about a gunslingers quest to reach the dark tower. Think the Lord of the Rings with a western theme, in a post apcotoliptic world. This is probly the best story I have ever read. It was a great way to kill time over here, as I have had alot of it in the past month or so. The next is Choke, it was dark and entertaining. It also had a great ending. I would recomend it to anyone that wants to take a peek into the underbelly of socity, and see the ups and downs of being a sexoholic. Its also a really fast read, which was refreshing after the hours upon hours it took to get through The Dark Tower.
Well I think I have rambled on enough for now. Although there are two other notes worth mentioning. Today there was a bomb scare in the chow hall and it was closed for most of lunch. EOD had to be called in and it was a pretty crazy scene for awhile. Our moter pool was also mortered last night, good thing hardly anyone is down there anymore. There was a UXO that had to be cleared as well. Our base is morterd almost daily but its rarely close, so that cause a little bit of excitment to break up the day. The picture I added with this post is of me working on a bridge we built, it was taken about half way through a 38 hr shift. We got it done though!!!!
P.S. I am a really bad speller and the Spell Check isnt working for some reason, so sorry for any errors.
I will touch on my plans when I get home. Its inevitable that there is going to be a fair amount of partying. Thats fine with me. I think I have earned the right to spend a few days in a drunkin haze. After that though its time to buckle down. I came here weighing 240 lbs, and I am going to leave weighing about the same. Which means I have spent over 8 months in 100+ temps working alot of long days and havent lost anything. Even worse I have gained some. My plan was to drop at least 30 but I defently droped the ball. I am not going to make exuses, its my own fault and thats all there is to it. When I get home its going to take some considerable will power to not fall into a routine that will slow my possitive progress. With the closest gym being almost an hour drive from my house exercise is going to be my biggest challenge. So I am going to count on P90X to meet those goals. If any of you have ever tried P90X you know that sticking to it is a feat of will power. I am confident that I can though. For eating right, and in the right proportions I am going to cook all my meals for the week on sunday and then freeze them. I know myself and know this is the only way I will stick with it. It will save me money also. I will be far less likely to order from the Chicken or go up to Clydes when I am feeling to lazy to cook my own food. I will talk more about this "plan" in future posts.
I said that I have been reading alot lately and want to talk about the past couple books I have read. The first is The Dark Tower by Stephen King. Its a seven part serise about a gunslingers quest to reach the dark tower. Think the Lord of the Rings with a western theme, in a post apcotoliptic world. This is probly the best story I have ever read. It was a great way to kill time over here, as I have had alot of it in the past month or so. The next is Choke, it was dark and entertaining. It also had a great ending. I would recomend it to anyone that wants to take a peek into the underbelly of socity, and see the ups and downs of being a sexoholic. Its also a really fast read, which was refreshing after the hours upon hours it took to get through The Dark Tower.
Well I think I have rambled on enough for now. Although there are two other notes worth mentioning. Today there was a bomb scare in the chow hall and it was closed for most of lunch. EOD had to be called in and it was a pretty crazy scene for awhile. Our moter pool was also mortered last night, good thing hardly anyone is down there anymore. There was a UXO that had to be cleared as well. Our base is morterd almost daily but its rarely close, so that cause a little bit of excitment to break up the day. The picture I added with this post is of me working on a bridge we built, it was taken about half way through a 38 hr shift. We got it done though!!!!
P.S. I am a really bad speller and the Spell Check isnt working for some reason, so sorry for any errors.
Monday, August 9, 2010
I am about to start a new chapter in my life, Well sorta. I am coming home from Iraq in a couple weeks and get a chance to start a whole new routine. This isn't the first time I have had this opportunity. Although every other time I have dropped the ball on making positive changes. Its so easy to slip into that same old routine when you get back from an extended absence. WELL NOT THIS TIME!! I am going to put it out there for the who world to see. Follow me on my journey as I get ready to come home after being in Iraq for a year. I have many goals to accomplish in the coming weeks and months. The center of all of them is becoming a better man. That's what they all lead to. A few highlights will be returning to WMU as an undergrad at 27 years old, getting into the physical condition that I wanted to be in when I came to this sandbox, and not getting back into a few of the "bad habits" I used to have. Oh yeah and the image on the top pretty much sums up my whole deployment, yep thats human waste that I am burning.
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