Can't Keep a Woman Down

So today I did something that Army says women can't do: I drove a tank. Ok, so the army actually doesn't say that, it's technically a congressional decree that prevents women from being in combat arms... but you get the idea. Anywho, I drove a tank!! The motor pool was doing routine services on the tanks that belong to one of the companies within our battalion and the final step of any service in the military is a test drive. So, I got to do one of the test drives! It's an M1A1, which is an Abrams Tank. To most of you that means absolutely nothing, which is ok. I got pictures!!!

Here I am, suited up and ready to go. Hook 'em! ;-)

Here I'm getting my 5 minute driving lesson from the Chief Warrant Officer in charge of the motor pool.

I'm off! You can tell it's me by my big smile. Woohoo!

They let me drive up and down the dirt trails inside the fence. And of course, to test if the service was successful, they had me max out the speed. On a tank, that's around 35mph. I hit 36. :-) Definitely a fun and unique way to start the day!

So aside from tanks, things have been going pretty well. I definitely like the new CO and 1SG team, but they still have to settle in a bit before I make my full analysis. We're still in the honeymoon phase and they may change once they get comfortable. I can say, however, I've gotten more instruction, mentoring, and attention from the command team in the past 4 days then I have in the past 2.5 months. For me, that's incredibly exciting.

Things are still busy. It's hard to believe I've almost been here 3 months. Sometimes it feels like it's been an eternity and other times it seems like I just got here. I'm definitely acclimating to the environment, though. You know it's bad when it's 90+ degrees at like 5 in the morning and you remark on how cool it is. I'm getting the worst Army tan: raccoon eyes from my sunglasses, line from my collar, line across my wrists from when I don't wear my gloves... the rest of me is hardcore pale though.

Well, I must head off to bed and get some sleep. My body has been very angry at this whole lack of sleep thing. I shall have to remedy that. I love you all and miss you more than words can truly express!

Adder Pictures

It occured to me that I haven't sent you guys many pictures of life here in Iraq. I haven't had the time or energy to upload them before, but the stars have aligned and here they are. So, without further ado, here are some pictures of my daily life:

First off, here are a few of my room. My bed:

Here's my door. You can tell I've covered everything with pictures:

And here's the wall facing my bed with my mural of home. I would like to make my other wall this awesome; right now it's blank:

Now, let's head outside. The barriers are painted here (just like in Kuwait) and this one stood out to me and made my day:

Just down the street from that is the Alamo. Yes, the Alamo. I didn't believe it at first, but it's definitely the Alamo:

Now, here's what the majority of Adder looks like:

And again:

We don't lose our sense of humor, however, as the Tallil National Forest below shows:

Here's my brigade headquarters. Our motto is "Iron Strong" and I must say I like our new banner and mascot:

I'm adding this because I saw it on a warning label in one of the buses roaming around base and the grammar made me laugh and made me sad at the same time. Anyone see the fault?:

So there you are, a minor subset of my world. Things are going pretty well over here, but I must go catch up on sleep and such. Maybe I'll have some more peanut butter M&Ms. :-)

That Perfect Moment

You know that moment when you eat something you've been craving for a long time? And when you finally have that thing you've been craving you have a moment of pure rightness and relaxation as your body processes this thing you've obviously needed/wanted for a while? Well hold that moment in your mind.

You know that moment when you enjoy something you haven't for an extremely long time. You had almost forgotten how it tasted but remember you loved it. Then you finally take a bite and your tastebuds go crazy from excitement and happiness. Hold that moment in your mind as well.

Now combine those two blissful moments into one mind altering, amazing moment and you may possibly have come across the moment I had when I had some peanut butter M&Ms this evening. It was divine. It's the small things in life that make everything better or worse and this was definitely a fantastical moment. Brought to you, by peanut butter M&Ms.

I celebrated this momentous occasion by watching Pride and Prejudice while cleaning my weapons. Oxymoron? Possibly. Do I truly care? Not at all. Got work done and got to feel girly for a bit. Good things.

I must head off to bed and dream sweet dreams of being home and enjoying peanut butter M&Ms. :-)

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

I'm hoping you all recognize the Monty Python quote in the title. Just sayin. Today was an AWESOME day! I slept in (well... slept through the alarm so I didn't go to the gym... but same end result!), got some finance stuff taken care of, got to have lunch with one of the other 2 female lieutenants in the battalion and talked about girly stuff, got a lot of paperwork and organization stuff done, cleaned my office, got lots of mail, and got home early. A good day indeed!

As to mail, I don't know who to thank first. Wow. Totally made my day. Leslie, thank you for the note and the madrigal flyer. Not only are they awesome (well done Sandra!) but it reminded me of the SEC and all the people I love back on UT campus. Thank you. Jenn, your card was so sweet. Definitely the only pink envelope in the mail room. :-) Grandpa, your letter had me beaming. I could hear you through the letter and I could feel the love throughout the whole thing. Thank you. Maman, the box of goodies is awesome! All the girly stuff will definitely be put to good use! Thank you for sending me pictures of Liam and Jack(they are proudly displayed on my wall), the pic of the fam, but also for the picture of me and Ward at his graduation. It's perfect; I almost started crying when I saw it. Thank you.

Thank you all for listening to my little rant yesterday. I know all of you haven't forgotten us (you read my blog!) but it's somewhat demoralizing to watch the news and realize no one even thinks about Iraq except as a note in history; completely ignoring the military personnel still here. It's just frustrating sometimes. One of the most frustrating things is when our Iraqi allies (and enemies) think we'll be completely gone on the 1st... I know of at least 2 prominent sheiks and a general who thought we were leaving and were freaking out. That's no good.

Things are a little hectic here as we have a new 1SG (moved him over early) and we will have a new commander in a week. Everything is topsy turvey as we try and figure out what the new command team wants/expects from us. Many changes are already being put into effect. It's good though, because there were a lot of things that didn't seem right to me and the new command team has handed me the theater standards and expectations for everything so we can get everything back up to standard. We have some work to do, but now I know what's expected. Before, I felt a little lost and like I was being pulled around in the dark, but now I know the standards so I can enforce them. Means a little bit more work, but definitely worth it in the end.

Things are still hot here, today more than usual. Power goes out at least once a day; the generators overheat and do a safety shut off. The contractors who run the generators have a crew that drives around base with a water tank and hose all day and stop at each generator to hose them off and cool them down. Sounds like a great job, don't you think? They're getting paid 6 figure salaries so they better not complain...

Well, I should probably do some sort of a work out to compensate for sleeping through my gym time this morning then shower and grab dinner. I love you all!!

The Forgotten War

I often feel that everything in Iraq is being pushed under the rug to make the people of the world and America stop thinking about Iraq. It came to my attention today when talking to some of my soldiers about how MWR doesn't send any of the big name celebrities to Iraq anymore; they all go to Afghanistan. No one wants to be associated with Iraq. It's seen as a major scandal and the "war we shouldn't have entered" so no one wants us to think about it. Except for the major headlines that "Americans turnover all combat missions to Iraqi soldiers" in a massive ceremony in Baghdad and "No more combat troops in Iraq after 1 Sep". I just want to set the record straight. Just because we're not doing combat missions doesn't mean we're not here. In fact, 50,000 of us are here! That's right, 50,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines are here, in Iraq, doing all of these non combat missions. Many people don't realize how many non combat missions go on for every combat mission. While we're training Iraqi soldiers, we're still out there with them; doing on the job training. While we're spread across the country, resupply missions are happening on a weekly basis; soldiers have to eat. While we're not doing combat missions, we still defend ourselves through route clearance, interdiction patrols, and presence patrols. We run convoys to protect important personnel (both Iraqi and American). We fly missions across the airspace to keep our soldiers and innocent civilians safe. So while we're not doing "combat missions" like kicking in doors or actively searching out threats, we're still here. We're still running convoys on these roads. We're still teaching and mentoring the Iraqi soldiers on how to search at a checkpoint or how to diffuse an IED. The news has forgotten the 50,000 of us still here and have even made our Iraqi allies worry we're leaving early. So while the world tries to ignore the 50,000 military personnel and countless civilian personnel over here, I ask that you please remember: we're still here.

Did I Mention I Was Busy?

Sorry to take so long on the updates They're working us like none other. Didn't get back to my room until 11 last night and I was definitely up and working at 6... freaking long days. Today is nice though; I actually had the time and energy to get up and go running! I haven't run in over 2 weeks and it was nice to be able to again.

Things have been crazy. My 1SG got relieved from duty due to inappropriate relations with some of the soldiers, so the whole company is in a tizzy. Creates more work for everyone and unfortunately paints the whole company in a bad light. We're working through it, though, and we will have a new 1SG next month and we'll move on. We're also going to have a new CO in a little over 10 days, so the whole company leadership will be changed. I'm crossing my fingers.

To my longhorn friends: I need some gear. I'm being bested by an Ohio State alumni who is my XO. Currently, I have a flag on order, but I need so UT gear for my desk. Nothing particular comes to mind, but my desk is pretty lame as of now.

I have mail! And lots of it! Dad, the 2 packages of Starbucks coffee drinks will last me some time, but are greatly appreciated! Thank you. And I've used many of the magnetic frames you sent; definitely helping with the room decor. Mama, the continuous stream of cards make me smile and are random lifts to my spirits, usually on days I need them most. Thank you. Claire, the card you sent with the glitter cracked me up; the guys in the mail room didn't know what to do with it and were covered in glitter for the day. Made my day completely! Amy, your card was an unexpected delight. Thank you.

Well, I must run off to work... lames. Love you all!

P.S. Reid, alas there is no swimming pool here on Adder... if only!

Busy Busy Busy

This week has been crazy. I can't tell you all the details, but I've been working a lot and we've been going outside the wire pretty much daily. My guys (oh yeah, and me too) are all beat. Doesn't look like it'll let up soon...lames.

Belated happy Birthday to you, Mama!! Sorry I wasn't there to celebrate with you!

I'm super psyched about my google voice account though!!! Anyone can text or call me from their cell phone and I can chat back and forth via my computer. Too cool. I'm not going to post my number here, but email me and I shall send it your way. Yay for texts and voice messages!!!!

So, I'm going to vent for a bit towards the Fobbits of the world. For those of you who don't know, Fobbits are the military personnel that never leave the FOB. For image, click here: http://pvtmurphy.com/strips/full/fobbit-2.jpg I have no problem with Fobbits, because many of them are needed. However, I cannot sympathize with them too much, so here is my note to Fobbits:

Dear Fobbits,

I know that your job keeps you inside the wire and you may or may not have any control over that. i understad. However, do NOT expect me to sympathize or empathize when you're venting about having to work everyday, or missing your favorite spin class at the gym, or how you have "so much work", especially when you get to go home at 1700 everyday, get to the office at 0900, and get an off day each week. You are not winning yourself any friends or support among everyone who goes outside the wire. I do not expect you to just drop everything and go outside the wire, but don't make fun of my guys' weapons that are dirty because they actually carry them somewhere other than to work and the DFAC. So next time you decide to have a major vent session, please do not do so loudly in front of me and my guys. K thanks.

OK, so I have a few more fobbit links I think are appropriate...

http://www.pvtmurphy.com/strips/full/fobbit-1.jpg

http://danatucker.blogspot.com/2007/03/fobbits-creed.html

http://www.bouhammer.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/1fobbit_thumb.jpg

So anywho, past the fobbit venting. Things have been really crazy. A base we thought was closed isn't ready to be turned back to the Iraqi government, so we're going out there everyday we don't have another mission (and sometimes even on those days if the mission is short enough) to make sure it all gets done. Tres frustrating. And on top of that we're trying to get the company ready for a change of command. That means a 100% inventory of everything within the company as well as walking the new commander around and filling him in on everything going on... good times. I'm holding up, but this is somewhat of a nasty joke because everything was supposed to be easier after we closed that base last week.... I'm not sure where the light is at the end of this tunnel... maybe I should just look forward to EML in November because that's pretty much set in stone and I know I'll get a break. Yes, definitely going to enjoy that.

I hope life is going well for all of you. I miss all of you, your senses of humor, your friendly laughter and smiles, and just having non-army conversations. Love you all!