Luck of the Irish

In honor of St Patrick's Day next week I am now sitting in an airport in Ireland. I'm on my way home!!!! I am so excited to have this deployment over and get back to the things in life that I have missed. While this deployment has been a growing and learning experience, I'm more than ready for this to be done and over with. USA, here I come!

Luck of the Irish

Last Few Days in Iraq

As the RIP process draws to a close, I am counting the days until I'm out of this country. Sure, we've had some good times... but it's definitely time to go. The temperatures are starting to get on the warm/hot side and I really would prefer to not wait around for it to get above 100 again. No thank you.

The process of teaching my job to the incoming unit has been more of a test of my ability to let go than my ability to teach my mission. I know the mission like the back of my hand and have never been worried about teaching someone else how to do it. I was surprised, however, at how territorial I was. I've signed everything over to the new PL, so none of the equipment belongs to me, yet I freaked out when I saw one of "my" trucks in the maintenance bay. I started wondering what was wrong with it and why I hadn't been told... then I realized it's not my truck anymore. And the new unit does things differently and changed many of the things I had set up... it's hard to let go. I have been, however. It's been fun introducing the new PL to the sheikhs; he is definitely going to have to get more comfortable with that. He's constantly worried about offending them. He's doing quite well, but he also needs to learn how to each the food... he almost threw up on a tomato... luckily the sheikh was looking the other way and I was the only one who saw it. It was hillarious.

Tent life is all it's cracked up to be. The cot is hard, the heater decides when it wants to work, everything is covered with sand, and you are constantly aware of your tent-mates. We're having a blast, though. We've had a girl's movie night, chatted, and are just overall excited we're leaving soon. The other female LT and I fixed the heater using a roll of duct tape, which I'm sure was humorous to watch; we shall see if it holds.

Something else that has made these last few days fantastic has been my brother Jason's graduation from Air Force Basic Training. I am so ridiculously proud of him. He is now and Airman First Class and is training in Mississippi. He's the class leader and loving every minute of it. Thanks to all of you who have been his support network; it means the world to him, and to me. You guys are the best. And J, I know you can't read this now, but know I love you, am proud of you, and I owe you a celebratory drink!

Counting the days until I'm home. Love you all!!!

The Tent Life

Yes, they moved me to a tent. We have the ambiance of full army life complete with cots and mice. But we have a bathroom trailer outside and there are showers, so it's not too bad. In fact, I'm kinda psyched because this is one step closer to coming home!!! I'm so freaking excited. The drama here is getting way too intense (ironic that the thing I'm worried about while deployed to Iraq is the school-yard-type drama....) and I can't wait to be home and be a girl again. We were talking about it the other day and it has been decided that girlification is necessary. I miss colored clothing and having my hair down. And not wearing shoes in the shower. And having a choice of foods for dinner. And a comfortable mattress. And seeing other people that aren't in the army. And see kids that are sweet and don't expect you to give them things simply because your an American or (like many of the teenage and preteen boys) think you're a heathen because you're a woman not in a burka. Yes, I can't wait to be home. And this tent says I'm back in the states in less than 3 weeks, so I love it.

Major Muhammad Ali Mufasa

That's the name on the "memorandum" from the "security forces of the Iraqi Army" who cordoned off my room this evening. Or, more accurately named: my platoon. They got me good in their most recent prank. They got caution tape, written in arabic and english, and taped off my room and my door. They then included a message from a one "MAJ Muhammad Ali Mufasa" that reported misconduct in the room and placing it off limits. The contact numbers of the memo were labeled "Iraqi Special Forces" but the contact numbers were 911 and the phone number to the company headquarters. I laughed so hard. I think my favorite part is the Mufasa... the lion king has absolutely nothing to do with Iraq... And the caution tape was overkill. They must have used an entire roll on the entrance of my room. I wish I had taken a picture, but the tape was blocking my door and my camera was in my room. Alas. I shall keep the memorandum and a section of the caution tape to show you all when I am home and to add to my collection of memories from this deployment. It was definitely a creative and well thought out prank. Well done platoon. Kudos indeed.

Gettin' Ziggy With It

That's right. After living here for 9 months next to the Ziggurat of Ur, I finally went to see it! We took a field trip to the site an one of the locals gave us an awesome tour of the Ziggurat, the old city of Ur, and Abraham's house. Yes, THE Abraham from Genesis. If you look back, he was born in the town of Ur, also known as the piles of ruins outside the base I'm living on. So, it was a historical adventure! Here are some of the pictures:

My platoon on the Ziggurat steps.

The 3 LTs in my Company doing our own rendition of Charlie's Angels. Matt... you're awesome.

My artsy shot on top of the Ziggurat. I can see my CHU from here!

My platoon sergeant and I on top of the Ziggurat

The gang on top of the Ziggurat. The ruins behind us are the ancient palace of Ur and the Royal Tombs.

My battle buddy: Di'Anna

On the steps of the Ziggurat with Nicole; she and I have been together since commissioning and I snuck her in to my company trip ;-)

Me on top of Abraham's house. I'm where the roof would have been. The foundation is the original, but the building itself was rebuilt in 1999 because the pope wanted to come pray at Abraham's house. Unfortunately, Saddam was not the kindest host and the pope stayed away for his own safety... The house is nifty though!

I had a blast. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable on the whole area and the history, so he was a wealth of knowledge for all the things we could think of to ask. I go to go down into the royal tombs and feel like an archaeologist and have fun with photography and learn some nifty history... definitely an awesome day.

An Ode to Beer...

Beer is more trouble than it’s worth. Out here, we’re not allowed to drink. The idea being you never know when you need to be alert and alcohol doesn’t exactly help with concentration. Plus, you carry a weapon and ammunition at all times… I, personally, don’t want you drinking. There are certain occasions, however, when the commanding general makes an exception. The first was for the Army’s Birthday. It was shortly after I arrived here. The second is going to be the Super Bowl. Yes, not for the 4^th of July of New Years, but for the Super Bowl. While I don’t necessarily agree with their dates of choice, my guys are excited for beer, so you think I would be too, but, alas, this is not the case.

The beer is handled more securely than ammunition. We have to make sure that the guys out at the surrounding bases have beer or else it’s not fair. So before a mission, I have to sign for the cases of beer, secure them for the trip, sign them over to the commander at the surrounding base, and then secure them somewhere that only he has the key to. All this, so a Soldier doesn’t take a can of beer. And it’s not like there’s an unending stream of beer. Every Soldier is allowed 2 beers, but only if they’re over 21. So your battle buddy who has been serving alongside you, but just happens to be 20, doesn’t get any… makes for interesting group dynamics. Anywho, they have to COUNT THE CANS and return the exact amount of empty cans, so they know you didn’t save any for yourself. You know, for a day in the future when you’ll sneak away and have a beer… to make all of this even more ridiculous, they can only have beer during the Super Bowl… which is aired at 1 in the morning over here. They made it better by including the replay at 8 the next evening, but it’s just silly. Meanwhile, my platoon sergeant and I don’t get to enjoy the beer, but are instead tasked with playing beer cop to make sure someone doesn’t (heaven forbid) get 3 beers instead of 2…

I had an experience with this beer. We had a mission where we were taking the beer to a surrounding base. So the NCO in charge of beer (I’m serious, there’s one guy who has all the beer accounted for and locked up and that’s his primary task until this is over) came over, counted it with me, signed it over to me, and we loaded it up to go. Due to the ridiculous thunderstorms over here, the mission ended up being canceled, so I had to turn the beer back in. I’m simply not allowed to secure it myself. So we go find the guy. Unfortunately, this is early in the morning, so we had to go wake him up. As we pulled up, we saw his truck was running so we pulled up alongside it and I jumped out. Not the NCO I was looking for though, so I asked her if she had his keys. I think I scared her because she timidly replied that she didn’t have his keys, just his truck. So I go wake him up. She had his keys. All of them. He wasn’t positive where she was going so he got dressed and we went on a scavenger hunt to find the keys (meanwhile, back at the ranch, my NCOs are guarding the beer so it doesn’t disappear). We go to one place, drive around it and deduce that she is not there. Alright, time to try another place. On our way there, we pass a truck that he swears is his. Shouldn’t be too hard to identify; he has a white truck but the driver’s door has been replaced with a black door. So we do a U-turn and run this truck down by flashing our high beams. They pull over (probably thinking it’s the MPs) and alas, it’s not his truck… we apologize, they respond angrily, and we continue onward. Finally we do find her and he gets his keys back. We go back to the motor pool to store the beer. The whole process, from start to finish, took over an hour. Ridiculous.

Just one more reason I’m excited to be home in a month and a half.

Quick, Go Home Before the CO Gets Back!

Yes, I left work early today because I felt I deserved it. Whether I truly deserve it or not is pretty much a mute point now. My NCOs were the only ones to discover my early out and were encouraging me to get away before someone else came up with something for me to do. I love my NCOs.

Sorry I haven't written in two weeks; things have been ridiculously busy. In addition to all my normal things, the task of accounting for everything and packing up to go home has begun. So while it's more work, I'm not that bitter about it because it's one step closer to home!! It's a lot of work, though, especially getting the soldiers to pack all of their personal belongings properly. Th next month will be interesting.

It has turned cold in this dessert as with nothing to trap heat, it freezes at night. Literally. The only exception is that there isn't any water to actually "freeze". To make things more interesting, my eater in my room decided to die ast night. Apparently it only knows how blow cold air now. Tres no bueno. Billeting said they'll fix it tomorrow; I have my fingers crossed. For now, I am bundled up in sweats and blankets and it shall do for the evening.

I am so excited to be going home soon. It's so close, yet so far away. There's so much I want to do when I get home, not the least of which is getting my own place. I'm somewhat resigned to the fact that I'll have to find something once I get there because otherwise I have no idea what the places look like or what type of area they're in. No worries: I'll chill in a hotel for a week while I find a place. :-)

I must get to sleep and hibernate through this cold evening. Love you all and counting the days!

Finding the Bright Side

Despite the insanity of the last few days and some of my Soldiers deciding they're better than the orders given to them, I have found a way to brighten things up. I was surprised too. First of all, someone from the FRG sent boxes of puzzles and we've been begun pulling them out and leaving them on the conference room table. I had forgotten how relaxing it can be to do a puzzle. And it's a great way to let people vent in a relaxed setting.

Secondly, we somehow acquired a ping pong table!!! I haven't played a good ping pong game in years, but don't worry, I have done you all proud. I have beaten everyone in the company headquarters at a round of ping pong. I would like to thank the Academy, my grandpa for teaching me the game, my little brother for schooling me at the game, my mom for owning a ping pong table...

Battlestar Galactica is awesome. Not sure if any of you have ever watched it, but I have fallen in love with the show. The episodes are extremely well done and the chance to watch one at the end of the day while I enjoy my take home DFAC dinner is awesome. For clarification, the watching of the episodes, not the DFAC dinner, is the awesome portion of the evening. Just clarifying. Anywho, the show has been a fantastic way to de-stress and relax at the end of the day.

I realized the other day that I have been here too long. I've learned all the quirks of the place. Like the fact that of the 12 identical showers, #2 is the best. And if you can't get that one, get #6 or #7. There are only 2 toilets that flush properly and a third that you can jerry rig to get it to work. That means there are only 3 stalls that you should use. In the laundry room, don't use washer #7 and dryer #5 takes forever. Also, the DFAC main course is rarely good, but you can scavenge around to compile a decent meal. Like taking a grilled chicken breast from here, pasta from there, broccoli and cheese (which you then need to microwave or it will be cold) from the veggie line, and then you suddenly have a relatively enticing meal.

Things have been hectic, but I'm getting through. I'm heading home in less than 3 months, so there is a light shining on all the crap. Oh! They passed out the information that brigade mail room will not be accepting package mail after the 1st of Feb and will stop accepting letter mail after the 15th so they can shut down operations so we can go home. That means that as much as I love receiving packages, send them now or forever hold your peace. They tend to take upwards of 2 weeks to get to me, so it's your call. Also, letters take about a week to get here. While it will suck to not get mail, it means I'm closer to home, so I won't complain.

I need to go get some sleep. I love you all!!!

Happy New Year

Woohoo! It's 2011!! That means we are that much closer to me coming home. But sadly, that's about all it means over here. We didn't have any new year's festivities, didn't take the day off, and everyone was actually surprised when I wished them a happy new year. Most people just didn't even think about it except to change the date. In the grand scheme of things it seems sad, but I truly don't feel sad. It's just another day over here; I'll celebrate everything when I get home. Which is closer, by the way.

Lately I've actually been getting apathetic. Which is not where I want to be. It's not happening at work, but when I get back to my room I don't want to work out, I don't want to be productive, and I just laze around. It's not me at all. I'm not entirely sure why I've hit this odd funk, but I'm determined to get out of it... if I could get my body to care enough to do so. I know that makes no sense, but there it is. I'll get over this thing.

The new year has definitely started off with a bang in terms of soldier issues, drama, and work. Today was a LONG one. I'm actually getting impressed with the things that develop into issues... most of them could have been resolved at the start with very simple, easy things, but now they're blown out of proportion. Or it's people doing things they know are wrong, blatantly, and thinking they won't get caught. It's silly.

If you weren't aware... I'll be home in 2 and a half months!!! It's for realz and it's going to happen. I sincerely can't wait. It's the glowing light at the end of the tunnel and it's getting brighter every single day. Start planning those trips to Colorado, people, because I want to see you all bunches during 2011!!!