When the Smoke Clears

Happy Hippie Awareness Day!
Alright, I’m back. I’m in the states. I had to stop writing for a little while just because of the workload and to ensure I didn’t write anything at all that might be even remotely risky. Too many responsibilities.
Now, let’s review:
When I left I know I was defending a constitutional [...]

Created by Oatmeal

And yet I am still around. Unfortunately, I cannot write about much of what I do at this time. That’s the breaks.
But I have been home on leave. Two weeks that flew by and were a good warning as to what I would face when I get back.
I’ve lost my patience.
It’s somewhere [...]

My grandmother passed away this week. The sadness I feel is not for her passing, though I will miss her, rather it is a selfish sadness that I cannot be at her funeral. The Army won’t let me, and the official message about it got to me much too late to do anything about it. [...]

TO: Children
RE: Current Issues
In light of the recent economic downturn, we have had to make cutbacks, so the fewer number of helpers I have this year means I cannot respond to each of you individually.
First, I would like to address logisitcs. Stop it with the stockings. Your parents haven’t bothered to have the chimney [...]

Mail showed up. It’s been sorted, brought out to us, etc.
It makes a big difference here. We don’t just get to go shopping.
Mail is sporadic at best. Often the powers that be don’t like sending airplanes out to us. There aren’t enough of us to warrant it. Ticks me off to no [...]

My friend died last night. I cannot come home to be there for someone I love, to hold her hand one last time as her health deteriorated. I cannot come back to attend a funeral. Or a wake. Or any other memorial. I have to remain here. It is probably the hardest part of deployment: [...]

The children of Afghanistan are out of school right now. There is no holiday, no special occasion. The country is reacting to the scare of flu. For three weeks the schools will be closed.
Earlier I was walking from village to village. The cold has frozen the water on the ground into crystals among the [...]

We know about it here. We are angry.
I have close family involved.
Prayers are needed.

Someone out there, let’s get these Army totals across the line. Can’t let the Marines beat us to it.
I’m in a class with 4 of the 5 services out here. The Marines here are, of course, keeping me in trouble. I was credited with saying something that it was really one of them. To [...]

Simple. So simple I failed to mention it which is my bad.
Project Valour-IT.
Since my site is pretty much only read by my friends, you should all know how dear this cause is to me. Not much explanation needed. I’ve sided with the Marines before, but, hey, the Army has me now.
So please [...]

I had to leave my guys for a few days. Readjustment is strange. I can see there are going to be a few issues when I get home, and that is okay. At least I am recognizing them now, so I’ll be going in with some knowledge of what I will face.
My commander assigned me [...]

My sweet friend opened a store.
Go now.

We stepped outside and looked around. Something wasn’t right. We heard it overhead, a loud noise. Now we had to determine the source and how quickly we would move to the bunkers.
This far out in the frontier, distant noises are a cause for concern. Flying machines are even more rare, so they grab our [...]

Dear Army,
I have been enjoying my time. Yes there are frustrations, but not as bad as my civilian world positions. It is a little dusty here, though. Just sayin’.
HOWEVER. I am out here. I was taught to do a particular job. I was also taught how to use a particular piece of software [...]