Who needs Seinfeld?

Well… this installment will resemble the famed rants by Jerry Seinfeld. You know the ones that start off, “Have you ever noticed...?” I want to address some situations here that make sense at first glance, but are quite absurd when you peel back the layers that cover up what is clearly obvious.

I am in a combat zone. I wanted to state that up front because what I am about to write might convince you to question the true nature of how dangerous it is here. Well… the military has a well developed set of programs under the banner of Moral, Welfare, and Recreation, otherwise known as MWR. The purpose of there programs is to give soldiers, airmen, sailors, and marines a reprieve from the stresses of combat. I happen to be blessed in being stationed at a location with fairly well developed MWR programs and facilities. One of those facilities is a movie theater. This movie theater resembles one that you would find states side. The uses for this facility are wide, but it is primarily used for stage and screen entertainment. ANYWAY… you know the scenes that start playing when the lights dim… the ones telling you to keep your feet off of the chair in front of you and to be quiet? In the midst of these announcements, there pops up a graphic claiming a large amount of appreciation for choosing their movie theater. At face value, I thought that it was nice for the management of the movie theater to tell us how much they appreciated our business (even though there is no charge for admittance to any of the movies or live shows). But as it dawned upon me that the movie house selection here where I am located isn’t exactly stellar, I started to feel like the time when my father jokingly told me that I was his favorite middle son. He has three sons and I am his ONLY middle son. I started to chuckle at the movie theater’s gratitude and the guy behind me leaned forward and whispered, “Yah… like we have much of a choice!” To be fair, the movie selection is only about a week or so behind the release dates in the states, and the movies they play are rather good.

Do you remember the news a year or so back about a bomb hidden in a backpack that made it’s way into a dining facility and detonated. Well, since then, there are no bags of any type allowed into dining facilities and the Post Exchanges. I was showing my ID to the soldier checking them at the Post Exchange (PX) and asked him, “We aren’t allowed to take bags into the PX, but there is no problem with my weapon?” You see, we are always in position of our weapons… we carry them wherever we go. It just struck me as odd that I can’t take my back-pack into the PX because of a suspected threat, but the visible 9mm pistol strapped to my side is perfectly ok.

In the spirit of the back-pack conundrum, there are soldiers at each dining facility checking IDs and also checking to see if our weapons are on safe. I’m tempted to let you draw the conclusion on this one, but I can’t resist. The whole concept behind this issue boggles my mind. First, it’s crazy to think that the military trusts soldiers enough to carry a weapon, but not trust them to keep their weapons on safe at the appropriate times. Second, I can’t understand the soldiers who neglect to ensure that their weapons are not a danger to themselves or those on his team.

It is time again to bid thee farewell. Tell my wife and son I love and miss them the next time you see them. Until next time… fare thee well!

I'm in Iraq

Hey!!! Here I am. It's hot and sandy. Very hot and very sandy. Did I mention it was hot? I'm shocked that I feel this way considering my Caribbean heritage. Oh well.

It was strange the first couple of nights here in Iraq. After living in various cities throughout my life, I never realized how accustomed I had become to city lights at night. Well… as you would guess… in combat zones, you typically don’t want those who wish you harm alerted to your whereabouts. One of the first casualties of the war of light discipline is… the street light. Yes, the slightly mundane existence of the street light is sorely missed here. The pain from walking head-long into a cable barrier highlights how sorely missed they are. But… I am a soldier. I adapt and overcome any obstacle before me. Needless to say, the aforementioned cable barrier is no longer in my path during the night.

I’ve also noticed how flat the terrain is here. Aside from the wavy dune patterns that the wind makes in the sand, it is flat here! I suppose the hill near the house I grew up in would seem like Mount Fuji to those who have lived around here their entire lives. I know that not all of Iraq is flat like this. But I am really not at liberty to just go off and tour the more mountainous regions of this country.

Well… I better get going. I hope you have enjoyed the first installment of my blog. I hope you continue to read what I write. And if you run into my wife and son, tell them I love and miss them very much. Of course I miss all of my friends and family, but I want this blog to be a non-redundant happy place. I could think of nothing more depressing than reading a bunch of dribble about all of the people and things I miss… I suspect you already know that I miss those things. I want to give you something that is harder to assume… I want to give insight to my Venture in Iraq!