April's Here!

This approach to posting is new for me, so please be patient. Much has happened since my last post, and I need to be sure to cover it all. But first, why the approach is new for me. The Army, in its infinite wisdom, does not allow us to reach blogs via their network. So, in the interests of "fair play", I am writing this post on Google Documents, then will post to my blog from the CHU (aka "my can", where I sleep and have personal space) and cut and paste appropriately. This is assuming, of course, that whomever is playing Warcrack in the CHU isn't on and thus not hogging bandwidth. See, all I really need the net in the can is to talk to Kim (Yahoo Messenger will do VOIP calls now, as will Skype, couldn't get Skype to take my credit card...their loss) and post to the blog. Anything else, I do offline or here in the office. Plus this makes it look like I'm working and that's all good.

So, I'm finally here in Mosul. Life is pretty good, internet only took like three days to get hooked up, and I'm beginning to learn the tricks and tactics of FOB living, it's all good. Most folks ask Kim what life here is like, so here's my attempt at explaining. Ever see the movie Groundhog Day? I didn't either. But, I'm told that Bill Murray's character wakes up every day and relives the same day over and over again. That's life on the FOB for us. The stuff that makes it different is the folks with whom I interact. Otherwise, the weather is fair - mid 80s for a high and 50s at night, some dust storms now and then, chow is good (otherwise unremarkable, but it is good), and most folks understand we're running a marathon here. Nothing requires us to be in a hurry unless lives are in danger, otherwise we keep a steady pace. Not slow, just steady.

Another question folks have been hitting me with is, "what can we send you?" Short answer is my wife and a couple cases of Cabernet Sauvignon. Unfortunately, neither of those items are authorized in theater according to GO #1B. Before I hit y'all with the list, please remember this is MY version of this. Also keep in mind, we do have a PX, and I've been to it maybe once in the last two weeks. I'm that busy. For the address, contact my wife.

• Swiffer pads. These are, in a word, a godsend. Send boxes of these.
• Swiffer duster. Again, a godsend.
• Swiffer wetjet. Tough to get, as everybody wants 'em (cue Van Halen music).
• Pledge wipes. The lemon scented ones. See a pattern here? The dust is awful.
• Wet wipes or personal wipes are OK. Not jump up and down great, as I can get them almost anywhere.
• Hand sanitizer. Big bottles, not the gallon sized. Iraq is a dirty place, and this stuff is used constantly.
• Magazines. Better than books, as they change monthly. Remember, breaking the Groundhog Day effect is good.
• Starbuck's coffee or Kempf's coffee. Either works. This falls into the "tastes of home" category.
• Toiletries. Send them if you want to do so. I'm pretty particular, but my comrades in arms tend not to be. If you are going to send generic stuff, go to www.adoptasoldier.com and use their guidelines and addresses. This is a great resource for anyone who wants to build the habit of sending stuff over here to anyone and everyone.
• Coffee mugs. I have yet to see a coffee mug for sale 'round here. I mean an honest to goodness, ceramic coffee mug.

The other question I've been hit with is, "what's going on over there?" Fighting. Rebuilding. Fighting about rebuilding. Rebuilding the fighting to rebuild and fight again. We don't get a whole lot of contact on the base itself, thank God. We can hear stuff going off, but it's not the same thing. Still and all, this is a combat zone and for some reason, some of the "natives" feel we're better off dead than rebuilding their country. It's crazy, really. The US has dumped, literally, billions of dollars into the Iraqi infrastructure (most of it was their money, but it briefs well) and the "insurgents" still want to kill us. I know, I know - it's about power and influence. Don't let the religious mumbo jumbo fool you, it's ultimately about power. Mostly we (the US) are building and getting the natives to rule themselves. Honestly, that's what's happening. I encourage any of the skeptics to pay close attention to the body counts over the last several months and tally the Iraqis killed in the news versus soldiers. My money is on more Iraqis killed. One friend emailed me, as she was having her class do a project about the war here and admitted to not being able to find good, solid information about what's going on here in the mainstream media. While this might represent the issue well. Or this. Odd thing is, for all my posting that the mainstream media is not covering this war in good faith, folks will not believe that. So where can you go? I'd try Michael Yon's blog, and the Small Wars Journal blog. Those are two very accurate sources of information on Iraq and Afghanistan.

That's all for now. I will begin to post more often, now that I'm in position.

Enjoy!