a Soldier's blog

More Welcomed Visitors

Two hollywood actors stopped by the FOB the other day.  Ambassadors of Hollywood offered many actors and actresses a chance to come overseas and spend two weeks with the troops here.  Kelly Hu is a an actress who volunteered to come, but she had some type of surgery last minute and could not make it.  She was in x-men II, scorpion king, the mummy, and the mummy returns.  It is a bummer that she could not make it, but hopefully the surgery went well, and she can make the next trip. 

Amanda Swisten was able to make the trip.  She is a model and actress who played the stripper maid during the bachelor party in American Wedding.  She has also made appearances in sitcoms including joey, two and a half men, quintuplets, i'm with her, and las vegas.  She is from both new york and virginia, but now lives in california.  She is a writer for multiple magazines as well.

Up up and away!  You all might know him as superman in the tv series 'lois and clark'.  Dean Cain also volunteered to come to iraq.  His most recent hit movie was called 'out of time' with Denzel Washington.  The scott peterson murder trial movie, 'the perfect husband' is another recent role for Dean.  He was in the movie 'rat race', and even produced the ripley's believe it or not show.  After finishing his education at Princeton (was a star football player), he was offered a position with the Buffalo Bills.  He hurt his knee before his NFL start, then turned back to acting. 

A couple buddies and I decided to get in line for a picture with them.  When I stepped into the room where they were, I saw exhaustion in their eyes.  I figured it was due to their just arriving at the FOB, and from the heat.  Once they got settled here, and got a chance to cool off in the a/c, I could tell their energy level started to pick up.  Traveling really wears on people who visit us over here.  Many of them are rushed to sooooo many FOBs in one day, and there is little down time to recover.  We all got pics with them, and I even took some video with my digital camera.  Once the pictures were finished, we got a chance to ask them some questions.  Troops asked how they got involved with visiting us, future film projects, and I even asked them if they are more likely to seek military film roles now that they have seen a combat zone.  Dean responded that he has done many military roles in the past, and would act in more if had the opportunity.  They both talked about where they were from, and how they got into acting.  Dean was especially moving when he spoke about how proud he was of us, how much more patriotic he is now, how tough he thinks we are, and how thankful he is of what were are doing here.  He has a four year old son, and Dean recognizes that we are protecting his life and freedoms.  They both shared how great it was to sit back in a chair and just chat with troops.  It was the first time during their trip that they got a chance to do that due to the previous fobs beings so large and overwhelming.  Our fob is smaller in size and personal, so ended up being more of a relaxing atmosphere.  Also, at a previous fob, they got a chance to watch the new star wars movie with troops.  The fob got mortared and the power went out.  They joked how worried they were about the situation, then looked around at all the calm troops who just sat there waiting for the power to come back on.  My platoon sergeant and I joked that troops would just sit there thinking, 'oh well, got time off to see the movie and i'm not moving till it comes back on and the movie ends'.

One younger guy convinced Amanda to hold up his SAW (squad automatic weapon) for some pics.  No worries about it being ready to fire.  The ammo you see is placed there for effect.  I also got a chance to thank them for coming and got a picture with Dean.  He really is a very down to earth guy, and struck me as a person who has not let fame get to his ego.  Check out his next movie if you get a chance. 

Overall it was a good day. Its nice to break the monotony of regular life here in iraq.  Toooo many days mirror previous ones.  Thanks to MWR, ambassadors of hollywood, the us army, and pro sports mvp, who sponsored the trip!  Again, thanks to Dean and Amanda for taking time out of their busy schedules to see what is really going on over here.

“I realize that patriotism is not enough.  I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.”  Edith Cavell

Web Interview

I got interviewed by a great website that reports on Christian activity and experiences during war time.  It was a fun interview and continues to make me think about how God works through us here on earth.  Even though I am here on a mission to share freedom with Iraqis, I will always have the mission to live out God's plan for me in witnessing to others.  Some of our enemies here think that we are on a holy mission.  This is totalllllly wrong, and I have no plans to force Christ on anyone.  I hope and pray that Muslims all over the world learn more about Christ, and see the sacrifice He made for us along with His glorious resurrection, but my mission here is not geared towards a 'holy war'.  If Iraqis find Christ, it will be due to their searching for truth. 

Thanks Sara for allowing me to participate in your q & a, and to be part of agreaterfreedom.com!

Well, if you want to check out the interview, click on either link below.

www.agreaterfreedom.com

Q&A With an American Soldier

"You see, I believe that America of 2005 is the same America that brought Maud Ariel McKoy and Luther Powell to these shores, and so many millions of others.  An America that each day gives new immigrants the same gift that my parents received.  An America that lives by a Constitution that inspires freedom and democracy around the world.  An America with a big, open charitable heart that reaches out to people in need around the world.  An America that sometimes seems confused and is always noisy.  That noise has a name, it's called democracy and we use it to work through our confusion.  An America that is still the beacon of light to the darkest corner of the world."  Colin Powell

Recess Time For The Kids

Sorry it has been so long since I posted.  We have been very busy here and most of it involves a topic that I can’t write on.  I did get the opportunity today to visit two small towns in my area of operations.  The first town was larger and had waaaaaay more activity.  Children started pouring into the streets once they figured out that we were friendly visitors.  Sometimes locals look at us like we are aliens, and other times they smile and say hello in Arabic or Kurdish.  I have learned a bit of both and can respond with a greeting or thank you.  When they hear a bit of their language come out of our mouths, we sometimes catch a big smile.  I kind of relate to them in the fact that I believe all who move to the states should learn to speak English.  Sure we are all immigrants in some fashion, and value our heritage, but the local language takes priority. 

The kids were all saying the normal “Mista, Mista!!” as we would evenly try to hand out school supplies, candy and beanie babies.  They even mimicked me by saying, “Get, get, get back” when they got in a grabbing mode.  Fair is not something that these kids are used to and they appeared to not care if their playmate got nothing, and they got multiple items.  It could be that all kids are like that while in a frenzy.  I guess I should analyze my childhood before I slam these kids for being selfish.  All kids seem to be selfish at one point in their lives, and these kids definitely have more of a right to be than I ever had.  The idea was to catch the school in session and hand the items out, but they were in a recess time, which was not about to end.  This led us to decide to go ahead and hand out everything outside the school house.  We had to use some of the normal techniques to hand out supplies like having our gunner throw items, and another Soldier stand on the hood of the vehicle while handing things out.  One of the children reached into a box that one of my Sergeants was holding, and found his hand getting slapped (in a gentle way that is).  The kid looked up and was surprised.  He must have had much better luck in the past trying to not wait his turn.  There were little girls who came outside to see us, and they were just toooo cute.  We made it a point to give them each something, and hope to help them build their confidence in this new iraq.  They smiled and ran up to us like they were our own children.  I personally have not been blessed with any children yet, but hope to in the near future.  The Soldiers with me have various different aged children at home, and seeing Iraqi children make it that much harder to come back to the FOB alone.  Yes, we have each other, but in many ways we are still alone.  We ran out of time in the first town and made our way to stop two on the list. 

The next town was much smaller in size and had fewer children.  Compared to the first town (60+children), the second had only about 20 children.  Due to the town’s size, it was much easier to hand out candy, school supplies, and beanie babies.  It also was a town that our squadron had only been to once before, so the children were more hesitant to come out and see why we were there.  Our interpreter told one child to go get the other children, which he proceeded to do.  We emptied the opened boxes and then emptied a few more of the unopened ones.  They each walked away with a stack of old dot matrix printer paper, crayons, pencils, and about two beanie babies per child.  We sort of were in a hurry and left before handing out all of the supplies.  It was decided to hand out the rest of the items at a later date.  There was a school that we explored.  It was a one classroom school with wooden benches, and a blackboard.  It actually was nicer than some school houses since it had a cement floor instead of dirt.  Next door was the teacher/principle’s office, which had things posted on the door.  I did not make an attempt to read the notices, just like I did not read them when I was in school, ha ha.  Next to the school was an outhouse made of concrete.  There is no way I will complain about my stanky portojohn again.  Well, yeah I will still complain about it.  Who am I kidding? 

All of my guys were giddy with what had occurred this morning.  They have since chattered back and forth about a certain child here or there, or a smile that lit up the town.  SGT W saw a little girl with her father and decided to approach them with a few gifts.  It was somehow communicated that the girl needed some water.  He gave a bottle to the father, who held it up for the little girl.  She about swallowed the entire bottle, as she drank like it was milo’s sweet tea.  Those from bama (and now TN) know what I mean, mmm.  Another Soldier was on detail to keep the kids from grabbing things out of our vehicle.  Let’s just say he gladly will pass that on to someone else next time.  One troop showed the kids that crayons were like pencils and wrote on some paper to demonstrate.  We felt the need to show them since on our last trip a kid tried to eat a bar of soap.  SSG B and Chief B played Santa Clause for the day and enjoyed every minute of it.  SGTs W, H, and S each were smiling ear to ear, which is no doubt contagious despite the heat trying to make us miserable.  Overall, it was a great day, and all of us are still kicking.  Shawn out…

I put more pics in the photo album.

Here is a good website to check out if you have time.  www.agreaterfreedom.com

Great article to read:

An Iraqi's Thoughts of US Troops

quote for the post:

"If I were to have a heart attack right at this moment, I hope I would have just enough air in my lungs and just enough strength in me to utter one last sentence as I fell to the floor: 'What a ride!' My life has been up and down, careening left then right, full of mistakes and bad decisions, and if I died right now, even though I would love to live longer, I could say from the depths of my soul, 'What a ride!'"--Mike Yaconelli

Iraqi Talent

Today was as normal as a day can be in Iraq.  I had my regular platoon leader duties to attend to and my guys are still showing OIF who's boss (TN ANG Volunteers that is).  I do want to share with you all about something I picked up today.  We are fortunate to have a talented local artist on the FOB.  I will leave his name off of the posting, but have to show some of his work.  He mainly copies famous works of art, and pictures that people give him.  His attention to detail in painting pictures is amazing.  Some of us have joked that his paintings look like the picture was blown up and printed off.  As some of you know, I collect pictures of Jesus laughing.  Yes, I only have two in my collection.  The small collection includes the one that I had the artist recreate, and one that Ralph Kozak painted (he is from Traverse City, MI).  Here are two pictures of the artist finishing up and signing the painting.  Where will Tiffany and I decide to hang it in our home?   All of the family and friends reading this will have to come over to our house and find out.  We love visitors.  Love you all! 

I know, I know.. I am soo due for a hair cut.  You could almost braid it, ha ha.

Mud Fun

As we spend more time together as a platoon, I find us operating like a family.  Families have highs and lows.  Soldiers can love each other one moment and complain about each other the next.  I noticed that these guys know each other realllllly well.  Some of them have known each other since elementary school, and some since joining the 278^th many years ago.  One of my older Sergeants was raised in a small town called Pall Mall, which is near Jamestown, TN.  I worked in that area a few summers for Mountain TOP (www.mountain-top.org), so I was even familiar with the hill that he described his childhood home is located on.  Another Soldier of mine grew up in Jamestown, and even uses a lumber yard that I used to buy materials from.  It’s wild to meet guys that I could have met years ago, but ended up meeting here in this foreign land. 

I have learned so much from them.  From minor lessons about how to ‘make beans’, to larger life lessons on how much children really mean to parents.  Some of them wake up in the middle of the night to talk to their little girl or boy since there really is a short window once the child gets home from school, and goes to bed.  Due to the time difference being 8-9 hours, families find themselves communicating at odd hours.  I am definitely receiving lessons on how to treat troops and what are the important areas of their lives  Family, family, family, and then the rest come next in line.  Hardships at home seem to cause the greatest stress for them, as well as KIAs here.  My platoon sergeant and I do what we can to help with these issues, but only can do so much.  We have worked out some equality issues that were present, but still have other situations that arise and cause problems.  Overall, we are doing well in our drive to complete our mission, and get home safely to our families. 

One of the welcoming ceremonies for new troops in our platoon includes a mud bath.  It just so happened that we had not had a mud swimming session in a while, so a few of the troops decided to remedy this problem.  They first started with my platoon sergeant, who is not new to the platoon, but apparently needed to get wet, ha ha. 

The next victim was me.  I knew it was coming for a few months and had already started emptying my pockets before my platoon sergeant even got out of the mud.  Once I was ready, a few of them picked me up and placed me in the mud.  The puddle had actually dried up a bit, so was not too bad.  If there are only two or three troops who jump you here, then we usually put up a struggle, but there were just too many so I saved my energy.  My maintenance technician was next in line and he did not see it coming.  He struggled a bit to start with, but then realized it was a futile action.  They put him the puddle, and rolled him over.  He was a great sport about the event.  I put more mud pics in the photo album.  I dropped my camera during a mission, so sometimes the shutter does not open up all the way.  It requires some manual work to open fully, and my cameraman did not know this, so you will see those black lines in some photos. 

Some Soldiers realized they were on the list, and decided to go unescorted to the mud puddle.  SGT M got wet and appeared to have enjoyed it.  Specialist T decided to also go without assistance and did a reverse belly flop.  Overall, it was a fun time, and we released some stress.  Time is flying by here, but not quick enough. 

Oh, we have had some wicked wind lately.  One gust of wind kicked up during the middle of the night and blew one of our tents down.  It tore holes in it, and bent most of the aluminum frame poles, and steel pins.  Sorry to my fellow tax payers.  Mother nature is to blame. 

“Christian perfection is not, and never can be, human perfection.  Christian perfection is the perfection of a relationship to God which shows itself amid the irrelevancies of human life.”  Oswald Chambers.