Smittie

I went running this morning. 4 miles. Good time but it was pretty painful. I always hate getting back into shape. Why that doesn’t motivate me to stay in shape, I’m not sure. We last went out on a mission on XX Nov. What is that, almost two weeks now. There’s not a lot to … Read more

Almost two weeks here at FOB Hunter. As we were preparing to come here we heard a lot of horror stories about the conditions here. No air conditioning. There’s air conditioning but the electricity goes out for hours and some times days at a time. There are no showers. The bugs will eat you alive. … Read more

I have arrived at what will, presumably, be our home for the foreseeable future. Many of the people in this region live in mud huts or woven reed structures. So, here I am. 300 days left on this deployment. Should be interesting.

I have arrived at a place called Camp Adder. A wonderful little desert town in the middle of nowhere. Life is quiet here, comfortable, with all the amenities of home. We’re currently waiting to move to our actual area of operation.

I am flying again. After a couple of days at Fort Dix I am now on a plane bound for the sandbox. It’s been a rather interesting ride but first let’s bring you up to date on events in Fort Dix. I rented a car at JFK airport. I met with three other guys from … Read more

I’m on the airplane, flying back to Fort Dix. Leave is over. It will be approximately a year before I see my family again. It is likely to be an exciting year, at least for me. I expect that my son will change dramatically over the next year. He’s in that time of transition from … Read more

Training is complete. I, along with the rest of the unit, have put all the appropriate checks in the appropriate boxes so that someone, somewhere believes I am now qualified to go wander around in a “combat zone”. We were fortunate enough to get an opportunity to take six days leave so that we could … Read more

I passed Combat Life Saver (CLS)! That was the last of the things I feared in coming on deployment. I didn’t want to get the small pox vaccination again, I didn’t want to get a lot of other shots again and I was afraid of CLS. I have now passed CLS. CLS teaches one to … Read more