Major K.

Yeah! What He said!

A worthy quote from Uncle Hugh:
America then and America now was and is undeniably the greatest force for good in the world. Its troops, then and now, fought and still fight to protect and defend the United States and to stop evil men, regimes, and ideologies from murdering millions of innocents. In those fights, there will be terrible tolls, and many innocents will die or be injured, but American armies fight wars --then and now-- with more concern for the innocent and with more discipline and accountability than any armies in history.

Ahhh, perspective...

Weapons

We are starting to get into it. The TOC is completely set up. The LAN is up and running, and I just requested a bunch of new computers to complete the package. We have drawn weapons and go to the range to shoot tomorrow. It is the pop-up range that will determine our marksmanship ratings. By the way, we got the new laser optics - SWEET! This is a picture of my IBA's partner.

I got my first package from Lucy today. She is the greatest. She also sent me my first perfumed letter aka "sniffy." - EXCELLENT! By the way, I also wanted to mention how cool my niece, Laura, is. She sent me the coolest e-mail the other day, and I just wanted everyone to know that I think she is terrific and am happy to see the young lady that she is becoming. I hope I didn't embarass you Booboo! Anyway, I have to get to sleep, I need steady hands tomorrow.

Body Armor

We were issued our Interceptor Body Armor (IBA's) today. It consists of a kevlar vest rated to threat level IIIA - which is to say that it can stop all handgun ammunition and 9mm submachine gun ammunition at fairly close range. Inserted in pockets over that are ceramic ballistic rifle plates in the front and the back. They cover about 80% of the chest and abdomen area and will stand up to high-powered 5.56mm and 7.62mm rifle ammunition - the stuff commonly used in most gunfights. The bad news is that it weighs over 30 lbs. The good news is that most of the upper body is pretty much bullet and shrapnel proof when it is worn properly. Guys who have been over there swear by it. Even though it still hurts to get hit the odds of living to tell about it are much greater. These vests are brand new and are desert camoflage which is better than the dark green woodland pattern that most guys have been issued up to this point. Yes, this was paid for by the $87 billion appropriations bill that the politicians have been bickering over recently. I, for one, am glad the bill passed, and is no longer "sitting there on Capitol Hill.." The funny thing is the triangular kevlar junk-protector hanging down in the front. I'm not sure how effective that part will be. We intend to not get hit in the first place. Tomorrow, we do marksmanship refresher training. Meanwhile, it is another night of working late making sure we have all of the documents ready to do our electronics purchase that will bring us up to date as far as TOC equipment. In case I haven't mentioned it, it is @#%@^!! HOT here, and we haven't even left for the Middle East yet.

A fat slob that needs to brush his teeth.

That is what Muqtada al-Sadr is. He is also a fanatical murdering madman. WHY ARE WE LETTING HIM GO SCOT-FREE!!?? If Iraq is to become a nation governed by laws instead of guns and torture chambers, they need to enforce the most basic of laws at the start. This is so bad. This is not peace. We will have to fight him and his goons again. Did you know that it was standard practice for his "militia" to use small children as ammunition runners? Are we really afraid to offend this horse's patoot? So what? But, I guess you can get away with anything in that region of the world as long as you are muslim and male - wait a second, that did not seem to prevent Paul Johnson from getting his head slowly sawed off in Saudi Arabia... Ugh. I am amazed that anyone can see us as the bad guys. I am voting for Ben Stein.

Contractors....

The double-wide trailer that serves as our TOC, offices and plans area still has no network wiring (LAN). It was supposed to be finished on Monday. It is now Wednesday night, and I have been given the same answer - It will be ready tomorrow. Ugh. We work until we are finished with the task. The telecommunications contractor works until beer-thirty and makes promises he does not keep. He should run for public office. As I write this I am on dial-up with my ISP because that is the only way that I can connect. I am also listening to arabic lessons. It still sounds like gibberish so far. Did I mention that Lucy sends me bags of Starbucks coffee so that I don't have to drink the lousy army stuff? She ROCKS!

Can we shoot back?

Yesterday was very interesting. The morning started off with more medical and paperwork processing that I had missed while I had food poisoning. I got my second installment of Hepatitis B followed by Smallpox in one arm and anthrax in the other. Anthrax hurts. Smallpox itches. The rest of the day was spent in mandatory briefings. The most interesting one was the Rules of Engagement (ROE) brief. It provoked a lot of questions from the men. Evidently, they are concerned about just how legally sure they have to be that they are in imminent danger before they can engage targets. Worried about going to jail for defending yourself? You must be from California.... Meanwhile, we are still trying to get unpacked between being poked and prodded. I still have a lot of Command and control (C2) architecture (computers, maps, communications stuff to finish setting up. We're making progress though, and I am pretty well pleased with the vast majority of the team we have put together so far.

Gastrointestinitis!

Been away for awhile due to the title above. My first full day on the ground here began with what seems to have been a case of food poisoning. It knocked me out for about 26 hours. I won't burden you with a description other than to say that I have recovered except for some soreness in my stomach and esophagus. Ugh. Now I am behind in my duties and still need to get the Tactical Operations Center (TOC) set up. Our days begin at 0500 and have been ending around 2200 to 2300 - that's 5am to 11pm-12am for those of you on the westside. More to follow - must sleep.

Vis et Veneratio

For those of you who will certainly ask, it is latin for "strength and honor." Yes, I lifted it from the movie Gladiator, and if you think that that is lame, I do not care. I believe it to be the core of what a warrior should be. If you don't like it, sue me. I have soldiers to care for and protect. They like it and so do I. On another note, I have been watching the news about our mobilization and have one observation that has been boiling for a while. I hate it when journalists interview someone an publish what they say as fact without checking it. It happens all the time, and I have already watched it happen to us. UGH.

Mobilization Day

We showed up at 0730hrs. It is now almost 2030hrs, and we are finishing up for the day. Probably a harbinger of things to come. I am motivated and eager to get on with this. I am just bummed about leaving Lucy for so long after we just got married. She's been great though. I am a lucky man.