A day in the life of an officer

http://aalan94.blogspot.com/2008/01/just-ordinary-day.html

Forgotten Heros

Army of Dude wrote a piece for Vet Voice. This important article on how th U.S. handles asylum for IZ interpreters, 'terps' is a must read, moreover it deserves a higher priority here in the States. He's right, we need to do better than this.

Here is an excerpt:

They've seen the horrors of war up front and personal. They've slept under the stars and in abandoned buildings under constant threat from insurgents wishing to do them harm. But you won't hear their tales of courage under fire or how vital they are to coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. read here for the rest of the article...

There's always someone with a better story....

OK, so I've been called a few things in my time, and I seem to have some experience, and I'm older than some....(oh, do you know how you get experience? You make mistakes that hopefully don't kill you.)

So, those reading this are in one of two places...you are deployed or, care about those who are deployed. (or you hit this site by mistake, and you may end up in one of those two groups.)

See how simple I make things.

OK, so lets say you're the deployed military type. You're in a crappy place, away from family and friends (but surrounded by others who are just as miserable as you are- so it seems normal.) Or, you're the concerned person who's a spouse, family members or someone like HOPE who just cares and sends support. The point I'm getting to is, in whichever position you're in, you're worried. You have a sad story... a rough battle.... a concern when you don't hear from that one person and you worry.

I have a very young friend who went to Iraq long after I got home. He was only there a few months when he got sent home for injuries. I spent a whole year there. Which of us do you think suffered the most? Not me...he did. He started with a platoon of 36, and the last time I talked to him, there were 9 still in Iraq who were not dead or wounded out of that 36.

I only lost a few friends...one I was in the same unit... and his loss still hurts 2 and a half years later. I think of his wife and son who'll never see him again.

So, when you're sitting around thinking life is giving you a bad hand....remember that there's always someone else who's got it worse.... and be thankful for what you've got.

And any military person who's home now and wants to talk, find someone you can talk to...if you can't find someone, e-mail me at izsafe@yahoo.com .

24 hours in milsupport

It's 3 o'clock in the morning...I'm up because well...sleep and I are strange bedfellows. I am also up listening to the rain and grateful that all my children and husband are just a few steps away. I suspect, but I cannot do more than confirm it anecdotally with other mama friends, that once you are a mother you just hear the night differently.

The funny thing about military support is no one tells you how attached you get to these people who you may or may not ever meet or even talk to by mail or internet. When you are first introduced to the concept it generally revolves around getting a list of things to send and wondering if they are going to think you are crazy for trying to meet some of their needs. I mean who does that? Then I think, well--mothers do.

Of the 40 something warriors I and friends have supported in the last year, I have 6 well read letters and a couple of email addresses I am grateful for every time I see them in my inbox.

Last night I woke up about this time. It was a dead sleep that I startled myself out of...the rain, falling as it is now, the black bare trees filtering a lighter black sky...it was cold and I padded through each of my kid's rooms counting heads and on into my office looking to see if there were any familiar emails. Good. One out of two wasn't bad...but still it wasn't two and my motherly intuition told me someone was out mucking about or about to be. I was already midway through day two with no word which was unusual.

I sent a reply email to the one warrior in my inbox and it had the same effect as going to check on my kids had a few minutes earlier. He was saying thank you and wondering about something I had sent earlier and I was letting him know more would be in the air to him soon--that I hoped he would get some sleep. He, like me, doesn't do sleep too well. He has many to take care of and the kind of job that reinforces sleep's already seemingly low priority. At least one similarity between a warrior's job and a mother's. Who'd think?

Still--there was no word from my other warrior, so I sent an email out asking for a sound off and waited a little while, but nothing. Already up I looked at what still needed doing for the day and got on with it. I finally went back to sleep grading some papers and listening to Journey or the Police or some other band that belies my age.

By the middle of the third day there was still no email and I was officially worried and self conscious about emailing again early this morning, but I did. Normally, I hear from him more regularly and well like Phil,one contributor on this blog said a few days ago concerning one's personality, tending to others and all that entails is just "how I'm put together." Some probably do find it odd, but I really don't care. I'm every bit as annoyed at the whole care/worry phenomenon and yet, wouldn't have it any other way.

After a total of 3 days with no email in general and a hunch he had been out mucking about outside of the wire in lousy weather and yes...in civilian time that can drag while military time can be even stranger, I see the familiar addy pop in. As much as you know they are busy and caught up with things you will never fully comprehend, you are still so relieved to touch base, each time it happens you are always equally surprised at the relief.

I read the email and thought, AHA!! I was right about someone being out on patrol last night, but I was gladly wrong that anything was the matter...he was back and painting colorful images of what he had been up to and busting me about slacking on email myself. WHAT? The thought "Don't make me come over there!" came to me and made me smile.

He's okay.

Good.

Mil support is much like adopting family. Like with extended family some you will be closer to than others for reasons related to what you learn of them and what they share with you, but they are all family and with family you take care of your own-- fiercely.

There are thousands of warriors out tonight beginning their day as we still finish our night. These heroes do their job and many probably took the same kind of time from their other responsibilities and real families to let their supporters flung across this country, know they are okay. I can speak for mil supporters everywhere and say we are always, always grateful for that.

Spouse Side: Some Days...

When you're the wife of a deployed soldier, you sometimes just have to get used to the mood swings.

Today, I had to handle some car registration and insurance things - stuff that my husband would normally be handling if he were home. Really, it's not a huge deal. In fact, it really wasn't difficult at all but after putting those papers in the mailbox, I got hit with a sudden realization that he's not here; Silly, no? Sometimes I forget.

I go work out two hours a day, five days a week, I go to school and come home. I'm usually so tired that after a few minutes of chatting with my husband I fall asleep without a chance to ruminate. The days are sometimes so packed that I don't even realize that I'm living on my own.
Today was just a strange day.

It was as if I had just driven away from Fort Riley after he first left five months ago. The house is suddenly so empty.

How to get by a deployment

I read the past posting on "Cheating spouses" and I had to stop and think a bit before I could post anything. When two people are married or in a "relationship" how do they get through a deployment? I grew up an "Air Force Brat" and got used to my dad being gone alot. I don't think my mom ever got used to it and I know she suffered everyday when my dad was in Nam. But my older brother and I did our best to keep her busy...like Leave it to Beaver on Crack!

But in modern days, it seems that everything goes so fast...nobody wants to wait for anything. So for two people who're going to be apart for months or years, what can be done to help keep them going?

When I was deployed, I never even looked at another women (well, I looked a little) and never thought of cheating...but there was a camp donkey that was kind of cute. I always felt I had plenty of support around me because there were a bunch of us being miserable together. However, when Reserves and National Guard troops deploy, their mates are often scattered so far apart that it's not reasonable to actually physically support each other.

I know the Guard puts up the appearance of "Family Support" but when we were in Iraq, they had 5 full time people for the entire State of Calif! How in the heck could 5 people cover the whole state?

So what can the deployed trooper do? Stop friggen whining and feeling sorry for yourself. Get off your ass and go to the PX and get stuff to send your mate...go on line and order flowers or candy and have it sent. You're supposed to be a hero, so act like one and help your spouse or mate. Deployed troops get free mail, so if you can't find an envelope, send an MRE box as a post card.

Other tips for the deployed or their spouse: make little goals each month, each week, each day and each hour. These little things can be anything that you enjoy...... we came up with lots of stupid things to do... but they got us to laugh.

I also took a lot of photos and e-mailed them as often as I could... so everyone at home could see what we were fighting for (cause' I couldn't figure it out.)

If you do everything you can to hold the marriage or relationship together and it still doesn't hold, then leave that ground to the enemy and find a new battle and someone who will always love you no matter what. But if you didn't fight for it, don't whine.

(The picture: Where we got to go on a 3 day pass while in Bosnia-- Budapest Hungary.)

CI-Roller Dude

Cheating Spouses during Military Deployment

I've been reading Devildog6771 and I have a certain morbid fascination with a series written on "cheating Spouses", the latest entry had the perspective of a Marine who made some poignant remarks on being cheated on while he was overseas. I can't help but laugh (which is cruel of me) because this is the topic on many people's minds before and during deployment. For example; a sudden drop in mail, e-mails, phonecalls and chats always put up a red flag and with no reliable communication the mind wanders to the worst case scenario, not the "my spouse might be busy with work/kids/school".

Actually, this topic fuels the fires for a lot of Army-lore which, in turn, fuels anxieties. During the BBQ I wrote about in a previous entry, J swore on his life (and his first born child) that he would ensure his friend would not do anything "bad" (bad=cheat) while deployed. Cheating seems to be everyones number one fear (second comes death and dismemberment). This topic gets to everyone because it's deeply personal, emotional, and damn fascinating. I hate to say it, but it's the number one topic in the rumor mill for a reason! It's why women in the Army have to prove themselves to spouses and why Jody (a name for a guy who sleeps with a deployed soldier's wife) is such a hated guy. It's unpatriotic to be Jody!

Funny enough, I know that (some) infantry men have a custom of sleeping with other soldier's wives and putting their husband's unit crest pinned somewhere in their room. While using adultering women doesnt break my heart, it does say a little something about the culture in some all-male units.

All assumptions aside, I will say that I have not seen any emprically proven statistic that would lead me to believe that cheating occurs more in the military than it does in the Civilian World (I have my foot in both, so I think there are Jerks everwhere you go). Nor have I ever seen one incident where cheating was completely a surprise; after all, relationships never break up because of infidelity, it's just a symptom that something else is wrong (the problem might be that you're married to an untrustworthy scum-sucker).

One of the issues that we face are deployments; Absence makes the heart grow fonder, or it makes it forgetful or alters it's needs entirely. What are you going to do? Nothing is ever as picture perfect as Brave Soldiers going off to War with a photo of his girl by his heart as she sits at home and knitting American Flags by the fire longingly siiiiiighing as she dream about her big strong hero. It's a moving image but not based on reality. It's no excuse, but sometimes deployments are the straw that break the backs of an already unsteady relationship.

However, I do believe it's more common if you're the state-side half of the couple, which is usually the female. Let's face it, clubbing in Iraq just doesn't yeild the same results as partying it up in a Jody Bar or your Hometown. A soldier goes to war and life moves on at home. Time doesn't stop and not everyone is married to a homebody hermit (like me). It just doesn't seem to work that way. I also saw, while I was at NMMI, that men generally have a small pool of women in the military while a civilian woman has an endless supply of jody's- therefore there's a slight skew in tempting opportunities.

(originally posted here)

A good blogpost out of A'Stan

This is another great blogpost. Since we were talking about the weather in Iraq a couple of posts ago, I thought we should include Afghanistan, too. It's a good post.

1-4 Cav Commander's Update

This is a great article on Michael Yon's site that Phil posted to comments on my blog...so worth a read. This is an example of all the hard work our troops are putting in paying off.

D!!!!!

D is NOT getting deployed!!!
I am so stoked--but probably not as stoked as he is.

D, I'd buy you a huge fireworks display to celebrate, but there's the whole pesky permit thing! lol...

Congratulations, D, congratulations, brother!

Military Motivators

Military Motivators

I love this site! They regularly accept blog contributions concerning all the armed services.

God Keep You Safe...

The weather here is so miserable, wet and cold. I was thinking about our warriors so far away and how similar the weather has been there and how hard they are working and moving along with far less than we have here. Sometimes these folks go days without sleep when their duties demand it and the cold keeps them sick.

This is for D who is with his National Guard unit taking physicals and awaiting news of whether a third deployment will be asked of him.

This is for Sgt. Grumpy and all his fine Airborne folks who are out in the middle of nowhere working their asses off and doing such a hard job.

This is for 3/3 Kilo Company finally a few weeks away from home and a well deserved rest.

This is for Shaun, Mike, Roel, Joseph, Kat's dear one, J,Greg, Danelle and Jesse.

God keep you safe and bring you home.

From James Aalan Bernsen

http://aalan94.blogspot.com/2008/01/snow-rain-andmud.html

For those that aren't milfolk who want a look at what some folks on what would be considered a bigger, nicer base, deal with weather wise right now...geeeez...I am such a civilian.

A day in the Life of an MP Part 4/4

12:07- really excited! Just checked my emails and I got a message on my myspace from my girlfriend. I can't wait to read it. Just sent her a text on how much I love her and miss her (shes in England BTW). I haven’t seen her in a long while.It's a long distance relationship- all I know is when I see her, good luck to anyone who wants to see me.

0100-why are soldiers scared to stand up to their leadership? I understand subordination but whatever happedned to standing up for the well-being of soldiers?background: Our squad leader sucks at leading. It's her first time and we have a team leader just getting walked all over by her. It is really sad to see- I'm a team leader too but if my squad leader even tried that shit it would be on like donkey kong. Taking care of my soldiers is the top thing on my list and I'm not even an NCO yet, I guess I was raised right in the military-my soldier needs something, they come to me, I do my best to make it happen. My squad leader needs something, I do my best to make it happen. My squadleader attempts to screw my soldier over, we're having a one-sided conversation. There's no micromanaging my soldiers-gotta stand up for the lower enlisted. I have and will always do that- sgt you appoint me to do a job then won't let me do it, sorry sgt but fuck you and that’s all there is to it- counsel me, ill check disagree and write in the comment box, article 15, bring it on! Take my rank for being right. Good luck. Smoke session, hell yea! Extra PT? Bring it on I'm hooah. I understand about being scared to lose rank, but not of a crappy nco. I've never backed down from what I believe in and I'm still a SPC(p) and a bad ass leader at that.

04:14-oh yea time for the energy drink- sleepiness creeping up on me-I think I will be alright tho.

05:05-I love my banks and who I bank with- no matter what happens I'm good right? Wrong! Everytime I get my money in order something dumb pops up and screws it up. I just spent 30 minutes fixing a dumb mistake by the banks that would have cost me a whole lot in late fees. Thank you guys! Way to go! I got it in order now (I think at least... hopefully). Well new desk sgt is in I got an hour left-please, please no calls-woohoo the official countdown to me getting off shift has begun 30mins to go.

06:00- Off shift time for sleep thanks for reading this and hope that you have enjoyed a day in the life of me !

A day in the Life of an MP Part 3/4

5:15 woo! Time to rollout. Gotta hit the class 6 for some energy drinks and green tea-tonight it's sobe no fear. Gotta spread it around don’t wanna get used to just one.

5:30 right on time-park the car hang out in the back for 5-10 and smoke another cigarette-hanging talking, with friends about how much bullshit we endure on a daily basis-not really listening today-not trying to be mean, but I got a little on my mind-so I shake my head give the occasional laugh and throw my 2 cents in.

5:45-well my brief was as follows: aint shit happen today. Yea whats new bro? Nothing happens here.

5:55-are you fucking serious! Who the fuck makes up rules? I fucking work her! Why can't I park in the damn parking lot?Fucking gay, Fucking gay! I'm irate all the lil higher up idiots that don’t do shit get their own parking space right out the door and I can't park in the unreserved stall-retarded-even worse I can't park in front, I gotta park bout 200ft in another parking lot. Man if I ruled the world... All I can say is screw those idiots, bunch of fricking whiners. Ohhh work hasn’t even stared and I'm already getting pissed-cool off Jon, don’t get too worked up, only 12 hours to go. Man I wish I had my IPOD I could relax in my own little world.

6:15-a little happier now, logged in on the comp at work-got sandrail on my desktop-not gonna change it yet-save this one until next week-yeah-alright dvd selection for the night is as follows; resident evil 1-3, should be good-seen 1 and 2 but not 3-gotta re-up so we are watchin em all-got nothing else to do for 12 hours

7:00-Pizza's ordered! Can't wait! I'm getting hungrier by the second-I really need to eat more-healthy that is-maybe if I eat more than once a day-magic of night shift again-wakeup, gym, shower, work, eat, sleep do it again.

Maybe ill ge t some more correspondence courses done tonight, got to make my E-5 one of these days seeing as points will never drop. Sadly the army promotion system is based on how well you can read a book. Forget having to lead a soldier, or perform in the field, go read a book and take a test. Kinda gay, I think.

7:35- I love dominoes! On time never over 30mins, now to fire up the dvd. First resident evil-first of all milla jovovich is a hottie, the end-arizona green tea I love it goes great with pizza and a movie, normally it'd be beer but I'm at work so green tea will def do.

8:30-well shit just hit the fan at work. Power to the whole post just went out. And now the phone calls of fury! I swear, for everything in the world why is the MP station on every call roster for a power outage, we already know the power went out-just finished 5 mins of clearing alarms for every armsroom and building on post. Man, I hate that system. Someone gets paid a ridiculous paycheck for me to monitor those alarms yet I get nothing extra- garbage more thanks given to “the man”-now its time for the what just happened. "Did we just get attacked?"

"No ma'am just a power outage-they happen all the time."

Man, sometimes I love my job working the desk and dispatch not so much- at least I wont have to worry bout that once my profile ends in feb-get my weapon and gov driving priveleges back.

8:40-Well now this may be a legitmate complaint! We got a call that someone heard an explosion as the outage started. Now I'm a little more worried, but it could only be a generator-sent patrols to look and yep only a generator-so much for ramping up for defense mode-one day I'll get to be super hooah-well that’s all over back to Resident Evil.

10:00-heated discussion about Vick and dogfighting. Ill keep my views simple, two dogs fighting, two bears fighting, two scorpions fightin, two chickens fighting, two people fighting. I love dogs to death ive had them my whole childhood and still do but they are dogs. Animals just like the rest of us, holy shit people quit getting crazy andtaking time off work while the rest of us go to work just to hold a sign- free speech I guess.

More ridiculous call from the general public-does anyone know how to use the internet these days? I find it quite simple actually-need a number? yellow pages, yahoo. Need directions? Mapquest is your friend. So why the hell, if you have access to the internet, are you calling and asking dumb questions. No, I don’t know the hours to the bowling alley but yahoo does- truly I can only confirm the hours to dunkin donuts-speaking of directions anyone else kinda weirded out by the google street view. Haven’t seen it? Check it out, kinda creepy but good for visual people-kinda tired getting a lil bored-well wonders never cease do they? Someone is on the freeway and instead of using mapquest they need a play by play direction, who do they call? The fucking emergency line. "How do I get to Belvoir? I'm on 95????" hmm, let's see here, sir, follow the signs. "I'm by the airport" You will see the sign. "What do i do then?" Are you fucking serious? Follow them sir, you will get to the gate. "Well im not sure" Sir, this is our emergency line you are tying up right now. "but... but..." Sir, follow the signs you will be alright. Click. What the fuck? Are you kidding me? Kids, don’t do drugs.

A day in the Life of an MP Part 2/4

;The second installment of Jon's "Day in the Life of an MP" Feature. Find part one here. The rest of the features run through stream of conciousness. Enjoy. - Katana

“Hey now walk it out, now walk it out, walk it out westide walk it out”*
'Damn it fuck...shit, seriously? Come on! It didn’t even feel long enough.' I reach over for my cell phone and turn off the alarm and lay back down.

It’s 2:45PM, good afternoon for some, good morning for me - it's the upside to working nights. Woohoo! Another day, lets see how this one goes, should be the same retarded phone calls all day and plenty of cigarette smoke breaks that will make even the most die hard smokers wanna think about quitting. So my day begins- my daily routine –wake up- take a piss- stretch- go to the fridge for my kick start of fury, SOBE NO FEAR. Damn running a lil behind now 3:00-gotta hurry up get to the gym before there are no more weights to use.

Walking to my car, it's kinda warm for January. Thank god! I cant stand cold weather. I'm born and raised in Cali, I'm allergic to cold weather. Ahh there’s my baby, 320 horses of loud American muscle (my camaro-1999 Z28) - I look at my clock- 3:10, I got some time- light up a cigarette, another kick start for the day. Damn I forgot my Gatorade-ill be alright ill be using the water fountain today I guess. Fire up the G-ryde and crank the tunes-haha, damn Welcome to DC is playing on the radio buy Mambo Sauce. Good song, I suggest you check it out, good beat - look around my car as I drive to the gym yep IPODS good to go ¾ charge and plenty of music to choose from. Today seems like a good sublime workout day, that’s my choice. Now I'll Park the car a head on in….


4:30 sweatin my ass off –Sublime did a good job today and kept me focused-the nice thing about the gym is if you don’t go with anyone you can still have a good workout based on what others are doing - my motivation? Beat the bigger guy! He may be bigger than me but dammit I'ma try. Now I don’t kill myself, I just push myself. Im not a small guy for 5’9”, about 206lbs so I can handle my own in the gym better than most.-light another cigarette as I cool off….

4:45 back at the room- throw in some Paul Wall and crank it up real loud-I might disturb the neighbors but no one complains in the barracks. Turn on the shower, it's gotta be a nice and warm, once again, I'm allergic to the cold! haha-shave it up while the waters cookin, gotta look all pretty for work. Time to hop on in get rid of the sweat.

5:00- out of the shower getting changed with a lil bit of time to relax. Quickly check my email-spam spam spam spam –yep love my spam filter thank you AOL you are awesome.

*"Walk it out" just to clear up confusion, he uses that song as his alarm on his cell phone.

A day in the Life of an MP Part 1/4

For the next four days I'll be featuring the life of my beloved brother-in-law, Jon. These are his words about a typical day in the life of the world's coolest MP. He's been my friend for a long time and he's awesome so show him some love! - Katana

I’m writing this because I saw it on a blog elsewhere and I thought "Hey wouldn’t it be cool to blog a day in your life and read it later and/or see what other people think?" It’d be kinda cool, I think . Then a good friend of mine gave me the opportunity to use this in her blog (much love Katie*) I would love to see the responses to this. I’m sorry if it offends anyone just a few of my thoughts put to paper. Keep in mind it may read like a story at times but it is also filled with my random thoughts and stuff too so I hope you enjoy and get a feel for what a day for me is like.

A little background on me:

I’m Jonathan Williams, black, 22 yrs old, about to be 23 on the 23rd of January. I think I’m a kick back, easy going guy, I love to party my ass off and just enjoy myself. Hell, we only live once right? I’m a SPC in the U.S. Army. I'm a 31B aka Military Police for us non-numerical MOS folk... I'm stationed at Ft. Belvoir, Va. I joined the Army in 2004. Why? I don’t know, I needed the money for college and wanted to see what else the U.S. had to offer and I didn’t mind doing something great for my country. I was born in LA and spent 5 yrs in Inglewood then moved up to the Santa Clarita Valley, 661 for life**. In 2006 I had a seizure that put my career on hold big time. It stopped me dead in my tracks; no deploying, and I cant even really do my job. I'm stuck in front of a computer all day answering random phone
calls. Well shit happens for a reason so I'll bite the bullet on that one and play the hand I was dealt.

*Katie - My high School nickname that didn't survive into college.

**661 for life - 661 is the area code for our home town and 661 for life is often tattooed on those who have a particular pride in the uniqueness of their upbringing in that funny, hedonistic little suburbia. Did you grow up surrounded by models, celebrities, porn stars and those who's trust fund encompassed multi millions?

The Spouse side of Deployment

(Said from a female perspective because I'm female, however I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's probably similar to what men will go through as well).

The first few days of Deployment are always excurtiatingly painful. His things are still around, and each time his shoes don't move from their place by the door, or when you roll over in the middle of night and there's a warmth that isn't there, or when you do those chores that were originally designated as "his" - in my case it's mowing the lawn, doing the dishes, and folding the laundry.

It hurt. I wasn't sure how to go on for almost an entire month. It crawled by at a snail's pace and I felt like this Deployment would never end. Now it's almost been 5 months, we're just reaching for R&R and I look back on what time we've been apart and something about it seems bearable. Though I'm still hooked to my phone, addicted to my e-mail and webcam but I am able to concentrate on what is right in front of me and not daydream about my man in the Desert.

There's hope, and before you know it, R&R is here and you're halfway home.

Dipnotes

Did you know the State Department has a blog? No kidding...check it...Dipnotes

My First Deployment

From the milsupporter side...

I sent my first "last" letters today. I didn't realize it would be that difficult to say goodbye to people I never met. I think those that receive them will not know anymore now then they ever did of the concern I had for them, but the time doesn't seem wasted to me. I have reached the end of my own deployment of sorts--well minus the snipers, IEDs, bad food and Kevlar. Soon these young men will be home in Hawaii and also minus the snipers, IEDs, bad food and Kevlar--God willing.

I can't speak for all who incorporate strangers serving our country into their life, but for me it is about efficacy...a sense of efficacy.

Do I
sit
or lament
or ignore
or reason my way out
of caring about those who make sacrifices on my behalf?
I have tried all of those things with varying degrees of success.
None fit too well
some seem downright unfathomable.

Doing works better, but there's a downside to that.
In writing letters about my day to day
over a long period of time,
filling boxes with things I hoped brought comfort,
these things had a way of intensifying
my awareness of their existence
it caused me to care about the hands that opened what I sent and about the eyes that read my words.

They became a kind of family I had no tried definition for or value of other than to know they are somehow family and therefore important to value.

One would think that this would only happen if they wrote back and somehow fleshed themselves out in their own letters. One would think.

But for me anyway it was a simple awareness they were out there breathing in and out and not having as easy a time as I was.

Somehow it seemed right to match their efforts with the best of my own.

What really happens during those briefing

Courtesy of PPT Ranger

So Much to do, so little time

For those who are deployed.... Don't forget to do everything you can everyday to take care of your people and yourself. If you're in a leadership role...LEAD by example...make sure your people have their kit together everyday. Never cut corners...We had days where it was so dusty due to sand storms, that we had to clean our weapons every time we went outside.

I can go on with a thousand tips...but the most important is to get enough rest....you can be sure the insurgents do. If you go for weeks on end without rest, don't forget little Johnny Jihad just took a nap after smoking a bowl of hash.

And don't forget, pretty soon it will be over...go home and don't be afraid to talk to someone. You'll come home a hero, but the first time you swear at your spouse, you'll have gone from being a hero to an asshole.... keep being a hero.

CI-Roller Dude... OIF III, SFOR14, Berlin C-2-6, and a county fair.

GI Jill

After many years of saying "there's nothing good on TV" I've finally just stopped getting cable or satellite. Now my TV's only good for two things: watching DVD's and playing my PS2 (you've got to have priorities).

However, there's been a splash on the blogosphere of the unexpected kind which has me wondering if I should start watching television again. The Army's own Sgt Jill Stevens is in the running to becoming Miss America 2008.

Yesterday I watched Miss America: Reality Check and at first I wasn't sure which state GI Jill was representing. I wanted to see if I could pick her out from the crowd. Miss Utah began calling cadences near the begining of the episode, so it wasn't as much of a challenge as I thought it would be. She was definitely a leader of the pack and, at the end of the day, landed herself in the Top 3!

That's quite an impressive woman they've got there. What could be more American than a soldier? What could be more relevant for today? I'm certainly rooting for her!

A soldier and blogger's final post

This blog was intended to give a voice to the men and women who fight to maintain our voices. It is fitting that this post be in dedication to a soldier who did this to the caliber that Major Olmsted did.

THE DEATH OF ANDREW OLMSTEDMajor Andrew Olmsted, who posted a blog since May 2007, was killed in Iraq on Thursday, Jan. 3. Major Olmsted, who had been based at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, began blogging after his unit was sent to Iraq with the mission of helping to train the Iraqi Army. No official details have been released on his death, but reports say that he and a second member of his unit were killed during an enemy ambush in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad. Olmsted was determined to make a difference in Iraq. "The sooner the Iraqi government doesn't need U.S. support to provide security for its people, the sooner we will probably be asked to leave."

His final blog post to have been posted in the event of his death.

For those of you who would like to offer condolences and learn more about Major Olmsted head over to Obsidian Wings.

May the angels meet you, Major Olmsted.

Our blog

At this writing there is a 2LT waiting to hear word from her husband on convoy somewhere in Iraq.

At this writing, somewhere in California, a National Guard reservist is waiting to hear if his unit's third deployment includes him as he protects a city as a law enforcement officer.

At this writing an Air Force wife in Washington, D.C. is packing her house and five children once again for another move to another city and duty with her husband.

At this writing flat rate boxes with comfort items and kind words sit next to a computer just waiting for a label and a drive to the post office.

At this writing somewhere in Karmah, Iraq, a Marine is squaring things away for the night after a patrol and looking after his company of Marines.

This blog is for all who wait, pray, support, write, and most especially fight and defend our way of life.

Let it be a soft place to fall and all who dwell here be protected in all of their endeavors.

About Us

Hope and I (Katana) had been tossing around the idea of creating a joint blog for awhile. Hope was a self-less mil-supporter who adopted Deployed servicemembers and made sure they had the support from home that they sorely needed and Katana is an Platoon leader in the Army National Guard and the wife of a deployed soldier. We both love the Military in our own ways and after teaming up with a few other military enthusiasts, we decided to begin a brand new blog - the one you see here.

Our mission is to bring to light all the perspectives of the military; the selfless supporters, the spouses back home, the veterans, the retirees and anyone else who supports the troops.

Got a perspective you want to get out there? Shoot an email to TheDame[at]highboosted[dot]com. We'll see if we can help you out somehow.