18 March 2007
Today marks three months since I returned from R&R leave.
Listening to Holy Bandits by Oysterband
Dany's Armored Platoon Emblem
Some days it’s hard to write. Today is one of those days. I am finding it hard to get motivated, and I see it in many of my co-workers. Depression, grouchiness, and exhaustion are starting to show up a little bit. Going through the mental exercises designed to put things in perspective don’t have as much of an effect. Let’s try one together:
1. I am alive and healthy
2. My family is alive and healthy
3. My friends are all alive and healthy
4. I eat three meals a day
5. I have adequate clothing and shelter
6. I am paid well and have no debts
7. I have many, many wonderful people back home supporting me through letters, e-mails, care packages, and prayers
8. Camp Phoenix is a very safe place to be assigned
9. I have TV and internet in my admittedly small “room”
10. I get along very well with my hut mates
11. I have good friends at CMA
12. I am exposed to foreign culture every day
13. I am involved in a worthy cause
14. I have a quiet, safe place to sleep each night
15. I have good music to listen to, good DVDs to watch, good books to read
16. I’ve been able to play soccer regularly
17. I have a good boss and good co-workers
18. I can look back at my time here and see that CMA has made huge strides
19. I have a job waiting for me when I return (not always true for the people from the Guard who deploy over here)
20. AWAC won best Air Force Blog
There, I should feel much better. Look at all the good things I have in my life. Intellectually I know this, but emotionally it’s sometimes hard to stay up all the time. I wonder if the anti-malarial drugs are having side-effects, but I think it’s just all these months away from home. I marvel at the men and women living in worse conditions than these, those facing combat each day, those who suffer through 120 degree or more summers in Iraq or southern Afghanistan. When I go home and tell others I spent a year in Afghanistan, there will be some who marvel at what I went through. While it has had its tough moments, many, many have had it much worse than I have.
Dany, my Romanian friend, just came by to visit. He is always cheerful, and talking to him put me in better spirits. Jed, I’ll be able to answer some of your questions about the T-62 now.
Dany looked at my computer and asked if I was writing my blog, and he asked what the list above was. I explained some of the issues we were dealing with, and he told me about his experiences trying to teach the Afghan tankers, and it made me appreciate the men at CMA more. We may have issues there, but on the whole the guys are doing a pretty good job.
Dany has also written his first post for AWAC, and has provided some photos. He is excited about contributing. He also asked if I would post this photo of his niece Emy. Emy’s mom, Diana, (Dany’s sister) is an English teacher in Romania, and a regular reader of AWAC now! Surprise, Diana!
Emy
An issue that keeps coming up is the anti-war protest yesterday, as well as the counter protest by The Gathering of Eagles. Sounds like Leta survived OK (see Blog Watch below). Many Vietnam vets came out to make sure the abandonment they felt won’t happen to us. It brings a lump to my throat seeing the photos of them out there. Thanks to all of you for thinking of us!
My final thought on this is simple. No one here is really pro-war. I’m not pro-war. I hate war. I simply understand the necessity of war in an evil world. I am anti-war. I wish we never had to fight wars. The soldiers fighting for America’s freedom and protection are the real anti-war movement. Ironic, isn’t it?
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Blog Watch
Leta Carruth made it into Michelle Malkin’s blog today. Here’s a word from Leta.
http://michellemalkin.com/archives/007109.htm
Check this out! Read or scroll all the way down to the bottom (to the last photo). Left to right
Leta Carruth (black hat) and friends at The Gathering of Eagles. Photo was taken just after the protesters had finished trolling by and over the Memorial Bridge. It was COLD but we wouldn't have been anywhere else yesterday. Being in DC to support our military was THE place we wanted to be. You guys ROCK!
Thanks and hugs to you all. Keep up the fight there and we'll keep it up here!
Leta
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The William Arkin Obscene Amenity of the Day
Named for William Arkin, the blogger who thinks the military is made up of mercenaries, OR EVEN WORSE, that have an obscene quantity of amenities being shipped to them. If the Washington Post is willing to pay him, maybe they’ll pay me too! Fair and balanced, right? Oops, that’s Fox News’ line.
Today’s obscene amenity is the Mark III Ultra-Collapsible Lawn Chair. Just look at the lines on this baby. It screams, “Sit down and take a load off.” Best of all, these are one of the few items the BX always has in stock (so we actually do have an obscene quantity of them!) For only $9.95, you can buy one of these anytime you want, and it’s a good thing too, as they fall apart after about a month of use. The cleverly designed plastic supports on the backs of the chairs have a special break-away feature which ensures no chair lasts beyond the guaranteed sixty days. If a chair does last longer, you can get a full refund!
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Five Seconds of Fame
Yesterday’s quote, “May I remind you, Sgt. Pinback, it was your idea to bring the alien on board in the first place. If I may quote you, you said the ship needed a mascot,” was from director John Carpenter’s first movie, Dark Star, a great little low-budget science fiction movie. I highly recommend it. Looks like I got an uncontested shutout today. Even Lorrie Cramer and Matthew didn’t respond. Since this was admittedly a tough one, here’s an easy, non-science fiction quote for you. Remember, you too can be famous. Just identify the quote (without using Google) and send me an e-mail. You can also send a photo of your choice to be posted.
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Quote of the Day:
“Let’s Be Careful Out There”
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Struggling a bit, but still calling it a great day
- Bear
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Our first post by Constantine “Dany” Barcan, my friend from Romania. Feel free to write him and tell him how much you want to hear from him
Romanians say that every time you do a thing for the first time you have to full your mouth with stones... so... if you'll see any mistakes in my story ... blame the stones, not me... I mean... try to be me... and try to speak a Shakesperian English with a stone tongue... I'm gonna try to be brief, because my quote regarding this issue is "As much as you write, as much somebody else will have to lose his time to read you"... I have two stories for you ... and two pictures... and a funny story.
The first story is an old one ... and is related to the Romanian passion for the giant things... We have a huge building in Bucharest named the House of the People, which is the second largest administrative building in the world by surface area of its floors, just behind the Pentagon, and it is 10% larger by volume than the Great Pyramid.
On Christmas we build a giant snowman 5 meters tall and you can see in the picture Santa Claus came to see it too... He lived only one day because of some bad boys who killed him... in the same day he was born... :((
Yesterday we bring clothes, food, and candies for some poor kids near Policharky... it was a nice feeling to see those kids happy... We would like to do more for them... but we have only one plane...
:( Doug, if you want to join us in this operation... you know where you can find me.
And now the last story... it's about words... in Romania to define a gaggle we use "buluk"... we discovered when we came here that the Afghans have the same word, "buluk"... but with a totaly different meaning... in Afghan language "buluk" means "platoon"... so, what is for us unorganized for them is ready for battle... :)
Thanks Doug for the opportunity to become a writer.
Dany
Here's Rat, back home with the gang -
Today I made the trip back to Kabul from Gardez. It is a grueling drive that requires you to have a strong bladder, and the ride in a Humvee is like being squeezed in to a biscuit container that actually pops when you open the door. There is no place to stretch out your legs, and with the body armor and helmet as well as weapon all in the same small space, it is really a tight fit. There is communications equipment stacked up in the space between the driver and passenger, so you can barely see the other side of the vehicle. Looking outside is a little bit of a chore as well. The side window is about ten inches square and it sits below the sight line, so all you can see is down when you look out.
The drive itself can be very beautiful though. You see, Gardez sits in an area that has a river running through it, and there is green grass and trees, making it look completely different than the moonscape that make up most of the Afghan terrain. I noticed on this trip that they had begun to start plowing the fields and get the soil ready for spring planting. There is still quite a bit of snow in the area, so the cultivating cannot be easy. We use tractors to plow; they still do it by hand and with draft animals. I was impressed with the amount of work they had put into this task.
We also travel through a mountain pass with shear cliffs on one side, and there is no guardrail to keep you from going over. You have to navigate with care as you pass, due to the fact that you can easily meet a herd of sheep along the route. It must be a tough life to be sheparding; you herd from one side of the mountain to the other. It was snowing in the pass today, so we were extra careful and the trip went of without a hitch. I wish that it hadn't been a gloomy day or I would have taken a lot of pictures since it can be a gorgeous part of Afghanistan that most people never see.
Well, it is good to be back home among my hoochmates and brothers in the clan of the Evil Monkey. As much as it embarrasses me to say, I missed them. We have become close friends, and we look out after one another, and when you’re away, you seem more exposed.
That's all for today, and a great one it has been.
Ratman
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Yes Bear it is ironic that you all are fighting the antiwar/anti terrorism fight for us. If ONLY more people could get that through their thick skulls! I gotta tell you - if people who watched the staged anti war protest in Washington on Saturday didn't "get it" I'm not sure how they ever will. To even imagine that group being in leadership roles in this nation or any other is more than frightening and I don't mean that lightly at all. Aside from their truly frightening appearance they were yelling out about being against racism (what's that got to do with GWOT?), yelling out about imperialism, religion, etc. They didn't seem to have a cohesive agenda - just wanted to be seen. While they were "proud" to hold their protest signs it was rare - and I mean to the tune of MAYBE a dozen - to see an American flag. One of the dozen was even purposefully hung upside down. They were even carrying the flags of other not so friendly nations. I just don't understand.
ON THE OTHER HAND - what an honor it was to stand with former and current military personnel as well as true American Patriots on "our" side. You could hardly see through the sea of American flags, patriotic banners and armbands and clothing. It was awesome and beyond. I loved this one group of veterans who were standing along Constitution Ave singing "Good bye Commies" to the tune of "Good Night Ladies". They sang without stopping for over 45 minutes. PRICELESS!!! Wish I'd written down their entire lyrics. Their song was spot on.
Despite what the media presented the fact is the number of participants on each side was pretty darn close to even in my opinion. "We" may have out numbered them slightly because I was only standing with one group and there were other groups spread throughout the march route. I met so many amazing and inspiring people.
Bottom line is that there is no where else I would have wanted to be this past weekend. I'm so happy I was able to go. I know there were many others who wanted to be there but couldn't for various reasons. We felt them all with us in spirit.
Emy is absolutely gorgeous. Dany, thanks for sharing her photo. Also, thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. We want MORE!!!!!
Ratman - SOOOOOOOO glad you made it back from Gardez unscathed. You guys stay tucked in to Phoenex for the next couple of months. OK?
Sending you ALL thanks from a very grateful nation. Your work is so important and you are, obviously, doing it well.
Bear - regarding your "list" - I got stuck last night in the Atlanta airport. No hotel rooms to be found. As I walked up and down the concourses I kept reminding myself that I was SAFE, DRY, FED, and returning home within hours to those who love me. I only had to think about you guys, our military in Gardez or Ghanzi or Ramadi or Falluja, etc and my little inconvenience was nothing. Isn't it always about perspective?
Hugs and best to you all.
Posted by: Leta | March 19, 2007 at 10:20 AM
Hey guys, I showed your blog to my mom today. She says she's blown away by you guys and that she thinks you're all fantastic. In her words, "they're great."
And she said it with that soft, motherly tone that means she's touched. She loved AWAC so much she asked me to add AWAC to her favorites. I think I may have scored you another reader. Do I get a referral fee? :-)
Hey Dany! I'm so glad you've joined the list of contributers! Write again; write often. And no, I'm not just saying this because Bear told me to. :-)
Glad you had a safe trip Rat! Welcome back!
Posted by: Matti | March 19, 2007 at 01:42 AM
I thought my baby was at her grandpas' but she's on the Internet. No wonder she was nowhere to find. :)
Posted by: Diana | March 18, 2007 at 01:29 PM