Should we stay or should we go?

Hello blog. Well my time at Camp McCrady is drawing to an end. The ups and downs of military life are ever constant. On Monday we were told we were leaving on Thursday morning at 0600. This presented quite a dilemma to our group as I still needed to figure out how I was going to pack all the gear that I received in an organized fashion, and still get the chance to visit with my family. Most classes leave on Friday as opposed to Thursday. I also had to make sure my M-16 rifle was clean so that the Armory would accept my weapon.



So I was geared up to leave on Thursday, but... on Wednesday we were told that we were leaving on Friday rather than Thursday. That's fine more time with my family and in the USA, and maybe a final round of golf (this was accomplished). But ...literally, five minutes later we were told that we were leaving on Thursday again, and then about an hour later we were told we were leaving on Friday again and that somebody just put out bad information. If this is confusing to you blog reader it should be.

So our departure date is set for Friday. Of course we had to have our bags on the grinder at 0600 even though they did not get loaded on the bus until 0900. The military must be thinking let's see how tired we can get our Sailors before we send them over into a war zone. And so we are all set to leave at 1000 only to be told that our flight is not leaving until 1900 (if that happens I think it will be a miracle)So now all our bags our packed a la the John Denver song and we are sitting in a boiling hot room in our uniforms with no other possessions except our computers etc. I am washing the foul taste that this day has left in my mouth with a few Stella Artois beers.



Last week received an interesting brief from a 20 year old Army Specialist who grew up in Egypt as a Christian. The subject of the young man's brief was Iraqi culture. While this Specialist kept his brief perfunctory, I was most impressed that this young man without a college education was able to get up in front of a room and deliver a poised presentation in front of a slew of high ranking military officers. Some of the pointers he gave the class included if an Iraqi offers you tea then drink it. The Specialist explained how pride is everything to an Iraqi male and that if you do anything to disrespect an Iraqi male well then you lose a friend and create an enemy. According to our speaker the main way to disrespect an Iraqi is to disrespect their women. American Soldiers attend to accomplish this by wantonly staring at an Iraqi male's wife, or by trying to flirt with them. The speaker told us basically you should act like Iraqi women do not exist. Of course this presents no problem for me. The Specialist also told us several Iraqi words:

1. Shako Mako= Hello (I remember this from the song Shock the Money)

2. Salam Alakom= Peace (Will there every be peace in the Middle East? Hopefully, but doubtful)

3. Shionake= How are You (Let's get drunk on some Shionake. Sounds like an exotic drink to me.)

4. La= No (La! This does not sound like a very strong negative to me as compared to no. If you shouted la 3 times in a row you would basically be singing.)

5. Na Am= Yes



Last week ended with a lovely time with my family. Of course sacrifice makes you appreciate the good times in life, and this certainly was the case last weekend. I appreciated every second I got to spend with my family. This is a cliche, but certainly a true one. When you deprive yourself of life's pleasures it makes you realize just how great they are. I also appreciate the intense sacrifices that our military members have made over the last 8 years. It is tough, but our military serves for the most part without complaint and many times without a clear definition of what exactly the mission is.

So prior to getting into Theater I spend nine days in Kuwait at a place called Camp Virginia. That is where I am suppose to fly to today. We stop first in Lhttp://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/camp-virginia.htm I never thought I would be going to Kuwait, and probably would never have purposefully gone to this Country but for my current gig in the military. It certainly does not look like a very desirable, and I hear getting stuck in a sandstorm is utterly brutal. The primary purpose for this trip is to get some more training on how to convoy. Coincidentally, our last training mission at McCrady was a convoy op. I basically sat in a vehicle and did not do anything, and this is how I hope to keep it while in Theater. Prior to arriving in Kuwait we stop in Leipzig Germany Slavic word Lipsk, which means "settlement where the lime trees stand". So next time I write I should be in Kuwait....