To Whom It May Concern

Out Of Gas And Sore

Well, I’m was going to make a long elaborate post about how my 4 day pass in Qatar was, about how it was only 3 days, but that I still had fun, yadda yadda yadda, but I’m going to keep it short. First of, the people of Qatar are assholes, they have a lot of money, money the didn’t earn (OIL) and they are stuck up and arrogant, I’ll stay just short of the world ‘racist’ but it’s damn close, and likely in some cases.

Also, my previous comments on drivers in Kuwait being the worst in the world… well, let’s just make that drivers in the middle east, because the only difference between those in Kuwait and Qatar are that the drivers in Qatar drive more expensive vehicles (not by much though, Kuwait vehicles are pretty nice too).

So, no one threw up on me on the flight back, which by the way was at 4 in the freaking morning, so we couldn’t even get any sleep that night, considering you are doing shit for 2 hours before you even get on your flight, such as turning in linen, signing forms, etc. I know, hard to believe you’d be signing more forms in the military, there is SO little of that going on. Okay, late and equally lame April fools joke there.

So anyways, I had a couple of days back here in Tallil not doing much of anything, I mean, out at the motor pool in the morning, moving a few vehicles around, doing this and that, and I wrote up a packet for the company to give people who are going on their 4 day pass, to let them know what to bring, what not to bring, and what you will be doing there, seeing how our fucking leadership is too inept to have something like that already. I haven’t given it to anyone yet, tomorrow I’m going to stop down and hand it to the 1SGT in person and tell him that it needs to be given out along with the DD Form 31 (paper that allows you to go on leave) so that people won’t be as ignorant as I was, not knowing where to go, what to bring, and turning in my weapon at the last minute because I damn near forgot to (I’ll take the blame on that one, but running my M16A2 down to the arms room a half mile away 20 minutes before I’m supposed to be at the Tallil terminal to sign for my flight, was not very smart and I was running VERY fast).

Yesterday, I am finishing up out at the motor pool, it’s 1630, a very late Sunday, considering most units don’t really do a whole lot on a Sunday anyway, when I came back to find my name on the whiteboard for being NCOIC of VCC again *WOO HOO!!*
So I was back out there today, first time in more than 3 months, doing my thing, I was shocked at how fucked up our company has it, but I’m going to do my best to fix it over the next week to 10 days, I’m guessing that’s how long I’ll be on it. They didn’t tell me why I am back on it, which is typical, the leadership in our unit just loves to keep people blind, even though the ‘leader’ in question is the same fucking rank as I am, and he’s an egocentric asshole who perpetuates the ‘good old boy’ system and doesn’t even realize he does it, which is pretty sad if you ask me. Oh well, not getting into that. 6 more months, fraNky boy, and you are out of this unit forever!! YAH!!

This afternoon I had a little time to kill, because I’m damn good as a VCC NCOIC and I get my shit squared away, so I headed out to the junk pile to get myself some items to make a weight set with, and I ended up with enough for a 65 lb. curl bar and an 85 lb. curl bar (estimated weights). I am using the suspension springs off of what I believe is a humvee and maybe an LMTV (larger than a humvee, smaller by a hair than a deuce-and-a-half. They rock, I have one done so far, and I put a couple pictures up on my yafro page, one of the raw materials of the heavier bar which I haven’t started yet, and the lighter one which I’ve completed already. THANK GOD FOR 100 MPH TAPE!! I used a lot of it!!

I also stopped out at the Hesco Marts (named for the Hesco barriers, sand filled barriers to protect whatever you put them in front of, some people call them Haji Marts, I think that is disrespectful), just to see what was for sale, the local Iraqi’s sell their wares there, a lot of bootleg stuff, movies, electronics, along with actual Iraqi items, leather goods, metal working, blankets, etc. I bought 4 new bootleg movies, at 2 bucks a pop. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Date Movie, Hulk, and already, yes, V for Vendetta. The Iraqi ‘businessmen’ who promote movies are freaking fast, I can’t wait to see the movie theater they shot this one in, with people walking in front of the camera. I wonder if my neighbor wonders who I am yelling at sometimes when I scream at the television “SIT THE FUCK DOWN!!!”

Ohhhhhhh yes and I almost forgot. We are driving alone coming up to the gates of Tallil, these fancy things everyone calls “The Arches”, and I look down and see that I’m just under a quarter tank of gas. I turned to tell two of my soldiers who are riding in the vehicle “Sorry guys, I know you want to get back to your rooms, but I need to fuel up” and immediately, the freaking vehicle dies and coasts to a stop RIGHT under the arches at the main gate, talk about funny. So then it was us and the Air Force security guys who run the main gate pushing the vehicle off to the side of the road just inside the gate. I had to laugh, everything went so well all day and that was how it ended.

I had to walk a mile and a half, while the other 2 guys waited for the bus. I was too frustrated to just sit there and wait, I needed to blow off steam. I power walked it in about 10 minutes, and by that time I was all tired out, so I didn’t go for my run. Besides, I knew I would make my curl bar and do some work with that. I grabbed a mechanic and we headed back down to my HUMVEE (driving another vehicle this time, NOT walking) and sure enough, it was out of gas, took us more than 10 minutes to reprime that motor (DO NOT EVER run a diesel out of fuel, woah).

So here I am tonite, oh and very very sore, last night I did 10 sets of 20 each pushups and situps, and tonite I’ve been doing a bunch of curls and upright rows. I’m going to get myself into hella good shape. I’m never that far out of shape though, which is good. Well, it’s getting late, time to decide which movie to watch and hit the hay!! NIGHT NIGHT FRIENDS!

Current Lyrical Ramblings

Oppressed that she who clearly
Sees the wealth of the trees
To obtain a bird's eye is to
Turn a blizzard to a breeze

Nice To Know You – Incubus