Some days...

aren't even worth getting out of the rack and shuffling to the Green Closet, you know?

First there was the Battle of the MBITR Radios, which we eventually won, but really, it was one of those that wasn't much worth fighting. This radio works in this mount, but neither radio works in the other mount... One of those where nothing can ever just be simple. Duct tape was involved in the solution.

Then there was some indirect fire, or maybe not. Some threat of something, and since we were standing out in the middle of a giant open area, we really had no choice but to take cover and smoke bitterly.

Then there was the E. Coli outbreak.

(incidentally, I cannot ever think of "E. Coli" without thinking of that throat lozenge commercial. Riiiiiicooooooolllllaaaaa!!!!! Worse, probably, is that I say "E. Coli" with that same inflection)

I think I'm going to go to bed. Perhaps when I wake up, it will be a warm, sunny, happy day in Iraq.

It's been...

slow. Phenomenally slow. Like...glacially slow.

If I'm ever in charge of a war, I'm deploying units, and none of them are coming home until we've either won or lost entirely. There will be no "rotations," there will be no "relief in place," and there will be no "transition."

Nobody will take servers full of information and just leave, and nobody will look at me and explain that they need to visit every cluster of huts within 25 klicks to "learn the AO."

No city leader will have to listen to another junior - the tenth in five years - officer explain that his unit is there to "help the people of Iraq learn to leverage their government structures." No farmer will have to explain to an earnest Soldier with a clipboard that he has six hours of electricity on the average day, ten on a good day, and none at all on occasion.

[Sigh]

Grumpiness like this is probably why I'm not allowed to be in charge of wars. Well, that and the part about being a staff sergeant in the Reserves.

What's better

than free beer in Iraq?

Free beer in Iraq with another recovering jarhead, that's what!



That's right - we trudged over at 0130 for our two MGDs-in-cans. They were great. Consider this a big thank you to the American taxpayer. Those dollars, at least, were well-spent.

(note - the other jarhead is our company commo guy, who's hiding out with us for a few days)