Busy

Sorry haven't posted in a while. Was on another Mosul trip, and then was busy yesterday. The weather is cooling off (highs only around 100 now!), but sorry dad, haven't heard of any cool entertainment coming any time soon.

Nothing too interesting really to report. Will hopefully have something soon!

TeddY2K out!

Promotion?

First, an apology to my readers for having been so long in posting. I've been really busy lately both with missions, and with preparing for a promotion board. However, the board was two nights ago now, so no more studying for that! Speaking of the board, I took top place out of the seven of us that attended. This means that I, along with the second and third place finishers, should at some point in the relatively near future be promoted to sergeant. I think having done the Soldier of the Quarter Board previously helped me out, as the members of the board said that everyone was approximately equal in the study-prep area but that bearing and condfidence were the critical factor. I did particularly well on the portion of the NCO creed that I was asked to recite.

That's really about it here lately. Lots of missions, but nothing really to say about them. So, until next time!

TeddY2K out!

Dumb Bird

First off, as I'm sure many of you have seen the news, I"ll let you all know that I'm fine. There were a LOT of car-bombs around Baghdad today (some of which I heard in the distance), but none anywhere near me. Al-Qaida of Iraq is fully throwing itself behind sectarian Sunni vs. Shiite violence now, which hopefully will lose it some support in the larger Muslim world.

Now, to the title of this post. I forgot to mention on my last post that we apparently made a new Iraqi friend at the Ministory of the Interior. A pigeon. As we were just getting ready to leave, it flew down from a window ledge it had been sitting on, and landed right on top of my squad leaders kevlar(which was on his head at the time!) and sat there for a few seconds. Unfortunately, it hopped off before I could snap a picture. Of course, when it hopped off, it alighted on the nearby HUMVEE. The gunner tried to shoo it, but it wouldn't go. So we started driving. We made it probably 150 meters and through one gate when the gunner motioned to some Iraqi Police to see if they could get the bird to fly off. So they poked at it from the ground, but instead of flying off, it fled on foot straight into the turret (it looked to me as if it might even have gotten in the HUMVEE itself)! But then it hopped out on the other side of the turret and finally flew off. I cannot imagine what motivated that silly creature to stay clinging to a moving vehicle. Or how the heck it held on to the smooth metal roof!

TeddY2K out!

South and North

Had a busy couple of days. Yesterday, we went down south to a couple of FOBs, and today we went north to a base where they have the Iraqi Highway Patrol Academy as it was graduation day there. The trip south is pretty nice, as there is very little traffic on that road, and a lot of open country-side to look at. I even saw some corn and soybeans growing down there (it's very green that way). Also down that way, are what I can only call "salt-farms." I don't know if they're naturally occuring, created by over-irrigation, or created intentionally, but, basically, there are pools of salt-water all along the highway, and as they dry up, the Iraqis scrape muck up and somehow separate the sand from the dirt. That's what this bizarre picture on the left is. There are some guys there, but it's kind of hard to tell with this pic size. Today was fairly uneventful, except that the base up north had a Taco Bell. I had 3 hard-shell Tacos. They were amazing.

Guess that's about it for now. TeddY2K out!

Double Birthday

Happy birthday Dad! And Bob! Mmmmm... cake & beer....

TeddY2K out!

Quick Note

Tonight, I recieved my first comment spam. I will now delete it. To help prevent further occurences of this blatant internet abuse, I have actived "word verification" for comments. This means that anyone wanting to comment will simply have to match a word that will be displayed in a picture, usually distorted in some way, that programs have trouble recognizing. This will be a slight annoyance for all of you, but probably less of an annoyance than constantly finding adds on here for viagra and other random stuff.

Suffer not spammers to live! TeddY2K out!

5 Seconds of Fame

Okay, this is kind of funny. My team leader just got back from leave today. The first thing he showed me when I walked in from mission was the latest issue of Guard Experience Magazine (Aug/Sep 2005, he picked up his copy while at home), of which I already had a copy sitting in my entertainment/snack bag only partially read. You can imagine my surprise, when literally 3 pages past the point where I had left of reading the other day, there was a photo from the Toby Kieth concert a couple months ago in which you can actually see us! That's right.. I am in Guard Experience Magazine. And it's a BIG photo too; takes up two pages. Only downfall is that some dude from Alaska is holding up a sign blocking out most of the people on the HUMVEE (you can see most of me, just to the right of the sign). GX Magazine is free to members of the Guard, but they also publish their issues online in .pdf format, so, if you have Adobe Acrobat Reader, I recommend hopping over to their website, to which I've also made a permanent link on the right. Once there, just click on the "Past Issues" item in their side-bar menu, and the issue you'll want is Volume 2, Issue 4. You can download the entire thing, or simply download the "Recon" section, which is the photo section of the magazine. Kind of funny that my parents had a pic of me from the concert and didn't even know it!

In other news, you may also note that I've added a link to my fraternity's web-page, a disclaimer at the bottom of the blog (my own doing, not mandated by the Army, but it seemed a good idea), and my batallion motto in Latin on the right.

Heh. I'm in a magazine... :-) TeddY2K out!

No Title

I really have nothing good to title this today. Sad! Anyhow, haven't had a chance to get online the last two nights (two nights ago the 'net was down; last night I got back too late). As far as boards go, normally you go to a company level soldier of the month board (not sure how people are picked for that), and everyone who wins at one of those goes to company soldier of the quarter board, the winners from there to batallion, from there to brigade, and so on. For us, we don't normally do boards at all, so, they just picked me and said "hey, you're going to batallion soldier of the quarter board."

Maggie, when did you start selling cars? I thought you worked retail?

Rog, technically, I believe that is fraternization, although, generally speaking they're more lax on the rules when people were good friends prior to comissioning (much like, if two people are enlisted and married and one is comissioned, they don't have to suddenly annul their marriage).

It was hot again today. Boo.

Vroooooom! TeddY2K.

Soldier Board

Well, I went to a batallion Soldier of the Quarter Board (and a sergeant from Alpha went to NCO of the Quarter). I was afraid they would eat me alive being as I was going up against some active duty soldiers (who do nothing but study for and go to boards from what I infer), and had only about a week and a half to study. The chewed me up pretty good, but apparently slightly less than some others, as it seems I was very close to winning (although not in fact, close enough to actually win). The sergeant was pretty much in the same boat. The plus side is, now I do not have to worry about moving up to brigade Soldier of the Quarter Board, so I only have to worry about promotion board. The thing that killed me was manual and form numbers (for some reason knowing them is important.. as if you can't just ask for the type of form or manual you need when you request one), as well as some questions on NCO and promotion stuff that is pretty familiar to regular Army, but not so much for guard. I did well on weapons info, land navigation, army programs, and current events.

In other news, the date has been set for Saddam's trial (October 19th), so we'll see how things go with that. And, interestingly enough, several foreign countries have pledged aid for the relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina. Kuwait and Qatar offering $5million and $1million respectively, and even Afghanistan $100,000. Not uber-huge, but, definitely helpful, and with the way things are in Afghanistan, that's actually a huge gesture in my mind.

Been sticking to my work-out program fairly well (although not dancing before and a couple days after Mosul trip 'cause of sore legs). Back up to being able to rep 175 lbs. on bench 8 times, so, I'm as strong as when I first moved here (I had been working out at the other base I was on, but then kind of dropped it here as it got hotter and I got busier). With it being cooler, I have a bit more energy left by the end of the day.

Also, I hear gas prices are literally insane. Probably going to hit HS and college students and low income families the most obviously. I'm considering getting something with good mileage when I get home. Like a motorcyle! What I really need is a hydrogen fueled one, but I don't think those exist. In any event, I think I want a Firebolt. It's a sport-bike, but American made with a Harley-Davidson Engine. A lot of guys from guard (and from Knox), and my buddy Mike have gotten bikes, so, I'll definitely have people to ride with. Not that it would be of much use in the winter, or when moving stuff (like the Fire-wagon or the Yukon), but hey, I feel I deserve to splurge a little with my hard-earned war-cash. A lot of guys are actually getting full-blown Harleys, but that's a little out of my range.

That's it for this evening. TeddY2K out!
(yes.. that Klondike thing will be appearing soon... I like to keep you all wondering.. MOO HA HA HA HAAA!!!)

Biting the Hand That Feeds

As I'm sure most of you are aware, a monumental natural disaster has once again struck, and per usual, many are screaming that the US is not doing enough. The difference this time, is that the natural disaster happened on home turf. I'm talking, of course, about hurricane Katrina striking the Gulf Coast, primarily New Orleans. Now, don't get me wrong, I do feel a great sympathy for the people who were affected by this disaster, and obviously it disproportionally affected the lower income section of the populous, and yes, perhaps the guard should have been activated sooner, and more resources should have been used to get people out before the hurricane struck. However, a significant portion of those who stayed behind (this obviously discounts those in hospitals unable to move, etc) CHOSE to do so for varying reasons, including, but not limited to: hoping to loot and plunder, over-confidence, and of course, out right indifference. Many of them would not have left on public transport even if given the opportunity, and of course, they were was definitely plenty of warning. Now, many of these same who chose not to leave are demanding immediate assistance, and some are even actively opposing the government presence in New Orleans. What this tells me, is that people have come far too much to depend on instant gratification and an over-inflated sense of entitlement. No one required these people to live in a city where it was known that hurricanes and flooding posed an enormous risk right up there with earthquakes in Callie and terrorist attacks on New York City. The social contract under which our society operates states that while the government should do its best to help people, you have no inherant right to rescue in a dangerous situation(either natural, or caused by someone), otherwise the government would be held liable every time someone dies in such a situation, which is obviously an unnaceptable condition. When you assume a certain level of risk, that's on you, not the government. And obviously anywhere you live has risks, just some are greater than others. The response that has already been mounted I'm sure is much greater than could have been easily managed even 30 years ago, yet people are saying not enough is being done. They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Simple precautions (some of which were suggested and not funded, such as certain Army Corps of Engineer projects) could have made conditions now much less serious. Many people in the midwest prepare for tornadoes in the spring in fall, snow-ins in the winter, by making sure they have canned food and bottled water on hand, and many also put emergency kits in their cars during the winter. Obviously many homes were destroyed, but, a lot of people would probably be better off if they had such a kit stored in the upper stories of their home so it could easily be taken to the roof with them. As for hospitals, etc. that are now without power, solar panels or generators located higher in the building with each floors electric system being seperately wired to protect from shorting due to flooding would be greatly useful. Now, I know I'm not there and can't know entirely what people's preparations were, but I imagine that if they were examined they would be seen to be lacking. Buildings in California are designed to withstand quakes; shouldn't more buildings on the coast be designed to deal with flooding?

That being said, I do hope things turn out all right there, and that people come to their senses and co-operate with the military and police forces that are attempting to restore order, rather than jeering them, shooting at them etc. People who conduct themselves in such a manor in the face of those there to help them are no better than the ones we get sent overseas to fight. I do encourage those who are able to donate money or time to the relief efforts do so.

That's all for tonight. TeddY2K out!
(coming soon... "What would you do for a Klondike Bar?"

Zzzzzz

Exhausted. Just back from Mosul trip. Have some longer posts in the works mentally, will get around to them when I'm more coherant.

Zonk!