Another day on the calander.... oh wait...that day is my birthday... 5 years in review..... ( MAY 7th 2008.... my birthday in 30 mins)

More from my past 5 years......

The day we got to Kuwait... waiting in Camp Virgina...( which was an amazing base) using the internet and the phones every day to talk to gabby in NJ before we started dating.... then finaly getting on the LCAC ( Landing Craft Air Cushioned... aka giant hovercraft) to get back to the ship and prepare for the ride home.... The look on the faces of some of the navy personal when they released that some of us did not make it back... something they were told might happen and that they did not accept till we got back....the way some of them sat there looking at us with blank faces and mouths wide not knowing what to say to us... or how to relate.... The chearing of whoever was on the mess decks as we came stomping through with all our gear heading for our living spaces....the silence as we passed through carrying the gear of those who did not make it back....

The day the ship took all of there awards out of one of there trophy cases in the mess hall and put up a very nice memorial for the fallen marines.

Other things i remember from my last deployment.....Two days after we got back to the ship.... Cleaning out Andrews rack and locker.... digging through the equipment room to find the rest of his personal effects and brining them topside to prepare for inventory and shipping back to the states.



The days that we started on-loading everything getting ready to go home.... the other ships sending over the personal effects of the dead the and wounded....

crazy sorts of shit you remember while board at work and it is 23:37 (11:37pm) the day before your birthday

No big plans just going to sleep as i will be getting off work around 3 or 4 am then go back to work at 4pm and be happy that this year i am actually in America for my birthday. As a recap and a continuation of my last blog... this is Looking Back... My time in the military.. Birthday Edition.

19th.... birthday in mechanics training it fell on a weekend and was not that bad. I went camping with somebody who was a close friend when I was in training.

20th.... was on my first trip to Iraq and the insurgents even sent me gifts for that birthday a rocket and mortar attack.. We all woke up in the room ( 6 people per room... it was about as big as a shoe box with the bunks and all our gear.) and then just feel right back asleep i laid there and laughed sining happy birthday to my self and counting the rounds as they hit the ground and exploded.... watching the windows rattle... the sand and dust fall out of the cracks and crevices....i heard of birthday punches but that was just ridiculous.... i even counted 21 explosions... so i guess they gave me 20 for age and one to grow on.... walking around base after to see if they hit anything... that night they sent more gifts another 19.... was intresting we were sitting outside smoking some dry old but good cuban cigars and you just hear a whissle over head and down the street a bright white lite... then to the left and right and all around looking off the roof. Was on hell of an interesting fire works show when the attack helicopters finally got airborne and flew right over us stopped right above the ridge behind us.... Looked like a solid stream of light coming from the cannon ( for reference only every 5th round lights up and they shoot 20mm Armour Piercing Depleted Uranium Rounds.) on the front.... the loud WOOOSH as the rockets fired out of the pods.... the bright flash of light and loud BA BOOM as they impacted the ground.....us sitting there smoking and clapping and laughing..yelling at the attack choppers telling them " YEAH..FUCK'EM UP GET THOSE FUCKERS!".... finally going inside when they got to close.... found out next day that the incoming fire only flipped one vehicle nobody got hurt... My grand mother tried to mail me a cake it took a week and a half to get there.... by the time it did it was moldy mush but i do love the fact that she tried...

*21st... Desert Training in Yuma AZ at least i got to party for that birthday..... they took me to the local strip joint and we all had a good time till we got kicked out....the next day sucked lol doc had to give me to widebore IV's to rehydrate me.... he said he never seen somebody so drunk before....

*22nd.... Spent in the middle of the ocean off the coast of Australia on a ship... Thinking i should have bin home 2 months ago... that if we would have actually done just the two weeks of training in Kuwait like we were supposed to 11 people would still be alive and with there families at this moment... nobody even knew it was my birthday on the ship..... and i don't think i even cared that it was... they had cake in the mess hall for desert just cause that was the desert of the day i put 22 tooth picks in it to pretend they were candles....
tried to make some phone calls from one of the ships sat phones.....
Then went to hear the band play.... some of the ships crew brought there instruments with them and set up a small cover band ( they were really good) in the upper vehicular storage deck at night... lots of people used to go down there lissien to the music, smoke, relax, sweat your ass off at the same time... it was the place to be any night of the week on the ship on the way back.... the mood was more relaxed then in other places on the ship....Guy's got to joke around and flirt with the women... most the women( actually just about everybody ) wore pt gear.... some of the women wore there shorts a little higher and and one or two sizes smaller then regulations would like the same ones also usually wore a shirt one or two sizes smaller as well to make them self more attractive ( everybody was going crazy after Iraq... sure we just hit port but 4 days was not going to make up for going without sex for 7 months).... and another thing was...they put there hair down... in a figuratively and in literal sense of the word as well.... they took there hair out of the tight bun that they had to keep it in while they were in uniform and on duty.... they were allowed to because it was night time and technically they were off duty and in pt gear.... The guys did not mind them wearing tight clothing (it may be pt gear but.... wow as i said after 7 months it nice to have some eye candy and hey it not like we were being pigs they were just as guilty for showing off as we were for staring at them !) and them letting there hair down.... most of us were shocked to see that when out of uniform some of them actually were women.... some of the more uptight and higher ranking people did not like the fact they were dressing like that...

23rd... This year.... Got an amazing box of sweets and tea from ally and opened it with here over skype on the 6th because she has work tommrow and i won't be able to see her over the cam for my birthday to open the gift...... the rest is yet to be written but some how sounds like it will be better then some of the past ones and also worse then some of the past ones....

More to come from my past 5 years......

(* They were part of the same deployment.... the training was for that trip to iraq...)

:( Not good news from back home :(

So i called home yesterday and i did not get good news.... my younger cousin (he is only 14) is in the hospital in intensive care unit. From what my family told me they know so far is his is full of gal stones his blood sugar levels are through the roof his pancreas just shut down and they can't get his blood sugar levels to come down even with the use of insulin.... since they can't get his sugar levels down and his body to stablize they can not operate on him to remove his gallbladder. The doctors are trying to figure out what caused the gallstones to appear like that but can't figure out what is going on... if everybody could just send healing thoughts and prayers for him thank you very much....

Looking back.... My time in the military....

Places and things i will never forget....

My first trip to iraq and the 14 hour flight from San Diego to Germany then to kuwait city and iraq.....

Al Asad Air station before it became "camp cupcake"....

Eventually getting used to the mortars and alarms going off and just falling back asleep after the warning alarms go off because you were so tired you did not care anymore.

The night we watch the morters rain down on the road between the 2 buildings we were in slowley getting closer and closer then thankfully stopping....

The April 27th 2005 sandstorm... coming out of the command building and looking at a wall of dust and sand approaching us and sombody saying " Holy Shit its THE MUMMY..." ( for those of you who don't know of it en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandstorm )

Getting lost walking around in the sand storm for 3 1/2 Hours and one guy yelling over the wind and through his mask " DUDE THIS WALK SHOULD ONLY TAKE 30 MINS WE SHOULD BE THERE BY NOW"

Finding out we walked almost completely across the base in the other direction then stumbled around in circles... that why it took so long lol...

One morter landing close enough to our work area to make us go " OK TIME TO RUN FOR COVER NOW"... as your ass pucked so tight you could not get a 80 lbs steel nail up there with a jack hammer...

That the most amazing sun sets i have ever seen in my entire life were in the middle of one of the craziest parts of the world i have ever bin to....

Seconded deployment ( More fun the the first... but also more tragic..)

Hawaii ( round one 1).... Seeing all the sights and memorials around Pearl Harbor... and well lol yeah... party!!!!!

Singapore at 11:53 ( with a midnight curfew) stumbling out of the bar after the 3 of us had finished countless 40oz beers and 17 bottles of wine and me saying "shit how we gunna get back to the ship across town in 7 minuets when she can't even walk and your to drunk to know what the fuck your doing"... at the same time trying to hold my self up her up and hail the taxi to try and make it back....

Attempting to run down the dock at 11:58 carrying my friend on my back because she could not even stand up.

The next night on the same corner different bar going " Aw shit not again.... its your turn i did the carrying last night...."

The super cool amazing fountain in the center of this huge 4 story mall ( 2 above, 2 below ground) that they projected writing onto with lasers...

Making a wish in said same fountain as when the water curten turns off you can walk to the center to make a wash.( Hold hand in water and walk counter clock wise 3 times while saying wish in your head... no coin required)

Walking away from the tour group and finding the most amazing little side temples and small spots to eat and shrines and the coolest local things that the big tour groups never go out and see.

Bartering for diffent good, electronics,etc.

Watching people at the local burn pit burning tons and tons of red paper to celebrate the good luck that a family member just had. ( Chinnes thing)

Finding out that "Happy Ending" to the massage is actually included in the base price of the massage.... and is usually standard unless you say you do not wish it lol....

Finding all that out after i had already received the " Happy Ending" ( before i get tons of did you us a rubber... yes i used a condom they actually have them in the room because apparently happy endings and prostitution are legal and regulated in Singapore.)

Sight seeing at the amazing outdoor botanical gardens... wow talking about amazing i just wish i took more pictures because nobody ever believes me when i tell them how amazing they actually are.

India which was amazing place and very interesting. It also reminded me that no matter how bad i think my life gets it could always be worse by far....helping all the people i could by giving away over 8,000 rupees ($200) and buying cans of condensed milk and formula for the mothers with infants and other people who live in poverty on the streets Mumbai ( Formerly Bombay).

The good times i also had in India, Drinking at the Leapold Cafe.... the famous " BEER MAN ANOTHER BEER TOWER PLEASE...."
(each tower was like 20 beers... we were going through them like they were nothing)

Buying gems and other interesting nicknack's that any steam punk would love to have from some of the street vender's and markets.

Boy: " You buy drum... you buy drum...." Me:. "No i just bought one of your drums"... Boy: " You buy bigger bigger drum?"...

Iraq Round 2

2 Weeks of training in Kuwait becoming a 6 Month Deployment to Iraq during the middle of the big surge.. ( 2 Months... then a 2 month extension... then another 2 month extension)

The day i looked around at the bird ( helicopter) that crashed and was surprised that only one person died in the wreck...

The day we found out that Andrew got hit by sniper fire and died ( R.I.P dude you were an awesome person)

The day Capt Krist got hit by a rocket round during an IDF attack ( R.I.P... he was due to get married when we got back)

Late nights in Perth Australia hang out with good friends on our way back from Iraq celebrating life and drink to the memory of those who did not make it back .

Kangaroos and my friend Morning saying " Your auzzies are mean for killing them..... wtf the ever do to all ya all and auzzy friend saying " dude they are like giant rats down here they eat crops and cause problems."

Hawaii ( Round 2).... LMAO... not that again ahhhhhhh!.....
.....More to come later...


**** EDIT AND THE MORE TO COME****

BIRTHDAY MAY 7th 2008....

No big plans just going to sleep then go back to work and be happy that this year i am actually in America for my birthday. As a recap and a continuation of my last blog... this is Looking Back... My time in the military continued.... (Birthday Edition)

19th birthday in mechanics training it fell on a weekend and was not that bad. I went camping with somebody who was a close friend when I was in training.

20th.... was on my first trip to Iraq and the insurgents even sent me gifts for that birthday a rocket and mortar attack.. We all woke up in the room ( 6 people per room... it was about as big as a shoe box with the bunks and all our gear.) and then just feel right back asleep i laid there and laughed sining happy birthday to my self and counting the rounds as they hit the ground and exploded.... watching the windows rattle... the sand and dust fall out of the cracks and crevices....i heard of birthday punches but that was just ridiculous.... i even counted 21 explosions... so i guess they gave me 20 for age and one to grow on.... walking around base after to see if they hit anything... that night they sent more gifts another 19.... was intresting we were sitting outside smoking some dry old but good cuban cigars and you just hear a whissle over head and down the street a bright white lite... then to the left and right and all around looking off the roof. Was on hell of an interesting fire works show when the attack helicopters finally got airborne and flew right over us stopped right above the ridge behind us.... Looked like a solid stream of light coming from the cannon ( for reference only every 5th round lights up and they shoot 20mm Armour Piercing Depleted Uranium Rounds.) on the front.... the loud WOOOSH as the rockets fired out of the pods.... the bright flash of light and loud BA BOOM as they impacted the ground.....us sitting there smoking and clapping and laughing..yelling at the attack choppers telling them " YEAH..FUCK'EM UP GET THOSE FUCKERS!".... finally going inside when they got to close.... found out next day that the incoming fire only flipped one vehicle nobody got hurt... My grand mother tried to mail me a cake it took a week and a half to get there.... by the time it did it was moldy mush but i do love the fact that she tried...

*21st... Desert Training in Yuma AZ at least i got to party for that birthday..... they took me to the local strip joint and we all had a good time till we got kicked out....the next day sucked lol doc had to give me to widebore IV's to rehydrate me.... he said he never seen somebody so drunk before....

*22nd.... Spent in the middle of the ocean off the coast of Australia on a ship... Thinking i should have bin home 2 months ago... that if we would have actually done just the two weeks of training in Kuwait like we were supposed to 11 people would still be alive and with there families at this moment... nobody even knew it was my birthday on the ship..... and i don't think i even cared that it was... they had cake in the mess hall for desert just cause that was the desert of the day i put 22 tooth picks in it to pretend they were candles....tried to make some phone calls from one of the ships sat phones..... then went to hear the band play.... some people brought there instruments with them and set up a small cover band ( they were really good) in the upper vehicular storage deck at night... lots of people used to go down there lissien to the music, smoke, relax, sweat your ass off at the same time... it was the place to be any night of the week on the ship on the way back.... the mood was more relaxed then in other places on the ship....Guy got to joke around... girls wore pt gear and put there hair down....

23rd... This year.... yet to be written but some how sounds like it will be better then some of the past ones and also worse then some of the past ones

(* They were part of the same deployment.... the training was for that trip to iraq...)

More to come from my past 5 years...

WAHOO!!!!!! NO CANCER... but the liver.....

Is not looking to healthy:( but the good news.... WAHOO!!! NO CANCER!!! that is what the doctor says thank god... but there is a slight problem... ok so they were looking at my balls and they said it was just slight fluid build up not abnormal but usually if it happens it is on the left not the righ.... so they say we needed to check my kidneys so they are looking at my kidneys and they go " oh that is not good"
so i am thinking " AW SHIT NOW WHAT" so they moving the little wand thingy around and they are like " we hate to ask you a personal question but do you or do you think you have a problem controling your drinking"
..... i don't drink much as you all know so i tell them " No why.."
they say "HUMMMM".... " Your by no means obese so do you eat an excess amount of fatty foods..."
... i don't so i tell them " Just what the chow hall feeds me."
another "HUMMM' then " you don't take medication for high blood pressure do you..."
... " I don't Why?!"
...." Well you have an excess amount of fat around your liver right now your liver looks like that of eather a person with a drinking problem or a person who is very obese.... and since your not on medication for high blood pressure some of which are know to cause this problem the only other thing that it might be is well... does diabetes run in your family...." that is when i was like ?!?!?
" Yeah it does. both my grandmothers one has and one had it ( one is dead) and my grandfather had it ( also dead.)"
so they are like....
" well it does not look like anything but excess fat right now but you should keep an eye out for some of the follwing things and if you notice some changes along those lines let your doc know but other then that you need to start eating better immediately...."
so now i am trying to figure out how to get on comrats so that i can go on a diet cause apprentley what the chow hall is feeding me is causing me health problems... so i go in there to find out no cancer which is outstanding but if i keep eating at the mess hall i will get liver problems or diabetes... great lol.... well atleast it is somthing you can control right :)

Ok so the doctor is freeking me out now.....

Ok so last year during my yearly physical they found a very small lump on my right testicle... they determined that it was probley nothing and said to me if it feels like it is getting bigger or have any pain then let us know... so i kept track of it while i was on deployment i noticed it was a little bigger so i went to the doc he said it is not a major change.... don't worry about it it is nothing... yesterday i had to go to the doctor for fucking up a nerve in my elbow... while i was there i figured kill 2 birds with one stone and got my physical out of the way. Well the doctor gave me that like :: UH OH:: look and the " Hummm that is interesting"... so when you hear that from your doctor you start freaking out and going through the that is never good thoughts..... so then i asked whats up and he said that it has actually grown a consider amount from last year... from like () that big to like ( ) big.... i mean i noticed it felt a little bit bigger but i did not think it actually got that much bigger... every time i asked one of the doctors while on deployment they said either not to worry about it now or wait till i get back to the states there is nothing they can do about it out there.... so i waited and waited and got back the USA and then waited and finaly i guess it got to a size they thought was big enough to worry about... so now they have me scedualed for an ultrasound to check and see what is up and to determent if they want to do a biopsy or not... so naturally i am freaking the fuck out..... i mean it could be nothing or it could be a cyst or it could be cancer.... so now i got all these thoughts running through my head and am freaking out... they are calling me tomorrow to let me know when the appointment is.... :( yeah so yeah :( just thought i would let you all know... i told my family back east now i need to tell the people who are my burner family out here ... I usually never freak out about stuff that i go to the doctor and i mean i have never freaked out about doing some really crazy dumb shit and usually never let people know whats going on ... but this... this scares the shit out of me.... so if i am not acting sorta like my self lately you know why... I am hoping to see everybody at fools in April.... Sorry for sorta making it sound like i am dumping my self out here i am just scared from not know what it could or could not be... anyway i have to get back to working.... well thanks for everybody reading this you are all very spical to me even though i don't call and say it all the time to everybody or i don't say it on here enough.... Thank you and lots of love to all of my San Diego Family, my Stag Camp Family, and my virtual family.

Tommrow!

IS THE BIG DAY!!!! tomorrow i take my driving test :) everybody wish me good lick!!!! or lol luck one of the 2



UPDATE!!!! AHHH THIS BLOWS>>>>>> so i had my appointment and they would not let me out of work till 8:30... i did not get to the dmv with traffic and everything till 930... the problems i my apt was at 845!!!!!! so i got fucked hard again by the good old USMC! my next appt is APRIL 8TH at 940 AM hope i can make it for that one so i can get my license and hopefully a car or truck before fools... was looking at 2 vehicles one truck and one car... both will probley be sold by the time i get my fucking license now.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! ok so maybe not that bad but.....

Man oh man am i nervous.... my driving test ins march 10th... so GULP... i have done great hell i drove half of an 880 mile road trip that me and ally just took up to San Fransisco so what am i worried about... i dnk i just guess i am worried about the test giver being in the car and not relaxing,,, i mean i have driven on ice,snow,brownout while in the desert, super dense fog, at night in bad rain, during the day in rain, and just regular day and night driving.... so i should be just fine on the test right.... why am i freaking out... guess it has to deal with the fact that i am a really bad tester... but then again this is practical application from of test which i am good at so.... but i guess it is to be normal... then the other thing... looking for a car i want something that is cheap but not so cheap that i need to spend mega bucks to try and fix it right after i buy it but at the same time i wanna try to get something newer only maybe 10 years old that way it is ya know i guess safer and maybe more dependable cause it is ya know newer at the same time beggers can't be chooser... :::sigh::: plus i am getting out of the military so i am trying to get a resume together and looking for jobs which you think would be easy for an aircraft mechanic... lol... not as easy as you would think... GRRR i need a time out big time... oh and ontop of all this ally might not be able to make it to fools :( :::sniffle sniffle::: so yeah i am upset about that 2.... anyway time to sleep if i can...

Merry Crhistmas!!!

!!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY AND A BEST TO ALL!!!!!!

AHHH why can't i have somthing good for once without the BAD!!!!

Yeah so it all started last night when they told me at like 10 pm hey you coming to days tommrow so I was like Great I don’t get time to pack or sleep before work.... Then I spilled my hot coco all over me which is not so bad the bad part was it got on my sidekick and fried it so my phone is dead, and the shittery news is when the dumbass in the t-moblile store in hawaii activated my insurance he did it on the wrong fucking line so all the insurance payments I have bin making are for shit because well... Yeah I can't use the insurance on my line cause the insurance is on my mom's line so I was mega pissed about that... cause now insted of 110 bucks for a new phone it will be like 400. Then on the way home my break cable broke and I wrecked my bike going to be like 100 bucks or more to fix that.... Then I get back to my room tired as hell and try to pack and relieze I have to do the wash for clothes for when I go home so I start doing the was the wash gets done start carying it back and slip in the mud.... And TA DA what a shock all the clothes land in the dam mud puddle and well the clothes were dirty again..... So wash them again bring them to my room and pack them all up go to zip the bag and the zipper breaks so I switch bags.... And the zipper breaks on that one... So I am going to have to bring most of my clothes ( which now wont be much) in a back pack... Which sucks... So here I am at work can't get to breckfast have 10 bucks till payday... And now my grandma is making drama about my girlfriend again dam it! Sware to go if they start making to much drama while i am home i am gunna hop the first plane back to CA and just sit in my fucking room!
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

YAAAHHHHH GO ME GO ME!!!!

Ok so maybe i am a mega looser cleberating the fact that i just got my learners permit and drove down the freeway and around san diego for the first time and i am a whopping 22yo..... but ya know what i am dam happy and proud of my self i think i did super good for my first day driving around :) oh yeah..... so hopefully with Ally and Bad Dawg's Help i should have my licence by Febuary which means i will be able to drive to all the events and things :) WAHOOOO ME SO HAPPY GO ME GO ME ITS MY.....well it ant my birthday but its somthing spical day so :)!!!!