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...