Turtle Walk

One of my NCO's gave me and the other new medic, my AIT (Advanced Individual Training) buddy our "turtle walk" tonight. It was interesting. It turns out there is much to see "down range" but what there is to see is very lively. I saw "drinky" girls, cheap suits, knockoff designer clothes, electronics, drunken soldiers, roadside vendors hawking barbecued chicken, and the ominous "Courtesy Patrol" - the MP's more polite little brother. It was a good time.
Did I say something about not having a roommate yesterday? Did anyone ever say something about not counting your chickens before they hatch? Not five minutes after I wrote about liking the fact that I had no roommate my new roommate walks up and introduces himself. The upside is that he's a good guy with no overtly annnoying habits. (yet)
Well I'm off for late night burgers and fries.

Feeling Strangely Fine

I missed dinner chow to post; essentially, to talk to myself since recent research has revealed that this blog has exactly one reader, me. I suppose I could attribute the upswing in my mental status to the onset of the weekend but in reality there is no accounting for my moods. I just feel good or bad and I deal with it.
I seriously need to put some time in the gym because we had a diagnostic APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test) and I have slipped. My push-ups improved but my sit-ups and my run time slipped. I improved to 82 push-ups, but I lost 18 sit-ups, 42 seconds on my run for shocking raw scores of 70 sit-ups and 14:52 2 mi. run. I have never been this slow. I see quality time with a treadmill in my future.
I am actually looking forward to our next field problem in February despite the promise of weather colder than the frozen reaches of space. I am going to be a medic in a line company, which is what I always wanted. When I signed my name on the dotted line is with the hope that I would be a combat medic - a line medic. When I joined the Army I was hoping for a job with risk in it, something I could be proud about doing, something that would make people say "wow that's cool". Something to get me play with the ladies...
I just moved into my own room. The good news is that I have no roommate. The bad news is that my toilet leaks when flushed and the shower doesn't drain. You win some you lose some.
Oh by the way, have I told you about how cold it is in South Korea lately? We had a class on sling loading HUMMV's today and finally I begged my section sergeant to let me go thaw in the snack bar. We had the class because the 1/503rd is an air assault/airborne unit and everyone has to be high-speed, run 10 miles for PT, max PT tests, fast rope out of helicopters, have Expert Infantry or Expert Field Medical badges, have Air Assault Badges, and know how to sling load their vehicle. Sling loading a HUMMMV consists mostly of taping all the glass, plastic, and any protruding objects down so they don't break or catch the ropes used to suspend them from the Blackhawk or Chinook taking them to the next destination. And we do this all in frickin' freezin' weather. Fun!
In the big news there is a nasty rumor that my unit is going to play in the sandbox. I don't believe it and it would be weird but the upside is that I would be going somewhere warm.

The Dark Side

If sometimes I act erratically or become angry for no reason, please realize that I have a dark side to my personality. I think at times I don't do a good job of communicating when I am tired, lonely, and a little depressed. I have violent urges occasionally even. (I did join the Army with the aim of killing people) If I come across as being innocuous I want to explain that the obvious impression of me is exactly wrong. I don't claim to eat nails for breakfast or club baby seals to death for amusement; (although I might do something that irrational and destructive in a fit of pique) I am just surprised when people get the impression they can walk all over me or that I am not prone to anger just like any normal human being.
If it sounds like I want my readers to feel sorry for me, I am doing something right because I do. I sometimes think I force myself to be upbeat and even-tempered so often that when I tire of the effort (which has been more often lately) I get depressed. No one pressures me to do this; I do it to myself. No one thinks I need to be superhuman; I want desperately to be Superman. I carry the weight of the world on my shoulders and the world doesn't give a damn.

Colder than a Witch's Tit in a Brass Bra in December

I feel significantly better after sleeping and washing away the tremendous ass funk that accumulates when one sleeps in a tent outside without showering for several days. It took several days for me to adjust to the December cold and by the time I had adjusted it was time to go home.
I should buy a camera and webspace so I can show ya'll what I am seeing because the view is always amazing. I have never been anywhere as mountainous as Korea and looking out the window and seeing hills and helicopters sweeping through the air with HUMMV's swinging from chains like tonka toys is something one doesn't see very often in life. We had a light dusting of snow last night but not enough to cap the hills with white.
Formation isn't until 1000 hrs this morning since we didn't go to bed until 2400 hrs (midnight)last and I doubt that we'll have PT today but today won't be an easy day since we have to finish cleaning up gear and washing (BRRR!) trucks. Oh! And I have to finish in-processing into the 503rd. So I am going to be busy today.

Back From the Field

So I am back from the field. I am tired, dirty, and I am in dire need of a shower. The field problem (Army terminology for training outside off-post) was uneventful save for what happened while we were gone. The US Army caught your favorite arch-villain and mine Saddam Hussein. I am sure that 2nd ID would congratulate our brothers in the 4th ID for showing considerable restraint in not beating Saddam to death when they found him. I would have.
I have yet to fully in-process into the unit yet but I am already forming firm opinions about evertything and everybody here. I am in the medical platoon but I am going to have a lot of interaction with the infantry units and considerable interaction with the other medics. My impression of the Korean countryside is that it sucks. The air is heavy with the smell of sewage, which they use to fertilize the ground in the rice patties and everything (during the winter anyway) is a depressing sandy brown. The best thing about the whole trip was that our unit had an all male perimeter so there was no need to go all the way to the porta-potties at night. Also, we could tell raunchy jokes without asking permission. They weren't that funny but we had the option at least. Field exercises in the winter stink... Literally.

Camp Casey: Day 3

Because of my stubborn refusal to deny posession of cold weather gear I am being sent to the field to join the rest of my unit in the frigid weather. You know maybe I should have listened, especially when I check the weather and the forecast says "too damn cold". I never learn...

2nd Infantry Division 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry

I am "in-processing" into my new unit in Korea and I have gotten my wish - I am going to get some work as combat medic in a line unit in a light infantry unit. The way it works is that medics rotate from the troop medical clinic, to infantry platoons, and in the evacuation unit. So I hope that I'll be working with the "Joes" at least a third of a time. In-processing is going painfully slow but I suppose it could be worse, I almost went to the 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry who I was told like to stay in the field - a cook said that what I heard about staying in the field no more than 90 days a year was "bullshit. 2-9th goes to the field 6 months out of the year!" Also, I am in Camp Casey, the center of activity in 2 ID.
So now to the interesting part, the gossip! I'll start with everybody's favorite topic, sex. I'll also finish with sex since I don't have anything else I am interested in saying. Males are at a sexual disadvantage in South Korea since the majority of women want to be paid. There are the "juicy girls", pretty girls who work in bars and won't give you the time of day until you buy them a drink - a very expensive drink. Then there are the conventional prostitutes from various locales - Korea, the Philippines, China, Russia, and Australia! The Australian women are there because of a lack of Australian men - the ratio is ten to one - and Australian men tend to treat women poorly. So Australian women work as whores in South Korea to meet American G.I.'s.
Just because a woman doesn't demand money up front doesn't mean she doesn't expect something in return. Korean women hook up with soldiers all the time in hopes of scoring that magical ticket to America along with citizenship and benefits that go along with being an Army wife. And that still leaves the Army women... There is a saying in Korea that male soldiers use with females about being a "queen for a year". If they used the words "ho' for a year" they might be telling the truth. So the story is that everyone is having sex in Korea and getting in trouble for it. (except me!) The quickest way to become an E-5 in Korea is to come as an E-6. The army is cracking down on prostitution and has always looked askance at NCO's and officers having carnal relations with privates. Yet soldiers risk demotion and public humiliation for sex with a lower ranking soldier. Natural human folly I suppose.
Those of you in the audience concerned about my innocence and the corrupting influence of desperate Korean women selling their bodies rest assured - I refuse to have sex with a woman who does not speak English as her first language.

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One More Time...

I say goodbye so often that you'd think the word would be permanently formed on my lips. I should be packing to leave for San Antonio, but obviously I am not since I am posting here.
I went out again last night, just for the hell of it. I am becoming something of a party animal, at least when I am home in Dallas. My childhood friend Philip was there and he's still the same as he ever was - All the girls flow to him like bees to honey, but somehow were blind to my charms. I didn't care, girls tell me not to meet women in dance clubs. Which brings the question to my mind, where SHOULD I go to meet women? Certainly not the Army.
I missed the parade my recruiter arranged for me to be in but it wasn't my fault. Lack of information kept me away. At least that is my excuse, I was told to be in McKinney for a parade at 5 pm but where in McKinney?
What is a little weird is that this is it. Sometime tonight, I will buy a bus ticket and go for the last time from the place I call home. I'll be back eventually, I am sure, despite what I have said; but it will never be the same. I plan on spending my time on leave in local military installations in guest quarters till I can afford to buy a house somewhere nice (South Padre Island baby!) where I'll spend time on leave and rent the house out when I am gone. So, Goodbye....

What happened last night?

I was there and I can barely answer the question myself. What did happen was expensive and tiring. The night began innocently enough with a planned trip to Fort Worth. I eventually scuttled the trip after missing the last train to Fort Worth. I recovered by getting a hotel room at the Best Western in the Market Center District. (Never believe their claims of having unlimited internet access!) I left my room almost immediately to hang out at Have A Nice Day Cafe. MTV was their recruiting college age people for new reality shows - clubs are great places to meet vacuous people who want to be on TV and don't mind debasing themselves on camera.
After that the night just went downhill. I hated to end the party so soon - I'd only gotten to the club at midnight having trekked for two hours trying to find my hotel. My hotel was just down the road from Harry Hines BLVD, the center of Dallas' red light district. Between the cabbies and Harry Hines I am a much poorer man than I was yesterday.

Scandalous Whores

Apparently searching for the phrase "scandalous whores" brings up this blog on Google. I imagine there are going to be a few perplexed and disappointed perverts. This is the post that Google grabs the text from in the search.

Homosexuals in the military

The Army is the worst place to be if you are homosexual. From my experience in my short military career, even the suspicion of homosexuality is detrimental to your career advancement. The funny thing is that didn't stop apparently gay people from joining the military. I have a friend who is a linguist in the Navy and his roommate told him of his homosexuality the first day he was in the Defense Language Institute. There were a large number of gays at the DLI, and they all knew each other. I happened to read this article this morning about how the Army separated 37 linguist for being gay.

Why does the Left Hate and Fear President Bush?

Orson Scott Card, famous Sci Fi author and prominent Democrat, indicts the Democrats and the media's portrayal of President Bush's handling of the war on terror in this article.

Prologue to Goodbye

In four short days, I am going to leave everything I have ever known, everybody I have ever known, and everything I have ever loved to go far away. I am excited and nervous. I probably should be scared but I don't know enough to be scared.
Dallas is home, has always home but there comes a time when you leave home. To put it plainly: I am not coming back to Dallas. I love Dallas. I feel as if Dallas loves me, but I am not coming back. I've already wiped one local town off my personal map (Mesquite) but I am not forsaking Dallas, I've just worn it out. There is nothing for me here and I need to start fresh somewhere else. If I am seen in town, it will only be fleeting glimpses. You are more likely to see me on television then you are in Dallas.

This post is made possible by Wi Fi

So I went to my local Fry's Electronics and bought a 80211g compatible wireless networking card yesterday. Now I can make posts from Starbucks. Powerful technology to enable the mundane.

Living Dead

A lot of dead people walking around in India...

KKK member shot During Initiation Ritual

Serves him right.

Own an IPOD?

You might find this link funny or not. Dig the funky old school jam from Dre Dre and Ice Cube in the video. You will also be thankful for this link.

Israel Too Harsh on Palestine?

MSNBC has a bit up about how the chief of staff of Israel's armed forces thinks that Israel's tactics are too harsh.

I'm Just Another Soldier

Are you reading Just Another Soldier? You should be if only for quotes like this one:

Hell, Ray even has a friggin' tomahawk. "It's so I can split niggaz skulls open if I have to.", he told me completely deadpan and genuinely.

read that post here.