On Patrol in Iraq

So I was walking the beat with my peeps in an Iraqi village when I saw this Iraqi guy surrounded by all these children, his I suppose. He smiled at me and gestured at the water bottle I was guzzling cool water from. (cool water is more precious than gold in Iraq) He pointed at the youngest child, a girl with huge brown eyes and curly reddish brown hair. She was so perfect, a little angel. When I saw her my heart leaped in my chest. So I knelt and gave her the water bottle. She took it in both hands like a baby bottle and finished the water I had left. Moment's like that make me proud to be a soldier.

Election Scorecard - Where the presidential race stands today.

Election Scorecard - Where the presidential race stands today.
Bush is kicking Kerry in the butt according the people who like him least.

One down 11 to go

We've been here a little more than a month but I thought I'd let y'all know. To be brutally honest with myself, there is nothing I would like more than to leave this God-forsaken hell hole behind me. It is everything I can do at times to not weep when I think of the time I must spend here, a year! What was I thinking when I joined the Army? In calmer moments, I comfort myself by saying that I knew what I was getting into, that I actually wanted to do this, and most of all I wanted to serve my country. It's all true, but there are times that I would kill to be back in the States - anywhere in the States, at this point I'd go to Death Valley. It isn't so bad as I made out in the last two paragraphs. There are a multitude of benefits that will come to me by being here and my life isn't coming to an end. It's just not easy. Even when it isn't that bad, it really isn't that great either. I just want to go home. So I am alive despite the best efforts of our friends the insurgents. The chain of command is making every effort to bring as many of the comforts of home as feasible to the soldiers here and it is getting better. The one thing that never cease to amaze me is the sight of thong panties in the PX. We spend every day in mortal danger and someone is worried about whether their panty lines show. You can't see panty lines in DCU's! It is comforting though that people have time to think about sex on the battlefield. At least, some things haven't changed.

Visit Lost in Desert.com

Visit my platoon website. The people who are going to keep me alive in Iraq.

Umm Still here

You know, I am scared witless of saying anything interesting about what is going on here due to operational security and I don't get outside news so my blog for at least the next 11 months could probably be summed up with, "I am still here!"

Our man Jack In Iraq

So I am firmly ensconced somewhere outside of Baghdad near a major hot spot in Iraq and I am still in one piece. The key phrase in the first sentence is "still in one piece". Death and destruction find the unwary and the wary alike although the unwary are struck down with much greater frequency. There are a few simple things one can do to protect himself here, but the truth is that when the day comes death will find you and nothing can prevent it. So I don't think about it... Much anyway.
Communication with the outside world is intermittent due to operational security and unreliable technology. I have also succeeded in destroying some of my personal electronic equipment with the 220 volt electricity generated by the installations overworked generators. Luckily my laptop is more resilient than my XBox. I have nothing of consequence to say really. I am alive. That's all.

Live from Iraq

You know the title for this post is silly. Of course I am "Live from Iraq". If I was dead there would be no post. Or maybe it isn't so silly. The only thing that is constant about life now is the sheen of sweat on every soldier's brow at midday. I've experienced mortar attacks for the first time. Most of the time mortar attacks are only acknowledged because of the noise they make, but one round came close enough that we could feel the rush of air from the blast. The battalion that we are replacing once had nearly half of its tents burn to the ground due to mortar fire. Men were caught in the shower in the midst of the attack and were forced to wander the camp in towels. I giggled like an uncaring school girl when my platoon sergeant told this story. He immediately pointed out that insurgents target medics and would love to kill me first. I still couldn't stop laughing.
As to my living conditions, all I'll admit to is that I live in squalor compared to the air conditioned tents we slept in while in Kuwait. I'll live though. And I am done.

Soldier and Psychopath

Soldiers are psychopaths. The act of traveling to a strange country and causing fatal bodily harm to people one barely knows must surely be madness. War is merely the process of building perfect little murderers enmasse. Yet war is the only form of diplomacy that really works. War is more than necessary. War is inevitable.

First Blood

My unit has drawn first blood today in Kuwait, we produced our first non-friendly casualty. Granted it was an innocent civilian who stumbled into a live-fire range but I caught myself wishing I was there so I could have treated my first gunshot wound. My motivation is curiosity. Does everything I have been taught work? If someone is bleeding from a wound will dressing the wound really help them? If someone is in shock and I initiate an IV will they be revived? Inquiring minds want to know. Mine does anyhow.

Come On

I can't escape the feeling that my life is on hold. The longer I stay in Kuwait, the more impatient I become. I saw an old buddy of mine from boot camp but we had nothing to say to each other. Beyond the momentary elation of recogniton, there was nothing.
I don't have any insights gained from living in the desert, no knowledge gained from constant introspection. The most productive thing I have started doing again is lifting weights. I am bored.

Can't Wait, I'm in Kuwait

That has to be the corniest post title I have ever used. I've been in Kuwait four days now and I think that the desert agrees with me. At least it does when the Army installs showers, air conditioned tents, dining facilites, an internet cafe, and a Subway. Life cannot be that hard when there's a Subway restaurant within walking distance. I won't even eat there, the only restaurant that could make me feel more at home though is a McDonald's.
I made the mistake of not bringing half of my laptop charger. So I am hamstrung. But it's ok.
One of the things that has been so surprising in Kuwait, is how "hajji" has so easily replaced "ottoshee". Foreigners in Korea called every Korean male "ottoshee" now in Kuwait and Iraq we have "hajji". I suppose that I'll stop liking "hajji" so much when he starts shooting at me. Time is money, in the internet cafe it's $5 an hour, so I am done and on to the next one.

soxblog

Here's hoping no one ever looks up my grades as an undergrad to decide whether I am intelligent or not.
soxblog

3 days out

Umm I am 3 days out of Iraq. I am at peace with going to war. (Irony if I ever saw it.) At the same time what do I say? Not a lot of turmoil or mixed emotions.

Democracy doesn't happen in conventions

I was reading electablog the just now and he commented on how going to the Democratic convention opened his eyes on how Democracy works.
I've got news for anybody who thinks political conventions are a part of the democratic process, they are clearly not any more. Maybe at one time nomination conventions were meant to chose a candidate for the national political parties but that time has passed. Candidates are chosen well before the actual convention and conventions merely rubber stamp the party's preferred candidate. Conventions are now an impediment to the democratic process because they provide the preferred candidate a chance to coopt his former primary opponents messages and silence any critics within the party thus squashing any serious dialogue.
What's worse is that conventions are vehicles of a two party system that excludes any and all others. We essentially have two state mandated political parties. Conventions aren't about democracy, Conventions are a tool of the political establishment to control the voting public. The entire thing is a giant sham.

Kerry Stinks

I've been back from the field and I have been able to catch up on my political reading and I wanted to say that John Kerry is a weak candidate. Despite the incredible ground swell of public outrage from the political left against President Bush, Kerry will be unable to connect with voters outside his own natural liberal constituency. Why? He stinks.
I've been pointing out that Kerry has run for president before and was defeated in the primaries. Kerry is a re-tread. He will fail because his stiff demeanor and speaking style will prevent him from convincing the American people that he is anything other than he is; and he is a canny, opportunistic, and very cautious political operator.
I just don't feel that John Kerry has the new ideas or the charisma to lead the country in a transformative era.
There are times I don't know if George Bush has the ability to lead the country, but what he has shown is the willingness to make incredibly unpopular decisions merely because he is convinced that he is right. This isn't a problem if Mr. Bush is always right. Let us pray that he is right more often.

AtomFilms - This Land

Don't get me wrong though. I plan to vote for the nut job myself.
AtomFilms - This Land

Terror in the Skies, Again? - WomensWallStreet

Absolutely positively chilling.
Terror in the Skies, Again? - WomensWallStreet

Slogging my way to Iraq

Training for the desert in Korea during the monsoon season has not been one of the most pleasant things I have ever done in life. Constant wear of my body armor has introduced me to an ailment known as "prickly heat". Salt, dirt, and assorted other things become lodged in the patient's pores and subject him to a maddening, burning, prickling sensation in the affected area. It sucks. You should see me do the "oh-my-God-what-is-that-itching-burning-sensation-all-over-my-back" dance.
I return to the field tomorrow morning with my line company to continue training in God knows where on the Korean peninsula. A nearly continuous month of training, spiced with unsubstantiated rumors of extra time in Iraq make Jack a very dull boy indeed.
I am out.

MSNBC - Iraqi group says it beheaded U.S. Marine

NO!
MSNBC - Iraqi group says it beheaded U.S. Marine

The world is my Urinal

The one thing about being in the field in the Army is that you get really thirsty. So you drink water. Then the inevitable consequence is that you must get rid of the water somehow and there are no bathrooms. What do you do? You go anywhere you feel like. There isn't anybody watching who might get offended and if there is, they shouldn't be watching.
I am back in the barracks (I don't use the word "home" because I have no home anymore) for the Fourth of July but I am leaving Monday morning. I better get while the getting is good. I can feel Iraq coming...
I have some funny stories to tell about being in the field but I don't want to give away any of tactics, it's actually a matter of security. We did have some craziness involving the platoon sergeant splattering a squad leader with glow-in-the-dark paint from a broken Chem-light. The inside of the building we were camped in looked like a low rent rave party. The BDU's even looked all right because apparently everyone is wearing camouflage to the club now.