I want to thank everyone for all the support throughout this never ending tour. Whether it have been thoughts and prayers, emails, letters, care packages, I appreciate it all and I really can't thank you all enough. Some people have been mentioning in emails that they are still planning on sending packages. If you are, please send them soon. I would say by June 1st if possible. Otherwise, if it gets delayed I may not be around to recieve it.

As for those wondering when I'm leaving, when I'll be home, etc. I can honestly say I have no clue. As soon as a plan comes out something changes and it's all back up in the air again. Right now I'm waiting to find out if I can get one of the schools I need for my next promotion. If so, that will dictate both when I leave Iraq and when I'm done and can finally go home.

So at this point I am just trying not to pull my hair out with all the changes, which is pretty much impossible, it's a good thing I keep it short. At least our replacements will be showing up soon, that will be a huge step.

Crazy Weather!

The weather has been absolutely crazy lately. One day it will be blisteringly hot and the next it will be windy, rainy, or just plain hazy. The first picture below is one of the hazy days, we seriously thought we were on Mars. The second two are of the other night, we had a really bad sand storm that snapped a few of our antennas.

Other than the weather, things have been moving along. We are working on getting everything done to get out of here. I can't go into much detail with it all, due to security reasons. Personally, I've been having ups and downs, which is to be expected I suppose. I'm just ready to be done, we all are. I miss you all and can't wait to see you again.

This pic doesn't do justice to how it actually looked.

What a mess.

A couple hours and they were good as new.

This is my HMMWV, there are many like it, but this one is mine...

I realized the other day that I didn't have any pictures of me with my truck yet. Usually a vehicle is the pride and joy of a soldier. I guess it's just not a big deal to me here being that I rarely use it. I mainly loan it out to soldiers that are visiting my base for various reasons. It just goes to show you how far from my usual job I am. I have spent months living in a HMMWV with 2 other guys, during training as a scout. (Talk about cramped quarters... you really have to get along.) Now, I can't tell you the last time I drove that thing.

Something else I realized when I was looking at the picture of the steak in my previous post, I miss real silverware. I don't even think twice anymore about the plastic stuff we get here, it has become so normal. There is one chow hall here that does have the real stuff, but it is a pain to get to from where I live, so we don't go there very often. Just one more thing I'm looking forward to when I get home.

Once again, I will apologize if I haven't been staying in touch as much as I should. I have been in a bit of a funk lately. The time I have left just seems to be forever, even though I know compared to what I've been through it isn't much at all (approximately 92% of my tour is complete) . I'm just thankful that May is going fast, I can't believe it is half gone already. So I just stick with my routine and try not to think about it.

Highly Mobile Multi Wheeled Vehicle...

In case you were wondering what that stood for.

Beef... It's what's for dinner.

The kind people at Mancini's restaurant sent us a whole bunch of steaks which we were obliged to devour. This was by far the best meal I've had here in country. I think I had almost forgotten what a good steak tastes like. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I'm gonna have to do some major grilling when I get home. The only thing missing was real beer, grilling is just not quite the same without it.

Things are definitely heating up here. Yesterday it was 101 in the shade, and 124 degrees in the sun. It's getting back to that point when the nights don't cool off anymore. People think I'm crazy for continuing to run in this heat, but I figure it's the only way to get used to it. If I'm to be expected to put on an additional 45lbs. worth of gear and fight a war in this weather, I'd better be able to run a few miles in it. Even though the odds of me doing anything like that in my current position are very slim, I still like to know that I can.

Not much else is new, still enjoying the pool when I can, and still watching the days go by.

SFC Mannz is manning the "Freedom Grill"
Mmmm... Beef!
Isn't that just beautiful?

La Cucaracha

For those of you were wondering what kinds of critters and things were around the Iraqi desert you can visit a website recently created by a friend of mine. It is iraq101.blogspot.com it includes the history of Iraq, the climate, and about half way down it has all sorts of wildlife found here too.

Scorpion statue found on my base.

I also thought I'd share why the rain is such a pain in the butt here.

I'm glad this wasn't my hooch... got a canoe anyone?

My bags are packed and I'm ready to go.

There hasn't been too much going on here lately, at least that I can talk about in this blog anyway. Which can be very frustrating when I try to write home, I have a hard time holding a good conversation with people. Many things have been changing for us, which is going to lighten my work load quite a bit. This is a good thing since my counterpart will be leaving at the end of next month to attend a school. I won't drown like I did last week. It was fine for that short time, but if I had to do all of that the last couple of months I think I would implode.

The new excitement around here has been packing. We are going to be shipping one of our connexes back to the states soon. So we are packing up all the extra stuff we have been toting along and hiding away for the last year or so. It's amazing what you acquire in a year. Nothing to this point has gotten us more excited for going home than actually packing to go. I know we still have a ways to go yet, so reality will inevitably set in and we'll come down off of our high. But for right now we are feeling pretty good.

Before I go, I want to thank everyone who has sent me care packages, they have been very nice and usually brighten my day quite a bit. Below is a picture of the front of my locker holding the magnets you all sent to me. I'm not sure what I will do with them when I get home yet, but I'm sure I'll figure something out. Worst case, we'll just have a fridge full of magnets. You can never have too many of them, right?

Double digit midgets

So we are back at that point again, under 100 days. In the military this is known as being a double digit midget. After being here once before, I must say, it's not as exciting the second time. The days seem to go by fast, but they are not counting off the calender as fast as they go by. I have been extra busy lately, due to the guy I usually work with being on pass. So I am currently doing the work of 3 people. Usually it's fine, not much difference, but today just seemed to be one of those days. Everything had issues that needed to be smoothed over, along with the normal amount of work. Like I said, the days have been flying by. This would be why I haven't responded to some of your emails, which I apologize for.

I have had people wondering if I will be affected by the most recent round of extensions. I can happily answer, no... not yet anyway. (Keeping our fingers crossed.) It only applies to the active duty at this point, and it was even said that it won't affect units that have already been extended. So we should be running 'hot, straight, and normal' for our return home. None of us can wait, there is a restlessness in the air. Some are already making plans to sell off their amenities. Personally, I am waiting until the last few weeks. The last month is going to drag as it is, with having stuff to do. I would go completely insane without entertainment, not to mention living in an empty room for the last 3 months.

Well, I will leave you all with this picture. I may have sent it to some of you before, but I still find it funny for some reason.

A bad site when you step outside first thing in the morning
(after a really windy night) and you REALLY have to pee.