Hating the One and Loving My New Life

[ShadyDexter]

Hi everyone. I have been planning on putting this out for the last few days. And I guess what I saw this morning has motivated me. So first, My New Life. We flew into Kuwait from Ft. Benning Via Shannon, Ireland (where we were told not to drink. Pft! That’s like being Catholic, in Rome, and not doing Communion) and then managed to get out to Bagram AF, Afghanistan. There I settled down for about two weeks in a nice comfy top bunk with wireless internet and 19 other dudes. Did some work and lots of BS computer based training, had it confirmed that the locals REALLY do fuck their sheep, took advantage of the Dairy Queen, and managed to get out by the skin of my teeth and sent ‘fwd’ Kandahar AF (NATO Controlled with the Canuks as the people in charge). Some things about my Hub (Kandyland); it has four Stores and more on the way from various NATO members putting their own PX/BX (Post eXchange/Base eXchange) in place. So, I get lots of ways to spend my money. There are three D-Fac’s (Dining Facilities) and wonders of wonders, one of them is really good (spicy Asian food). And there is a Green Bean coffee joint, a French coffee Café, and a Canuk Donut shop that NEVER LACKS FOR A LINE!! (What is it with Tim Horton’s?) There is several nations’ worth of troops there and it is the biggest base regularly ************* (blanked out by author for security reasons). Why? Because NATO is full of clowns who refuse to ***************. So the US is being forced to ************************************* the girly ass Euro-bunch again. Not that the troops themselves are useless (though plenty of those are), but their high command is utterly useless.

And then after a couple days in Kandyland Clarence and I managed to get sent fwd to a FOB (Fwd Operating Base) in a different part of the country to fix a ‘camera on a stick’ (my job). Easy enough, we met up with the Marine Sgt who basically deals with all the ‘camera on a stick’s owned by the Marines and flew out (first helo ride) here. We took two seconds to id the problem (broken cable) and then waited a week to get a new cable in (which I probably broke) and had to wait a couple days more for another cable. Which leaves us with about a week n’ a half of living on a FOB with a platoon of Marines. What is that like you ask? Chow is some kind of giant MRE (Meal Ready to Eat) with weird tasting Beef Hash, not quite right sausage, great tasting Pancake Cake (especially when topped with spiced apples), Ham, and Breakfast rolls in the morning, MRE for lunch, and then giant MRE Spaghetti, Beans, Chicken, and something else for dinner almost every day. Surprisingly, the food is better then what the Navy fed us on the boat. Sleep and any non-working out takes place in the overflow tent with varying numbers of people sleeping on broken cots (been here long enough to have one of three non-broken cots). (I need a sleeping bag.) There is a mutt that has adopted the FOB (inspite of uppers demanding it go away. Silly mutt don’t you know that when Flag says go you go?) and will likely show up in some rag because the newsies who came here took pics of it. Showering happens spottily with it usually being ridiculously cold (a Warrant Officer asked me about the water temp and I told him that at night the shower water is cold enough to make me gasp like a girl. He came back to the tent later and told me that it was no joke) and when the shower water runs out we can use the liter n’ a half drinking water bottle for cleaning purposes. Dust happens. Ridiculously. I did my laundry in a mop bucket yesterday. Shit happens too. In a BAG. The Marines here have three plastic seats shaped like toilet seats you put your WAG bag under and shit in, seal said WAG bag in a heavy duty (heh, heh, he said dooty) zip lock, and toss in the WAG bag trash bucket. Pissing happens into four six inch PVC pipes stuck in the ground at a 45 to 70 degree angle from the ground.

And then we come to what pissed me off this morning. There is an MWR (Moral Welfare and Recreation) tent where we share two phones (one broken), one net connected laptop, and three LAN drops to connect to the net. So, all is swell, and I have everything I could want in a war zone. However, the military has a policy of shutting down Moral and Welfare comms when a casualty happens (other reasons but this one is pertinent) till the Casualty Assistance Officer has an opportunity to inform the next of kin. I approve of this and in no way mind the occasional loss of connectivity and so do most people I know. Therefore, last night I was all bummed out because we (we being unit in the area) lost one of ours and comms were cut till the evening. Which means that somewhere, likely on the east coast, someone was told their Father/Husband/Son was KIA (Killed in Action). *observes a moment of silence for a fallen comrade and the pain of his family* I chose not to get online last night so that the could Marines here get their Moral and Welfare comms but I woke up early this morning to do my stuff (which includes a near religious visit to Cassy Fiano’s blog. That’s when I read the following, “Worried about offending Germans, Obama decided not to visit Normandy during his whirlwind tour of Europe.” … … … YOU MOTHER FUCKER!! Obama, you are an ASSCLOWN PIECE OF SHIT!! THIS IS THE THIRD FUCKING TIME SINCE TAKING OFFICE THAT YOU HAVE DIRECTLY SPIT IN THE FACE OF THOSE WHO HAVE SACRIFICED MORE THEN YOU (INCLUDING THE ONE WHO DIED YESTERDAY!) TO PROTECT OUR GREAT NATION!! VISITING NORMANDY IS ABOUT US! AMERICANS DIED ON THAT BEACH!!! FUCK EVERYONE ELSE! YOU NEED TO FUCKING GO SHOW YOUR GODDAMN RESPECT YOU SHIT HEAD!!

Yes, I am enjoying myself immensely here.

http://www.cassyfiano.com/

http://www.cassyfiano.com/2009/04/obama ... h#comments

[ShadyDexter]

Oh, this is actually a blog entry of mine. But, I thought some of u might want to know whats up n' all.

[Frankingun]

Wow. He makes how Clinton treated the military look respectable.

[SoupOrMan]

At least in Clinton's military, you were guaranteed a hug.

[arctictom]

Thanks for your service, and keep your head down .

[randy]

Thanks for your service, and keep your head down .

+1 Let us know if there's anything we can do.

[ShadyDexter]

Only thing I ask is when you crosspost a blog entry, that you quote it, and link it, so it's clear the original is from another site.

Ummm ... I ain't arguing with the boss, but I need some clarification here. I did link to her site and I put quotation marks around the only words in the site I needed (which weren't her words anyway) from her site.

[308Mike]

When Chris crossposts his own blog entries, he clearly identifies it as such. We don't mind if you copy your own blog post, but please identify it as such. It just keeps things cleaner.