Another day in the Big A

In the middle of refit, and I can almost smell the US. I can almost imagine not being dusty. I will be home two weeks from today. I get to old Kelly in my arms, pet the babies, eat good food, beer, real american coke, and a soft bed I am not bigger than. Its going to be a good two weeks.

We are doing inventories now. Trying to figure out what was stolen, lost, or just in the wrong CONNEX. One of my LE CONNEXs had the lock cut off when we got back to Sharana. It has been back here unattended since we left Zormat a month and a half ago. No telling when the lock came off. Battalion has been using our CP to hold finance, legal teams, and all the other entities the provide services to the base. Now we are missing stuff we left in our supply room. Not accepting responsibility for that. Since we are living in tents with no ECUs or electric on our own FOB so they could house Air Force guys in our old buildings, I am not going to get wound up since the responsibility for the loss belongs to battalion.
LEave will be a good time to renergize.

Winning the hearts and minds

I was given one of those moments where you get to reflect on the impact of your actions. On my way from Ghazni back to Sharana, I passed a yound kid riding on a bike. The contractor we hired to pave the road between Ghazni and Sharana had just opened that section of road this last week. The kid on the bike was riding with no hands. He was waving and smiling at us. He was happy.

Two months ago, when we were wrapping up construction on the road from Zormat to Gardez, a youn guy rode by on his bike on a section of road we had just finished. I was checking the road to see if there were any mistakes and the compaction was to the proper ratio. The kid was making noises like a speeding car. As much of a poor road as it is by our standards, it is a great ride for them. It is small moments like this that give me satisfaction that what we do here may actually have some lasting impact on the development of Afghanistan.

That is one of the great things about being an engineer here. Unlike the infantry, I have a legacy I can point to on what I did for the Afghani people.

The Military friendly Media

We recently had representatives from NBC here with us on FOB Warrior. They came through and told everyone how they appreciate our sacrifices and they want us to be safe. Then come the questions.

Do you feel forgotten because of the war in Iraq?

If we do, it because of bastards like you who are more concerned with trying to embarass the current administration by distorting the news from Iraq to influence the public against the prosecution of the war.

Do you feel justified in the prosecution of the War on Terror?

Yes, but I imagine by the time my quote makes it to the news, it will be chopped up so I say what you want me to.

The main stream media and the liberals love to say how they support the troops but are against the illegal wars of the administration. Then they sit there and wait for any mistake wether actually a mistake or not and prosecute and crucify the Soldier or Marine in the court of public opinion. They hope we do something they can construe as being wrong and say how bad the military is. They pray that public opinion goes back to the 70s model so they can call us baby killers in the media and get away with it. Fortunately for us on the ground, if they did go that far, the American public would do the crucifying.

I will never let the media go anywhere with my soldiers. The media loathes the military and would love a socialist state. That is of course until they got their wish and there was real crack downs on free speech. Then again the current media would not know free speech if it hit them in the face since they fire or yell down any dissension to the party line. They make up "evidence" against any conservative. NBC, CBS, ABC, and most of all CNN, can not tolerate any conservative voices. If they coud avoid it, they would not tolerate he military. Unfortunately the public not recognizes how wrong they were in the 70s and we shall not see a repeat of that behavior except for the far fringe left.

That is my rant for the day. I said they were non sensical ramblings.

A lazy day in the Big A

I slept in this morning. I did not wake up until 6 AM local. I usually wake up by 0430 local. We have all but a couple of the big tasks accomplished, and we are starting later. It was a good morning to sleep in.

The problem I am currently having is my focus on R&R. After 9 months in country, being close to two weeks away, I can almost smell the unpoluted air, and imagine a day without dust. I plan on standing in the front yard shoeless just to have my feet in the grass. It has been so long since I have seen grass. Besides the big one of missing Kelly so much, the little things that add up to make you miss home that little bit more.

I need to do my reports and then get some breakfast.

Explaining my URL

I have now been told that my url is a bit creepy. I thought it my be cause for comment when I made it, but it is part of my curse for having a common name and a complete lack of creativity on my part.

What is in a name?

I tried using Robdouglas, robertdouglas, robd, bigd, and a variety of other combinations. all taken. So I started to try to come up with something original and off the wall. No one on Earth is more off the wall than my OPs SGT, SFC Carver. The signature on his email is "Jump and Die Sappers." I decided no one had Jump and Die Rob as a URL. That is how the URL came to be. It is unique.

Hopefully, that may make a little more sense. Any one that knows SFC Carver, it makes complete sense.

A start

Well. I was reading through my friends blogs, and decided to start one myself. It will not take me too much time to jot down some quick thoughts. It will be the downloading pictures part that may exceed my laziness quota.

A quick update to where I am. We are wrapping up the contruction of FOB Warrior. Soon I will go back to Sharana, and then not long after that I move to BAF to head out on R&R. I can't wait to see Kelly after more than 9 months apart.

This is at least a start.