Hey everyone....well I want to start by saying I'm sorry that I was not able to blog as much as I intended. Things went a little different than I planned. I can't say a whole lot, but I can say that it has changed my life and my appreciation of it! I've had a lot of interaction with death of close aqaitinces, and other people. Again it was not what I was expecting. One of the biggest impacts was what I plan to do with my remaining time in the Navy (I had my 25th birthday, and my 7th Navy birthday while in Iraq) I'm now in the process of becoming a Navy Special Warfare Combatat Crewman (SWCC) for short. This is something that I had a big interaction with while I was away, and something that I wish I would have done a lot earlier in my carrer. However hind sight is 20/20 as they say. While I was away I worked with some of the finest Americans/soilders I've ever met. People who are truly unsung hereos!
I was stationed at a couple places, I started out in Mosul, Iraq. While I was there I worked for 12-14 hours a day flying around and driving around the area of Mosul. I was there until I went on leave which I was able to take just in time to see Kingston be born! That was great I was really freaking that I was really going to miss it. I was greatful that I didn't though. I after my breif leave ( I say this becuase it was not even close to long enough) I returned to Iraq. I decided to change places with hopes of not being so much involved with flying into some pretty scary places.
I left there and I went to Tikrit. Tikrit was alot of fun it was a change of scenary, with some really great people to work with. It was here that I really got work with the best of the best. I was also allowed to really let my hair and my beard go (which against my decision I had to cut both, but that's another story) It was alto of fun there and I really liked the new mission, and the new faces. I finished up our 9 month tour there serving about 5 1/2 months total there I still got to fly every now and then but we did a lot of convoys mostly. I liked riding in the Styker though cause it was like a video game. I got to do some picture taking, but mostly it was on missions, so I can't show them on the internet. Unless they are of nothing you can really make out. Some I can show if you ask.
So right now I'm sittting in Kuwait Int. Airport waiting to go home. I almost witnessed a international incident when an American took a "harmless" picture but a Kuwaitti woman got offended, and had her husband made her call the police. They ended up burning the film and everything is fine now.
Well it really sucks that I can't tell all the juicy details of the deployment but I guess that means you'll have to come visit, or maybe I'll see you and you can ask me about it sometime. Right now it's off to a 14 hour non-stop flight
stay tuned....cause I'm going to keep you updated on how things are back on the island next
