These boys mean business! 

Being bad is a full time job

The media at home infuriates us. They only harp on bad news and what happens to our soldiers. If it bleeds it leads. They don't tell you how many bad guys we kill. I'm glad they gave up the body count after Vietnam but it would go a long way toward making everyone feel a lot better this time around if the truth were told.

I was asked by a friend to add more pictures. Ok, I will. I'll add what I can that is not too gruesome or anything that will upset my family but this is a photo I love. It was taken during the invasion by a soldier from the 203rd Engineers, Missouri National Guard. How would you like to be on the receiving end of that 25mm chain gun?

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel

I just hope it is not an oncoming train! I was up until 05:00 this morning with the Project Manager selling off some of our budgets. We are 75% finished and have sold off all the major elements. Captain Dodge emailed me and told me to just take folders, put last years budget in it, and mark +10% on the cover of each. I wish it were that simple.

Soon I will be able to get back to the relative comfort of Taji. I never knew how special our Base was until I had to spend two weeks here. There is always a lot of arrogance at the flag pole but this is magnified by the Bosnian Mafia.

Our company has some new commercials coming out starting today. It's about time! We are sick and tired of all the bashing we have been taking in the press. I know several of the people in the commercials too. There is an interesting bunch!

Cold, tired, and ready to fly 

Still here

I am still trapped at Camp Liberty working on the BOE. The Army says it is the Basis Of Estimate for the budget. I have heard it called the Bullshit Of Existence, Bag Of Ether, Basis Of Excrement, Big Ol Excitement, Blowing Our Estimates, Bag Of Enemas, etc.

No one wants to work on it anymore, we are all burned out and just want to finish it off. I feel like a matador who has toyed with a mad bull for about 2 weeks and now I am ready to put it to the sword.

We have a bunch of FNGs who are all excited about being here. They wnat to hear war storeis about the early days but I just don't have the energy to relay what really happened here in 2003/04. I just want to work, sleep, and be left alone.

That is not how I normally am Maybe the fatigue is setting in and maybe it is just because this camp is so unfriendly. Either way I can't wait to get back to Taji.

R&R

My R&R was not everything I hoped for. it is becomming routine now and the homecomings are less and less intense. It is not that my wife does not care, she is just getting used to it. That has it's dangers but we work hard to keep in touch and keep complacency from setting in.

After two weeks at home I went to Zurich for 3 days. I had hoped to get some skiing in at one of the famous resorts there. not to be. The first night I was there I had Turkish food and I am guessing that it was the lamb that caused me to have a remake of War and Peace in my abdomen. Zurich is nice but I would not go back to it as a destination.

I came back from R&R a week ago and ran into a firestorm. The Army has invoked Alpha Contracting which means we are under an electron microscope when it comes to cost. We have spent the last week working on nothing but the budget for the upcoaming year. We have worked some brutal hours too. I put in 22 hours in one day and 18 the next. It is grueling but is still better than having to go outside the fence!

Every intel type I talk to says the insurgents are mentally worn down. The election that the media wanted to fail has had the effect we hoped it would. It showed the bad guys that they have no real popular support. These people do not want to go back to the days of Saddam and they damn sure don't want an Islamic Theocracy.