Well, yeah, that didn't take long, apparently i suck at keeping any sort of secret from my wife.  told her all about the cruise within about 2 days. ah well, still it'll be fun.  lots going on though here. 

had a pretty good argument with my team leader earlier.  over what? a kit kat bar.  him: "what'd you buy?" me "a candy bar" him "you can't eat those, they're not good for you." me "first of all, i can if i want, secondly, being that i've lost 20 lbs in the past 2 weeks, 1 candy bar isn't going to kill me, 3rd you eat more junk food in a single day than i do in a month. so i really don't wanna hear any shit out of you about it if i buy a kitkat bar." him: "you better watch your mouth and do what i say, i'm your team leader" me: "start doing  your job and maybe i'd bother to listen, but as it is you haven't done a damn thing, team leader or not, in weeks, i make my own schedule, do pt myself, have my own diet, lost 20lbs in the last 2 weeks, you haven't the slightest clue of what's going on, you don't even have an alarm clock, i have to go wake you up anytime that you've got something to do, that's a team leader's job.  you don't do a damn thing and i've always been picking up the slack to make sure things get done, i'm about tired of the platoon sgt asking me if i'm the team leader or if you are, because i have to constantly do your job."  him "you're about to get yourself hit" me "there's a smart plan, do it, just remember that i always carry brass knuckles, and i never fight fair"  that pretty well ended the arguement right there, since there's little question of if i'd have used my brass knuckles or not, and no question at all about if i really had them or not. he never mentioned it again.

on an unrelated note, in about 5 months he's out of the army anyway, my platoon sgt is leaving so my squad leader is being bumped to platoon sgt, alpha team leader is being bumped to squad leader, and everyone in my squad with the exception of me, ateam leader, squad leader, and one of my friends are leaving as well, which means i'm pretty much guarenteed to be picking up bravo team leader spot.  that should be interesting.

on another note, just because this aggrivates me.  Make up your mind people.  i hear people all the time talking about how they support the troops, that's great and we appriciate it. But then 5 minutes later to hear the same people talking about how wrong the war is and how what we've done is wrong. Which is it?  either we're wrong or we're right, but we can't be both.  is it just that it sounds good to others when people say "we support the troops" but it sounds bad to say "we support the iraq war"? so they say "we support the troops but not the war" it doesn't work like that.  thanks for the pat on the back while cutting our knees out from under us.  complain about the war and how much it costs, cut the funding and what have you done? taken away our ammo or upgraded bodyarmor budgets.  "so good job, but you don't really need that bulletproof vest right?"  my problem here isn't with people who support the troops, it isn't with people who hate the war, my problem is with people who try to be both.  you can't be both, stop trying.  grow some balls and say what you really mean.  While i was on leave about 6 months ago i had a lot of people at the airport tell me how much they support us and how great they thing we are, etc, etc, but the thing i was most impressed with, was the one guy on this bus between the terminals at the dallas airport.  the one who looked at me and said "honestly, i have to say, i don't like the military, i don't like the war, and i don't like what you do, i don't believe in it and i think it's wrong."  and a couple people started to jump on him about that but i stopped them and said to let him speak, so he continued on, about how he hates the military and how he would never let his kids join if they wanted to.  when he finally got done talking, the people there looked at me very confused and asked why had i let him say all those things, and my reason is simple.  it's his right.  he has the right to his opinion, and he has the right to express his opinion, even if it's not the popular one.  he has the right and the freedom to say that he hates the military and everyone in it, and the right to say that without fear of someone hurting him for it, and that's exactly what we fight for, the right to freedom.  at least he had the balls to stand up, look me in the eye, and say what he truely felt about me, not just what everyone wants to hear or thinks he should say.  and that, is something i can be proud of.

ok, i don't think she reads this, but i've gotta tell someone or the secret's gonna kill me.

 i told her that my leave got shortened by 9 days after i get back from iraq, but really it didn't.  the reason i told her that, is because i just bought us a 4 day 3 night cruise to the bahamas those days, and i want it to be a total surprise for her.  so i'm working pretty hard on getting all the details worked out, without telling her what's going on, getting travel arrangements made, buying her a nice fancy dress and shoes, there's a full dress fancy dinner (i'll even wear my class a uniform), dancing, live band, beaches and room service for other times. there's a casino, several night clubs, a few pools, and lots of shopping and classes and activities, all the usual fun stuff on a carnival cruise line.

so now i just have to figure out how to get her a dress, a passport, her bags packed, and all of my stuff ready too, without her knowing about it till we're just about on the boat.  i've got everyone in on this, my mom, sisters, brother, stepfather, her mom, my friend and his girlfriend too, i've already bought the tickets and had them sent to my friend's house for safe keeping without her knowing.  any other ideas will be appriciated.

counting down the days, can't say how many, but it's days now. this country is done as far as i'm concerned.  i can't decide if i'll be glad to be rid of it, or if i'll miss it, probably both.  it's an interesting feeling, to hear the low pitched whistle of a falling round and feel your blood run cold and pulse speed up, oddly i'm going to miss that.  maybe it's just the lifestyle i've gotten used to, calm quiet and boring then suddenly in the blink of an eye without warning everything's changed, there's panic and chaos, smoke, fire and bullets flying everywhere and then just like that, it all stops again and becomes boring again till the next time, which you never know when that will be.  kind of like a little surprise and adreneline rush that comes and goes whenever.  i'll miss that sudden change of pace, keeps things interesting.

still looking for a house, have to love how the rent prices vary depending on when it is, while we're deployed, rent is low (obvious supply and demand there, no one's there to rent them, so rent is low), middle of the year between when we're deployed and when we're getting ready to leave rent is higher (again, supply and demand, more people around, higher costs), but the part that bugs me, just after we come back from being deployed, prices are really high. so why? low price while we're gone (example, $400 a month for a 1 bedroom appartment), really high price for a short time after we get back ($800 for the same appartment), then the price lowers to somewhere in the middle around the middle of our time back ($600 again, same appartment), then after a short time, the army raises our pay because it's too expensive to afford the rent, and with in 2 months, the rent raises too. why is this? well, while we're gone it's obvious supply and demand, while we're back middle of our time back it's again supply and demand, but when we first get back, they know we've saved alot of money while deployed, so they raise rent to try and get that extra that we've saved, then once we've given them all we've saved, they lower their rent costs to the regular price. and the rent prices always go up with every increase in pay we get, just to be sure we never get any money that they don't take away, and it's the entire area that does it.

  real nice huh? great thanks for being at war.

sitting out bored on a guard post, when suddenly hearing a loud Reeeee-eeh-eeh-eeh-eeh-eeh-eeh-eeh...."hmm, that's not a good sound. but is it a mortar attack siren, or gas attack?" we were undecided, staring out into the city wondering  which was coming our way, bombs, or gas, discussing which one it would probably be, and the realitive chances of surviving each. (bombs 50/50 as long as they're not near us, if gas, we're screwed, not even going to bother trying to run to find my gas mask.)  we had our answer though in about 1 minute as the building out in front of my about 700 meters away exploded, then another to my left and another landed in the tigeris river just to my right, apparently it was both, mortars with a weak riot control gas in them. realtively large mortars, but the gas was an annoyance at worst, and no where near enough to us to be effective, but it was a message, they have the means of delivering more lethal gasses to us if they wanted.  why haven't they? easy, our current rules of engagement limits us so much we can barely take a shot at someone who's shooting at us without getting in trouble, if they gas us the gloves will come off and we'd level the city.  right now we're not just wearing gloves, we've got the gloves with both hands tied behind our backs.  not that getting yelled at is enough to keep me from firing off a few rounds, but our upper chain of command is working hard at proving time and again that they're a pack of retards.  OIF 1 3rd ID: "the butchers of baghdad" "the death patch" OIF 3 3rd ID: "who?", they're pushing us, and our chain of command lets them, but soon they'll push us too far, and a message will have to be sent in return.

oh, and apparently i have 20 inch arms, and didn't even realize it till my buddy pointed it out, my arms are as big around as my calves.

over 250 combat missions as a gunner, and suddenly they decide i should drive? roughly 11 months in this country and never a single mission driving till last night. i don't know why they suddenly decided i should drive, but it went alright anyway.

of course just before the mission, one of my sgts calls me in and tells me that someone came to him telling him that i've been talking shit about him behind his back.  not something i do, it's pointless, so he gives me 2 hours to find out who it was who told him that, and do something about it.  so i go out pounding on doors asking around, about the same time they come and tell me the mission's been pushed up and i have to leave in 15 mintues.  so i go back to sgt gambil and tell him the mission time changed and i hadn't found the person, so i would just accept the punishment.  but he gives me till the next morning because the time got cut short. so i again go and search some more, and no one gives me any answers, so coming back from the mission at 1am, i just say forget it, im' going to bed, i'll take the punishment in the morning and eventually find the person and take it out of their ass.  the next morning i'm woken up by sgt gambil, who immeaditly asks "so, what did you find out?" me: "nothing sgt, no one i asked had any info, so i'll just take the punishment and settle with the person later." him: "i gave you an impossible mission" me: "huh?" him: "you couldn't find anyone, because no one had come to me and said anything, i just wanted to test you, i wanted to see how you would react to an impossible task with an unfair punishment for failing. i wanted to see if you would panic, and of course you didn't, you never have.  you went and searched and found nothing, came back and accepted responsiblitiy for failing your mission, just as stoic as ever, that's why i gave you the nickname robot,  you're always stoic as a motherfucker, i've never once seen you panic no matter what the situation or pressure, i don't know how to make you panic, i don't think you can panic, you just handle the situation and never let it get to you. well, i'll see you later" me: "uhh, ok, later sgt"