home on R&R

Well ok I came home to mainly see my girlfriend which is now my fiance.  When i got off the plane in charlotte, NC i was very nervous because my fiance brandy was picking me up from there.  But Ifinally got there and was able to hold her in my arms and when i first held her it was like a time stood still and nothing else matterd  when i held her.  Then we left the airport and went to her house and well lets just say im not a virgin ne more (hehe).  Then after staying at her house for the night we continued our trip here (Statesville, NC).  Since i have been here its been like heaven spending time with the people i love the most my family and fiance.  Brandy and I have also had our fights since ive been home and at 1 time i thought i was going to lose her forever but we fixed what was broken and now i have to say i am the happiest man in the world.  The worst part of all this is knowing that i have to leave to go back to Iraq next wednesday and knowing that im going to miss her so much but being with Brandy this little short period of time has made me realize that i love her more than anything in the world and its also givin me the chance to get to know her alot more than i did.  But as far as the wedding goes we are not getting married till around march of next year so that gives me even more time to get to know her.  But I guess thats all for now and ill write in here again when i arrive back to Iraq

going on leave

So today is my last day of actual work before i go on leave.  Hopefully it will be a nice easy day and then tomorrow i have all my briefings then gotta turn in my weapon and finish packing.  Then comes the big day of leaving im going to try to relax and do nothing all day.  Then i will fly from here to balad and sit around in balad for a few days and then i will be heading to kuwait for probably a couple more days.  Then comes the day that i get to fly out of kuwait and go to atlanta and then i will fly from atlanta to charlotte,NC.  Hopefully by the time i get there my girl will be there awaiting my arrival and i just cant wait to see her.  So all in all i have to say that this is going to be the best vacation ever!!!!!!  But guess thats all for now and i probably wont write in here again until i get back from leave then i will tell all the wonderful stories of my trip

the first hundred days of iraq

Ok so to begin this blog i want to tell you a little about my military career leading up to and also the first 100 days of my first deployment.  Ok i enlisted in the us army when i was 18 and left for basic training at Ft. Sill, OK. I conducted 9 weeks of BCT (basic combat training) while at Ft. Sill and after i graduated from there i moved on to AIT (Advanced Individual Training) for my job as a 13D which is field artillery automated tactical data system specialist which is FDC (Fire Direction Center) and for those of you who dont understand what that is i pretty much tell the howitzer guys where to point the guns and make them go boom lol.  But then i graduated from there and moved on to my first duty station (Ft. Wainwright, AK) which i had tons of fun met lots of great people and had tons of fun.  I met some good friends at a fairbanks ice dogs game Melissa Sepalak, her son Tayllor Geil which is a fricken AWESOME kid with lots of great potential as a professional hockey player, and also met Christe Ferguson.  They soon became some really good and close friends.  Then slowly started counting down the days to my first deployment.  Then on september 24, 2008 i deployed to iraq.  Which I am currently at right now on FOB Warhorse which is right by Baqubah, Iraq.  I started out here as a RTO (Radio Transmission Operator).  i was doing that for about a month and i started getting really stressed out and couldnt handle that so i got moved to the mayor cell wood shop.  I met a couple of good people sgt. Sheble, arthur and SPC. Boyce, Doug.  I have learned alot more about contracting from SGT. Sheble and i have learned alot about making signs from Spc. Boyce and im getting pretty good at it.  I have to say i am learning alot more stuff working here in the wood shop that i can use on the outside world.  Which is a good thing.  But as of Christmas eve i have been in Iraq for 100 days and they say that the first 100 days are the hardest...and i have to agree that they were hard and now that the 100 days have past i hope it gets alot easier