Technically, I am not yet ready to depart, but what is missing is only a little bit of paperwork. All of my gear has been turned in, except what I am required to take to Kuwait and turn in there. I no longer have a weapon. That feels a little weird. My bags are packed, except for what I need to shower and change one more time. All I am waiting for now, is for 1700 to roll around so I can get my show time at the airport. I hope that it won't be in the middle of the night, but most flights south are. What I really hope is that show time will be tomorrow afternoon or later. Someone will have to drive me out to the airport and I don't want to spring this on them with no notice. Also, I have let one item of business slide that I really want to finish up before I leave.
I have noticed a bit of something that could be nostalgia seeping into everything I do. I am starting to do things for the last time. This happens with every chapter of my life that comes to a close, even the ones that were not especially pleasant. Everything I do or experience shapes my life and at the end of each episode, I start asking "what if" and "what next" questions of myself. I am not an adventurous personality, so I don't look forward to change. Even when it is necessary or good, I usually find myself preferring the status quo to the challenge of the new. Someday, maybe I will make a present that doesn't need to change so much.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
The End of War
Today at 1100, ninety years have passed since the armistice that ended World War I and 63 years have passed since the armistice that ended World War II. Incredibly, there are still a very small handful of veterans of WWI still living. Actuaries say that the veterans of WWII are dying at a rate of more than 1000 each day. If you know one of them, there is very little time left to hear their story before they follow their buddies.
Veterans Day is an easy day to forget. Usually it means a BBQ and a parade, but it is also usually just another day off work. I wasn't even thinking much about it until I got into the dining facility for lunch. As I was going through the line, I saw that the DFAC crew had set up a POW/MIA table and a KIA memorial. Most soldiers do come home alive and fewer come home dead now than before. Still, the dead and the missing leave a hole in the lives of their family and friends.
My time of service has been thankfully short on excitement. I am glad to be coming home soon.
Veterans Day is an easy day to forget. Usually it means a BBQ and a parade, but it is also usually just another day off work. I wasn't even thinking much about it until I got into the dining facility for lunch. As I was going through the line, I saw that the DFAC crew had set up a POW/MIA table and a KIA memorial. Most soldiers do come home alive and fewer come home dead now than before. Still, the dead and the missing leave a hole in the lives of their family and friends.
My time of service has been thankfully short on excitement. I am glad to be coming home soon.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Happy Birthday Marines
This day in history, 10 November 1775, the second Continental Congress authorized the raising of two battalions of naval infantry to serve as security aboard naval vessels, for boarding and repelling boarders and for assaulting enemy forces on shore from the sea. A lot has changed in the 233 years that have followed. Missions have expanded and changed as naval doctrine has adapted to history, but there are no better warriors or fighters in the world. All of the other services periodically forget and have to relearn that they exist to fight. The Marines never have and never will. If you know a Marine, whether he still wears the uniform or not, wish him a Happy Birthday today.
Why Am I Still Here
Some of my office mates are wondering what I am still doing here at my desk when I am going home in only one week. They all said that they would be anywhere else but here. Truthfully, I am not actually doing much at my desk. My one outstanding task is very nearly complete. Most of my day, even at my desk, is more vacation than work. Tomorrow morning, I will be putting a couple of big boxes in the mail, so I dont have to carry anything home that I wont be using until I get there. I hope that will get me down to just one duffle bag, but probably not. I do have my travel itinerary from Kuwait back to San Diego, but I wont post it just yet. OPSEC is still somewhat important. I just hope that I get my flight out of Baghdad. That is the hardest part of getting home. From Kuwait, it is easy. Iraq to Kuwait is the most uncertain.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
On Going Home
It is harder, apparantly, to leave Iraq than it is to get here. Getting here was just one long day. Leaving requires many visits to many offices to collect signatures that say I do not owe anything to anyone, turning in issued gear so I am not charged for it, and finally getting a seat on a flight out. One of the guys I went through training at Fort Dix with is going home early too. He has been jumping through hoops trying to get clearance for the last two weeks. He was supposed to leave last night, but he didn't get a seat. I helped him get to the airport today, where he hopes to get a seat from a no show.
For myself, I am waiting to hear from the people that I am supposed to turn my gear into. They gave us enough grief just to get it in the first place, you would think that they would be eager to get it back, but it has been three days and still no word. I have most of the signatures that I need. I just want to know how much lighter my luggage is going to be before I start mailing stuff home. The more I have to carry to Kuwait, the more I will want to mail.
I should also say that I probably wont make it home for Thanksgiving after all. I might make it to San Diego where I will demobilize, but I wont get back to Utah until almost December, if there are no problems getting a seat on a flight out of Baghdad.
For myself, I am waiting to hear from the people that I am supposed to turn my gear into. They gave us enough grief just to get it in the first place, you would think that they would be eager to get it back, but it has been three days and still no word. I have most of the signatures that I need. I just want to know how much lighter my luggage is going to be before I start mailing stuff home. The more I have to carry to Kuwait, the more I will want to mail.
I should also say that I probably wont make it home for Thanksgiving after all. I might make it to San Diego where I will demobilize, but I wont get back to Utah until almost December, if there are no problems getting a seat on a flight out of Baghdad.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Citizenship
On the subject of citizenship, 186 non-citizen soldiers took the oath of citizenship at the palace. It was good to see so many young men and women who loved their adopted country enough to be here for their swearing in. Non-citizens can join the military, but they work under strict limitations, mostly because non-citizens can't have the security clearances needed for the more interesting jobs. This also limits their opportunities for promotion. A lot of them still enlist and more than a few have died. Death brings automatic posthumous citizenship by the way. I have never met a foreign national in the United States military who didn't love our country and hope to be a citizen some day. It is a sad thing that this privilege is wasted on so many who are born into it and grow up to despise it. Not these though. They know what it is worth, because they have paid for it.
The Most Important Day
Today is the most important day of the regular four year cycle that defines American Politics. The collective actions of American citizens (and some nontrivial number of non-citizens, dead folks and pets) will have an effect that will reach every part of the globe. Most other nations in the world change their governments without elliciting even a yawn, but when the United States sneezes, then world catches cold.
One way or another, everyone will be disappointed. Half of us will have supported the losing side. The other half, will have supported the side that isn't quite what they expected it to be. Whoever the next President is, because he is a human being and because he is a politician, he will not do all that we expect him to do. That is both good and bad. Good, because neither will be as evil as his opposition believes him to be, and bad, because neither will be able to do all that his supporters hope he will do.
On the whole, I believe that Senator McCain will do more good and less harm than Senator Obama. I truly hope that the voice of the people comes down in his favor, but our country is resilient enough to survive even a President Obama. After all, we survived the ecoomic idiocy of the Hoover and Roosevelt years, and the amateur military adventures of the Johnson years, and the general well rounded stupidity of the Carter years. Even the combined efforts of Obama, Reid and Pelosi cannot hurt us beyond what we are able to repair.
Not that I expect great things of a President McCain. At best, I expect his Presidency to be a holding action until something better comes along. At worst, the hole he digs us into will be relatively shallow.
In any case, if you have taken upon yourself the obligations of citizenship, then do your moral duty and vote. The time spent is not wasted, even if your favored candidate and party loses. To declare for one side or another is enough. I will respect even an Obama supporter, wrong as they are in my opinion, who has thoughtfully and deliberately concluded that he is the best candidate. Vote even if you are in a state, like Utah or California, that leans so heavily to one side or the other, that it seems to hardly matter if you vote or not.
It is a well proven human behavior that what costs nothing is valued at nothing. The little effort it takes to vote will give value to the rights and privileges and freedoms that you enjoy. And regardless of who wins, pray for him. Presidents do not have the advantage of being led by revelation like our prophets are, but they still have to do the right thing every time. That is a hard task, even for the wise.
One way or another, everyone will be disappointed. Half of us will have supported the losing side. The other half, will have supported the side that isn't quite what they expected it to be. Whoever the next President is, because he is a human being and because he is a politician, he will not do all that we expect him to do. That is both good and bad. Good, because neither will be as evil as his opposition believes him to be, and bad, because neither will be able to do all that his supporters hope he will do.
On the whole, I believe that Senator McCain will do more good and less harm than Senator Obama. I truly hope that the voice of the people comes down in his favor, but our country is resilient enough to survive even a President Obama. After all, we survived the ecoomic idiocy of the Hoover and Roosevelt years, and the amateur military adventures of the Johnson years, and the general well rounded stupidity of the Carter years. Even the combined efforts of Obama, Reid and Pelosi cannot hurt us beyond what we are able to repair.
Not that I expect great things of a President McCain. At best, I expect his Presidency to be a holding action until something better comes along. At worst, the hole he digs us into will be relatively shallow.
In any case, if you have taken upon yourself the obligations of citizenship, then do your moral duty and vote. The time spent is not wasted, even if your favored candidate and party loses. To declare for one side or another is enough. I will respect even an Obama supporter, wrong as they are in my opinion, who has thoughtfully and deliberately concluded that he is the best candidate. Vote even if you are in a state, like Utah or California, that leans so heavily to one side or the other, that it seems to hardly matter if you vote or not.
It is a well proven human behavior that what costs nothing is valued at nothing. The little effort it takes to vote will give value to the rights and privileges and freedoms that you enjoy. And regardless of who wins, pray for him. Presidents do not have the advantage of being led by revelation like our prophets are, but they still have to do the right thing every time. That is a hard task, even for the wise.
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