Fw:

Gah! I missed last week due to work, prepping for turnover with incoming Army. This picture represents where I'm at in this deployment: I've ran clean into the proverbial wall. We all have reached that wall in our lives, and simply left in a complete daze, stumbling over our feet and muttering, "But I don't want to go to work mommy. I want to stay home and bake cookies with you." It's like being in a drunk stupor, minus the fun of working to get into one, though depending on how hard you hit said wall, that's not to say the resulting vomit is omitted. It's been known to happen.

Good news is, I'll be in Baghdad in a couple weeks, if only to stay there for a moment. Then it's back to a place I wouldn't leave Hell for. That's right, little ole' Kuwait. Ah yes, this little gem that I detest truly makes you feel unwelcome. Whether it's the dust in your mouth, or the temperature that makes you wish you would simply die. I remember walking off the plane in April, taking a moment to look around, and a tear preceded to roll down from my eye. I detest hot weather and I knew I would be in Iraq during the worst months; July and August. I also knew I would be doing it in 60lbs of body armor and equipment, in long sleeves and pants. Thank goodness we wear shorts and tee shirts when not on mission.

The weather now is actually quiet pleasant, some days similar to Maryland. Chilly at night, and nice breezes during the day. Minus the generous amounts of sand, one could say we are experiencing California weather. One could also say that this Iraqi Partnership thing is going great and not a complete waste of this sailor's time. In that case, please direct me to that said person so they can share their hard booze with me. I can not wait to be in a place where I do not have worry about the locals. Hell, I'll be glad where I don't have to worry more about the local police! I think I'd rather be in Mexico City.

Nice thing though is that I learned we will be doing our, "Are you crazy? Say no so you can't get disability pay when the problems kick in, years from now..." tests in Germany. I took a "quick" psych eval before I left, and they will give it to us again to compare the results. We'll be able to see if I've cracked. I should be good. Lucky the Leprechaun told me so. he also told me to burn things, though I think he was joking.

Speaking of jokes, how 'bout them Redskins? For all those Skins' fans out there, what's it like having Detroit beat you?