Shoulder Sleeve Insignia - Former Wartime Service

Funny how a little piece of cloth can have huge significance in our lives. Basically, the SSI-FWS is something you earn from deploying to a combat zone (combat patch on your right shoulder) and you typically wear the patch of the unit you were assigned to.

For me, I looked forward to earning my first patch, and got it a week or so after I arrived in Tal Afar. Nothing formal, just asked the military guys if I could get one, and they told me I could have had one as soon as I arrived. Formerly the policy was 30 days, but it changed because of soldiers dying as soon as they arrived in theater or something like that. This particular patch is the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, and I will always treasure it.

On Rest

Yesterday morning I submitted my first job application since I got back from Iraq! I feel like taking the time to decompress and not really do anything has been really helpful. I know not everyone makes the transition successfully, and I wonder if it's because they didn't get the space they needed.

On Weddings and Photography

One of my closest friends got engaged recently, and I (as well as many others) am extremely happy and excited for him. We've been talking about it, and agreeing that it's crazy (in a good way) how things turned out this way, and in my words I think it's a certain kind of unexpected blessing, but a blessing nonetheless! I am so glad that God has given him the wisdom and maturity to figure these things out, and for our friendship over these years. Other friends are getting ready to marry as well so it's looking like 2012 will be a year of great blessings and joy! I only hope I can help them celebrate in some fashion whether it's taking pictures or simply showing up, it's the least I can do.

I'm not sure if this is the most appropriate place to put this, but one of the reasons I photograph people is as an attempt at selflessness on my part - I feel like I need to be more intentional about being kinder as opposed to taking advantage of other people's hospitality, but sometimes it's too much, gotta find that balance! Anyways, it's important to capture moments and memories, and I know I've taken a damn good picture when it gets reused on facebook or other online medium. I try to be intentional about snapping good portraits of other people, as opposed to simply getting self-portraits in different touristy locations. For example, with the military police unit escorting us out on PRT missions, I tried my best to get good shots of them soldiers to express my appreciation for what they did - part of it was feeling guilty that I was able to take off my body armor to attend meetings and whatnot, while they sucked it up in full battle rattle the whole time. Granted, I had a specific job to do, and so did they, but I still felt like it was the least I could do.

Just a thought

I don't know why, but when I hear the sound of a helicopter flying by, whether it's Survival Flight in Ann Arbor, or a random traffic chopper around Troy, it makes me miss the sound of regular military aviation traffic on base.  Maybe it was something about my CHU shaking as Blackhawks landed at a nearby helipad, or the routine chopper operations, I dunno!

Flying back to base

On Racism

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/nyregion/pvt-chens-family-learns-more-about-hazing-by-fellow-gis.html?_r=2

Though I don't want to underplay this incident because it is very serious, I have to say that this is not the experience of all Asian Americans in the military. For myself in basic training and AIT, I don't think I experienced anything like that, and I certainly wasn't singled out for being Asian. It wasn't until I was getting ready to deploy to Iraq, in the mobilization process, that I really experienced anything, and even then it was more of the benign, Michael Scott variety - insensitive jokes that the teller thought was really funny, but really weren't.

Additionally, the Army's political correctness tool (Equal Opportunity) can be a very powerful means to make sure that racism stops in its tracks. People can lose their careers over saying the wrong thing, so I'm a little surprised it got to the point where they were making PVT Chen yell orders to the entire battalion... who in their right mind, with enough time in service to make it as a field grade officer, would abide that??? Oh, it's another Stryker unit... I don't really understand what's up with that.