Avenged Sevenfold - Gunslinger

I just found this song courtesy of one of my Army buddies, I don't really like heavy rock that much, but it's quite relevant I think. Some guy made a music video of this song to clips from Jarhead, I think it's decently well done.

"I reach towards the sky, I've said my goodbyes
My heart's always with you now
I won't question why so many have died
My prayers have made it through yeah
Cause with all these things we do
It don't matter when I'm coming home to you"

And really, I think that was my attitude last summer, making it through training to return to the people I care about most. It kind of sucked when I didn't get to see them until towards the end of the year, but that's life - you don't always get what you want and things fade away, so I try to count the blessings I do have.

I feel like this Army thing has been going along in slow motion, but it's about to speed up dramatically. It'll be fine, I'm not complaining and I'm looking forward to the challenges and rewards, it's just interesting/weird how the tempo has been and how lengthy a period of time I have to set my personal business in order.

Iraq

I wish I didn't have to wait so long to deploy - found out last September, still won't be going for a while though I do have a bit of training coming up.

There are two viewpoints about Iraq - one that it's going to recover and reclaim the prosperity it had in the 50's and 60's, the other that insurgent groups and other terrorists are going to exploit the withdrawal and the country is going to devolve into complete chaos again. It'll definitely be an interesting time over there.

One year

It's been a year since basic training? wha?

Too blessed

- Paid trip to Washington DC
- Paid hotel
- Per diem for food
- Hanging out with State Department folks, military brass, and the US Ambassador to Guyana (who formerly served in Iraq)
- Learning more about Iraq
- Hanging out with grandma, aunts, and cousin
- Hanging out with Alicia
- Hanging out with other friends

The District Sleeps Alone Tonight

What time did I wake up again? Finished packing, went to airport, got there an hour before departure, met up with Burkeen, Sisk, & Lenhausen and went through security.

Flight ended up getting delayed an hour/90 minutes due to storms in the Midwest. Landing in DC is kind of a hairy experience! All the banking, the fast approach to the airport, the bumpy landing, etc.

Took a while to get around Arlington and do stuff - see where we had to go, pick up some boots for someone whose bag got sent to San Francisco by mistake, ate dinner at Chevy's at Ballston Mall.

Just saw Johnny Lin, Jonny Hui, and Diana Chen! Left hotel around 9ish. Taking the Metro is kind of convenient, not sure how pricey the fares were though. It was a cool intersection of my military and civilian life, since Lenhausen and Roelofs went as well.

Will probably detail this more later, just wanted to write it down so I don't forget.