9/11

At 8:46AM on September 11th, 2001, I was a sophomore in high school - I don't remember what I was doing at the time... I do remember walking into my next class, seeing the World Trade Center billowing smoke, and commented that they must be talking about the terrorist attack in 1993. Another classmate corrected me, "no it's happening right now!" We basically watched speechless as the towers continued to burn, and then collapse in horrific fashion.

At 8:46AM on September 11th, 2011, I was in a large airliner flying from Kuwait to at Atlanta, just a few minutes from touching down on American soil, commenting to a fellow soldier that it was about that time 10 years ago that the first plane hit the World Trade Center.

If anything and in spite of things I'm not necessarily content with, one of the things my time in the Middle East (so far) has taught me is just how fortunate I am. I wasn't deployed for a full year, there was only one mildly hairy incident outside the wire, and I'm coming back with quite a few blessings to say the least. A lot of money, post-9/11 GI benefits that I can use for grad school, and my mind & body intact... I'll take it! Many of my other buddies in my unit, though assigned to other PRTs, have also gotten through our deployment okay, and we'll all be demobilizing together at Fort Dix, the rest will come home soon as well. It's been quite the ride, and I know for a fact that even with all the dysfunctions of PRT operations, I was right where I needed to be from December 2010-September 2011. Did I change the world? Did I necessarily fight the good fight? I dunno about that, but I did my job!

It rained yesterday, no shit!

Granted it was 105 degrees or so, the rain was pretty light, and from the looks of my camera possibly mud rather than water... but it was still refreshing to step outside and experience a little bit of precipitation. There's been a lot going here, maybe it symbolizes a break in the shenanigans... or maybe I'm talking out of my ass, haha.

A poem to live by

If, by Rudyard Kiping

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!


The Hands of Victory, Baghdad, Iraq

Something I found digging around...

I dug this image up while I was looking for some paperwork, unfortunately I wasn't able to find the original patch lying around.



Love it!

Lack of updates

Hey guys, I pretty much just send out newsletters so if you're interested in reading more about my shenanigans, just shoot me an email!