Brothers mastered mathematics yet still they can't add me...

[arkhangel83]

Well, it's been a long time since I updated this thing. After a very nice yet very short Crismus Bonus, I deployed to Mosul, Iraq to rejoin the rest of the 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division. Many of you probably want to know what it's like out here. Let me be blunt. It sucks. No surprise there. It's tough being away from the family; the loved ones. That's the toughest part. No sugar coating it. If I could go out each day and do what I do, then return home and be with those I love, that would help so much. The problem with that is simple. Then those I love would be closer to harm. Closer to harm than I or anyone else who wears a uniform would ever allow. Less than a month after I arrived I was almost killed twice. Five comrades in arms from the very same battalion were killed at the end of January. Before each of the hurdles in my life, I have seen the end result of my efforts before I accomplished them; using others in similar positions as motivation. Before joining my hockey team in college, I saw them play. I wanted to skate with them because they looked like they thoroughly enjoyed the game itself. Later, I earned a tryout and made the cut. At the beginning of basic training I saw a group of soldiers very happy to be graduating in a matter of hours. I told myself, "that's me, soon." Nine weeks later, it was. Since then I have done the same thing for OCS, Airborne, BOLC II, BOLC III and before I left Colorado, I saw soldiers from the 2nd Infantry Division who had just come home from a long 15 month deployment. One soldier told his family, "I still can't believe I'm home." I said to myself, "That's me when this bullshit is over."

I'm not trying to count the days. I'm just doing what any other soldier would do. Do my job and come home. Simple as that.

Aus...