The World's Biggest Chainsaw
There are a few Phalanx-like automatic air-defense guns around COB Basrah, and when they open up on incoming rockets, it sounds like the world's largest chainsaw is right next door.
The lit up today at about a quarter to 3pm. We were all in the bunker by that time, and the BRRRRRAAAAAAAAP of the guns firing and the distant-popcorn ripple of the shells going off midair to try to knock down the rockets was like listening to the play-by-play of a battle, sound effects only.
Just another day at the office.
My previous home, FOB Kalsu, got mortared last night. We figure they are guys who used to shoot at other bases, who have moved on to FOB Kalsu now that their old target has closed as part of the drawdown. They're going to keep on pounding away at the fewer remaining bases so they can claim 'woooo! we're badass jihadis! we drove out the infidels!'. No, no you're not, guys. We hardly even notice your crap. Its harassment fire. Its flies buzzing around our heads. You know what we do after one of your attacks blows a hole in a carpark roof, or craters a sidewalk? We go right back to what we were doing. We go to dinner. We go back to our rooms and watch a movie. You get less attention than the DFAC menu.
I'm not getting enough proper sleep these days. I'm taking headache pills almost constantly, and I'm needing stuff to help me sleep more than I should. I'd always hoped the after-effects of my close call last tour would fade over time. It doesn't look that way. I'd given up pushing on trying to get my Purple Heart, due to the difficulty of getting the paperwork done at this remove in time and space, and because I thought I didn't deserve it as much as guys who were hurt a lot worse. But if this isn't ever going away, I'd like at least one reminder of it to be more than just a constant throbbing headache in my right temple.
6 weeks to go. The last month of these things always seems so long. And the CHS is flaring up again too. Reading a NYT article about the Taliban decreeing the public stoning death of a couple that tried to elope in Afghanistan is rousing the urge to volunteer again, demanding the chance to go crush these....people. There are people in this world who badly need killing, and those who would make a virtue of killing love in the name of God are high on the list.
People at home sometimes thank me for my service, and ask me how I can do it, why I sign up to go where they shoot at you and try to blow you up. I usually thank them for their concern, or give them a light "It keeps me busy" or "My work keeps me young", but I'm always tempted to ask in reply; "How can you not?" The world is full of wrongs, or evils visited upon the innocent by the unrighteous. How can you call yourself a moral being and not want to go forth and combat evil? Maybe not pick up a rifle and fall in behind me, but in some way? I do this because I am driven to. I do this because this is what I am.
Nng. Right now the headache's getting worse, and the Midrin isn't cutting it. I may have to resort to the Lortab. 0103. Time to get to bed. Goodnight, all.
The lit up today at about a quarter to 3pm. We were all in the bunker by that time, and the BRRRRRAAAAAAAAP of the guns firing and the distant-popcorn ripple of the shells going off midair to try to knock down the rockets was like listening to the play-by-play of a battle, sound effects only.
Just another day at the office.
My previous home, FOB Kalsu, got mortared last night. We figure they are guys who used to shoot at other bases, who have moved on to FOB Kalsu now that their old target has closed as part of the drawdown. They're going to keep on pounding away at the fewer remaining bases so they can claim 'woooo! we're badass jihadis! we drove out the infidels!'. No, no you're not, guys. We hardly even notice your crap. Its harassment fire. Its flies buzzing around our heads. You know what we do after one of your attacks blows a hole in a carpark roof, or craters a sidewalk? We go right back to what we were doing. We go to dinner. We go back to our rooms and watch a movie. You get less attention than the DFAC menu.
I'm not getting enough proper sleep these days. I'm taking headache pills almost constantly, and I'm needing stuff to help me sleep more than I should. I'd always hoped the after-effects of my close call last tour would fade over time. It doesn't look that way. I'd given up pushing on trying to get my Purple Heart, due to the difficulty of getting the paperwork done at this remove in time and space, and because I thought I didn't deserve it as much as guys who were hurt a lot worse. But if this isn't ever going away, I'd like at least one reminder of it to be more than just a constant throbbing headache in my right temple.
6 weeks to go. The last month of these things always seems so long. And the CHS is flaring up again too. Reading a NYT article about the Taliban decreeing the public stoning death of a couple that tried to elope in Afghanistan is rousing the urge to volunteer again, demanding the chance to go crush these....people. There are people in this world who badly need killing, and those who would make a virtue of killing love in the name of God are high on the list.
People at home sometimes thank me for my service, and ask me how I can do it, why I sign up to go where they shoot at you and try to blow you up. I usually thank them for their concern, or give them a light "It keeps me busy" or "My work keeps me young", but I'm always tempted to ask in reply; "How can you not?" The world is full of wrongs, or evils visited upon the innocent by the unrighteous. How can you call yourself a moral being and not want to go forth and combat evil? Maybe not pick up a rifle and fall in behind me, but in some way? I do this because I am driven to. I do this because this is what I am.
Nng. Right now the headache's getting worse, and the Midrin isn't cutting it. I may have to resort to the Lortab. 0103. Time to get to bed. Goodnight, all.