Back in Atlanta, southern hospitality but overall mean. Have the song "Hey there, Cthulu", stuck in my head, thank you whomever posted "Little Cthulu" on facebook. Ran up and down Stone Mtn, today, not a bad time. Washing my recently incarcerated clothes, wating for them to dry ( Read more... )

 Emergency preparedeness plans for the University of Florida apparently now include a mock zombie apoclypse strategy.  That got me thinking about the kind of warfare and social organization you might need to survive such an event. Blame Max Brooks and "World War Z". So to all you Zedheads and Zombie obessesed out there I say, all can I say is, ( Read more... )

Awesomely funny and weird video about Ranger School. Probably by a Ranger, definitely not approved by anyone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FizOmAseqLM

We had a sand storm here, about as biblical as one can get.  Take about a million tons of sand, put it next to a massive blowdryer and try to walk into it. Anything beyond five feet simply looked a like massive shower of sand. Walk with goggles and a mask, you still got sand in your eyes and in your lungs. Virtually everyone got lost at least once ( Read more... )

Coming home on leave. Really excited. Free from the Army structure for days on end in and of itself would be liberating. Hopefully I will get to see some of you before the vise like grip of the command structure of the armed forces pulls me back in. So I'm gonna make an effort to see you all in Atlanta. Havent been in Atlanta for a year and ( Read more... )

Yesterday, I received my Combat Infantry Badge. You get it if you get near the action, ie., near an IED or get shot at or any type of enemy action.Got me to thinking a little about fear ( Read more... )

Its still dark when it starts. The air is cold, cold as its going to get all day. Some shots from the CLC checkpoints ring out, pretty routine. The air is thin, smells faintly of engines and  the whine of the generators. A single voice begins to sound out,  baritone carrying  the single word, Allah, over out the city ( Read more... )

What constitutes manliness? Of no importance in my old life, a constant question here in the army.  More salt of the earth people around, (in other words a cruder sort), of vital importance the definition of what is womanly and what is not, what is of substance, and " what  &&& i s weak!" is never far from the discussion ( Read more... )

Well, let me see. Ah yes, what will I do on leave. Well, the first trick to is get the ***** out of here. Might takes 5 days or two weeks, depending on mother nature, ( its a mother here, and a testy one a that ( Read more... )

I'm a little older than most of the people around here. Its a little disturbing because only the CO and the First Sergeant have any significant age gap over me. Maybe thats why its seems everyone starts to behave like they are three at times. Its not that I like being serious all the time, but the posturing and crap got old fast years ago.

Combat ( Read more... )