On the Brighter Side - 03 March 2009 - 2230

After reading back through some of my posts, I have come to realize that many of them are negative. I seem to bitch more than anything. This deployment and my career aren’t all horrible. As I said at the end of my last post, I wouldn’t be where I am today without the Army, and not just literally. The Army is a good stable source of income, I travel for free a lot (to places better than Kandahar), and a string of crummy Army related events lead me to my wife. In Aug of ’04 I was in the PreMob process in Hastings, NE. I was to deploy with them to Camp Arifjan Kuwait for 1 year. I was with another girl at the time who was in the 295th as well. We met in ’02 when we Mob’d to Ft Riley only to be sent home. One day while trying to save a child from a burning building I was injured and forced to miss the deployment. Na, the truth was I was messing around with a multi-tool and cut the tendon out of my right hand middle finger. During the time she was gone I went to work for the 295th working part time as I have also previously mentioned. With about 2 months left of the tour, I received a “Dear John” email. Missing the deployment though meant that I was able to attend my cousin Nathan’s wedding. It was here that I found my future wife. I grew up in Ainsworth, NE where my cousin and his wife’s family also lived. One Fourth of July her family came up to visit. I was good friends with her family from Ainsworth and had been invited to the lake with them. She caught my eye there, but the timing was not good for a few reasons. She disappeared for 4 years and reappeared at Nate and Jessica’s wedding. At this time we both were living in Lincoln, so when I got back I looked her up and we went on from there. I owe the makers of that multi-tool my wife and my job. Without staying home I would not have been in position to take over my civilian job. I’ve also made a lot of friends through the Army, a lot that are short term, but many that I will keep after I leave the service. The Army also brings me a great deal more respect than I’m sure sometimes that I deserve. I’ve learned valuable life skills that a person would be hard pressed to come across elsewhere. I’ve also been instilled with a set of values that apply not only to the Army, but to life. Punctuality is another trait learned in the Army. If I am 10 min early, I’m 5 min late. If my wife is 5 min late, we are right on time. One of the things I am really hoping for on this deployment is the opportunity to interact with Soldiers from other countries. Kandahar is quite the grab bag of nations and I have had a few interesting talks with some colorful Canadian characters. In our next location I know that there will be Danish and Brits as well as just a hand full of Americans. I am hoping to talk one or two of them into doing some kind of interview on their view on the war and such to post on here. I also would like to swap a uniform with one of them. Just kinda be cool to have a British uniform. I may also start doing a “Profile Segment” with various members of our Platoon too let everyone know the kind of guys I’m spending the year in uncomfortable close quarters with. Maybe we can all learn some interesting facts, such as: I am fairly certain that I am the only person in my Platoon who voted for President Obama. I’ll sit down one of these days and make up an interview sheet and maybe get that going, no promises.