Okay, this one goes out to a specific unit of mine, that alot of friends are in, and alot of new kids about to go roll in the sand for a year, for the first time. Being deployed I always get asked stupid questions, but I dont mind answering them, and I tell my soldiers exactly what I think they should hear.
If your getting deployed, and your not married, take a break. Call it quits for the year, remain friends, and when you come home, the two of you can get together, work things out, or go seperate ways.
If you stay together, chances are one or both of you will cheat. Usually one, and the other one will be pissed as hell, and end up emotionally screwed up over it. Its what happened to me.
And I'm sorry to say ladies, its usually the female in the relationship on either side who is more likely to cheat. This isn't sexist, but rather a rational examination based on two points. Firstly, men who are in the military who are deployed have alot less opportunity to cheat than spouses do at home, unless they are homosexual. Secondly, women in who are in the Military are still a subtle minority, and probably get alot more offers than they would at home.
But this doesn't change the fact that men do it on both sides as well, so keep that in mind.
After you've deployed and come back home, then you can choose to forgive and forget, or what have you. However, it is somewhat likely that both you and your closest friend will have changed multitudes by the time you get back. Especially given the Army's minimum deployment length of a year.
For god's sakes, don't get married or have a kid just for the deployment. I will have to say though, that those who are married or are expecting a family were alot more loyal than others. Engagements were almost all, to 99%, broken in my unit while overseas though.
Another reason, is I can't imagine being married to the person I loved when I was 20, and I'm only 3 years older. Imagine how I would feel at 25???
Anywho, just some advice for you guys out there.
Any other advice, you ask? Keep your hand receipts, and for gods sakes, don't take your M9 apart past operator level! Soldiers break too many weapons.
Showing posts with label Iraq. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iraq. Show all posts
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
The Liberal Soldier & Stop-Loss
Okay, so my experience with stop-loss is pretty simple, the unit that I went to Iraq with filled two of its positions with Stop-Lossers, one from Florida, one who was from Philadelphia or something. Im not quite sure how they were picked or anything, but they went along with us, and in all honesty, I didn't even think about them as Stop-Loss. I really didn't even know (because they were in a different platoon) until about four months into the deployment.
Firstly, lets get it out of the way. I don't neccessarily support the war, not to hard to tell from my blog title. But I did my job, and I feel I followed in the traditions of Jefferson and other Patriots of Liberal Persuasion. However, doing my duty, and agreeing with it, are two different things totally. Suffice it to say, though, I saw some sense in it, on some level.
Okay, as for Stop-Loss, yes I think it sucks. I mean your chilling on the couch one day, and the next thing you get a letter telling you that you've been re-activated with the sole intent of sending you into a combat zone. Or maybe, if your lucky, of filling in for a leaving unit on a post for a few months. That would actually be quite kosher. I wont lie, I saw that movie Stop-Loss and identified with it in some respects.
However, Stop-Loss, while it does suck, is apart of the contract. Maybe you weren't aware of it when you signed, but it shouldn't take long for you to learn about it in truth. Thats about as much as you can say about Stop-Loss, that it sucks.
A backdoor draft? No. At one point in time they had been of the mindset to agree to the contract, the contract stipulated stop loss policies, and was available to be read. So thus a person signs into stop-loss.
Do I believe that there is a bit of misinformation? Certainly. Im sure right now there is some young kid signing his contract without fully realizing anything about it. But it happens all to often, and the best you can hope, is that he learns his lesson, and learns from it.
Thats as much as I have to say for it. Yeah it sucks, and yeah if you ask me if I feel bad, I will say yes. Do I think its the same thing as a Draft, or Similiar to it? No. It has more to do with demographic recruiting than it does with the draft.
Firstly, lets get it out of the way. I don't neccessarily support the war, not to hard to tell from my blog title. But I did my job, and I feel I followed in the traditions of Jefferson and other Patriots of Liberal Persuasion. However, doing my duty, and agreeing with it, are two different things totally. Suffice it to say, though, I saw some sense in it, on some level.
Okay, as for Stop-Loss, yes I think it sucks. I mean your chilling on the couch one day, and the next thing you get a letter telling you that you've been re-activated with the sole intent of sending you into a combat zone. Or maybe, if your lucky, of filling in for a leaving unit on a post for a few months. That would actually be quite kosher. I wont lie, I saw that movie Stop-Loss and identified with it in some respects.
However, Stop-Loss, while it does suck, is apart of the contract. Maybe you weren't aware of it when you signed, but it shouldn't take long for you to learn about it in truth. Thats about as much as you can say about Stop-Loss, that it sucks.
A backdoor draft? No. At one point in time they had been of the mindset to agree to the contract, the contract stipulated stop loss policies, and was available to be read. So thus a person signs into stop-loss.
Do I believe that there is a bit of misinformation? Certainly. Im sure right now there is some young kid signing his contract without fully realizing anything about it. But it happens all to often, and the best you can hope, is that he learns his lesson, and learns from it.
Thats as much as I have to say for it. Yeah it sucks, and yeah if you ask me if I feel bad, I will say yes. Do I think its the same thing as a Draft, or Similiar to it? No. It has more to do with demographic recruiting than it does with the draft.
Friday, December 11, 2009
The Liberal Soldier: The Author
Im sure you guys...okay, some of you guys...well, maybe one or two of you...wonder what I do with my time. As I in the Guard, I'm not active Army, therefore my income comes from other places. Well, I've got very little vocational training, and I'm currently in a hiatus from college, though I plan to return full time in Spring of 2010.
So what do I do? Before I went to Iraq, I worked at UPS for several months, and that went okay. It was tough work, but it paid my meagre bills, and gave me enough disposable income to go and see my girlfriend. Its funny though, I totally look back on the situation, and realize that it should've been much different, as even though I knew I wanted my own company, I wasn't saving for it, or building to it.
I heard about a unit going to Iraq, and there were plenty of rumors that new soldiers would have to go anyhow. I can remember one Platoon Sergeant who tricked his whole platoon into signing for it. I won't get too much into that, but I signed, not because I was tricked, but because I wanted to save money to start my own business when I returned. Well, I was on the wagon for the majority of the deployment until personal issues complicated things. I returned with less than 10k in the bank, and wondering if my business dream would ever come to fruition.
Well what am I doing now, other than school? I've become a freelance writer, with my own company by which I self-publish stuff. While the company is profitable, its content is limited, and it definately does not pay my bills, and Im only hoping that the business grows, well I know it will, because I can see it happening. On average, I manage five book sales per month, so 1.25 per week. I've definately noticed an increasing trend from this. But Im lucky because Adsense picks up the rest of the tab for my hosting and content fees. So I do appreciate your interest in my blog!
But in addition to that, I do alot of freelance work. Between that and whatever menial jobs I can pull (newspaper delivery, insurance photography, courier), I make my living between class, and hopefully until my catalog of publishing is built up. I definately came back at the wrong time in the economy, I think.
Anyhow, if you are interested in Sci-Fi and other cool stuff, check out my company:
Crimson Star Entertainment
And our new WebComic, which just came out:
Knight Spectre
So what do I do? Before I went to Iraq, I worked at UPS for several months, and that went okay. It was tough work, but it paid my meagre bills, and gave me enough disposable income to go and see my girlfriend. Its funny though, I totally look back on the situation, and realize that it should've been much different, as even though I knew I wanted my own company, I wasn't saving for it, or building to it.
I heard about a unit going to Iraq, and there were plenty of rumors that new soldiers would have to go anyhow. I can remember one Platoon Sergeant who tricked his whole platoon into signing for it. I won't get too much into that, but I signed, not because I was tricked, but because I wanted to save money to start my own business when I returned. Well, I was on the wagon for the majority of the deployment until personal issues complicated things. I returned with less than 10k in the bank, and wondering if my business dream would ever come to fruition.
Well what am I doing now, other than school? I've become a freelance writer, with my own company by which I self-publish stuff. While the company is profitable, its content is limited, and it definately does not pay my bills, and Im only hoping that the business grows, well I know it will, because I can see it happening. On average, I manage five book sales per month, so 1.25 per week. I've definately noticed an increasing trend from this. But Im lucky because Adsense picks up the rest of the tab for my hosting and content fees. So I do appreciate your interest in my blog!
But in addition to that, I do alot of freelance work. Between that and whatever menial jobs I can pull (newspaper delivery, insurance photography, courier), I make my living between class, and hopefully until my catalog of publishing is built up. I definately came back at the wrong time in the economy, I think.
Anyhow, if you are interested in Sci-Fi and other cool stuff, check out my company:
Crimson Star Entertainment
And our new WebComic, which just came out:
Knight Spectre
Friday, November 13, 2009
The Liberal Soldier: Iraqi Heartbreakers
Okay, so my last post catching yall up. This is a bit old, as I came home about six months ago (a little more than that, really), but I suppose yall want to be caught up.
Well I did my service in Camp Bucca Iraq for about a year, after a very intensive train-up at Fort Dix, NJ. Fort Dix was actually a decent place to be stationed, but for the most of the time we were there, we were at the FOB, which is a training ground used to prepare us to go to Iraq. I can still remember vividly, the training that we underwent, and standing outside talking on the phone to my ex-fiance, despite frigid temperatures.
We ended our stay at Dix right before St Patrick's day, and we were given a chance to fly home for a four day liberty. I made my way home as quickly as I could and spent four wonderful days with my fiance, and saw my family before I would leave for Iraq. These are some of the fondest memories I so far have in my young life, and I'm disappointed to say, probably the best memories I will ever have, considering the way things are going right now.
I arrived back at Ft Dix and prepared to leave for Iraq. However, unlike the rest of my unit I was tasked to stay with some of the Unit's equipment for an extra two weeks, because it had to be guarded by someone. I will admit, I honestly think spending an extra two weeks in Ft Dix Garrison, I must've gained 10 pounds. I ate a bit more than I had during train-up, as I only had time really. We went to see movies, we tried to sneak into an air force DFac, in general, it wasn't a bad experience.
We flew to Kuwait, which gave me the awesome chance to stop-over in Spain, before heading all the way to Kuwait. We stayed in Camp Buehring for about a week, before we headed north, to Iraq. In Buehring, despite what other soldiers say, there is alot to do. They have a three MWR tents, a movie theator tent, a 24-hour dfac, and a big PX. So its pretty easy to get what you need to occupy yourself whether your goin for free, or on a budget.
Once in Iraq though, my days melted all into one long workday. Day after day went by, and all I did was count down untill leave arrived. I was actually doing quite well, I was saving money for a business I was going to open, I had started taking online classes and succeeded in passing them, and whatever was asked of me in terms of work, I did with no complaint and to standard, although I was struggling with Physical Training at that point. My friends and I had some great experiences, and we came up with some interesting ideas. There were some tough times, a few attacks at the begginning and a few other events, but things died down near the summer, and I was waiting for leave.
I had waited until near the end of the deployment to take my leave. I would rather come back to the deployment with as few months left as possible. And I was so excited to finally get home. However, this joy and elation lasted a grand total of four days. After having helped my ex-fiance with money every month so she wouldn't be so stressed, I even gave her money so she could go on two trips, and a grand to buy books and a laptop. When your together with someone, you think of it as a partnership, and you can't even imagine that they would betray you. So for me this was natural. I wasn't giving her money, I was investing money in our future together. Either way, four days into my leave, I'm not sure why, and still have no clue as to what led her to this, but she dumped me. Ironically, she did this approximately four days before I was going to propose to her at the Georgia Aquarium. Needless to say, the rest of my leave sucked.
I wasn't happy to return to Iraq, I wouldn't have been happy if I had stayed home either. I remember that she didn't even bother to call me the day I was going back. We kept communicating through til the end of the month, before a huge argument. I was just amazed at how callous she was, that she could go from loving me to not loving me in a day it seemed. And within the week, it seemed like she really didn't care whether I lived or died.
I continued to do my duty, as it was all that I had left for those final few months, but my spending habits got way out of control. I think this was a slight fore-shadowing of what was to come. But thanks to whatever grace may be watching out for me, I made it home safely. When I first got home, I did contact her. This lasted for about a month, before I finally severed all ties, nearly completely.
However, after coming home, I struggle with the motivation to do things. Im now in a bit of a state of depression, and I came home and associated with the wrong people. For the first two months, I drank, and drank...and drank. My spending recovered a tiny bit, but I certainly would've been better off had I not been an idiot in my last two months overseas. I continued in my little spiral of negativity, which finally came to an abrupt end, almost exactly six months after my fiance had broken it up with me. This end was an arrest, and a charge for possession of marijuana, misdemeanor. I'm not a big drug user, and the only reason I had it is because this gir I was going out with at the time smoked, and so I sorta got caught up in that. However, I made the conscious decision to clean up my act.
Since that time, my life has had its ups and downs. Over the summer I was back in School, however, this didn't last long as there was a processing error at the VA when I tried to return for this fall. However, I then took it upon myself to fill my court order, except for Community Service, which I'm hoping to fulfill in the next three weeks (forty hours in three weeks, not impossible, but certainly hard).
After I get my court order handled, I think I will finally be able to return to normalcy. While I do take responsibility for my own actions, it is very easy to point out that a more direct cause of my "wild behavior" was the breakup. And from it I've learned an incredible lesson that can't be reproduced. I will never again love or trust a female to the degree that I loved and trusted before this. There were so many different ways she could have handled the situation, but she didn't try any of them. I can now look back, and say, we both had our problems, but the selfish way with which she handled me...there is a special place for people like that. As of now, I don't communicate with her. I dont wish anything for her, good or ill. I wouldn't even want her to come back to me begging or anything. Given how badly she messed my life up, I can prevent that, but not letting it happen again.
Thanks for listening.
-Emperor
Well I did my service in Camp Bucca Iraq for about a year, after a very intensive train-up at Fort Dix, NJ. Fort Dix was actually a decent place to be stationed, but for the most of the time we were there, we were at the FOB, which is a training ground used to prepare us to go to Iraq. I can still remember vividly, the training that we underwent, and standing outside talking on the phone to my ex-fiance, despite frigid temperatures.
We ended our stay at Dix right before St Patrick's day, and we were given a chance to fly home for a four day liberty. I made my way home as quickly as I could and spent four wonderful days with my fiance, and saw my family before I would leave for Iraq. These are some of the fondest memories I so far have in my young life, and I'm disappointed to say, probably the best memories I will ever have, considering the way things are going right now.
I arrived back at Ft Dix and prepared to leave for Iraq. However, unlike the rest of my unit I was tasked to stay with some of the Unit's equipment for an extra two weeks, because it had to be guarded by someone. I will admit, I honestly think spending an extra two weeks in Ft Dix Garrison, I must've gained 10 pounds. I ate a bit more than I had during train-up, as I only had time really. We went to see movies, we tried to sneak into an air force DFac, in general, it wasn't a bad experience.
We flew to Kuwait, which gave me the awesome chance to stop-over in Spain, before heading all the way to Kuwait. We stayed in Camp Buehring for about a week, before we headed north, to Iraq. In Buehring, despite what other soldiers say, there is alot to do. They have a three MWR tents, a movie theator tent, a 24-hour dfac, and a big PX. So its pretty easy to get what you need to occupy yourself whether your goin for free, or on a budget.
Once in Iraq though, my days melted all into one long workday. Day after day went by, and all I did was count down untill leave arrived. I was actually doing quite well, I was saving money for a business I was going to open, I had started taking online classes and succeeded in passing them, and whatever was asked of me in terms of work, I did with no complaint and to standard, although I was struggling with Physical Training at that point. My friends and I had some great experiences, and we came up with some interesting ideas. There were some tough times, a few attacks at the begginning and a few other events, but things died down near the summer, and I was waiting for leave.
I had waited until near the end of the deployment to take my leave. I would rather come back to the deployment with as few months left as possible. And I was so excited to finally get home. However, this joy and elation lasted a grand total of four days. After having helped my ex-fiance with money every month so she wouldn't be so stressed, I even gave her money so she could go on two trips, and a grand to buy books and a laptop. When your together with someone, you think of it as a partnership, and you can't even imagine that they would betray you. So for me this was natural. I wasn't giving her money, I was investing money in our future together. Either way, four days into my leave, I'm not sure why, and still have no clue as to what led her to this, but she dumped me. Ironically, she did this approximately four days before I was going to propose to her at the Georgia Aquarium. Needless to say, the rest of my leave sucked.
I wasn't happy to return to Iraq, I wouldn't have been happy if I had stayed home either. I remember that she didn't even bother to call me the day I was going back. We kept communicating through til the end of the month, before a huge argument. I was just amazed at how callous she was, that she could go from loving me to not loving me in a day it seemed. And within the week, it seemed like she really didn't care whether I lived or died.
I continued to do my duty, as it was all that I had left for those final few months, but my spending habits got way out of control. I think this was a slight fore-shadowing of what was to come. But thanks to whatever grace may be watching out for me, I made it home safely. When I first got home, I did contact her. This lasted for about a month, before I finally severed all ties, nearly completely.
However, after coming home, I struggle with the motivation to do things. Im now in a bit of a state of depression, and I came home and associated with the wrong people. For the first two months, I drank, and drank...and drank. My spending recovered a tiny bit, but I certainly would've been better off had I not been an idiot in my last two months overseas. I continued in my little spiral of negativity, which finally came to an abrupt end, almost exactly six months after my fiance had broken it up with me. This end was an arrest, and a charge for possession of marijuana, misdemeanor. I'm not a big drug user, and the only reason I had it is because this gir I was going out with at the time smoked, and so I sorta got caught up in that. However, I made the conscious decision to clean up my act.
Since that time, my life has had its ups and downs. Over the summer I was back in School, however, this didn't last long as there was a processing error at the VA when I tried to return for this fall. However, I then took it upon myself to fill my court order, except for Community Service, which I'm hoping to fulfill in the next three weeks (forty hours in three weeks, not impossible, but certainly hard).
After I get my court order handled, I think I will finally be able to return to normalcy. While I do take responsibility for my own actions, it is very easy to point out that a more direct cause of my "wild behavior" was the breakup. And from it I've learned an incredible lesson that can't be reproduced. I will never again love or trust a female to the degree that I loved and trusted before this. There were so many different ways she could have handled the situation, but she didn't try any of them. I can now look back, and say, we both had our problems, but the selfish way with which she handled me...there is a special place for people like that. As of now, I don't communicate with her. I dont wish anything for her, good or ill. I wouldn't even want her to come back to me begging or anything. Given how badly she messed my life up, I can prevent that, but not letting it happen again.
Thanks for listening.
-Emperor
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
The Liberal Soldier
Hello everyone. Im a soldier in the US Army Guard, so yes, I am a part-timer. Don't expect me to know about Active Duty life or anything of that regard. However, I was deployed overseas in Iraq for a year, and was on mission in Egypt for a few months. I am going to try to keep myself anonymous, but if you really want to find out info about me, it wouldn't be too hard.
And lastly, yes, I am a Liberal, with my political view on topics ranging from democratic to out-right socialist on a few. However, I don't advocate violent change, and would rather see a peaceful change.
Alot of this blog will be devoted to national issues, and sometimes a few personal issues. I certainly don't have PTSD, and I wont claim to be one of the heroes that was out of the wire everyday. My hat is off to those guys. Rather alot of my stress issues are personal, and I think writing about them is a good way for me to get over them, without draining the resources of stress programs that are needed by people with more serious issues.
Just dont call me a POG though. Ill admit, I got lucky with my job, but I've seen alot of shit inside and outside of uniform. I dont need to prove anything to anyone. However, I'd be more than willing to have guest posters who have their own things to get off their chests.
Lastly, I will have four doodads on this blog, one being a link to my own company (shameless marketing), a donate button, some adsense at the bottom, and a flag counter. I would appreciate any donation or adsense click I get, but I am much more interested in the feedback that I get. So thank you in advance for tuning in.
And lastly, yes, I am a Liberal, with my political view on topics ranging from democratic to out-right socialist on a few. However, I don't advocate violent change, and would rather see a peaceful change.
Alot of this blog will be devoted to national issues, and sometimes a few personal issues. I certainly don't have PTSD, and I wont claim to be one of the heroes that was out of the wire everyday. My hat is off to those guys. Rather alot of my stress issues are personal, and I think writing about them is a good way for me to get over them, without draining the resources of stress programs that are needed by people with more serious issues.
Just dont call me a POG though. Ill admit, I got lucky with my job, but I've seen alot of shit inside and outside of uniform. I dont need to prove anything to anyone. However, I'd be more than willing to have guest posters who have their own things to get off their chests.
Lastly, I will have four doodads on this blog, one being a link to my own company (shameless marketing), a donate button, some adsense at the bottom, and a flag counter. I would appreciate any donation or adsense click I get, but I am much more interested in the feedback that I get. So thank you in advance for tuning in.
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