internet

I have attempted to write this blog entry 6 times now.......
and since none of them got saved or posted I have
decided that I am going to write more often but the entries
wont be as long. So please bear with me if there are
random incomplete thoughts on here with poor
grammar!
I was thinking today of the many people here who
are overall pretty prejudice about the Iraqi's. Then tonight
we watched the movie Full Metal Jacket. Yes it was the first
time that I saw it in its entirety and I realized this.......
This is my first deployment to Iraq. I have been fortunate
enough to not have anyone close to me killed over here so
when I work side by side with Iraq's it is not much of a problem.
Even though some of the people that we work with on a
daily basis were not always "supporters" of the US Army!!
I have been given a little better understanding how others
view this country based on their backgrounds which are
very different from mine........I do still believe
that it is important to try not to have preconceived notions
about a country on a whole but it must be so hard to
work with people who the last time you were in this country
they were trying to kill you or you were trying to kill them!!

Those are my random thoughts for the day and I will publish this and
write again very soon!
I miss everyone VERY much and hope that everyone is well!!
Mickey

back in Iraq

I am finally back in Iraq and back to K1. I got to spend
15 days back in the states visiting with family and friends
which was WONDERFUL. Then on Monday the 29th of June
I left Albany Airport for Atlanta Airport to catch as flight
to Kuwait in route to Iraq. I landed in Kuwait the evening
of the 30th.........I left Kuwait on the 8th of JULY!! I spent
over 8 days stuck in Kuwait due to sand storms. It was
horrible. Some people dont think that being stuck in Kuwait
is so bad because they have a McDonalds and other fast
food places to eat. I dont really eat at those places so I spent
the 8 days sleeping during the day (because of the heat) and
then staying awake all through the night. The USO in
Kuwait was very nice. I would get up at about 6pm and go
to dinner (which I considered breakfast),
then I would go to an accountability formation to be told that
there were no flights to Kirkuk. After that I would go for a
run, read a bit before heading to midnight chow which was lunch.
Breakfast of course was dinner. It was a strange
cycle that I am still recovering from........
The best thing that came out of being stuck in Kuwait was that I was
so excited to actually get back to IRAQ that I bypassed the sadness of
missing the family. I NEVER in my life thought that I would be EXCITED to
be in Kirkuk, IRAQ!!! It has been a crazy week since I have been back. I
have just been playing catch up and visiting with my Iraqi counterparts.
Hope everyone is well!
I will write again very soon.
Mickey