An Army of 1 in 10

I’ve been very busy this past month and haven’t had much energy to post anything here. I’ve mainly been keeping up with email and chatting with friends and family. Things are going well here in Iraq, though my brigade has already lost four Soldiers. May they rest in peace.

This is my favorite song from John Michael Montgomery:

My Dear Son, it is almost June,
I hope this letter catches up to you, and finds you well
Its been dry but they’re calling for rain,
And everything’s the same ol’ same in Johnsonville
Your stubborn ‘ol Daddy ain’t said too much,
But I’m sure you know he sends his love,
And she goes on,
In a letter from home

I hold it up and show my buddies,
Like we ain’t scared and our boots ain’t muddy, and they all laugh,
Like there’s something funny bout’ the way I talk,
When I say: “Mama sends her best y’all”
I fold it up an’ put it in my shirt,
Pick up my gun an’ get back to work
An’ it keeps me driving me on,
Waiting on letters from home

My Dearest Love, its almost dawn
I’ve been lying here all night long wondering where you might be
I saw your Mama and I showed her the ring
Man on the television said something so I couldn’t sleep
But I’ll be all right, I’m just missing you
An’ this is me kissing you
XX’s and OO’s,
In a letter from home

I hold it up and show my buddies,
Like we ain’t scared and our boots ain’t muddy, and they all laugh,
‘Cause she calls me “Honey”, but they take it hard,
‘Cause I don’t read the good parts
I fold it up an’ put it in my shirt,
Pick up my gun an’ get back to work
An’ it keeps me driving me on,
Waiting on letters from home

Dear Son, I know I ain’t written,
But sittin’ here tonight, alone in the kitchen, it occurs to me,
I might not have said, so I’ll say it now
Son, you make me proud

I hold it up and show my buddies,
Like we ain’t scared and our boots ain’t muddy, but no one laughs,
‘Cause there ain’t nothing funny when a soldier cries
An’ I just wipe me eyes
I fold it up an’ put it in my shirt,
Pick up my gun an’ get back to work
An’ it keeps me driving me on,
Waiting on letters from home

Well, it’s getting time for me to deploy. I will be leaving very soon, and I’m not sure how often I’m going to be able to post to A1in10 considering the policy of registering blogs (obviously not something I’m going to do!). I’ll post when I can, but it’s likely to be less often than lately.

Before I leave, however, I will ensure that I have a copy of Unsilence’s source code so that I can update the site and fix the blog registration bug. I haven’t been able to do that due to how extremely busy I’ve been, but I will fix it before the year is out. I’m probably going to have to have someone else upload the new code, but it’ll be in place so that we can start accepting registrations again.

I will be in Iraq for the next 15 months and while I do know where I’m headed, I’m not going to say. One, because that would violate OPSEC; and two, because that would be giving too much personal information. By the end of the month, I’ll be in Iraq; and the next time I post will be from Iraq. I plan on posting as often as I can without getting caught with an unregistered blog, but I first have to see what the network situation is down there. I may end up having a trusted person do the actual posting for me if it seems that I could get into trouble for not registering An Army of 1 in 10.

See you guys on the flip side!

 July 14, 2007:  an American hero was killed in action.  His name was Specialist Christopher D. Kube, and he was only 18 years old.

SPC Kube was killed by a roadside bomb as he manned the gunner’s turret in a humvee on its way to a meeting between religious rivals.  His platoon sergeant, SSG Byron-Griffin remembers him, “What are you doing here? You’re a baby.’ He looked me straight in my eye, with his chest poked out like he does, and he said, `I’m 17, and I ain’t no baby. I’m a man.”‘

May this young hero rest in peace.

Christopher D. Kube:  b. September 7, 1988  d. July 14, 2007

Well, it looks like I will be retiring from the military now.  I’ve just recently re-enlisted for 6 years (I’m getting a nice chunk of change out of it), which will put me at over 13 years time-in-service at the end of this new enlistment.  After that, it’s just a short hop and a skip away from retiring at 20 years.  Needless to say, my parents were quite pleased with my decision.

This week is going to be a short work week for me because I’m currently on quarters for 48 hours due to having oral surgery yesterday.  I don’t go back to work until Thursday.  And I go on leave on Saturday for two weeks.  Man, I’m getting a lot of time off!

I’ll need it though, because it won’t be long until I deploy for 15 months to Iraq.  I still haven’t figured out how (or if) I’m going to post to A1in10 while I’m downrange.  I’m sure that I’ll figure something out  which won’t compromise my identity.

This past month has been very busy for me. The brigade’s battalions rotated in and out of the field for their Mission Readiness Exercises, we’re packing things up, I finished up my SRP this week, got my immunizations (yay anthrax and smallpox vaccinations… ugh), I’m getting more gear issued to me this week, and I’ve got my property being picked up for storage this week as well. The next week, I’ve got to go to the range to qualify on my weapon again and get my wisdom teeth yanked out the week after. It’s a good thing that I’ll be going on leave real soon because I definitely need the break.

I still need to update the site’s codebase to fix the registration issue, and I will get that done before the end of July. I plan on leaving the site in a self-managing state before I deploy in case I’m not able to do so downrange. Once I deploy, I’m probably not going to be able to do any updates or add any new features, so if there are any wordpress plugins you would like to see on the site, now is the time to get your suggestions/requests submitted.

Oh yeah, I’m still looking for a webcomic viewer — anyone know of any?

Riley Woina recently had the experience of his life: he spent a week training with the Army Rangers at Camp James E. Rudder. What’s really cool about this story, is that Riley is only 14 years old, and he was able to do this because he made a wish.
More »« Less

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff yesterday placed his personal beliefs ahead of human decency, equality, and national security. General Pace stated that he believes homosexuality to be immoral and that gay Soldiers should continue to be subject to being fired for a condition they did not choose. What I found interesting, is that he said that adultery was also immoral (it is) but made no mention of enacting a policy to separate adulterous service members.

“I do not believe the United States is well served by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral in any way,” Pace told the newspaper in a wide-ranging interview.

Pace, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and a 1967 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, said he based his views on his upbringing.

He said he supports the Pentagon’s “don’t ask, don’t tell policy” in which gay men and women are allowed in the military as long as they keep their sexual orientation private. The policy, signed into law by President Clinton in 1994, prohibits commanders from asking about a person’s sexual orientation.

“I believe homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts,” Pace said.

More »« Less

Day is done, gone the sun,
From the hills, from the lake,
From the sky.
All is well, safely rest,
God is nigh.
More »« Less

There has been an explosion of discussion in the AKO Forums (make sure you’re logged in before following the link) in the “Bi?” thread.  A Future Soldier made this comment which set off a firestorm:

i personally wouldnt want any faggots in the military PERIOD.

More »« Less

I found this joke over on ahrrrrr’s blog (NSFW) and while I’ve heard different versions of it, this is the best one yet:

A young man joined the army and signed up with the paratroopers. He went through the standard training, completed the practice jumps from higher and higher structures, and finally went to take his first jump from an airplane. The next day, he called home to tell his father the news. “So, did you jump?” asked the father.

“Well, let me tell you what happened,” the son said. “We got up in the plane, and the sergeant opened up the door and asked for volunteers. About a dozen men got up and just walked out of the plane.

“Is that when you jumped?” asked his father.

“Uh, no. The sergeant started to grab the other men one at a time and throw them out the door.”

“Did you jump then?” asked his father.

“I’m getting to that. Everyone else had jumped, and I was the last man left on the plane. I told the sergeant that I was too scared to jump. He told me to get off the plane or he’d kick my butt.

“So, did you jump?”

“No. He tried to push me out of the plane, but I grabbed onto the door and refused to go. Finally he called over the Jump Master. The Jump Master is this great big guy, about six-foot five, and 250 pounds. He said to me, ‘Are you gonna jump or not?’”

 

“I said, ‘No sir, I’m too scared.’” So the Jump Master pulled down his zipper and took out his dick. I swear, dad, it was about ten inches long and big around as a baseball bat!

He said, ‘Either you jump out that door, or I’m sticking this baby up your ass.’”

“So, did you jump?” asked his father.

“Well, a little, at first.”