We are back in Taji for another night before going out again. I am starting to adjust to the schedule and the life and the people that I work with. I got a new truck commander before this mission, and it is working out really well. He likes to yell, but I am used to yelling coming from my family! Like us, he gets excited, but doesn't take it personal and five minutes later it's like nothing happened. It makes the job easier. Our driver, who is 18 from Boyd, TX, is still getting used to driving such a big truck. He has never driven anything like it before. He is just out of basic training, and his job training did not include driving at all. I really don't know why he is our driver when my job in the army is supposed to be driving trucks, but he is and we are teaching him the best we can. When we are done he will be the best driver in the company. Now that our truck is running so smoothly there is talk of making us the lead scout. That would be cool, but a huge responsibility, especially for me. I would be the eyes of the convoy making sure there is nothing dangerous in our path. It calls for good eyes! We'll see what happens.
I had a great time yesterday after our trip to Baghdad. We found the 24 hour MWR (rec center) and played pool and ping-pong all night. I fared well against the other guys. We had a good time together and are starting to come together as a group. It's fun making fun of my driver who is not only young and inexperienced but is only about 5' tall. Maybe 5' 1"! He knows we love him.
So far we have been safe on our missions. That will most likely be the case. The company we replaced told us that they only had a handful of incidents and all of them consisted of pot shots from people that they couldn't even see. We are well protected from gunfire in our armored monsters. We just keep rolling like nothing happened. There is always the possibility of more, so we keep ourselves ready and alert. This trip was the best so far with no stops for broken vehicles or any problems. We are all getting better at our jobs.
Well, there is more work to be done to prepare my truck for our next trip, and I want to get it done before the Cowboy's game!
4 comments:
So, do you get to see NFL football? Sorry the Cowboys weren't too great against Baltimore. I was interested to be reminded that the Ravens got their name from former Baltimore resident Edgar Allen Poe (of course that may be something of interest only to weird English teachers.....)
Hi, Josh, Sherry gave me your URL, and I've subscribed via Bloglines. I love that quote from LOTR. Merry Almost Christmas from Texas.
Lynn
Yes, we get to see all the good games and that includes Cowboy games. Because I work nights, I actually get to watch them live too (They come on at 2 or 3 in the morning!).
Yelling is underrated. It's a very European form of expression. It's hard not adopt certain cultural traits after living somewhere for awhile. After 28 years, Sherry still isn't used to being yelled at, but I see that as her problem, not mine. Good luck with the "eyes of the convoy" thing. It seems to be one of those situations where being second best would be just fine (if it keeps you out of the lead vehicle!). A Marine I work with (I think they're coming out of the woodwork. It is amazing how many of our officers are Marines!) said his favorite weapon was the .50 cal. Is yours an adaptation of John Moses Browning's design? How great to have one of the most prolific gun designers in the world be LDS. It makes acquiring copies of some of his "work" almost required - a study in church history as it were.
I missed sending Christmas wishes. Sorry. I'm not very good at this yet. In fact, I still have have a letter in my Palm Pilot that I wrote you months ago. Maybe someday I'll figure out how to download it and actually print it.
It's New Year's Eve, so Happy New Year from another who has to put on a uniform and go to work at night.
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