Douchebagistan

Haven't posted since I've got here. What a rugged, beautiful country filled with curious, hard-working people. Too bad the U.S. Army is here to shit all over it. The reduction in strength imposed by the President in order to adhere to the draw down has hamstrung our unit, just like it did to the unit we replaces and all units to come. It turns out sending half your people home makes you shorthanded. I would get back on a plane and go back to Iraq in a heartbeat. The days were long, it was hot as balls but we had a set schedule and a set rest cycle. I can count with my fingers the number of times I've slept through the night without being woken up to do some detail or another. I've pulled more 36 hour days (shift -> mission -> shift) than days I've got to sleep without being disturbed. I've been on the verge of calling IG or writing my congressmen pretty much everyday that I've been here. It's not just me either - it doesn't seem too intelligent to make a guy do two back to back shifts on tower guard but it happens daily. I understand we are short on people but that doesn't mean NCOs don't have to go to bat for their soldiers to shield them from the bullshit.

Gripes aside, things are well here. We saw some action in the wake of the Koran burning (thanks turds - you can never really understand the impact of some cunt burning a Koran or pissing on a body until you're actually in that country when it happens), but not too bad. Our mission OPTEMPO is actually ridiculously slow compared to the last deployment, we just have to cover down on the FORCEPRO and the chow hall guard unlike last time. One of the new guys called me a fobbit and told me proudly that he's been on 10 missions in 3 months so far. I laughed - in Iraq we did 90 in 3 months. As always, the busy gauge violently switches between watching paint dry and staying awake for 40 hours without sleeping. I miss going out everyday with the guys but at the same time our missions aren't anymore exciting than working in the TOC. Drive, sit in the turret while a KLE happens then drive back. I still get made fun of. I was thinking about changing the blog name to Fobbits Eat Ice Cream too.