Miscellany

One soldier I've written about prefers not to be named in the blog in the future. I'll be careful to honor his request. Another soldier prefers to be mentioned anonymously, if at all. Sgt. Knight, on the other hand, has no problem with being mentioned.

In case you were wondering, my knees and ankles are mostly better now. My right ankle is still stiff and painful after a day on the range. I can't tell if it's arthritis or tendonitis, or just old age. But the serious pains I was suffering earlier seem largely to have been due to my being out of shape. The more I work the knees and ankles, the less they hurt (except for that right ankle).

The Mortar section has been moved back to the HQ platoon. Now, having been in 3 out of 4 platoons, I once again feel familiar with the unit. Which is very good. Camaraderie is a large part of what makes this deployment endurable.

My cell phone charger is not lost, by the way. A Specialist who was staying in the same tent as me, and who had provided the power strip everything was plugged into, gathered up everything and brought it all back to the barracks at one fell swoop. Including, thank God, my phone charger. So, now I have two extra's on the way.

Oh, and having been in 3 out of 4 platoons, I can say with full confidence - this company has many, many good NCO's. This is definitely where I want to be if I have to go to war. Even the officers aren't half-bad!

By the way, there was a Major who gave us a briefing about terrorists back in early February. He pointedly mentioned that anyone could be a terrorist, almost anybody with access to the FOB. Later that day, I caught a soldier named Chapman wandering around looking suspicious, so I asked him if he was a terrorist. Chapman became very defensive, so I'm keeping an eye on him. I saw him the other day carrying a suspicious bag around the barracks area, and tonight I spotted him talking on a cell phone! I think he's noticed that I'm observing him, so I'll have to be more discreet in the future.

Also, if you happen to know why so many army posts have terrain that looks the same, I'd love to know. Forts Jackson, Stewart, Gordon, Benning, and Camp Shelby all have piney woods and scrub brush, with sandy soil. Is it just because that's where the infantry goes? Or are most army posts like that? Or what? Maybe the land was just really cheap or something, I dunno.

Finally, Specialist White invented a new word today. It's very descriptive and I guess Humpty-Dumpty (from "Alice in Wonderland") would have called it a portmanteau.

Incintegrated!

As in, "The DNA evidence from the gum will be incintegrated by the explosion!"

I believe we go back out to the FOB soon, so I probably will not be able to update this again for a week or more. I'm sure there will be lots of things to relate by then, so keep checking back.