The US Flag

This is a video I made for Triton Middle School. Here in Iraq we can fly flags over our double HAS on special occasions or for special events. I flew a flag on the 20th of February for my sister and her family (its her birthday) and one for Triton Middle school as a token of my appreciation for all their support. The video highlights the birth of our nation and the role the flag plays through out our history. There is a lot more behind the flag than one might think, and this video is just a small clip of its significance. I hope you all enjoy.



Chris

St Patrick's Day and more ramblings

22MAR09

Nothing real new or exciting happening here in Iraq, well nothing you probably really want to hear about. For example how the new Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) contract was signed a ways back and as part of that agreement we have to release all the POW and now the bombings of our base have increased…I wonder if there is any relationship of the two??? You can read more about the SOFA under History Links, or google it.

Other than that, there was a 5.55k race on St Patrick’s Day sponsored by the Triple Nickel Engineer Battalion (555 ENGS). It was my first run since my injuries and I felt pretty good. Perhaps if they didn’t start the race 10 minutes early I could have finished closer to the top, however I was still walking into the stadium when they started the race. It was probably for the best as I told myself I was going to take it easy this race, although we still ran a 6:30 pace! Grupe and I ran it together wearing all the St Patti garb that Jane sent us - THANKS Jane!! To say the least, I think we were the best dressed and 2 most popular guys at the finish!



The 555 ENGs did a great job putting the race on; there was music at the half way point and green NA beer at the finish, what a perfect way to start the day off.
People are getting excited about coming home, I know a few of my soldiers have begun to pack and mail stuff home, I plan to do the same here in the next coming week.
With only a couple of months to go, I finally got the new printers and monitors in that I ordered the first few weeks I was here. I think I blog about the PR&C process in earlier blogs….well better late than never! Still haven’t received my uninterrupted power supplies (UPS) which were the first items to get approved in the PR&C packet, any day now – right?!

I have been emailing my Harley Dealer Colt, and he said my bike is in and waiting, boy that really adds to wanting to get the hell outta here. My dad is going to take a trip to the dealer and check my bike out and take some pics for me.
It has tried to rain here a few times, but nothing too bad, at least it dries up a lot faster as the weather has really warmed up here. We went from highs in the 60s to 80s in what seemed like only a few days.

If anyone was thinking of sending care packages the last day to send here will be 20APR, but I am letting everyone know I am set and do not need anything. Thanks to everyone who has sent stuff, I really appreciate it – you guys are GREAT!!

I know I have a lot more friends here in Iraq now…no I haven’t met anyone, its that my old unit, where I was the commander at is now deployed here to Iraq. I hope to be able to travel to their base and say hi-bye before I pull-pin out of here!

Well I think I have rambled on enough; pretty much steady-state here, just counting the days down.
As always, enjoy the pictures.

Some thougths and pictures

10MAR
It rained all last night. It was soothing to hear the rain hit the tops of our tin CHUS, everyone knows that sound, and the constant rhythmic beat slowing sings you to sleep. Usually when you think of rain, you think of life, you think refreshing, you think cleansing. Not here in the desert. The rain may bring all those to locals, but to us in the military, it brings nothing but a mess! 99% of the time before the rain moves in, we get hit with a dust storm. It looks just like fog from back home, but it is made of pure dirt. Yesterday, just as expected, one of these dust storms swooped in. That evening I walked to the gym for my daily workout session, as I signed in and made my way to the bathroom I looked in the mirror and my hair looked as though I just came from the barber and got my hair frosted. That is how thick the air gets with dirt. As I wiped the sweet from my face, my white towel slowly stated to turn tan from all the dirt.

Then the rain comes. You look down on your black shorts and you see little dirt spots all over you. The rain tries to clean the think dust from the air, but as it does, you end up looking like a leopard from all the little dirt bombs that hit you with each rain drop.



I have to take a break from running. My shin splints have returned along with some pain just below my right knee. The bone is very sore to the touch and even walking is uncomfortable. To say the least it has really bummed me out. I was just hitting my prime and ready to turn the corner in my marathon training. There are several 5k races coming up, a 15k, and even a Boston Marathon Satellite run. I was really looking forward to running all these, but when it hurts so much to run, it does not make it any fun. I have not quit, I have just varied my routine. I now alternate between the elliptical and stair stepper. I go for one hour 5 days a week, and for two on my long days. I will sometimes throw in an easy 1-2 miles run on the treadmill too. I think the problem stems from my shoes and possibly my orthotics need to be tweaked a little bit. But I am thinking mainly my shoes because all throughout running at Ft Sill and in Kuwait, I did not have issues. It wasn’t until I bought some new shoes here in Iraq, a different brand than I had been using, that I started to notice all my problems. So I quit the other shoes and am just sticking to my New Balance, I will do the light impact cardio until the pain in my legs subside and then hit the pavement to see how it feels! More than likely I will still run all the 5ks, I will just take it easy, like an 8min pace verses a 630min pace, I got to collect all the T-shirts I can! The main goal is to recover and get in adequate amount of training for Grandma’s Marathon on 20JUN upon my arrival home!

As for the fight here in Iraq, things are pretty quiet, mortar attacks have subsided somewhat. I think they, the terrorists, are getting the message that if they leave us alone, we will get out of this country and leave this shit-hole to them. Hopefully President Obama will pull us out of here and send us to Afghanistan where the real fight is. Why anyone would fight so hard to keep this place is beyond me, I think it is safe to say only God knows why! Yes it is rich in history, but it is nowhere near the paradise it used to be back in the times of the Old Testament. If you are really interested in what this place use to be like, there are two links under the HISTORY section of my Blog.