sloooooooooow

I think they deliberately make the internet connection here at the internet cafe slow just so the people will stay on longer for them to make more money. Its a conspiracy I tell you.

My ankle is getting better, still limping

I'm growing a mustache. Haven't shaved since I left which was Jan 18th

No unlimited rounds here

I just got back from a 3 day long training exercise. It was very informative and I learned many things that will help me stay alive on the trip up north to Baghdad. We went over convoy operations and tactical stuff. Today we drove through a made up route with simulated obstacles with targets and stuff and were given different senarios. I was giving 400 rounds for my weapon. When we were done It hit me.. We don't have unlimite bullets like you do in the damn video games. Sounds pretty rediculous but I got a little excited and had a pretty heavy trigger finger. I felt like Rambo. So Note to self: Use only 6-9 round burts and don't keep your finger on the trigger.

There is this Suburban that drives around picking up the brass from our ammunition. They are paid by the military to keep the many ranges we have here in Kuwait clean. I saw them in action the other day. I counted 14 people that climbed out of this old 1980s model Suburban. No joke. Kuwaiti nationals. The Army has a lot of them working here on Camp Virginia. From food service, laundry, janitorial dutys and all.

My camera is offically dead. I broke the lcd screen the other day, but it was still able to take pictures even though I couldn't see any of the menus but now its totally dead. I need a camera.... I'll order one tomorrow.

Did i mention i sprained my ankle today? It was really stupid the way it happened. I was walking back to the tent this morning from the port-o-pottie and twisted my ankle on a damn rock. I still lugged my 80+ lbs of gear around today. I'm a trooper. Popped a few motron and went on my way. You never see Rambo crying about a damn sprained ankle =)

I saw a few camels in their natural habitat.

Camera is dead

ok this is my second attempt at posting. Stupid internet cafe computer gave me a 3 minute warning before it logs me off telling me I'm out of funds in my account here. So I rush over to the machine where you add minutes to your account and there are 2 people in front of me who dont know how to use the stupid thing. By the time the second one is done its too late.... I get logged off before I got to save my post.

My LCD screen on my digital camera died. I haven't even been here a week and I need a new stupid camera. The thing is only less than 2 months old. Oh well, no biggy, I'll just order a new one in a few days and have the rents send it to me.

I went to the range today. On the way there the hmmv I was riding in decided to break. We hopped in the back of an LMTV (army truck for you non army people) and froze the rest of the way to the range.

It is extra dusty here in Kuwait. The dust is soo thick that today at the range I was looking at the sun and couldn't tell if it was the sun or moon. I have pictures, too bad I can't post them. Maybe I'll upload them when I get to Iraq.

Oh yea, the milk that I been drinking here, I noticed that nowhere on the labels does it say its pasturized. Hmmm I guess Kuwait doesn't have to be held to the same FDA standards in the U.S.

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lalalalala

Its about 1pm here in good ol Camp Virginia in Kuwait.
Just had lunch.
I had turkey ala kart with mash potatos and mixed vegstables.
Also had a chocolate ice cream bar. It was really rich.
The space bar on this keyboard is broken and you have to pound it for it to work.
I called Kristen last night at about 3am here. It was about 7pm there in Cortland.
The phone service really sucks here, It makes talkin on thephone a real pain in the ass. We were both getting frustrated at eachother even though it was neither our faults. I Love her.
The low fat milk here is represented by the color red while the whole milk is blue. I only realized this today after drinking whole milk the last 5 days.
I hate pooping in port-o-potties
This internet cafe has sucked about $40+ outofmy pocket so far at $5/hour
all in all I'm in good health. I want to goto Iraq already. I'll post pics when I get there I gave up trying to upload them here.

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In Camp Virginia

I am now in Camp Virginia in Kuwait. I will here here for about 2 weeks, then we head up to Taji, Camp Cooke in Iraq, approximatly 10+ miles north of Baghdad.

The flight over was shorter then I anticipated it to be. We flew into Frankfurt Germany which took about 7 hours. We stoped there to refuel then from there to Kuwait which took about 5 hours.

The weather here is not bad. High of 60's lows in the 40's. A whole lot of sand and nothingness.

I had to wait 2 hours at internet cafe to upload these photos. You can bring own laptop in and pay $5 an hour for internet or use one of their computers, but i can't connect my camera to their computers to upload the pictures so I waited patiently for a port to open for my laptop. The internet connection here is slow as shit. Took me 50 minutes to upload a handful a pictures. I might just have to wait till I get to Iraq to upload them.

thats all for now, i'll keep you guys updated on stuff. more pics checkout http://ob1iniraq.blogspot.com

Landed in Kuwait

I am in Camp Virginia in Kuwait. Everything is well, I will post pictures and more info when I have time. Just letting everyone know I'm Ok

leaving on a jet plane.....

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Originally uploaded by ob1left.

It is 1:50 AM and I have to be up at 4am to be at work at 6am...Got the call tonight telling me I'm going to Iraq tomorrow. Well technically we fly into Kuwait first and stay there 2 weeks then goto Iraq. Anyway the reason I'm awake is because of this stupid IPOD. I didnt want to do it but I did....I jumped on the Ipod bandwagon. Went to Best Buy and got me a 40gig. Been raping the hotels bandwidth to download mp3s all day. Who needs sleep? The damn flight to Kuwait is like 20+ hours I have plenty of time to sleep then.

I don't have an address for myself over there yet but when I do I will post it on here for all of you to send me shit. I can use some music for the ipod, can never have enough, preferably mp3 cd's. Also porno is good. I am going to be over there for 18 months and will get lonely =( Time to end this post. My next one will be from Kuwait or Iraq whenever I can get to use the internet. Catch ya later

Won't be home for Christmas

The first platoon from our company said farewell to their families today to start their 18 month long deployment. There were many sad faces. I was there to help put their bags on the truck and show my support. I'll see them over there in a week.

There was one wife that was saying goodbye that I noticed. She had a little girl and a baby in her arm. The little girl says to her mommy "Mommy, where is daddy going?" the mother responds "Daddy is going on the bus." Daughter says to her mommy "I want to go with daddy" as she extends her arm and tries to run to her father." The mother holds her daughter back and says to the little girl "You can't go with daddy baby."

last weekend

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Originally uploaded by ob1left.

This past weekend might have just been my last weekend here state side before I head over to Iraq to kill bad guys. Yes, last weekend... With that in mind, me and a few of the guys went down to Savannah and had a slammin jamming ol time. Although I volunteered to be designated driver, I still had a good time, since I couldn't drink I ended up buying everyone drinks. What can I say, I'm a good guy. By the end of the night B-rad ended up hugging polls and made friends with a nice police horse.
I took a break from folding laundry to do this entry because I wanted to get this out of the way before I get too tired. Projected departure is this Friday or so, not too sure. I'm just ready to go already. Already said my goodbyes to the family, friends and Kristen. Now I'm just sitting around fiddling my damn thumbs. A few people asked me "Why do you want to leave so bad? Aren't you scare?" Scared, not yet anyway, I'm just ready to make a difference.

Back to the daily grind

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Originally uploaded by ob1left.

I said my goodbyes and left New York this morning and now I'm back in Georgia. It's a little bit depressing considering I won't be home again for a year and a half. Since I broke the lease on my place, I'm staying with my buddy B-reesie(which you see a pic of him here) and his wife and two dogs till we both leave for Iraq in the next few days.

Happy New Year

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Originally uploaded by ob1left.

First I'd just like to wish everyone a Happy and healthy new years. Whats your resolution? Mine...to be honest I haven't really thought about it much. hmmm maybe to try to watch my potty mouth? Yeah, like thats going to happen. Little tough doing that when every other word out of most soldiers mouths is #$@% or @*%# or *@&%#$!&$#@^
Spent Bringing in the New Year at this bar in the city. The food was incredible. They served dinner at 10pm and breakfast at 2am! Hmmmmmm fooooooood. Oh yea not to mention open bar with top shelf liquor. One thing I will miss when I'm in Iraq is good food. I stuffed my face like it was my job the entire time I was home. New Years 2005..good times