proof

This is 'mi casa' =)

See? It really does snow in Washington, though this really would barely qualify in ND.

Uummm

After almost two moons of neglect, I once again take time to peck out something of my life for everyone with an interest to read. Not much has happened except for Mary and Becca's visit last week. It is so good to be back though. Seeing everything green and growing and being able to communicate and just get up and go somewhere. The little things take on a strange importance that you took for granted until you left them. Anyone who has been to Haiti understands what I'm talking about.
We've been working short days and taking care of all the medical stuff that goes with coming back from deployment. I have two or three dental appointments and one to get my glasses replaced coming up before leave. I've also been picked to be the battery's new armorer so I may have classes for that soon. That basically involves taking care of the battery's weapons and sensitive items. We had a pt test this morning and I did a lot better than I thought I would, scoring a 271 out of 300. Not bad for coming off six months of no pt. Going to the gym in Kuwait is what saved me from a horrible score.
For those hooligans out there I call family and friend, I will be taking leave from 14 Dec to 6 Jan and the trip to Haiti is planned for the 18th to the 31st. Kent is working on his leave and as soon as we get that figured out we can buy tickets. His team leader is a moron and no help whatsoever so he has to call his platoon sgt who is temporarily in OK. What a zoo. The army is retarded. If anyone wants to send gifts, we plan on carying as much stuff as the airlines will let us =) I can't wait to see everybody. It feels lke forever. Love y'all

Happy September

Just like the many journals I have started and have died of neglect, the posts on here are getting further and further apart. Part of that is because of our crazy schedule and a little bit could be contributed to laziness. My goal is at least two updates this month =)
During the last month, I was once again at the jss for a week, bringing my total time there to a month. I am more than happy to have left Alpha Battery behind me. When I came back the battery had moved into surge housing as our replacements were moving into our former quarters, so my whole platoon was in one not-too-large room. I was there about ten days during which time we sat at the Rte Islanders tcp's (traffic control points) in 12 hour shifts and I caught a slight cold. I had a couple days off =) and went out on my last mission on the 29th. We left Taji on 1 Sept and flew to Camp Stryker on Chinooks (for those of you with limited militatry knowledge, those are the really big ones with two rotors) =) We spent two days there and were SUPPOSED to leave yesterday. We got up at 0530 and were at the airfield by 0730. We sat out under this open tin roof until 1800 when our ride developed 'mechanical problems' so they bussed us to nearby Camp Liberty. We spent the night and are supposedly leaving tonight. We'll see. While we were at the airfield I read a 350 pg book and somehow managed to burn one bicep. huh?
That's pretty much it. If I don't post again in the next week, somebody write and yell at me ;)

Back again

Hey everybody. I'm finally back from the jss so you should start hearing more from me now =) I'm glad to be back. I really don't like the NCOs out there at all. They give their specialists too much authority so it turns into a case of too many chiefs and not enough indians. When you're one of the few indians life can suck at times.
We got some more people so I'm not the newest new guy anymore. One of them is in my section. I haven't met him yet but I'm told he's 30 and has a master's degree. I don't think they're rolling out with us yet. They're probably still going through all the trainning and classes still.
It's gotten hotter here. Mary tells me it's in the 90s in ND. That sounds positively balmy. I would probably have to wear a jacket at night :)
I gotta go to work soon. I'll write emails when I get a chance.

I know, I know

It's been awhile. I've been trying to get the internet in my room to let me post pictures but it's got a burr in it's craw and won't let me do it. So you'll just have to settle for a note for now.
Things have been pretty much the same since I got back from the jss. Missions at night, sleep through the day. Nothing exciting has happened and that's a good thing =) In a day or two we'll be switching to different missions during the day for awhile :( Not really looking forward to the heat again. It's getting hotter as we get toward August.
People have been asking about an address so here it is: PV2 Byers
C Btry 1-37 FA
FOB Taji
APO AE 09378

Not too much going on

Ok so it's been awhile since I've written anything but to tell the truth not much of import has happened recently. You will notice that my posts get shorter as the life becomes routine. As it get less exciting to me, it gets harder to believe you all out there might be interested.
A few days ago I was lent to a different battery because they're short on people and came out to this little outpost with few less of the comforts of home :) Not much doing. Just guard shifts every day and routine patrols now and then. I took advantag of being up during the day for once to take a few off-the-fob pictures. They're not the greatest, but better than none. Today we're headed back to Taji, hopefully to stay back with my rightful battery and decent internet and food =)

....

Hey everybody. Just sitting here at work waiting to head out on another mission and thought I'd post something quick since I haven't in a while. This is our first mission in 5 days. Things just kept not working out so they'd call it off. We're definitely going tonight though.
Beth, the cell is a great idea but I don't know the number.

Good Night

Ok this is me very tired and muddy so this might be kind of short. I just got back this morning from my second mission outside the wire. We walked through several fields and there are lots of irrigation cannals and since I'm the new joe, I carry this big pack which throws me off balance so I fell in the mud a few times. Plus, walking with NVGs (night vision goggles) messes with your depth perception cause they stick out six inches in front of your face.
Both missions were uneventful with not a shot fired which seems to be the norm. We brought back six detainees from each mission which then of course have to be guarded continuously until they're done questioning them and pass them on to someone else. Tonight we used the Blackhawks for the first time in a real mission. That part at least was fun. I love how they take off when they come get us after the mission. They don't want to be on the ground any more than they have to be cause we might have pissed somebody off. They go straight up like a really fast elevator then bank and get out of there. If you'd have told me a year ago that I'd be riding in a Blackhawk with the doors open and a detainee acros my lap, I'd have said you were crazy. Hmm, life is funny. I gotta go. Toodles.

Pictures

Camels in Kuwait
In the Sea-Tac airport
These are on Camp Liberty. Look like Haiti, don't they?

Our tent at Liberty.

Hey finally huh? I got internet in my room now and it's much better. I am very tired so this will be short. It's 0506 and I've been up for 18 hours because we're changing to reverse cycle. It will probably be about 3.5 more before I can crash.
Today we were at the range so my weapon is now zeroed and the bullets will go to the little red dot. Tomorrow? More tactics training.

?

Mortar repellant? Sporty? You people have issues and should contact a psychiatrist immediately. Good to hear from you though. Puff, I can't wait to come down there and see you and that other nutcase brother of mine. I'll have to give you both a good pounding just for old times' sake =)
Today was struggling to stay awake through several classes and sweating my you-know-what off practicing mounting/dismounting the Blackhawk. Oh, I got to sit in the gunner's seat of an Apache! If I stay in the Army, I'm going to put in for warrant officer and fly choppers. That's got to be the coolest job in the Army.
Tomorrow we have two more practice missions. One during the day and one at night. This time we'll be using the Blackhawks for the first time so it should be a little less boring than usual.

Yo

Well, it's definitely gotten more interesting. The last few days, we've been going out on practice missions here on the fob, including one at night. I want to try to take some pictures through the night vision goggles. We also had some mortars hit on the fob yesterday and the day before. I think there were a couple injuries but nothing serious. I'm perfectly all right. I tried to post a couple days ago but it the internet burped and I lost it and I didn't have enough time to rewrite it. We've been very busy with all the training and I haven't been able to write like I want to. I'm going to look into getting internet in my room. I gotta get up early tomorrow so I'm going. Toodles.

Blah

Hi. Nothing new here. It's hot, we're training. Eat, sleep and do it all over again. When something cool or significant happens I'll tell you about it, but for now I'm drawing a blank.

same sh**.......

......different day. You guys haven't missed much the last couple days. Just more classes and training. We're going to be training for the next two weeks. Plans have changed and we'll be doing something new and completely different from what I've been telling you. It's much cooler and we won't be gone 10 days at a time like the former plan but I can't tell you what it is. It's not any more dangerous, just new and when the Army does something new, they do all sorts of redudant training to get ready. It sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun but we'll see once we get started. There will be a fair amount of night training and lots of weapons training (yay!). I love the weapons. I think they're the coolest part of being in the Army (along with the vehicles).

Taji

I'm finally here and I'm settling into my room which I share with the other two guys who came with me. We're all in different sections so we won't be always around each other. Not necessarily a bad thing. They're ok, it's just nice to change company now and then.
Do you remember me saying that our flight was to leave at 0130? Well it didn't leave til 0250. We got here at 0315 and to bed at 0400. We slept til 0830 and then had a full day of inprocessing and briefings we've already gotten at least two dozen times. I swear, the army is all about brainwashing. Today there was a battalion bbq which took up most of the day and then they let us off. I have to go back to the room soon and start cleaning my weapon for tomorrow though. So far it's great here. I'll let you know if that changes at all. Buh-bye.

About Time

Good news, amazing, astounding news. We have a flight and it leaves at 0130. The no-so-good news. We leave the tent at 2200. Sound like typical army procedure yet? I'm going to keep this short so I can get a couple hours of sleep before we leave. Didn't do much today. Bought some cheap bootleg movies and games to occupy my time in case I don't have internet access at some point. I'll let you know what it'll be like there as soon as possible. Ta-ta for now.

HIIIiiiiyyyeah whatever

This is me very tired so it's gonna be short. Once again we went nowhere. The infantry guys in our group have a flight tomorrow evening and us artillery guys have a slim chance of going too. Whatever. Chances are, I'll still be here tomorrow night. It was much nicer today and I sat out in the sun by our tent for a while trying to get started on a tan. The guys thought I was nuts. I'm doing fine and so is the cold. Adios.

Bald and dusty

Windy would be the understatement that describes today best I think. The tent has been creaking and flapping like a crazy thing and the walls keep billowing in and knocking over the flimsy lockers they have in here. Such fun. The air outside is full of dust so it's not a good day for eyes. So, we're not going anywhere today either. Tomorrow they try again to get us on our way to where we belong. We shall wait and see how that goes. This is starting to seem very familiar...
I went and got a haircut yesterday so I'm back to the skinhead look. All the barbers here are hired nationals (how do you like my political correctness?) and they do a pretty good job. However, I thought the guy was trying to skin my head instead of simply shaving it. None to gentle. Guess I won't be getting dandruff any time soon.

Nuts

Sorry people, I just can't upload pictures with this network. It always brings up some stupid error about needing the blog id. I've been working on it for over an hour and still no luck. You guys may have to wait til I get back to see everything.
I found out yesterday that I'm definitely going to Taji. It's at a little village north of Baghdad itself and we'll be working the areas around the edges of Baghdad. The sergeant said that we might be spending some time at outposts if we have extended patrols. Outposts tend to be pretty spare on the comfortable side of things so that might be interesting. I'll try to let everybody know ahead of time if I'm going to be doing that in case I can't write while I'm there. Oh by the way, don't wory if I can't write for a while sometimes. The internet could go down here and sometimes things just get busy and I can't find time for a while. They say that Taji has the biggest px in Iraq so I shouldn't have any trouble getting what supplies I need. Hopefully they also have decent internet so I can stay in touch. Today we're just sitting around waiting. At 1500 we have to go over to brigade to find out our flight times. They could possibly be tonight sometime. I'll be glad to finally get to where Ive been going for the past 10 days.

Looks like Taji

Hey again. The last couple days have been typical classes in the morning and lazy afternoons. Today will probably be the same. I think today is our last required day here and they'll start shipping us to our units. It looks like us artillery guys are going a little further north to a place called camp Taji. It's only about a 10 minute chopper ride from here and on the map it looks like it's just on the north edge of Baghdad.
I've got wireless connection here and I bought a temporary pass but it's really slow like dial-up and I can't get it to let me upload pictures. Patience is a virtue people. I'll keep trying. Maybe at the other camp I can work something out. I'm just happy I can communicate as much as I've been able to. The emails and comments from you guys really help offset the parts of being here that suck. I miss you all. See you at Christmas.

Iraq

So Iraq pretty much sucks as bad as Kuwait. At least so far. The plane ride up here was the worst of my life. Not only did my butt start killing me from the seats before takeoff but my cold has invaded my sinuses and I though my head would explode on the way down. As a side effect, my ears still haven't returned to normal so I'm half deaf. Not a good thing when NCOs are telling you what to do or telling everyone what's going on. I'm constantly asking my buddies what was said so I don't get completely "lost in the sauce." It's not really that bad so far. The tent we're in now has beds instead of cots so I slept better last night. The food has remained good (I think it's a morale thing) but everything is farther away so more walking in the sun is required. For you Haiti people I would compare walking here to midday on the trip into Port on the truck. The rest of you will probably never understand. I'm at the MWR (morale, welfare, and recreation) center right now and have free internet but it's not my computer so I can't post pictures. A buddy and I are going to split the cost of a week-long wireless pass so maybe I can get through that way. We're supposed to be here for at least 4 days and then we'll go to our respective units, be they here or some other camp. I'm looking forward to that. I hate being in transition. I just want to unpack my bags and know I'll be in one spot for a while. The nights are relatively comfortable here (freezing in the ac) and the shower facilities are actually not bad. They're separate and require a short walk but that's bearable. With a little luck when we get to our units, we'll be in little prefab buildings instead of tents, though I really don't mind the tents myself. So far I still haven't heard anything about blogs being watched or prohibited but thanks for the warnings. Thanks everybody for the all the comments. Its good to hear from you all and know you're out there praying for me. News from you guys is what keeps me going. I read everyone else's blogs whenever I get a chance. That's all I've got for now. With luck, pictures will come later.

Hi.
I called Kim’s and Tim’s yesterday and like I told them, there’s not really any news. I’m here, I’m fine, it’s hot and dusty. So far the only strange thing is everything being prefabricated. The chow is good so far, even better than Ft Lewis. We’ll see if it stays that way when I get up north. So far it reminds me a lot of living in Haiti. We’ll be here in Kuwait at least a couple more days as we get a little mandatory training before they can send us on. Today we’re supposed to have some ied class and then hopefully we’ll have the rest of the day off and I can post this. I’m writing this after breakfast on Word Processor so as to make as much use of my internet time as possible. It tends to be a little slow here and I don’t write fast at all so it helps to do it ahead of time and just send it when I get a chance.

Kuwait

Hello again. Just a quick note to let everyone know where I am, which is Kuwait. Tomorrow we go up to some camp and the rest of the day is free. Then we have about three training days before heading to Iraq. I'm feeling fine even after so many hours flying. It's midnight here and I still have to shave and shower. I'll post tomorrow if I can find an internet cafe. Love you all. Mike

So hi again everybody. Sorry there still aren't any pictures. The wireless connection has been giving me problems lately so I can't get here with my computer.
Anyway, I'm safely back on Ft Lewis after my little spur-of-the-moment weekend getaway. I got to my room at 0200 and just took my boots off and went to sleep. I don't feel too bad today. We're off until 1630 when we have our moving-out inspection. They still haven't told us a flight time but we're definitely leaving today. It's a relief to be done waiting. I've got the whole excited/nervous butterflies that I always get right before a change. I can't wait to be on my way. I'll get ahold of you all when I hit Kuwait. Pray but don't worry.

last day

Hi to one and all. Looks like I'm in business. I'll try to get some pictures on here yet today but I'm on somebody elses computer so obviously I can't access them from here.
As you all know, I'm heading for Iraq tomorrow. Last day in the States. It still hasn't really sunk in yet and probably won't until I hit Kuwait. So far it could've been a better last day. I didn't sleep well last night and felt rather crappy when I got up this morning. Hopefully it's jst something I ate. It would really suck to get sick the day before I head over.
Anyway, as I said, I'll be back later with pictures. Pictures are easy and writing requires effort.