Home

So, after the whirlwind that is getting home from Douchebagistan, I then had a ton of leave I needed to destroy. Went down to South Kakalak (Carolina) for some fishing and home improvement projects. Needless to say, one bite, no fish. 4 days of fishing out in the creeks and nothing. Horrible, but was nice still. Then it was a week kinda back at work kinda not, doing medical and all the follow up that accompanies these sorts of things. Then it was time to celebrate the anniversary (late but worth it) 5 months after the fact. We went to Sandals Royal Caribbean. It was a rocking good time. To Ellis and Whitney and H-Bomb; You guys ROCK! The wifey poo and I got in a few good days of diving, but the weather didn't want to cooperate completely so we missed out a couple of the days (too choppy for the boat, heavy surge, lower than usual visibility). But saw some pretty cool things too, and went to this one site...wait for it...the Widowmaker. Awesome coral canyons. Wish I had an underwater camera. No stupidity to report, however I am convinced the peacock wanted me dead. Just ate some kabobs, first grilling of the season, so excited. Now, I am contemplating a cigar or not. Don't quite know.

Headed Home

So here I sit in Kyrgyzstan again. This time headed in the opposite direction. The direction of home.I am excited to be heading there, lemme tell you. Although Manas, as usual sucks; what with a two beer a day limit and freezing temperatures. I cannot wait to see my Mrs B in a few days. Also, having the internet again is a huge bonus. I will get some of my posts written up here in the near future. I have a couple of cigar reviews to post and then some pictures from sunny Afghanistan. However, right now, all I can think of is home, and how even though geographically I am farther away from it, I am that much closer to getting there.

In Germany

Currently sitting at Rammstein, waiting for my next flight, and then the next and then the next. Its not been too bad so far, just boring. My seating situation sucks. Middle seat on the right side of the plane. Cattle-car style. Doesn't help that the two guys on either side are both big, so that ain't great. They are both nice enough though. Next flight is 4 1/2 hours, and the last leg is supposed to be about the same length, The lines are the worst part. always in line, never in front. I miss my bubs. I hope she is good. Oh, do not EVER watch "the Back Up Plan" you will need eye/ear/mind bleach for days.

UPDATE: Stuck in Germany. No idea for how long. "Technical Issues"

I Live in the taxi cab blackhole.

I am writing this from my front porch. I should be not writing this, but instead getting violently drunk. However, since I apparently live in the Taxi Cab Black Hole (NASA is working on a study), I cannot meet my wife at the bar to get said violently drunk with our friends before I leave. What was supposed to be a nice little hey-you-get-an-extra-week-at-home-before-you-deploy party. But thanks to Yellow Cab, Red Top Cab, and White Top Cab, all being complete and utter jackasses who cannot get a cab to my house, which is on a main road, in a heavily populated area, 10 miles from Washington D.C.. So thanks and go fuck yourself cab companies, obviously your union sucks balls, and your people are horrendous. (Nothing on the drivers here, I generally like those guys, but since dispatch can't seem to locate my house, I can't go hang out with my wife and our friends) Glad to know that I will be able to get a ride to the airport when I leave this week. Fuck 'em.

Hurry up and...eff waiting, we are just not going to have a flight.

So, I was supposed to leave for Afghanistan in two hours. So, being the good little USG that I am, I went to the airport where my military-air flight was supposed to be leaving from. Well, no quite, young sir. Not only was no one at the AMC (Army Mobility Command), but, when I called the desk number, THERE WAS NO FUCKING FLIGHT SCHEDULED! I have my orders, I confirmed with the 5 shop in charge of this shit; my command paid for the fucking flight, and lo, behold the magnificence of nothingness. NO FUCKING FLIGHT! Not that it was canceled, or delayed, or just running behind schedule. There was no schedule, because the flight, never even existed! My wife is happy because we have another night together, but anyone who has deployed knows that the build up to getting onto that bird is tough. Especially when you have to say goodbye to the loved ones, and then oh wait, we totally fucked up your orders and even though everything is on signed and dotted paperwork, we just totally fucked you in your ass. Have fun trying to get there! KTHXBAI!

What a load. Allright people. Since I am not leaving tonight, I am getting drunk. Have fun. I will post pics as I can (If I ever get the fuck outta this country).

Deployment to A-Town

So, I am headed off to to that beauty of the Orient...Afghanistan. It will not be the longest deployment in history but any amount of time away from the wife is too long. Luckily I will be doing relatively the same job as what I do now, which means the transition shouldn't be that hard. The wife is pissed but she understands the job and is down with the Cause. For a Democrat she is pretty ok.

The main point of this deployment is that I am going to be doing a project about COIN. I am working on putting my thesis together and it should be a pretty decent study when I am done. I am going to throw some links up for the family which are places I go every day to read up on what is going on. Plus I am not sure about my connectivity  while out there, so I have enabled comments on this blog IOT keep some kind of connection. I will try to post semi-regularly, but, not gonna lie, I am gonna be a busy mofo. Ok, for the links:

• Blackfive
• This Ain't Hell
• Free Range International
• Registan.net
• The Jawa Report (everyone's fav anti-dhimmi site)
• Ace of Spades HQ
• Long War Journal
• Not Always Right (I was in the service-industry for a long time)

That is going to do it for now. I am drinking with Mrs. B (the wife) so I do not want to ignore her. For everyone who may or may not see this blog; I love my family, my country, my Freedom. I will try to do the right thing, I may not be something to everyone, but I am everything to someone; and that is good enough for me.

Popping smoke. Love you Mrs B.

A few hours of sight-seeing in Berlin

So, after spending the morning dealing with some after-effects of work, I thought that I would rest my eyes for a few minutes. Well, that few minutes turned into...4 hour nap. I am just that awesome. So then I was sitting down in the lounge with a couple of my co-workers and I see a kid in the soccer jersey of my high school. Turns out, I went to high school with his older sister and my little sister went to school with his little brother. Its a small friggin world.

Anywho, we went out to dinner at the Sony Center. It was pretty good, I had a pretzel and apple strudel. Both were awesome. We also did a little bit of sightseeing, however I plan on doing most of that tomorrow. We walked around a little bit and went to the Topographie des Terror, it is an original part of the Berlin Wall, and it is built right where the Gestapo Headquarters building was (we bombed the shit outta that place during the war). There is only a little bit left of the building, mostly foundation.  After that we went to Checkpoint Charlie. I got a picture right where my mother got one when she was here (that was when the checkpoint was still active, but still, pretty cool. I also took a picture of part of the wall with a giant Ipad billboard behind it, on what would be the East German side. Lot of progress in twenty years. Allright, here are some pictures.

Here is the wall at the Topographie Des Terror. I like this one because it makes the wall look like it goes on forever. Kind of like it did originally.

An American Flag painted on the West German side of the wall. I am sure this was a later addition, but it is still symbolic of what an effort the Cold War really was.

Checkpoint Charlie. From the East German side.

Your final warning before entering Soviet Territory. Obviously that new high-rise wasn't there during the time of the Wall.

Just to accent that point; look at the IPad billboard on the East German side of the wall. This is at Pottsdamer Platz.

Last but not least is the Sony Center. Its kinda indoors, kinda not. It reminded me of the British Museum with the roof the way it is. Pretty corporate and stuff but a neat building.

Well everyone, that is my first day of sightseeing in Berlin. Granted it was for about two hours and dinner, but tomorrow I will see some cool stuff. Oh, I had awesome bratwurst for lunch. Just sayin'.