Too good to be true...

Now, I wont pretend that this is anything other than typical, but just as I finished extolling the virtues of this place where I found myself for this deployment, I find out this is NOT where I will be staying for the full year.

Many of you (at least the ones who actually watch the news) are aware of the new surge in Afghanistan. Currently, I am in Kandahar, at a camp nicknamed "Candyland" by the US Armed Forces for good reason. Apart from the rocket attacks, its as nice as place as can be found out here.

I was just told that our mission is changing. In a few months, my little group will be picking up, packing up, and leaving for a location that is so new it doesn't have a camp name right now. By the time we get there it should be named, though it is doubtful that it will have such rudimentary amenities as a PX or gym, MWR room or internet. Hopefully some of those things will be in place quite soon after we arrive, but it is hard to say. The newer FOB's (Forward Operations Base) are literally built from the ground up, on a location that was little more than a patch of flat ground big enough for at least a helipad, and it looks like we will be going back up into the mountains.

I can tell you I am NOT excited about this at all, but its the Army. This, again, is what my dumbass signed up for. (What does US ARMY stand for when spelled backwards? "Yes, my retarded ass signed up") So... while I may be bored here for now, it looks as though that is going to change before too much longer.

Because of OPSEC and what not, I cannot disclose dates or locations until after it is said and done, so please don't think that the reason I am intentionally vague has anything to do with personal preference. I will be sure to give everyone ample notice as to when to place a "hold" on any care packages when it becomes necessary, but for now, its business as usual.

I certainly intend to enjoy myself to the best of my ability while I am still within easy walking distance of all the things that keep a soldier on deployment relatively sane: ease of contact with friends and loved ones, the gym for pounding out frustrations, the MWR for movies, sports and coffee, the PX (even tho they don't carry much of anything I actually use!) and decent enough chow. :)

I've placed some images of my living space in this post. It may not look like much, but the room you see is just about the same square footage as I had to share with another soldier last deployment, and even though there is a bunk bed, I do not have a bunk-mate. It should be quite interesting to see the new digs once I get there. I can tell you right now I am definitely NOT excited about that. I've greatly enjoyed having some personal, semi-private space.

Back in the saddle again....

Well, interestingly enough, I find myself in a second (and different!) combat zone, a mere 6 months (to the day!) after I left the last one. My life has changed quite a bit over the course of the last 20 or so months, and I have made leaps and bounds in nearly every aspect that I had targeted what seems so long ago.

My school loans are history. My divorce has been final for 7 months now. I'm still in reasonably good shape, though now that I am away from my nemesis (beer!) I am sure I will get into even better shape than I left Iraq here pretty soon.

My emotional state is fantastic, I have found love again and believe it to be the kind that I should have held out for in the first place. Time will tell, though I don't have any fear attached to it this time, and if we can make it through 12 months apart so early in our relationship, I think we will be good to go. I know the adage about "absence makes the heart grow fonder," but somehow I doubt that 12 months out of the first 17 was what they had in mind! This being said, as I have told her and everyone else, if she sticks around, I'm gonna keep her! ;)

My current assignment is a polar opposite of my last deployment, for which I am extremely thankful. Last time, I had the extreme displeasure of visiting several FOBs and COBs in Iraq. I made a total of 14 trips (more than anyone else in the battalion with the exception of the CSM and BC) to such lovely locales as (FOB/COB name, followed by Iraqi city in parenthesis) Victory, Liberty, Stryker (all in Baghdad), Taji (same city name), Tallil/Adder (near An Nasiriyah), Speicher (Tikrit), Anaconda (Balad, where I was officially stationed), Diamondback (Mosul), and Q-West (Qayyarah West). I list these more for posterity's sake (and the fact that they are all public knowledge, available to any search on google) than for any other purpose. I certainly don't intend to return to any of them, nor would I recommend them as travel destinations. Lots of sand, but no beaches. Even if the people there weren't trying to kill Americans, it still wouldn't have a lot to attract anyone there.

This deployment is going to be much less stressful, I think. Not only am I no longer in the process of divorce, but I am also not going to be required to travel anywhere. Last time, I supported 96 people and 140 machines as their system administrator at my battalion alone. In addition, I did 6 commercialization projects for our reporting units on other FOBs/COBs, hence all the not-so-wonderful places I was able to visit last time. This time, I support 14 people and 4 machines, with no requirement for travel at all. :) I cannot begin to express to you how happy that makes me.

I will be back here regularly. Thanks to Susan from Tower Library not only for all the entertainment she and her staff have sent to me in the form of books, magazines, emails and letters of support, but for also blogging like a madwoman herself and pointing me at her blogs, hence re-establishing my interest in posting on my own! Thanks also to my Soldiers Angels, Lori and Shelli, for much of the same. Those ladies were a big factor in my retention of (most of) my sanity last deployment, and have proven themselves to be steadfast friends of the best type. My family deserves thanks as well, for even if they have no choice in their relation to me, they certainly weren't obligated to take as good care of me as they have while I am on the other side of the world.

More to come... this is merely the opening of the flood gates.