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.