1st German Christmas

There it is! My first Christmas away from home. I have a pretty optical tree from Ikea. A lamp with a pillow case on it that turns the room red. And some Christmasy scented candles. This actual day I'm kind of alone, but it doesn't bother me. Jay stopped by to watch an episode of the simpsons with me for half an hour. That was nice of him. :)  Evans and everyone is either on guard duty or working. Since I'm sitting here with a shattered ankle bone I'm useless. I'm enjoying my day chillin here on my bean bag chair.

Post Sep 11 in Europe

What we, as soldiers, are doing in Europe

We found out that night the guy responsible was some guy named Osama Bin Laden. Who the heck is he? A lot of people want him dead. We're not in a war yet but I wish we were. How does a country allow a corrupt man to rule them? Will they be happy if we kill him? Or will they want revenge? From what I gather the majority will rejoice when he is dead. Same for Hussein. If I spelled that right.

War?

I think there's going to be a war.

I was at work today in the vans. (Not actual vans). We have a tv in there, but the only channel we get is news. It's something like CNN or BBC World. So we're sitting there and the crew goes to people in New York where a plane had just crashed into one of the trade towers. What a horrible accident! We keep watching and there's another plane. I'm thinking... no way.... stop... did that really happen? They send me to tell someone or everyone. So I go to the other vans and people just don't believe me. I'm like "Hey, the US was attacked" and they just sit there. They'll figure it out later.

Fun So Far

I freaking love it here! We take a little green van called The Mystery Machine to work which is like 45 minutes away in Mainz. It's totally hidden where no one can casually find it. I love the people I work with which just to happens to be the people I live with. Everyone's doors are open and you can come and go as you please. People are so friendly. We only get a few tv channels in English. Somewhere we got free cable in all the barracks so we wont tell anyone about it. At 1800 The Simpsons comes on for a few hours and you can walk down the halls with everyone's room door open and hear it from every room. It's funny stuff!

Happiness from Sadness

Since I've joined the army I've had a tough time. Strangely enough not from the Army itself. I'm doing better than I thought. It's the events that are happening during this time that make me struggle. But I have this paper with quotes I wrote in high school. They are actually pretty helpful.

Life is not the way it's supposed to be. It's the way it is. The way you deal with it is what makes the difference.

Wiesbaden Germany

WOW!! You know, I'm still kind of in shock. Every once in a while I stop and think "Hey, I'm in Germany." and I still don't believe it.

Home on Leave

I've been home about a week. It's fantastic. People are especially nice when they know you wont be home long. It's kinda nice.

My grandpa is in the hospital. He's pretty sick. Actually, I don't think he's doing that bad considering his horrible life-style. He looks pretty bad. He tells me he likes to fake getting sick so the pretty nurses can give him sponge baths. I wouldn't put it past him!

Graduation

I am all signed out. I'm done with school. They had a nice little ceremony. This time no families made it. Kind of sad.

I got the option to go back home for something called HRAP. I guess I work in the recruiters office for 30 days recruiting people. If I get 10 people I get promoted to E2. I am totally doing this! I miss my family so much!

Georgia, or was it Florida?

God Bless 4 day weekends. Typically on the weekend soldiers put in for a pass to leave base and just stay at some cheap hotel in Augusta. I've done it once with Fedora. We had fun! If you don't put in a pass you are basically tied to the barracks doing something called fire guard. It sucks. This past weekend was memorial weekend. 4 days at the barracks?! NO THANK YOU!

Ft. Gordon Georgia

I'm now in AIT. I don't know what that stands for actually. It's just like college but a much shorter duration. At least for the job I picked. Some people are here for 2 years. Some for 3 months. And me? 9 measly weeks. HA! My job... I'm a 74C. We say it like "Charlie." So far I fix stuff. Or so I'm told. It's only been a couple days so all we've really done is look at fake classified messages and learned how to decipher them. Kinda neat. Most classes here have 20-40 people. There's only 7 in my class. And they are people I went to BCT with. I am so happy!

BCT: Graduation Day

Not a lot of journal time. They took it along with my civilian clothes for the duration. I just got them back today. Graduation day woohoo! So, how did it go?

Ft. Jackson South Carolina

Oh dude. It's only been a week? My parents are probably freaking. I can't get to a phone. Boot camp hasn't started yet. By the way... DONT CALL IT BOOT CAMP! It's BCT or Basic Training. I'm only in reception right now and going nuts.

The bus ride was interesting. I enjoyed seeing what South Carolina tree's looked like. They are cool! I bet even cooler when it's not freezing. Once we got off that bus I forgot all about those pretty trees. It was a lot of yelling and screaming. My muscles are sore. Have you ever got in the front leaning rest and stayed there for an hour? Try it. I dare you. I'm learning quickly what muscle endurance means.

All the white girls are putting their hair up in corn rolls. News Flash! You all look stupid and there's no way I'm doing that.

One girl manages to get a phone call home because she's a mom. I guess her baby is sick and they can't just let her leave yet. So somehow in her head she thought it was a good idea to drink bleach. She died. It didn't take long either. I assume she was trying to make herself sick to go home. If she was trying to commit suicide then wow... really? I mean that can't be good for the baby.

We're getting bussed to BCT in a couple days. I should be nervous. I get more nervous than this when I had to yell "HERE!" for roll call in school. Maybe I'm in shock haha.

The Beginning

Tomorrow is a big day for me. I am leaving for the Army. I'm finally getting the fresh start I've been waiting for. Seems silly coming from an 18 year old huh? There are lots of reasons I am doing this. Leaving my family is not one of them. I don't want to leave them. I love them all. I think it's right for me. A lot of people say I can't do it. Some wont say it, but I can sense it.