| Author | Message | ||
     Polekat |
Carolina, That crud is also in Wisconsin and there are plenty of folks with it. At least it sounds like what is going around. Best of wishes to you and others in Iraq...from a very old X-1st Cav guy. At stated in a previous post. Be careful! We need America's best back here..a bit older and no worse for wear | ||
| Charlieboy6649 |
OOh-Rah! WHooo-Waahh! Hhhhuuuuuuaaaa! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H.U.A. Heard. Understood. and Acknowledged! Yut! Kill! and Semper Fi! It gives me a warm and fuzzy seeing the appreciation the good people of this board embellish upon service members serving abroad. I'll tell you, we can do more! You'd be surprised how much a care package means to these people. Even a piece of mail (not just e-mail), something tangible from a place far detached from the boredom, terror, killing, destitute masses, and other sights and sounds... that remind them that there is a sane reality waiting for them at home. They are out enduring these conditions so we don't have to. Deployment is a lonely place. Strangers become your closest friends in the world, and even family. Your unit becomes a brotherhood, and some units have sisters! This relationship is important, but I can tell you, the whole situation goes away for the 10 minutes you read a letter from home. whether it's from family or not every word is like a curtain masking the situation. I urge you all to write a service member you know, even if you don't know them that well. Little do you know the importance of such a little gesture. Oh, and baby wipes go a long way too!!! God bless you all, and God bless the United States of America. Charlieboy | ||
| Seanp |
Carolina, what part of Iraq are you in? I'm in Baghdad, for the next two weeks. Then I head to Kuwait. Woohoo! Your year here will go by quickly. Honestly, the hardest part of being in Iraq for a year is, (not to destroy any thoughts of some sort of Henry the 5th brotherhood speech) seeing the same folks from your unit day after day after day after day after...well, you get the point. Make it a point to go talk to some locals. I've found that the ones I've talked with are pleased that we came and ousted Saddam. Look at this year as a chance to reconnect with yourself, and to reflect on what makes America great. I've been carrying a small book which contains the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution in my left breast pocket, with a picture of my wife, my blood chit, and a four-leaf clover. Periodically I pull it out and look at it. Being over here will hopefully teach you to never take for granted what you have back home. To see these people, and to see what kind of life we could have in America if it weren't for our form of government, our people, and our values, well, it kind of strikes you sometimes. So anyway, my advice is this - look upon this year as an experience. It's something that you probably could not possibly have imagined five or ten years ago that you'd be doing. If you get a chance, go to Babylon, to see the ruins of a building that is 2600 years old. That's damn old. Go to Baghdad, fly over the crossed sabers. See as much of this place as you can. Make the best of it, and your time will fly. Good luck, and if you need any help, information, hints or tips, drop me a line. Sean | ||
| Pilk |
Seanp, on your trip south, if you convoy stop and see the medics at the border station, then i can say hi in person. Pilk | ||
| Seanp |
Pilk, I'll be the one with the big-ass grin on my face, carrying the big-ass Canon digital camera. How long have you been over here? Hopefully if I see any medics between now and when I get home, it's just in passing - it's never a good thing to see medics! It means either a shot, a sickness, or something is physically screwed up... | ||
| Pilk |
got here sept. supposed to leave sept.04 we'll see. well if you convoy, you will probably be stopping here, if nothing else to eat, look me up, my place is right behind the big white ambulance with the big red cross on the building. You dont have to be sick to say hey..... no shots i promise. Pilk | ||
| Henrik |
Just got news from my nephew. He called home this afternoon - they were back in camp for a 2 hour break before heading back out. He's the group leader for the group guarding the bridge in Milosevic (sp?) where the riots started. Basically 8 guys and a Piranha armored personel carrier facing off against a couple of thousand Serbs vs. Albanians wanting to kill each other. At first it was mostly rock throwing, then went on to sporadic small arms fire. They managed to hold off the two groups until reinforcements arrived. That night his group position was attacked with small arms fire and hand grenades. Shooting stopped when they fired back. Also some sniper action scattered around the city. He's basically been at the center of it all since it started. Said they'd managed the situation fine - stuck to what they'd been training and things had run like clockwork. Scares the crap out of me. What a horribly helpless feeling - wish I could be there and cover his back. Thanks for your thoughts all. This of course made me wonder if the Danish army issue Flak jackets/bulletproof vests - my guess is no. I've asked my family to find out for sure, and would like to get a vest off to him ASAP. Can anyone recommend Brand, materials, type, place to buy. Shoot me a mail off list to save bandwidth. Thanks Henrik | ||
| Phillyblast |
Henrik, Jenn and I are keeping our fingers and toes crossed for your nephew. Since she's the church-going one, I'll make sure she lights a candle tomorrow for everyone serving their country abroad. Not that he needs a reminder, but tell him keep his head down, watch his 6, and stay safe. | ||
| Henrik |
Just got word from home; they do indeed issue flak jackets. What little faith I had in the Danish army has been restored. Thanks for your replies. My nephew had been interviewed by Danish TV, and my sister said he looked good and sounded like his old, relaxed self. Also the Danish equivalent of Navy Seals are now patrolling the area he is covering. Always nice to have good back-up Henrik (spent some years in the service myself - hence my concern for lacking equipment  ) | ||
| Blake |
Wow, that is a little too close to home. Please convery our gratitude and admiration to your nephew for his resolution and courage. | ||
| Court |
This post belongs nowhere. Some of you, from 10 years ago this week, will recall a story I wrote entitled "I had to cry today", named after Steve Winwood's hit with Blind Faith. There are days, just bear with me here, that serve as powerful reminders of how all this motorcycle stuff changes lives. Last week's "Team Elves Down Under" success was more than a fast motorcycle to several folks in the USA. Today, I am digging through old pictures looking for one particular one and come upon a file for an "in the works" piece on some of the most focused folks I have ever known. The piece would have been moving to write and if I'd done my job, moving to read. This fell out. I've decided to stop work today, go for a run in the park and count my blessings for those who have touched my life. Thank you, Court  | ||
| Awprior |
Ken, I am definitely interested. Pass me the details. Alex | ||
| Blake |
I moved Ken's post to the classifieds parts and accessories for sale topic. | ||
| José_quiñones |
Congratulations to the Screaming Eagle HD NHRA Drag Bike Team..... | ||
| Ftd |
I was at qualifying on Saturday and witnessed the two HD's qualifying #1 and #3. Hines ran a 7.09 and the crowd just went nuts. I am glad to see Andrew won todays finals. Frank | ||
| Socoken |
Sean, Sir (some rank would make this easier for me to address you, sir) I am assuming that since you are just now leaving, that you werent there for the offensive, so tell me if i am wrong, but heres what i learned. 1........ Dont let the army MP customs agents scare you, you can get anything you want past them if you try hard enough. drop me a line if you have any questions on what you want to take home or how to get it home. i know all about the customs inspections, ALL about them. 2.......You might have a hard time adapting back to normal life. i know i didnt sleep right for about three months, and you will want to stay away from malls and busy places for at least a few weeks. i know i, and everyone else i talked to about it, got real anxious in crowds to say the least. it just takes time to decompress, it never seemed like it would, but when we got back, we proved ourselves wrong. It may be different for you, but all the marines i was there with had the same reaction. i felt naked walking around without my weapon, then again, Marines ALWAYS have their weapons on them, and in the army,... 3..........I, and everyone else i came back with, came to the conclusion that talking about over there does no good whatsoever, unless its with someone that was over there too. for some reason, you can talk to the guys you knew there, and its lighthearted, no matter the story, but talk to some civilian about it, it always brought back very mixed feelings. 4........If you are in Kuwait for a while, try and get to Kuwaiti Naval Base or Arifjon. KNB has a pretty nice beach and a nice pool and weight room. Arifjon is just big, like Doha, but bigger, and they have a pool. 5.........After a while, you start to miss it. living 24/7 with a certain amount of adrenaline, then going back to the real world where most of the time there isnt any (by comparison) you go through a sort of withdrawal. thats the one im having trouble kicking. four months later and im still edgy all the time, looking for something, a fight, an accident, some one to yell at, ect... and road rage is the worst. im getting better, but lucky for me my girlfriend is very understanding and patient. my buddy called me one night, said some guys were talking sh** at a party at his house and he wanted me to come over to help him out, and i was like five minutes away, so i jumped in my big dodge pickup and tore over there. the anticipation of a fight, and the ragged edge driving really rang home, like deja vu. All that i was missing was the condition one rifle laying across my lap. it felt so right, like i was HOME, it was exillerating. creepy almost. now i know that im going back again soon, and im pumped. the worst for us was, no booze, no sex, no contact with home, but now it sounds like they are pretty set up over there (Internet in Baghdad for Gods sake) and i taught my friends how to send booze, so aside from the sex, or lack of it rather, it wont be so bad. ......Just thought ild tell you about the biggest things i learned when i got back, Sir, so that you may learn from what i experienced, and possibly understand better or anticipate better what you might go through. anything else you want to know, Sir, just email me and i will tell you all that i know. Congratulations on a well earned trip home. Be safe and Godspeed Sir. | ||
| Josh_ |
So my mom calls and asks if I can bring over some paper to print dad's resume. Now I'm thinking, he's been with the same branch of the gov't for 20 years and they kick him out next year (mandatory retirement) so good, he's getting a head start. His new hot job? No description yet other than for the gov't and paying 2.5x what he makes now - tax free. The catch? Iraq. | ||
| Seanp |
Ken, holy crap man, stop calling me sir. As far as you know, I'm just Sean. If you work for/with me, then call me sir during duty. But I consider most of the people on the board here friends of sorts, and I do have friends that aren't CPT's, and when we're not working, they don't call me sir. They call me Sean. So that's the deal there... As far as your helpful hints, I really do appreciate it. As far as getting anything home, I had plans, but was never able to find what I was looking for. I would love to have gotten an MP5, but I was never able to find one. To tell you the truth, I didn't look too hard. And honestly, I'm not sure if I would have tried to get it home. It would have been cool to have, (I shot one while I was in school for competition, and it was a hell of a lot of fun) but it wouldn't be worth getting my ass busted for. I don't know how hard of a time I'll have adapting to normal life. See, the thing for me is that I am a Signal Officer, and my job here has been almost exactly like my job back in the rear. I sit in my office and work on computers, or go out and work on radios, or go out and take pictures, or whatever. I've been out the gate a lot, but only a couple of times going out on patrol - mostly flying. And nothing happened. So it's been pretty easy for me. Now, if I were single, I'd be telling all sorts of stories at the bars when I get home. but since I've already caught me a good woman, well, I'll just tell her the truth. It was nothing terribly exciting. You're right as far as not carrying my weapon goes. When I do PT I feel naked not carrying my weapon. It's going to be really strange to wake up and put my clothes on and not put my pistol belt on. And not lock and load every time I leave post. As far as telling stories and talking about what happened, it's been like that my entire army career. I can talk to someone about when I was enlisted in Hawaii, and a civilian won't have a freaking clue. But I was just talking with a friend of mine who was also enlisted there about the same time as I was, just in a different unit, and we knew which barracks we lived in, and could talk about going to PTA, and the airfield, and all that other stuff. So I understand where you're coming from there. When I'm in Kuwait I won't have a whole lot of time to go around and see stuff. I'll be there for a little over a week, and though I won't be busy, I'm sure that we're going to be restricted from anything fun. Judging by your username, I'm guessing you weren't in a "normal" unit like I am. We don't get to do much outside of the norm... And the adrenaline thing, well, the biggest adrenaline rush I get is when I get pissed off at the chain of command for screwing the soldiers. And that won't stop when we get home, so I have that to look forward to. Joy... I just want to get home to my wife. We have all these bullshit classes about how we shouldn't beat the wife and kick the dog, and really they should be telling me why I shouldn't shoot the stupid bastards around here. I don't want to shoot my wife, I want to shoot these sonsofbitches. But hey, once I get home I will get a month of block leave, after, of course, the mandatory reintegration classes and ceremonies and all that other crap that the soldiers couldn't care less about. Joy... | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
when my son was on his way to LAX to catch a plane to fly back to Fort Leonard Wood after being home on Christmas exodus he stopped in Bakersfield for breakfast. this was on New Year's Day and there happened to be a local television news crew inside the restaurant asking people about their New Year's resolutions. when they spotted my son, all decked out in his finest Class A uniform, they were all over him, excited for the opportunity to interview a member of our armed forces for their segment, and afterward they thanked him for his service. later, at the airport, the lady at the ticket counter expressed pride as she got his paperwork in order for his flight, and out of the blue bumped his coach class ticket up to first class, stating it was her way of saying thanks for his service. as he waited for his flight he sat down at a shoe shine stand, and as the man was doing his work two different strangers walked up and paid the shoe shine man for his work, thanking my son for his service. for those who are serving in distant lands and possibly wondering whether or not the folks back home care, this is just a little slice of what we think of your determination and sacrifice. thank you all. | ||
| Sarodude |
Ferris- That is just too cool. It's great to see members of the armed forces being appreciated. -Saro | ||
| Ara |
Don't forget the loggies and other civilians over there supporting the military. We've got a team of engineer tech experts over there right now supporting the troops who have the TOW missile and the ITAS launcher. They were all issued body armor before they left. God save them all. | ||
| Iamike |
You may want to keep on eye on the History channel's 'Boys will be Boys' program this week. Their preview had a shot of someone with a Buell helmet on a bike | ||
| F1johny |
Hey fellows, check out this Buell site from Italy. http://www.devilstars.com/main_en.htm Awesome descriptive first page... a rough English translation of how Buell Nuts in Italy love their bikes. Johny C | ||
| Jim_sb |
Paging Aaron Wilson..... Good morning Aaron, I hear you know quite a bit about hard drive technology. Do you know if anyone makes a hard drive suitable for high altitude use in a laptop computer? I'm thinking 10,000 - 20,000 MSL. TIA Jim in Santa Barbara | ||
| Bartimus |
times have changed much since I came home from the war and was spit on and called a baby killer. It took many years for me to "decompress", and adapt to "normal" life. But I think I've made it after 25 years. My pride and respect for America has never faltered through the years, and I ALWAYS take time out to thank both young and old regardless of branch, for their service to our country, and the freedoms they provide to us all. In the past few years, folks have been thanking me, for my time in service, and it brings a tear to my eye. It is good to see this new found patriotism. Our troops are doing what they are ordered to do, right or wrong, it is their job. That is a soldiers duty. Our support makes it easier to do that job, tough as it may be. This is a great country where we enjoy many liberties provided by generations of people, both men and women, who died so we may enjoy the freedom to choose our own life and destiny. GOD BLESS AMERICA, AND THE ARMED FORCES... ABartlett USMC 71-81 SEMPER FI | ||
| Bomber |
perhaps the best change in the American society to take place in the last 30 years (IMO) is that the electorate no longer holds the troops responsible for the decisions made by the elected . . . . damn near busted buttons when the girl scouts in my neighborhood started collecting for care packages during desert storm . . .. please come home safe, all who serve, in no matter what capacity | ||
| Bigj |
Still need 13 people to get to the 20 minimum for the BRAG "No Wine'n Tour" May 3-5. Some of you guys need to ante up.  edited by bigj on March 22, 2004 | ||
| Sparky |
Maybe if Buell would update its website and fix the online registration form's fax number, more people could sign up? Then again, most people probably phone in. I'm going, unless it's called off. | ||
| Bigj |
I called in. Look forward to seeing you again, Sparky! Real good chance I'll be moving back down your way by this time next year. I'll know for certain around the first part of June.  | ||
| Charlieboy6649 |
Damn Bart, you were half way there (retirement) I hope I can make it  Love you Brother Charlieboy |
