Back in the Sandbox!

Well I am back in Baghdad. Unfortunately I flew out of Houston on June 4th. The night before I left Reagan and I made stir fry at our house and watched The Capture of the Green River Killer! I say that we watched it, however due to my lack of knowledge in using the DVR we missed about 15 crucial minutes at the end. I was pissed off at myself because we had spent 4 hours of our lives watching it and then we missed the best part. Either way it was a really nice relaxing last night at home with my wife.



Reagan dropped me off at the airport the next day and I flew to Chicago. During my layover there I met up with my brother, Chris, and we chatted for awhile in his office. I met a few of the really nice people he works with and we endured the, "Man you guys really look alike!" comments. One guy named Harry even said that we laughed alike which made us laugh and sure enough we sounded alike. We blamed our father and laughed some more. As we sat at the departure gate talking, I got wind that I was possibly on the upgrade list. I acted calm and cool, but inside I was pumped. A few short minutes later my name was called and my Chump class ticket was traded in for business class. On a previous flight to Iraq I had been upgraded to business class due to a hook up from my brother. He came through again, not expected, but it bought him an upgrade for this years Christmas present. I just need Lenore to get Joe to quit milking that cush GSA gig and transfer to the IRS somehow and then I will upgrade their Christmas present too! The flight was awesome, I just watched movies the whole time and after 8 hours or so landed at Heathrow in London. After a long layover there I met up with some buddies and we all flew into Amman, Jordan. The next day we flew into Baghdad (97 degrees) and I started working the next day.


A few days later myself and about a dozen other guys were offered a job on a different contract with Blackwater. It was more money per day, better living conditions, better food, and good working hours. We are all friends and have worked together in the past so we jumped at the opportunity. The work in similar to what I have done in the past with Blackwater and I will still be home in 90 days! Just enough time to start harassing my new nephew and watching Mick lose his mind! I can't wait! So back to the living conditions. We all live in a compound of several houses and have our own rooms. There is a common space living room with a big screen TV and a gym on the roof. We can even lay out and catch a tan on the roof if we want. There is an older Iraqi couple that cooks for us three times a day and a maid that cleans our rooms and does our laundry. It is kind of like The Real World- Baghdad except there isn't any drama! I am living next to my buddy Jam, short for Jamaican, he is a good guy. He is talking on the phone right now and I have heard his say, "Ya Man!" about 20 times in 2 minutes. The poor guy also says "tree" instead of three and "ard" instead of "hard". Pretty funny stuff if you were here!

The H-Bomb was at our house this past weekend and it sounds like they had a good time. They watched movies and played checkers at the Starbucks inside the local Target. Reagan claims that Holder had to "talk me into it". I'm sure it was real hard to do. Perhaps Reagan will blog about her cinematic experiences with Holder. She is starting DARE camp this week also.

Well I am going to sign off now so I hope you have enjoyed it. I will leave you with the following creed I recently received from my best friend, Cliff Woitena.

Warrior’s Creed

If today is to be THE DAY, so be it.

If you seek to do battle with me this day you will receive the best that I am capable of giving. It may not be enough, but it will be everything that I have to give and it will be impressive, for I have constantly prepared myself for this day. I have trained, drilled and rehearsed my actions so that I might have the best chance of defeating you. I have kept myself in peak physical condition, schooled myself in the martial skills and have become proficient in the application of combat tactics. You may defeat me, but you will pay a severe price and will be lucky to escape with your life. You may kill me, but I am willing to die if necessary. I do not fear Death, for I have been close enough to it on enough occasions that it no longer concerns me. But I do fear the loss of my HONOR and would rather die fighting than to have it said that I was without COURAGE. So I will fight you, no matter how insurmountable it may seem and to the death if need be, in order that it may never be said of me that I was not a Warrior.