BUSY BUSY BUSY

We are losing our minds here. It has just been dreadfully long, pain-in-the-ass missions all the time, and worse, when we're not on missions we're doing these ridiculous classes that we've already done two or three times since we've been activated and could probably teach, anyways. But thank the Lord above, we had a mission today that got cancelled (after waking up at 0630 and spending three hours briefing and prepping the trucks), so we can finally relax and get caught up, spiritually and otherwise.

Dad: I put down that Mao book after only half but will surely pick it back up soon, and in the meantime have been reading The Sum of All Fears, which I'm about a quarter into now. I'm slow reading Tom Clancy books, as they're so technically detailed and somewhat dry for fiction, but that's also one thing I appreciate about them. Maybe after I finish it I'll finally manage to read all of Red Storm Rising, which I've read halfway into at least two or three times and never finished. Oh, I finished Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, too, which took me about two days to read. He's a terribly entertaining writer...for a liberal.

The last time I got into my Gmail account was roughly three weeks ago, and the emails from Mom reminded me of some comical movie where the protagonist checks his answering machine and it's 99 messages from the same person. "Hey Roger, it's Mom...", "Hey Roger, Mom again...", "Just Mom calling to say I love you...", that kind of thing. I appreciate that you're thinking about me, Mom!

This week having been so strenuous and full of busy work, I'm rethinking the officer option again, on the negative side this time. Some day I'll come up with a specific occupation to pursue, but it will probably not be terribly soon.

I organized my room the other day (I think I may have already mentioned it), but now I've got all the stuff I've got in stacks. Like, I've got a stack of like five packages of baby wipes about a foot tall, about fifteen unopened chap sticks, two things of shampoo, four bottles of sunscreen, et cetera et cetera. It's comical.

Captain Keady (who, by the way, is I think the best officer I've ever run into...present company excluded of course, Nelson and Mike) apparently placed me on the vehicle I'm in now so I can be the convoy's radio guy, talking to the friendlies in charge of our areas of operation. For being a fresh radio operator, it's kind of like hitting the ground running, but it's been quite educational, and makes me feel important. Also, I sit in the back so I don't really have to do much and get a semi-comfortable ride, except that somehow the back seat in a humvee has less leg room than the back seat of my Camaro. Who'd have thunk it? All I can say is I want some kind of monster truck or something when I get back, something with so much leg room I have to walk to the steering wheel, and since the humvees are the smallest vehicles I've driven in the last three months, I probably will have forgotten how to handle anything smaller. My Camaro will seem like a go-cart.

I realize I'm rambling. I feel like I need to write long posts when I get a chance to post. Bah, deal with it.

Something I should mention is that I get mail quite a bit more often than I have the opportunity to check email. And I never get much in terms of news, besides the Stars and Stripes newspaper which seems more biased towards hooahs and the occasional Marine Corps Times from the PX. Hint hint. Also, I got another letter from Mr. Lowe, which I appreciated a great deal. I think he and I would get along swimmingly, because he seems to be as absurdly conservative as I am.

That's all, I give up. Remember, give war a chance.

Busier yet

Folks,
Things have been getting just absurd. We've been working between 12- and 22-hour days for about two weeks now. We finally got today off, thank God, and I used it to watch Star Wars Episode IV, read about half of the book on guerilla warfare by Mao Zedong and translated by a Marine general that Dad sent me, and playing some Starcraft with my buddy Karnolt. I also went to the PX and picked up some cookies, because Mrs. Heffelfinger sent me some of these soft and chewy Keebler cookies a little while back that really blew me away. I finally got my room pretty respectably organized too, by buying a couple cardboard storage boxes for beneath my rack. I have one entirely full of assorted snacks and candies that you folks have sent me, and one entirely full of assorted hygiene gear that you folks, namely Mom, have sent me. I'm pretty well good to go on that stuff, and I appreciate it a great deal! I've gotten some very nice cards from Mrs. Hayen and co., one of which was signed by a bunch of different ladies that made me a little teary from its thoughtfulness (I'm a sap, what can I say?), and packages from Mrs. Heffelfinger and Mrs. Nyboer, on top of all the packages from Mom & Josh and Dad & Sarah. I literally have run out of room. Don't let that deter you, though. I'll figure something out.

I've been considering my future a lot lately, and something I've been playing around with is taking the government college money I'll rate when I get back and, after finishing my poli sci degree, tacking on another couple years for an economics degree, which is along the same lines but actually marketable. I'm back to the idea of going officer again, which I had scoffed for awhile since I got a taste of the active side of being a Marine, but since I've been having a pretty good time lately and this is both as bad and as good as being a Marine gets, I figure it's something I could really enjoy. It's damn rough being away from friends and family so much, but it's satisfying work and my options as an officer would probably be more open. Anyways, thought I might share that. It's the first time in awhile since I felt like I had an optimistic long term plan for my life, and it sure feels good.

They moved me to a new vehicle and everybody switched around, so I'm getting accustomed to the new setup. Also, I've been driving the 7-ton trucks on a few missions, which I've grown much more comfortable with.

Not much new to report. Hope all is well back there, and congratulations to Chad & Melissa and Petty & Val on their weddings! Good luck, folks. Love ya all.

Long time with no updates

Folks,
I have been to the internet center probably six times in the last 2.5 weeks to update this bad boy, but the net is so slow that it's nearly impossible, especially if I want to upload some pictures while I'm at it. Speaking of, I shaved my head, and liked it quite a bit better than I thought I would. My head, though huge, is fairly smooth and reasonably shaped, and no hair means no noticeably receding hairline. We'll see how long I decide to keep it shaved.
http://s43.photobucket.com/albums/e399/rogerwilley/?action=view¤t=DSC01498.jpg

I've been terribly busy recently, meaning we've had many missions without much free time. I went to the Jordanian border the other day, and finally got to Baghdad International Airport (BIAP) the other day as well, which is a huge base with a huge PX, nearly Walmart-sized, with nearly everything I could hope for in a PX in Iraq.

I've been getting all your packages and letters, and have been enjoying their fruits quite a bit. I'm so happy to finally have a respectable collection of books and movies to busy myself with if I ever get a chunk of free time, of which I have had little in the last week. And the snacks have been keeping me fed on the road. I really appreciate all the thought you've put into them!

Gah, so much more to say, I'm sure, but not much time left. Take care, folks! Hope all's well back stateside.

Boring week on guard duty

Ladies and gents,
This week's been awfully slow. I've been on guard all week, meaning I rove around from midnight til 0600 every night around the wire of our little place, then I'm on call every other day between 0600 and 1800, picking up chow for the other guards and doing menial jobs that need doing around the place. This results in me getting not nearly enough sleep except on my day not on call, because about every three hours of my day on call we get radioed to come in and do something stupid for an hour and a half. I can't wait til Sunday, when I can get back to the platoon and be done with this guard nonsense.

Dad, here's your details. I'm the turret gunner on a humvee, with an M240G. My job is basically to keep the Iraqi vehicles trailing behind our convoy on the interstates from getting at all close to us, which isn't hard because we've been here long enough for the locals to know to stay away and pull over when we're coming through. Now, I'm not necessarily always upgunner, since there are two other LCpls on the truck with me, but last week I was because they were on guard duty. The other day, for instance, I gunned on the way there and drove half the way back, and before that, on a really long convoy, I gunned the way there then just rode in the back on the way back to Fallujah. We're out of here but we chauffeur people around all over the place. As for Al Quaim, I haven't been there yet and thank God probably will not be going there ever, since that's an extremely long and arduous drive and another company took over that leg of the journey for us. However, I have their mailing address and I'm planning on writing Gibson and having him mail me the Ka-Bar. I want it back bad.

In terms of reading, I'm a big sci-fi and fantasy nerd, but when it comes to fantasy I'd prefer classier fantasies to the dime-a-dozen sword-and-sworcery fantasies that are out there. That is, I'd prefer something like Terry Brooks or Anne McCaffrey or Dan Simmons over some unknown fantasy that's really out there. I've also been meaning to read a lot of the big name classics, like Moby Dick, Robinson Crusoe, War and Peace, stuff like that. I'd like to give them a shot and see what they do for me. Other than that, I'd like to have some of the better Tom Clancy books (Sum of All Fears, Red Storm Rising, Patriot Games, etc.), and anything that sounds terribly interesting. I'm not much into your standard murder mysteries (sorry, Sarah!), but I'd be willing to give Michael Crichton a shot, namely that State of Fear book. But basically whatever you want to send me, chances are I'll read it. And my promotion board reading list: Blackhawk Down, Killer Angels, Attacks! (by Erwin Rommel), We Were Soldiers Once...and Young, etc.

The temperature here is absurd and getting hotter all the time. Fortunately, my room has got a kickass air conditioner that keeps it nicely chilly all the time. I'm really lucky in that respect. My room rocks.

I want movies, too. That list will have to come later, since I'm low on time. Essentially, I mostly just want my own movies back, but I can't remember where I left them or who I left them with. I'll figure it out later. Take care, folks.