Art La Flamme

5 days, 4 runs, 30 miles. My soles are like alligator skin. I managed to get a blister on the arch of my foot. My pi?ce de r?sistance is a blister on a blister, on a blister that has now popped.

But these aren’t complaints; this is my reality. I’m a runner, and these things won’t stop me.

I suspect that what I am about to say won’t be for everyone. Go ahead, skip this one. I won’t be offended.

(more…)

I’d like to thank you for the opportunity to help with your school project. It was a lot of fun.

Flat Art on the Bus

To get here, Flat Art probably went from North Carolina to New York, where he would have left the regular mail system and entered into the military mail system. From there, he likely went on to Germany and Kuwait before landing in Iraq. He came here to me at COB Speicher, a former Iraqi airbase just outside of the city of Tikrit, in Salah ad Din Province.

Flat Art arrived at an interesting time. There’s a lot going on here, in Northern Iraq. The Iraqis just had elections, so there are a lot of people very excited about being involved in their local government. There’s also a drought going on, so times are somewhat tough (there’s a lot of farming around here) and the local governments are that much more important.

Stopping for a spot of tea

Flat Art is about the same size as the notebook I carry with me everywhere, so I tucked him in there and took him with me everywhere. These photos, the ones I sent to you earlier, were ones I was able to take when I snuck Flat Art out of the office in order to visit the area. But most of the time, Flat Art worked with me, going to meetings and trying to solve problems. And a lot of the places I go for work, well, they’re a bit camera shy, mainly for security reasons. So, for all of our great adventures, I have fewer photos to share than I’d like.

So, thank you. It was fun.

First Day of Spring

On this, the first full day of spring, it’s hard to find signs of the season, partly for being in Iraq, party for being in the middle of a drought. I looked high and low, and found these flowers out by a helo pad, flowers tall enough to gently sway in the breeze.

March 16, 1968. My Lai massacre.

March 16, 1988. Chemical weapons attack on Halabja.

I much prefer March 15 and March 17.

[Update: I have taken the file offline. Two years -- I think he's got it under control by now.]

In my never ending quest to make and keep a thumbdrive for life, I’m adding a small kit of repair tools to it. Found the website here. Looks to be what most any good could need when wanting to apply the paddles to an ailing / failing PC.

Why do this? When I see someone with a failing machine, I want to help. Sometimes that’s no more than helping them get their data off of the machine before it dies. Sometimes, it’s rooting out viruses. Generally, though, I want to help. So, some tools on a thumb drive in my pocket seems like a wise idea, for someone with my inclinations.

And I’ve got some more reading to do, here and here. The Daily Cup of Tech seems like a pretty interesting, geeky site with other things to say on thumb drive usage.

How much does this rule?

A ton. That right there, my friends, is 11 pounds and 12 ounces of cookie nirvana.

Part of my daily routine has me in a briefing when our Division talks about its hero of the day. My God — these stories often just tear my heart out.

The Army truck hits a mine. Soldier A gets out — I’ll call him Jones — to pull security. He steps on a mine, and it tears him apart. Soldiers B — I’ll call him Smith — runs to his aid.

Think about it. Smith just saw Jones step on a mine. Which means that there likely are more mines in the area. And he runs to Jones. Holy crap. $10 says Smith didn’t think — he just did what we’ve all been trained to do.

He starts giving Jones medical aid. He’s not even a medic. He realizes that the femoral artery in Jones’ leg is causing the bleeding. Which can be fatal, quickly, as it’s the biggest artery in the body. He’s on it like white on rice, and even more, he’s calling to his NCO to pass work that Jones need medical evacuation right fucking now, and that he needs surgery right fucking now. He gets Jones to the truck and they start moving — fast — to get him to the awaiting surgeons.

On the way, Smith keeps at helping his buddy. He finds more wounds, and he corks them up the best he can. He tells the driver to turn on the heat — can’t have Jones go into shock. He gets him from the vehicle into surgery and stays to provide all the details he can, knowing the docs will need to know about the attack if they are going to be able to swiftly focus their efforts on his medical needs.

There were probably 15 different things that Smith could have not done, or done wrong. Things that would have killed Jones. But he didn’t. He did everything, and he did it right. Jones is still with among the living.

A couple of weeks ago, we had a big truck roll off the side of the road and into a water-filled canal. With a bunch of guys trapped in the back of the vehicle, and it filled with water. An NCO in the vehicle behind them, without regard for anything other than what needed to be done, jumped his happy ass into that water, got the back open and the guys out, and then went inside to make sure all had made it out alive. The NCO could have died, for any of a dozen different reasons, but he did it anyway. All of those guys in the back would have died, for sure.

And then there’s Dr. John Pryor. A reservist, an Army doctor. He drove from Philadelphia to NY on 9/11, to help out. He was on his second tour here in Iraq — in northern Iraq, not far from where I am — when he was killed in a recent mortar attack. Recent — as in on Christmas Day.

Go read the article. That he was willing to serve just baffles me. That he was willing to go to Iraq — to go back to Iraq — just baffles me. And that he lost his life in service to the nation — that just tears my heart.

I don’t know if you hear these tales. I hear them every day. Our military is filled with them, and new ones are generated every damn day, through the brave and selfless service of the men and women who are out here, serving you.

Pretty funny article, here (Darth Vader?s ?Management? Secrets). It’s a tongue in cheek look at Darth Vader, and the public perception of him.

But, I gotta add something. As a long time Army guy, I think I know a little bit about management – I’ve certainly seen enough examples of good and bad, if you insist on excluding experience and training. And I know a bit about Star Wars — I watched the series again this summer, back to back over 6 days, and blogged about it, here. Let me see if I can add something to all this.

1. Doing right can be harder than doing wrong. The senate legally appointed an emperor – remember that? They handed over to him all the power, in order to suppress the brewing rebellion. Nothing illegal in them doing that — though some argue there was elaborate politicking and shenanigans involved it setting it all up. But it was legal. The Jedi Knights and their council decided to abandon their oaths to the Republic, over the issue of a man. They chose the easy wrong. Anakin, before become Vader, chose the hard right – he sided with the Republic, even when things were at their worse. Of course, he also slaughtered the kids training at Jedi U, but hey, we all have our personal faults and flaws.

2. Sometimes, the masters are wrong. Even the experts screw up. The Jedi abandoned the Republic — it was a decision they made, as no one had a gun to their head making them do it. It was choice. And they chose wrong. Unfortunately, everyone saw them make that choice, and they had to deal with the repercussions (some days, it sucked to be a Jedi, huh?)

3. Know your beliefs, and be comfortable with them. With the Sith in control of the Republic (for good or for bad), and the Jedi on the run or just plain dead, Vader was the most visible sign of the Force that the regular Joe had. Remember those scenes with him almost being taunted by subordinates, when they were building the Death Star? Darth knew and understood his beliefs, and was OK with the fact that his mastery of the Force was different than that of others, and he was OK with it. He was also OK with choking people – not always a good management skill.

4. Move past your personal differences. It’s important to be willing to move past personal feelings, animosity, etc. That feeling of hatred and rage and all that crap works for only so long. At some point, you’ve got to bury the hatched and make things right — like with your son right before you cut off his hand.

5. Understand what is important to you. Darth was all about the Death Star. All about it. So much so that he likely bankrupted the Republic building it — not just once, but twice. How important was the Death Star to ol’ Darth? Apparently, very important.

6. Know when to keep it on the down-low. That secret office romance? Needs to be secret. No hand holding. No long stares. No slappin’ that ass. And no large bulges — for either of you.

7. Seriously, keep your daughter under control if she’s going into the same line of work. If not, things can go wrong — for you, for her, for teenage boys everywhere.

It’s 9:15pm / 2115 on New Year’s Eve. I’ve stopped by the room long enough to see if I had an email response or two on something near and dear to me (yes — I got about 8).

And now I will go back to the office.

I will ring in the New Year with PowerPoint 2007. Uh, not a good sign.

Santa was pretty good to me this year. Which is cool, because being here is not as much fun as being home with the wife and kids.

Family and friends sent me some books, someone sent me a black toy Mini Cooper S, and the wife and kids sent me a digital picture frame. Great, great stuff.

I farted around this morning, playing with my new stuff, and then headed off to lunch to serve chow for about an hour. Not a bad gig. An interesting tradition — we started doing it in order to let our cooks have the day off or at least have an easier day, but these days, it’s all contracted. But we still do it.

And then this afternoon, my roommate and I did nothing. It’s been great. I’ve got to go up to work for a few hours, and then we’ll go back for the big Xmas dinner — turkey and all the trimmings. I suspect we’ll close out the night with some more Open Arena on the Mac’s, and maybe a movie.

Best surprise of the day? The hula girl gingerbread cookies. Maybe an inch or so tall, and very, very tasty. Hopefully, I’ll get some Skype time tonight with the family later, but bandwidth is pretty crappy right now since everyone is off for the day (in whole or in part).

Happy holidays, everybody…..

Because dropping off presents in this rough neighborhood sometimes means needing a back up piece.

I’m assuming he’s got spare ammo in the sleigh, too.

And here are the gingerbread men. I saved a couple for this morning — more photos later, maybe.

Oh, and Santa brought me a nose zit. Gee, thanks, man.

I celebrated Festivus today. And I am better off for it, too.

If you’re not familiar with this great holiday, well, go read the Wikipedia article. Also, go watch the Seinfeld episode, The Strike.

I aired my grievances. I’ve been feeling like Don Quixote lately, charging at windmills with no chance of ever defeating them. So, I let go. I got out my ubiquitous little green book, opened to a new page, and started a new section:

Things I Am Not Working On

And I started to list them. I just let them go. And damn, did it feel good.

When it was over — about 15 minutes later — I felt better, but was a bit sad. It was something of a turning point for me, with regards to this deployment. I came here all full of piss and vinegar, set to change the world. And here I was, writing out things that, for a million reasons, I would not be able to do.

But, it was honest. Hard to argue with the reality of it all.

So, grievances were aired. On to the rest of the holiday.

I decided that Feats of Strength wouldn’t be a good idea — heavily armed soldiers, stresses and all hopped up on caffeine, probably shouldn’t be doing anything of the sort.

So, I whipped out the cookies. See, a couple of weeks ago, I got two packages in the mail on or about the same time — cookies from my sister, and cookies from my daughter. They both had sent chocolate chip cookies, and both had made ones that were to die for.

And this week, I got another round from each.

Now, I know what you’re thinking — it’s probably not fair, to compare the two. My sister started making and sending me cookies when I headed off to Basic Training in 1995 — cookies for which South Carolina is a few inches lower in elevation, as I did about 10000 push ups because of said cookies. Since then, she has sent me and my buddies cookies more or less non stop, working on her chocolate chip cookies recipe mainly, but also the packaging (which she has down to a science, since the cookies arrive completely intact and as fresh as if they had been baked en route) and recipes for other cookies (though none compare to the chocolate chip cookie recipe.

And my daughter? Yeah, she’s barely in grade school. My sister had probably made and sent 10,000 cookies to places like Bosnia and Kosovo, before my daughter was even a twinkle in her mother’s eye. But damn — that little one, she can bake!

So, for Festivus, I grabbed some from each and headed to the office. I grabbed two neutral parties — two female soldiers who work in my area. I gave them each a hand decorated gingerbread man (actually, gingerbread soldier) from my daughter, and a chocolate chip cookie from my sister. I did not say who made what, just that they needed to eat them.

Gingerbread got rave reviews. Not just for being so damn cute, but for tasting more like cake than a cookies. But no — they could not hold off the power of the chocolate chip cookie from the sister. No contest — sister won, hands down. I gave the rest of the bag of chocolate chip ones to a warrant officer with whom I do a lot of work, to share with her soldiers. Later, she, too, gave them rave reviews. When I mentioned that they are the best cookies in theater (here), a guy nearby challenged me on that. I didn’t even have to say a word — about half a dozen soldiers jumped in to correct him, and I could tell pretty quickly who had helped polish off the bag of cookies. Not exactly a Festivus miracle but pretty cool.

So, Happy Festivus, everybody!

I went to this site, and poof it was gone.

My host had failed to renew my domain name, just as they had done with my wife’s server a little while ago. My saving grace was recognizing that it was likely the same — I could zero the tech support guys in on the exact issue.

Dodged a bullet on that one.

So, while I’m here – if I did a podcast, would you listen?

David Allen has a new book out. Would someone please tell me how it is?

I love the idea of putting OS X on other hardware. it’s super nerdy, I know, but i think it’s awesome.

The Band stopped by today, to sing holiday carols. Yes, they were also armed to the teeth. I snickered.

My shoulder is killing me. Torn rotor cuff on the warpath. Slept like crap three nights running.

Oh, and bandwidth is up. So, look for me on Skype and iChat (MSN, Yahoo, and Jabber / Google, I think, plus AIM). Need to know my account? Ask. Video works well, sometimes.

Inspired by this. Yes, it’s tongue-in-cheek.

1. Review the year that is about to end. Write down some of the highlights of all the good things that happened to you. Be sure to include all the basics like no more dishes, not choosing what to wear, never choosing shat’s for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, or fond memories of yesteryear when you only had an 8 hour work day.

2. Share and celebrate your successes this year with your family and friends. Oh, wait. OK, try celebrating it with a bunch of semi-strangers who are armed to the teeth, amped out of their minds on caffeine, and probably wound a weeeeeee bit too tight. It’s almost the same, I swear.

3. Send greetings of appreciation and thanks to those people who have helped make this year special for you. Do it two weeks ago, because the mail takes that long. Be sure to use paper from the laser printer, because, well, it’s that or TP. Forget stamps — just write “free” up in the corner instead, and see if that works.

4. Review your current to do list for work. Be ruthless and eliminate as many unnecessary or futile tasks as you can, without doing them. Don’t worry — someone will put them right back on your list for you in the morning anyway.

5. Finish off any unresolved matters. Like Kurd-Arab tensions, Article 140 and 23, the problems with kerosene distribution, health care reform, the American auto industry, SEN Obama’s vacating Senate seat, and the future of Lebanon and the West Bank.

6. Clear up some clutter. Start with MSR Arizona and then move on to MSR Tampa. Not just the trash — go big and see about the rubble, too. Maybe the intersection at 8th and Nebuchadnezzar, because it really looks bad right now. It sure could use some flowers.

7. Go through your important paperwork and bring it up to date as much as possible. Start with your powers of attorney, and then your Soldiers Group Life Insurance. And make sure you’re getting your combat pay, etc.

8. Review how you have spent your time this year, and identify those things that have been draining your energy. Don’t bother writing them down — you are in the Army, after all, and it’s not like you can really do much about it anyway. Begin to say NO this year to things that you don?t really want to do. Wow — I almost said that with a straight face. Say no… yeah, that’s a good one.

9. Be different and do something new. Because the Army loves that. A nice broach? A ribbon in your hair? Grow out some mongo porkchop sideburns. Streak. Stop wearing your reflecting belt over one shoulder, but instead as a thong. Sleep in. Salute with your left hand, Benny Hill style.

10. Start walking every day for at least 20 minutes until the New Year begins. Be sure to wear at least 100 pounds of extra gear — water, ammo, armor, steel plates, grenades, a tourniquet, etc. Because it’s not the walking that’s as important as the effort you have to put into each. damn. step.

11. Rest and relax. Sit back and turn on the TV, and realize that you get no channels. Open your fridge and pour yourself a nice, cold….. water. Drag that chair outside and enjoy the dust and flies.

We’re due for a bandwidth upgrade. It was suppose to be today. Can’t really tell yet.

So, yeah. Bird Day.

Three things:

1) I am thankful for my wife. Wow, she puts up with a ton of crap, just because I choose to be in the Army. I could make decent money, if I wasn’t in the Army. I could come home at a decent hour, if I wasn’t in the Army. I’d be home right now, if I wasn’t in the Army. I’ve come dangerously close, time and time again, to putting the needs of the Army ahead of the needs of my wife and my family. Time and time again, the Army has called, and I have dropped everything to answer the call, always knowing that my wife will hold down the fort, raise the kids, pay the bills, and fight the good fight while I go off and do whatever it is that I do. She rules. Every damn day I am thankful she’s in my life.

2) I am thankful to be right here, right now. I am thankful just for the chance to serve our nation. Today, the Iraqi parliament voted to approve the draft of the Status of Forces Agreement (here). This is awesomely cool, for about 45 different reasons. We’re all moving beyond the days of a UN-mandated American presence, into an era of American troops being here under terms agreed upon by two sovereign nations. Wow — that just blows my mind. In the coming weeks, the Iraqis will have their next round of provincial elections — the second time the Iraqis have done this. Consider this: Iraq became a nation at the end of WWI, and it was a monarchy until 1958 when a coalition of groups overthrew the king. After ten years, Saddam emerged to grab control of the country, and ushered in his era of totalitarian Ba’athism. After the 2003 invasion, Iraq had the one round of elections in 2005, but that really was done with a lot of hand holding. So, here we are — the Iraqis are about to do it again, and I expect that they will do it all on their own. Wow. I find that to be incredible. I am thankful to be here, and to have even the smallest of roles in this amazing period of Iraqi history.

The Descent into Baghdad

3) I am thankful to be able to run. I was going to say that I was thank for my run today, but really, it’s more than that. Some of you may know that I don’t run just for exercise; I run because I have PTSD. Yep, post-traumatic stress disorder. It’s like being an alcoholic — I will always have to deal with it, and I will deal with it, one day at a time. When I started showing signs, back in 2003, I was such a physical wreck that running wasn’t an option. A two mile run would kill me for a week. Two years later, when I admitted defeat and decided to do something about the PTSD, I had found a new doctor / physical therapist who had patched me up enough to run again. He, of course, thought I’d be good for a couple of miles, tops, but that sounded like crap and I set out to prove my wrong. And the running helped the PTSD. It helped a LOT. Folks with PTSD are often treated with all kinds of drugs, none of which I wanted. None of which I thought I would need, if I could get my body to produce the same ones naturally. To produce the same ones, by running. And so I ran. A little here, a little there, and then poof, I ran a marathon. Injuries aside, I’ve been running ever since, through good times and bad. Today, I took off and ran 10km — 6.2 miles. And yes, I was in pain every step of the way. Which is fine — with this broken body, I will be in pain every day of the rest of my life. No need for it to keep me from doing what I want and need to do. I ran today for no reason other than it was a Thursday and Thanksgiving and I could sneak out to do it. And it felt great. I don’t ever want to go back to being so broken and such a mess that I can’t take off and run like I can now. Running is such a positive part of my life, that I can’t see living without it. I’ll likely run for the rest of my life. And to have found running, and learned the positive role it has in my life, it priceless.

So, there you have it. A guy in Iraq, who could easily be wallowing in the misery of being away from my family and all that crap, and I have three great reasons to be thankful just to wake up and start another day.

Lavatory

I’m going to head back to my hooch now, and maybe watch a movie or something. Enjoy your bird day. Be good.

So, how’s this for ironic? I have safely made it into Iraq, and am only a tiny bit settled, when tody I finally found the chance to sit in front of a machine with internet access, only to find Google Mail acting wonky (most likely not Google’s fault) and my Army email acting wonky. Best way to tell my family that I made it safely here, that all is well, etc? To blog about it.

So — hey, everyone, I made it!