Past halfway

As the title of this post suggests, and as I'm sure some (or most) of you have realized, I have passed the halfway mark for this deployment (barring any sort of extension). I think this is a good time for me to sit back and reflect on all the things we have accomplished since we've been here..... ok done. Nope. That's it. About 3 seconds worth of contemplation.

Seriously though, when you are fighting a counter insurgency, especially when it is in it's final stages, you can go insane at the pace in which you make progress. One week you may think you've finally hit a milestone, only to find that the IP's, or the IA, or the Iraqi civic leadership has back slid and you have to start all over. The problem really is impedus.

If you remember what I brought up in my essays, human beings in the basic state are survivalists. So until someone feels that all their basic survival needs are met, it's hard to get someone to move outside of that selfish mode and into a greater good related mentality. So since right now the security situation is good, and the head honchos are sitting relatively pretty, it's difficult to really push for greater improvements because they don't really effect the decision makers.

The other thing that can drive you nuts is deciding what does and does not need to be done. You have maybe 100 tasks that are available to you, and it's a matter of deciding which ones have to get done and which ones don't. It is very easy to drive yourself into the ground here. On more than one occasion I've been up for multiple days in a row and finally just had to say "ok this doesn't need to be done right now, or at all" and I hit the rack. Most of the work here is self induced, because there may be many publications and orders and examples of how to run a company in a war, really you have to make a million decisions about what is really necessary and what isn't. Literally a unit that was here 6 months ago had different problems and different issues and so had to fight this war a different way than we do, so while you can draw on the experiences of others, at my level it's really a choose your own adventure.

So in other news, we have been put on the alert for scorpions, as supposedly there have been some stings that have resulted in not so nice outcomes. It's funny, because after being in Kenya last year, where EVERYTHING can kill you, I already do everything that will ensure I have a sting free deployment without even thinking about it. At least those Kenyan ants are here (I still have nightmares about those monsters).

Also some of you may be wondering why exactly it takes me so long to write updates. The reality is that if you refer to an earlier statement about need to do and can wait, this one always comes as the latter on that list. Besides that, I've been very busy getting my company ready for the big move that just finished up a few days ago. We are no longer in town, but instead have moved the majority of the Marines up to COP Rawah. The move was relatively painless, and by relatively I mean extremely, and by painless I mean "Oh Dear God Please Don't Slam The Door On My Manhood Again!!!" painful. It's funny because I've never seen the IP's so eager to help, though I'm sure most of it was because they knew once we were gone, the A/C units were fair game. Either way, we are now closer to the flag pole, and though it's a larger base with more people, I actually feel like I've moved down a step. The nice thing about my old home was that it was one building that had everything I could possibly want. Now we live on a base where I have to walk anywhere from 500 m to 1 km for anything above the essentials. That's ok though, because I'm sure I will be able to find lots of excuses to get outside the wire and back into town.

Ok well I'm getting ready to punch out on a patrol. For those of you who feel sorry for me at all, don't! I'm having a great time here. The current temp is 108, sandstorms are inbound, and I'm about to strap around 75-100 lbs of gear on and walk 1km over the course of 2 hours with IP's that may or may not know how to shoot their weapons. I LOVE IT!

I want to thank everyone who has sent anything. It really feels like Christmas here when anything arrives in the mail. Movies, food, comics, books are always welcome. I hope everyone is well and thanks for the support. Keep the comments on the blog coming.