A promotion that was thought Loss

To me, this seemed like a task never to be seen. Every year since the start of my eligibility of the E-7/SFC promotion list, I have seen the passover time and time again for 6 years now. It has been very frustrating, but I know how the system is. It is broked and sometimes the good ones never succeed. It is so scrutinized and unfair at different levels. I have seen my peers all pass me with a blink of an eye. The ones lower rank than me has passed me two ranks ahead. What the hell? What is it that I have to do. I thought for sure I was done until retirement. I went to all the right schools. I done all the jobs than can be accomplished by my MOS. Deployed 3 times in the theater of combat. When is it my time. Well, after 6 long awaited years, it has finally came. I’m number 12 on the E-7/SFC list and I will be putting on the much awaited rank—Sergeant First Class-E-7, US Army….

The Loss of a crew

I remember that evening in Aug 2007 when we got the message on the loudspeaker in Iraq that would recall all medical personell back to the medical clinic. We were told there would be a mascal coming. Just like time and time again of the months being in Iraq of treating the hurt and the wounded. It was almost time for us to leave Iraq in about 2 months. We were already in our 90 days of extension in Iraq. We should’ve been back home last month. A tragic thing happened that night. We didn’t know what to expect. Later on that evening after we set up all the liters, we were told what had happend. We were of course shocked. A Blackhawk went down on the outskirts of Kirkuk, Iraq. All 14 dead. 4 crew man to include the pilots. And the shocker…… a whole platoon of scouts…..all dead to include our very own medic………It was sad to hear and we all wanted to know what had happened. We thought it was downed by a rocket. We didn’t know that night….It was one of our saddest nights in Iraq………RIP fellow Soldiers….

Good Soldier or Bad Soldier

We can’t expect perfection but we can expect everyone in uniform to serve with dignity and honor. Not! It’s not that easy. I’ve been around the most shadiest mutha…..fkrs in the Army. And to know these are my Leaders who suppose to take care of us. I learned to distance myself from these situations in which time and time again I found myself right smack in the middle. I got blamed as a third party shit only because of my rank. I was told time and time again that your a SSG(Staff Sergeant), and its your duty……the things that happen is not relevant right now because this will be another story. It got so bad that I wrote a note on the board and said I will keep my mouth shut. You see, I’m ganna tell it right to your face if your doing the wrong thing. I live by my rank and my duties. One thing I will never bow down to stupidity or brown nosing. One day, it got the best of me. I found myself standing in the red carpet in front of my leaders because of what I said and someone overheard me. I said that I hate this chain of command and that I will kill this chain of command. Red flags flew everywhere and I had to explain this. I did and I stood up to everyone in what I believed in. They almost took my weapon but I left the room with my rank on my chest….Good Soldier or was I being a Bad Soldier for those words …hmmmmmm

Close call of death: re-posted from 3 yrs ago

Well running in the Army is the American past time thing to do. We do it whether we are at home, Army Schools, or even at War in Iraq as I am right now. As we all know, Mortars come to us at any day and at any hour of the day. We don’t know.
As I do my daily exercise in the evening, I decided to run that evening. I ran through the inskirts of our FOB. Then as my direction would allow, I could either turn left, go straight as I usually do, or just turn around and go back to finish my run. If I go back the run would only be 2 and half miles. I wanted to run longer since I’m training for Drill Sergeant’s School once I come back from Iraq and leave Hawaii. That day I decided to run 4 miles so I took the left. I have heard from people about that route in which I was taking. This is suppose to be a dangerous route since there is a gate there. There are even no more barriers of concrete to protect us from snipers. We could even see the Iraqi kids by the fence line. Yes, right by the fence line. I wasn’t scared since I ran this route before just once before when we had the greater American Aloha run here in Iraq. Anyways, I’m running down the road looking to my left with caution. There are no concrete barriers to my left. I could see the fence line and outside the fence line. Who knows who is out there watching this FOB and me as I run this evening on 30 May 2007. Well, I kept running passing everything in site. I saw the Airforce Security Forces in their Humvees all pass me doing their regular rounds. Then I could see the Dummy tower in which I passed. Coming up then was another Guard tower which actually was manned by real people(LOL) and the Jail. Still the fence line I see, remember the fence line cause I will go back to it later. So I will be home in just like 5 more minutes from my run. So I am home now laying down on my bed cause I’m tired from my 4 mile run. Well, 30 minutes had passed since I came back home and there was like 3 Booms. I’m like WTF. This late at night. Don’t these insurgents want to sleep. It is around like 10:15PM. Next thing—Alarm Red on the speaker. Then next day, I hear one of the mortars hit by the fence line I’m mentioned. I was just in awed since I just came back from my run 30 min prior. If I would have ran 30 min later that same day, I probably wouldn’t be here today writing this. This to me was a close call cause I wouldn’t have survive if that mortar landed while I was running. I will still run no matter what……………………….

The Big Bang: not the theory

When the ground shakes in Iraq, its not a good thing. I remember walking to the PX with a group of people. The next thing we heard was wahiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnng, then boom with the ground shaking so hard. This was the sound of a motar over our heads and it was landing. Thank goodness their was a bunker right next to us. We all jumed in all scared like were ganna shit on ourselves. We find out later that the morter landed in one of the living areas we stay at. Thank goodness their was no one in the rooms. Still, another incident when I was at work and the next thing we hear a big gigantic boom and the ground shook so hard. Next thing we hear is Alarm Red. We knew we had to put our gear on and run to the nearest bunker. What happened this day was a sad one when we lost 4 people to that mortar. The mortar actually landed in front of an office door. Their was someone in front of the door who was blasted plus everyone in the office with blown schrapnel scattered. It was bad. We hear the mortars coming and we don’t know where it can land and kill us. The price we pay evey day we are in Iraq. The Big Bang.