| taken from guardian uk news |
[14 Apr 2005|11:54pm] |
Two suicide car bombings killed at least 15 people and wounded around 20 during rush hour in Baghdad today, ministry and hospital officials said. The explosions happened near an Iraqi interior ministry building in the centre of the city. Around 200 metres apart, the bombs detonated in quick succession on a busy street, destroying cars and leaving debris strewn over a wide area. A Reuters cameraman said children were among the dead, and hospital staff said at least four policemen had been wounded in the attack. Elsewhere in Iraq, insurgents maintained attacks against Iraq's security services. Seven gunmen travelling in two vehicles fired at a police station just south of Kirkuk shortly after dawn, killing five police officers and one civilian, police Brigadier Sarhat Qadir said. A gun attack on a police patrol near Baquba, in central Iraq, killed one officer and wounded three, while in Baghdad, an intelligence official, Firas Hussein, was shot and killed as he made his way to work. The militant group Ansar al-Sunnah claimed responsibility for today's Kirkuk attack, saying in an unconfirmed internet posting that its "knights of Islam" had attacked "renegade policemen doing their morning training". Ansar al-Sunnah also said it yesterday carried out a joint attack with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida in Iraq group in Kirkuk, when an explosive device killed 12 police. Yesterday, a US citizen was shown at gunpoint on a videotape aired by the al-Jazeera television channel, two days after being kidnapped from a water treatment plant near Baghdad. The station said contract worker Jeffrey Ake, 47, was seen pleading for his life and urging US troops to withdraw from Iraq. Mr Ake is the president and CEO of Equipment Express, a company that manufacturers bottled water equipment. The al-Jazeera tape showed a man sitting behind a desk with at least three assailants - two hooded and one off-camera - pointing assault rifles at him. More than 200 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq in the past year. George Bush's press secretary, Scott McClellan, ruled out negotiations with the kidnappers. "Any time there is a hostage - an American hostage - it is a high priority for the United States," he said. "Our position is well known when it comes to negotiating. Obviously this is a sensitive matter." ______________________________________________________________________________________________
Matt here,
Let me tell you, it's weird living the news others read. I woke up this morning to the first explosion. Then sitting up in bed for a while, I heard and felt the second one. It vibrated the trailers. It was my day off today from the checkpoint and at first I thought thats where they had detonated. I found out later it was near another checkpoint close to the ministry building. I've been hearing gunfire in the distance all night and as I'm writing this I've just heard another explosion far off. I don't know, maybe the heat is starting to bring them out. Oh and the us contractor that was kidnapped? We were just guarding that water treatment plant two weeks ago... I don't know what my point is, I guess just, reading about these events as they happen day to day literally down the street is a strange feeling...
|
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| back to three boring weeks of checkpoint |
[27 Mar 2005|06:50am] |
| [ |
music |
| |
Sunday Morning - No Doubt |
] |
Happy Easter,
Just finished up a week of patrols. I saw mosques, slums, palm groves, downtown areas, met with the locals, drank tea, it was a fun week. No incidents, just a few warning shots fired for vehicles getting too close and staying too close. The pictures describe it the best so here they are.
little runts...
Stuck in the mud
I work hard. Really, I do.
( See More... )
|
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| Regarding Ashlee Simpson |
[22 Mar 2005|01:22pm] |
|
I love my friend's writings.
-----------------------------------
Dear Matt,
Last night I could not get to sleep for my mind was focused on
the career of Ashlee Simpson. I imagined myself in a position where I
could have a good 15 min conversation with her so I could give her the
Holy Word. There are actually many kinds of Holy Words but this Holy Word
specifically would be about how to take her career to legendary status.
In a perfect world, where I was smooth as hell, I would lay down this
spiel for her.
Ashlee, I'm a big admirer of you, not necessarily for your music,
even though Pieces of Me was in my opinion the best song of 2004, but
instead for your insane potential. You are strangely attractive in a bit
of a slutty way and your voice has enough weird personality in it to
make you unique. Now, from your first album, you have a decent sized
following of fans that fall between 13-15 year old girls. You could mold
them into a militant army if you want to, for at this moment you are
their Pied Piper. But the songs you have song to get them to fall in line
behind you will not last through the long summer days. You should know
artists like you cannot survive off the 13-15 year old girl demographic
for long, they are a fickle group. This is why, as their Pied Piper, I
suggest you start leading them with a stronger kind of tune.
Since there is no such thing as originality, you do know originality
is the big lie, right Ashlee? To prove the lie of originality I dare you
to think up an animal that does not exist on this earth. See you can’t,
sure you could say a Pegasus but really what is a Pegasus? A Pegasus is
just a combination of the different animals that already exist on the
earth. So you see there really is no originality, there is just theft
and combinations that disguise themselves as original. Therefore, I
suggest you steal everything you can from Iggy Pop and the Stooges. This
will be the band you emulate. Who are Iggy Pop and the Stooges? Well, they
are the greatest punk band of all-time. Their sound is the sound of
teenage bloodlust and screeching nightmares bounded together by Iggy’s
sneering vocals that devolve into tortured screams. Ashlee, you are going
to create a record that by-passes all the complicated musical, rock
bullshit and get right to the primitive, pure essence of classic punk
music. You are just the person to do it.
Your record will consist of 6-7 songs of the most blood thirsty,
snarling music that hasn’t been heard since, well, the Stooges. To get this
music to organically come out of your soul you will have to call up
John Cale and say, “Make me my own Fun House.” And he will do it because
he’s cool like that and he got a Fun House out of Iggy Pop and he could
get that kind of record out of you too. The songs will be simple and
rudimentary. See those symbols on the drum stand? They will be removed.
No symbols. The drumming will be a consistent thudding that is the glue
for the type of record you’re making. It is there only to create time.
The base line will be simple too. There too keep the flow and beat. The
guitar will be screeching and careening during the verses barely
holding together then it will all come undone during the solos. You will
single handedly bring back the lost art of the classic punk solo. The solo
that goes off on it’s own nihilistic jag with you the lead singer
yelping barely audible in the back like you’ve been sent down to the lake of
fire. Oh yes, it’s going to be apocalyptic.
But all the music behind you means nothing unless you take control as
the lead singer. You will be barely singing and barely using any vocal
lessons you’ve learned. You will forget that and learn to sing with a
voice that sneers cockily the song’s lyrics, whipping them into
submission. But sometimes you also have to yelp and make it sound like your
being tortured from the inside. It’s tough to explain but when I give you
the fun House record you’ll know what I’m talking about. The lyrics
will be straight forward and nihilistic, the heart of teenage angst.
Once you get your record made it will get immediate buzz in the too
cool for school critic underground circle. They will say , “What is the
meaning of the legendary John Cale producing for this Pop Tart Ashlee
Simpson?” but they will know the meaning when they hear your record. They
will not be able to trash it because it will be so filled with the
fabled Stooges raw power that they will not know what to do with it. They
might pan it but they will also respect it. Your fans might not know
what to do with it but a lot of them might convert with you and take the
journey to the pure essence of music. After that’s done with you will
have to tour.
Your touring will be intense and raw. Every little club and theater
will be played as you burn across the country. You will give yourself up
to your audience every night by literally bleeding on stage for and
passing out after the show is done. The stage is going to turn into a
battle ground. Anyone who heckles you will be challenged to a fight or will
be beat up by your fans. You will go mad on stage, completely out of
your mind lost in the music and go into fits of rage. Your army of fans
will worship you and defend you at all costs. During interviews with
rolling stone you will say stuff like “I hate niggers and wetback
Mexicans” and to the question of the meaning of one of your songs you will say
“ It’s about the Nazi’s having the right idea about the Jews” and
ultimately your main message, above being racist, will be that you are
simply here to “Kick out the Jams”.
I make it sound simple Ashlee but it is much harder then it
seems, but I know you can do it. You have been given this great
platform to make any kind of music you want, do not waste it. Lead your fans
into the Promise Land.
Yea so that’s what kept me up all night and it won’t keep me up again
because I wrote it all out. It sounded much better in my head even
though I still think it’s a genius idea.
I don’t even need to ask how you’re doing because, your Matt, you will
survive because you know something that nobody else knows. That’s it I
just needed to vent my Ashlee Simpson makeover dream.
Brian
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[16 Mar 2005|11:26pm] |
Vodka
Congratulations! You're 100 proof, with specific scores in beer (80) , wine (50), and liquor (69). |
| All right...you're getting into the harder stuff. A good martini, a Mai Tai or straight shots of hard liquor is what you're into. |
 |
My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:
|
You scored higher than 12% on proof |
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You scored higher than 91% on beer index |
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You scored higher than 86% on wine index |
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You scored higher than 89% on liquor index |
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[14 Mar 2005|03:24pm] |
I ran.
and ran.
and ran.
I ran until it burned.
I ran until it hurt.
I ran until all I heard was the music.
I ran until my body filled with fire.
I ran until I couldn't feel my legs.
I ran until I couldn't feel my heart.
I ran until I couldn't feel anything.
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| By PATRICK QUINN, Associated Press Writer |
[10 Mar 2005|01:23am] |
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi authorities found 41 decomposed bodies — some bullet-riddled, others beheaded — at sites near the Syrian border and south of the capital, and said Wednesday they included women and children who may have been killed because insurgents thought their families were collaborating with U.S. forces.
In Baghdad, a suicide bomber driving a garbage truck loaded with explosives and at least one other gunman shot their way into a parking lot in an attempt to blow up a hotel used by Western contractors. At least four people, including the attackers and a guard, were killed.
The U.S. Embassy said 30 Americans were among 40 people wounded in the blast. No Americans were killed. In an Internet statement, al-Qaida in Iraq purportedly claimed responsibility for the attack on the Sadeer hotel, calling it the "hotel of the Jews."
While Sunni Arab insurgents have repeatedly targeted Westerners in Iraq, Shiite Muslims, top Iraqi officials and civil servants, even Muslim women are no longer safe.
Decapitated bodies of women have begun turning up in recent weeks, a note with the word "collaborator" usually pinned to their chests. Three women were gunned down Tuesday in one of Baghdad's Shiite neighborhoods for being alleged collaborators. And in the northern city of Kirkuk, a woman identified as Nawal Mohammed, who worked with U.S. forces, was killed in a drive-by shooting, police said.
The decomposed bodies were found Tuesday after reports of their stench reached authorities.
Twenty-six of the dead were discovered in a field near Rumana, a village 12 miles east of the western city of Qaim, near the Syrian border. Each body was riddled with bullets. The dead were found wearing civilian clothes and one was a woman, police Capt. Muzahim al-Karbouli said.
The other site was south of Baghdad in Latifiya, where Iraqi troops found 15 headless bodies in a building at an abandoned army base, Defense Ministry Capt. Sabah Yassin said.
The bodies included 10 men, three women and two children. Their identities, like the others found in western Iraq, were not known, but insurgents may have viewed them or their relatives as collaborators.
Yassin said some of men found dead in Latifiya were thought to have been part of a group of Iraqi soldiers who were kidnapped by insurgents two weeks ago. The gruesome discoveries were among 58 new killings in Iraq announced Wednesday, including the death of a U.S. soldier in a Baghdad roadside bombing.
Iraq's interim planning minister, Mahdi al-Hafidh, a Shiite, narrowly escaped death Wednesday after gunmen opened fire on his convoy in the capital. Two of his bodyguards were killed and two others were wounded.
"I'm fine, just sorry about the death of the guards, who were still young," he told state-run Al-Iraqiya TV. "It is a part of the crisis that Iraq is living, but we will keep going for the sake of Iraq, to get rid of terrorism and build a democratic country."
Qataa Abdul Nabi, the director general of the Shiite Endowment, was shot to death Tuesday as he drove home — the second high-ranking member of the Shiite charity to be killed in a week. A car bombing targeted an American checkpoint outside a base in Habaniyah, 50 miles west of Baghdad, and another exploded near U.S. troops close to Abu Ghraib, just west of the capital.
No other details were available, and the U.S. military could not be reached for comment. It was unclear if the dead U.S. soldier was killed in any of the attacks. The U.S. military said only that a soldier was killed and another was wounded by a bomb as they were patrolling around Baghdad.
As of Tuesday, at least 1,509 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. At least 1,149 died as a result of hostile action, according to the Defense Department. The figures include four military civilians. The AP count is five higher than the Defense Department's tally, last updated at 10 a.m. EST Tuesday.
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|
| Mailing Address |
[03 Mar 2005|02:56pm] |
| [ |
music |
| |
all shook up - elvis |
] |
For those interested:
PFC Mathias H Sather
C Co, TF 4/64 AR, 4th UA, 3ID
FOB Prosperity
APO AE 09348
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[27 Feb 2005|05:34pm] |
We've got a schedule going now for checkpoints and patrols. Just got done sitting in the gunner hatch of a humvee for eight hours. Nothing exciting happened. Here's some more photos.
~Remember the photo of the hole in the wall? This is the room inside.~
~An anti-us carving/mural, saddam had plenty of these throughout the palace. If you look closely you can see USA carved on the bombs.~
~Where I used to sleep, I'm now moving to the trailers outside.~
~And what would a palace be without giant statues of your dictator.~
there you go, enjoy.
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|
| Baghdad |
[24 Feb 2005|12:44pm] |
The palace.
fuck low battery onthe laptop, more tommorrow..
|
|
| in the ghetto |
[24 Feb 2005|11:29am] |
I went on that patrol the other night and I don't know what the rest of the city looks like but the entire area where we drove was some of the most pathetic, rundown, filthiest shit I've ever seen. Take the worst parts of LA, Detroit, and New York, drop a few bombs here and there, it would still be fairly decent compared to this place.
Kids. You'll be driving and all of a sudden a fuckin mob of children will be everywhere, running after you, some of them actually jump and hang on to the side of the vehicle. And they're all saying the same thing.
"Chocolata! Chocolata! Mista! Chocolata!"
And you better not have any chocolate for them, because next time it'll be twice the amount running after you.
Women. I always thought the Iraqi women would be very shy and reserved because of the years of oppression or whatever. That's not the case anymore. If they want to...be with you, they're not afriad to say it, yesterday I learned that "Fiki Fiki" basically means, "wanna fuck?" And the sorry sods that manage to find the time and place to get some quick action, they're blessed with venereal diseases like Syphillis, Gonorrhea, HIV, and probably some not yet discovered by medical science. 4th Infantry division came back with a reported 120-some cases of HIV. So. Patience is a virtue.
Men. Other than the ones that work in our Operating Base, I don't really know what they do. Half of them are very friendly, a little too friendly to each other. Half of them hate your guts. (we try to keep those ones outside of the Base.)
Well, I got some pictures on a memory stick and I'll going to try and post them tonight.
peace out dudes.
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| carbombs, mortars, and gunfire |
[23 Feb 2005|08:51pm] |
| [ |
music |
| |
muslim prayer on a loudspeaker in the distance every 4 hours |
] |
FUUUCK. I just spent almost half an hour writing a post, then my time runs out, computer shuts down, and I lose everything. Now I shall attempt to repeat everything I wrote ten minutes ago. I gotta keep it short though in case this shit freezes up on me again.
I got here a few days ago, we are staying in a palace; one of many that Saddam had around the city. This one was a "party palace" built with money the UN gave him for some "oil for food" campaign. There are huge holes here and there from when they dropped the smart bombs. And inside the army has done some.. remodeling. Support beams, wooden panels, this is really boring trying to describe this all over again. Just believe me it's quite a sight. I'll just post some pictures as soon as I can.
What can I say, the shit is real now. There was a mortar attack the morning before I arrived. A carbomb exploded outside main gate today. And sporadic gunfire every now and then. All very exciting stuff. I go on my first recon/patrol tonight. mm. I hope saying that wasn't a violation of operational security. Anyway, cross your fingers for me.
P.S. this is what the alphabet would look like if Q and R did not exist.
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| words for the road |
[17 Feb 2005|08:26am] |
| [ |
mood |
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 happy |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
fly me to the moon - frank sinatra |
] |
Packing up here and getting ready to go to Baghdad, don't know when I'll be able to post again. I'm glad though because nothing interesting ever happens here. Consequently I have nothing else to write about, so I'm going to quote a little something written by a good friend. It's a little extreme for some people but I like it.
"You know what's weird about segregation in like the
50's and stuff when you hear about all those people that opposed
the civil rights movement. or maybe you don't hear. But the people
that opposed it had good reason to. Like when the supreme court
declared that the negroes should be allowed to go to school in
alabama. Now youd think thats a good thing, but really its
unconstitutional. The leaders in Alabama didnt like it on because
theres such a thing as state rights. Why should a Federal Judge be
able to legislate over a state that fucking wants there
segregation. It's a noble cause to want no segregation but it set
a dangerous precedent. It gave the power to the supreme court.
Since that happened the supreme court legislates this countrys
morality, 9 men decide most of what is right and wrong in this
country. Since that decision theyve made abortion a constitutional
right, allowed flag burning, told arizona they werent allowed to
make there official language english, outlawed public school prayer
and the pledge of allegiance, and created new rights for criminals
among other things.
Now you might think who cares. But can a country stay
united when you take out all its morals and erase its history?
Doesn't it erode? Thats why Liberalism is killing the U.S. They
promote immorality. They erase America's history. Right now I'm
taking an American Studies class, you would think you would learn
something about America. But no, I get to go to every class and
hear about fucking slavery and that horrible white man. Then they
talk about great people like Washington and Jefferson and my buddy
Hamiliton and they always have to bring up that they were slave
owners. Thats liberalism at work. Making kids hate their country
and there rights so they all bow down to the god of secularism.
Instead of promoting the pledge of allegiance in school the radical
liberals want to destroy it. Oh yea American studies I also get to
learn about the Poooooooooooooooor Indians that got wiped out
across the country as America expanded. Big deal I'm glad all those
dumb Indians died. I'll quote Bob Dylan "Your old road is
Rapidly aging. Please get out of the new one.If you can't lend your
hand.For the times they are a-changin" Thats what happened to the
poor Indians, they couldn't cut it, oh well.
I'm going to talk about Women's rights now. It sounds
like a good thing. Let women vote and go to school and get jobs.
Thats great if you want your country to die. The 60's created this
notion that women who stay home and have babies and take care of
the house are fools. You notice it now, being a homemaker is
frowned upon in schools. the consequence of that is theres no more
white women settling down and having babies. Add to that the
legalization of Abortion and Free Sex with condoms you have a
rapidly declining birthrate in white civilization. But in Mexico
the birthrate is huge so they all come over here and dont speak
english and turn LA into Mexico. It would be fine if they came over
here and paid taxes, learned the language, came her LEGALLY but
they don't do that. They come over here and complain and bitch
about rights and racism and work our liberal social services over
to the point where California is in deep dept. Teddy Rooselvelt
said the surest way to destroy the united states would be if it
turned into a nation of squabbling minorites. he said that in like
1905 and now thats exactly what we have, every race of people
complaining and not just shutting up and working like the
immigrants of old. Mexico knows there fucking us too. they love
dumping their poorest people on us and let us feed them with
welfare. they tried to do that to the Great President Eisenhower in
the 50's but you know what he did? He called for OPERATION WETBACK
and forcefully kicked out over a million mexicans out of California
and sent the fuckers back. Wow what a genius. Imagine if someone
tried to do that today, theyd be called a racist and strung up.
Same thing in Europe. In france the birthrate is at is
at like 1, in italy the birthrate is 0 and thats the numbers for
all the other european countries. They're not having enough babies
so they can't replenish their population. So what happens? The
fastest growing population in europe are Muslims. The Muslims will
own Europe in 20 years. thats what happens when you modernize and
promote civil rights and equal rights and degrade God and all that
other politically correct bullshit. Heres a quote about all the
Liberal Teachers whose minds have become disease the disease of
liberalism "You can get so well educated in America that your
thoughts become detached from common sense. You can get so
complicated in your thinking that the obvious isn't real to you
anymore" think about that somehow.
I dont know if any of that makes sense to you its
tough to type and make sense about that. I guess its just something
to think about and gives you a different perspective on how things
work around here.
I'll leave you with some optimistically sweet quotes
this one is from Lou Reed talking about rock n roll while on speed:
"Rock and roll is so great, people should start dying for it. You
don't understand. The music gave you back your beat so you could
dream. A whole generation running with a Fender bass...The people
have to die for the music. People are dying for everything else, so
why not the music? Die for it. Isn't it pretty? Wouldn't you die
for something pretty?" Wow what a thought."
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| *CLASSIFIED* |
[14 Feb 2005|12:18pm] |
|
It took 9 years and cost them 1.2 billion dollars. But the army has completed the ultimate weapon..
A superimposed image of christopher walken's head on top of robocop. with flashing red eyes.
oh ya, happy valentines day.
|
|
| get down with the sickness |
[12 Feb 2005|09:08am] |
|
I've been ill the last two days so I'm sipping robitussin and sleeping it off.
that's it.
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| reenlist today! |
[09 Feb 2005|09:29pm] |
| [ |
music |
| |
dexter gordon |
] |
Well they changed the address on us, so I'm glad I procrastinated mailing anything back home. I don't know what the current address is now so I think I'm just going to wait till I get to bagdad before I start mailing stuff home. I started going to the gym regularly, and thats about the only change in routine so far. Oh, the platoon sergent has been buggin me to reenlist. A lot of people's reenlistment "windows" are open and since we're overseas, any bonuses would be tax-free. So everyone's getting the ol sales pitch to rejoin the army for 3,5, whatever more years. He talked about an eight thousand dollar bonus and greed started to creep over me but after about two seconds I realized what a shitty deal it was. For three more years of my life, we better be talking no less than 14 maybe 15 thousand. Plus, station me in italy. Plus, reclass to a different MOS. (occupation) In other words, I'm not reenlisting.
I was guarding ammo yesterday night for two hours with my buddy Moore and we talked about high school memories. I spent the rest of the night reminesing about everything that happened in those crazy three years and wanted to write it all down, so I'm starting another livejournal to record all my great memories. Unfortunatly none of you will ever see it.
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| I saw a bunch of camels today |
[06 Feb 2005|09:04pm] |
| [ |
music |
| |
el scorcho - weezer |
] |
Yesterday the Lt decides we're all gonna go for a little run. Around the fucking Operating base. A five mile perimiter. During the last mile I honestly wanted to shoot myself. Somethings wrong about my running posture or whatever becuase halfway through I started losing feeling in my left foot. By the end it felt like I was dragging a sandbag attached to my leg. So that was fun. Today we went to a range. I saw a herd ( if thats the proper term ) of camels. dammit and i didn't bring my camera. No, nobody shot the camels.
Ok, off to use the phones.
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| time zones |
[03 Feb 2005|02:56am] |
|
It's almost 3am, I woke up becuase I want to call home and the time difference is I think 11 hours. So that's that. I bought a disposable camera, but I haven't found a place that develops so I might have to just send the whole thing home. Still trying to get a picture of a camelspider, including leg span the biggest ones are about the size of a sewer grate. Nasty little things. well i'm going to go call my parents now.
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| kuwait is boring |
[01 Feb 2005|08:34pm] |
Well, I'm in kuwait, got here monday morning, spent about an entire day flying so my mind is all jumbled up, laid awake in my cot all night.
I imagined kuwait to be sand dunes and little shrubs, but this is a different sort of desert, flat land for miles, no sand just dry gray dirt. with little rocks. the only thing interupting the scenery are the scattered neighborhoods of white tents. it really feels like the middle of nowhere. They have a burger king and subway here, a px, a gift shop, and an internet cafe which I am inside right now. we're going to be in kuwait for another 2 weeks, preparing, training, fartin around, i don't know, then we'll fly up to bagdad. we were originally going to drive there, which would've taken a couple of days with an almost 100% chance of something going wrong, so many were relieved when they decided to fly there instead. So far being deployed is boring. more updates to come.
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pope_opus's journal
