Just a few questions...

Can someone please explain to me how a person can support invading a country but not paying the taxes necessary to pay for it?

Would anyone care to elaborate on the concept of a person having the audacity to support sending troops 11,000 miles from home as long as their loved ones aren’t among them?

What if American’s had to have a national vote to go to war?

Everyone who votes “Yay” is entered into a draft to randomly select those who would have to go and fight.
Everyone who votes “Yay” has their taxes increased in order to pay for both the battle and the reconstruction.

How would it work if civilian contractors were eliminated from the equation and all jobs were done by the military? Or if all profits gained at the expense of a conflict went to the families of the soldiers who died?
Would the government let KBR ring up two bowls of cereal to the Army for $30 if all the profits went to a fallen soldier’s family in Oklahoma instead of to corporate America?

Delaration of War...

There was a declaration of war made the other day at Abu Ghraib. Something so egregious and vile I cannot properly describe it. I shall try though…
The other shift deleted our music from the computer.
Oh the humanity!!!
The scoundrels!!!
We are stuck in this room for 12 hours at a time. Oftentimes the only thing to break the monotony, to keep us sane, to remind us of our civilian lives, was arguing over the radio. How else am I to remember there is a world out there of bad music?, a world of long drives with my friends?, a world of being stuck in traffic with my mom? Arguing over the radio is a basic element in the very foundation of our culture. Now what do we have to do for 12 hours?, work in silence? Forget that noise.
They deleted pretty much all 48 hours worth of music I put on there. All they left was this random crap that gets very old after the first hour. Gone is the jazz, and the rock. All that is left is crunk-pac and folk music.

This is war!!!!
There are two things you don’t mess with:
1) A man’s French fries
2) A man’s radio.
I don’t get mad, I get even.

Beware day shift…beware.

mmmmmmmmm... cooooooooooookies

I just got some girl scout cookies. I was very dissappointed to find that they were called caramel delights instead of samoas.
This led me to write this long soap box speech questioning what exactly I was over here in Iraq for. What freedoms do we have when someone would get all butthurt and complain about the name of a cookie?
Then I found out that there are two different companies making girl scout cookies, one calls them samoas and one doesn't.
Fair enough, soap box speech deleted.
The girl scouts really need to get their act together and fix this two name thing.
I don't think I could take such a scare again.

Helpless...

Insomnia is a mother fucker when you have to work the next day. I go to bed at 1430 or so everyday so I can be up in time to go to the gym before work. The last couple days I can’t sleep though; so I scratch the gym and set my alarm for later.
I still need my sleep right?
Well someone out there disagrees because it is now 1800 and I am still awake. So I decide I will read myself to sleep. Why waste this time lying in bed?
Ninety pages of my latest Alex Cross novel later, I am still wide awake.
Argh.
What the fuck?
This is the second night in a row that has gone down like this. I lie in bed watching my clock move closer to wake up time. My sleep time is decreasing. This is time I will never get back. It is such a helpless feeling. I can’t call in sick. I can’t just be late. I have to be on time and just drag ass all day.
I hate this.
I hate wathing the time go by and being helpless to stop it.
I try to sleep again.
I just lay there again.
Why does my body reject this sleeping schedule? It has been almost a month. Hell, I am on a sleeping schedule closer to what it was in California. It should be remembering. This should be easier for me, not harder.
I pull out my computer and surf the net. I decide that nothing could put me to sleep faster than the Sacramento Bee and LA Times.
Wrong again Chuck. Not that they were especially exciting. I just can’t freaking fall asleep.
This sucks.
The last time I look at my clock it is after 2100. I have to be up at 0015 in order to be able to take a shower and get to work on time.
Three hours of sleep a night is not good. It is especially not good when your next twelve hours will be spent sitting down in front of a computer.
Like I said, insomnia is a mother fucker when you have to work the next day.

Charlie's Updated Deployment Reading List

Nothing new really, this month I was basically continuing to whip though my Alex Cross novels. Three more to go before I can start reading more "high brow" literature. I would love to find someone out there who has read "The Big Bounce." I would really like to get another opinion on it.

Top Books on this list:
-Shadow of The Wind
-Charming Billy
-Tuesdays With Morrie

Worst Books on this list:
-Summerland
-The House of The Seven Gables
-The Road To Wellville

* = new entry

Douglas Adams
-The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
-The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
-Life, the Universe and Everything
-So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
-Mostly Harmless

Mitch Albom
-Tuesdays With Morrie

L. Frank Baum
*The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Erma Bombeck
-The Grass Is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank
-Aunt Erma's Cope Book

T. Coraghessan Boyle
-The Road to Wellville

Geraldine Brooks
-Year of Wonders

John Buchan
*The Thirty-Nine Steps

Caleb Carr
-The Alienist
-The Angel of Darkness

Willa Cather
-My Antonia

Michael Chabon
-Summerland

Agatha Christie
-After The Funeral

Joseph Conrad
-Heart of Darkness
-The Secret Sharer

William Pene du Bois
*The Twenty-One Balloons

John Feinstein
-Season On The Brink

Ian Fleming
-The Spy Who Loved Me

John Grisham
-Skipping Christmas
-The Brethren

Nathaniel Hawthorne
*The House of the Seven Gables

Robert A. Heinlein
-Starship Troopers

Stephen King
-Different Seasons

Elmore Leonard
-The Big Bounce

Alice McDermott
-Charming Billy

James Patterson
-The Thomas Berryman Number
-Along Came A Spider (Alex Cross #1)
-Kiss The Girls (Alex Cross #2)
*Jack and Jill (Alex Cross #3)
*Cat & Mouse (Alex Cross #4)
*Pop Goes The Weasel (Alex Cross #5)
*Roses Are Red (Alex Cross #6)
*Violets Are Blue (Alex Cross #7)

Joe Queenan
-Confessions of a Cineplex Heckler: Celluloid Tirades and Escapades

J.K. Rowling
-Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter #6)

H.G. Wells
-The Time Machine

Carlos Ruiz Zafon
-The Shadow of the Wind

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Leave it to the Catholics to have a holiday where all you do is drink. Seriously, St. Patrick's day isn't a time for family like Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas; it isn't a big bbq event like 4th of July, Labor Day, or Memorial Day; there are no romantic attachments like on Valentine's Day. On St. Patrick's day you drink beer. There may be a parade or two, but they sell beer there. So when you are in a place like Iraq, where there is no beer, St. Patrick's Day means nothing. They didn't even have corned beef in the chow hall.
I don't know.
This seems to have lost focus.
I think the point is that I miss home so much that I am longing to celebrate a meaningless holiday.
Though I will admit that St. Patrick's Day turned out to be my favorite it day in monthes.
Why?
Well the NCAA basketball tourny started and I was able to watch all of the games. The good people at CBS made this soldier incredibly happy by broadcasting the games over the internet for free. And the Army didn't block it either!!! They block streaming video from CNN.com but not the basketball games.
I would like to think that this is because they knew I would be watching, but I doubt it. Some general probably wanted to watch and couldn't get the firewall turned off for just his computer.
So we all win.
Yay.
I am a happy soldier.

Hi?

I recently acquired the email address of one of my old high school teachers; actually the word “recently” is a stretch because I actually got the email about a year ago but forgot I had it. Oops!! Anywhoo, I have no idea how to write an email to the man. This guy was one of the more influential people in my life and even though I haven’t seen him in 7 years, for some reason I don’t want to come off the wrong way. For some reason I am worried that I will somehow disappoint him. What does that say about me though? Deep down am I still the same insecure teenager I was 10 years ago?
Sometimes I remember the conflicting looks I received when I got my first job. The excitement that I was finally contributing followed by the disappointment that I was wasting my potential working at McDonald’s. I might as well have told ‘em that I was going to be killing puppies for a living. It’s not like I sit around thinking about these things, but they definitely never go away.
It is not like I feel I have anything to be embarrassed about. I may have flamed out of USC the first time around, but seriously, I wasn’t ready for it emotionally or academically. If I owe anyone an apology for all of that it is my mom, and only because at that point it was still her money being spent. I can’t regret the flame out though. Had I gone straight through school, I never would have discovered how much I enjoyed and excelled at working with children, many of my friends would still be strangers, and I definitely wouldn’t be wearing an Army uniform right now.
Maybe it is more an apprehension about what right way to reconnect with someone I haven’t seen in nearly a decade. I have recently “run into” all these people from high school with things like MySpace and Facebook. It is one of those things where I am excited that all these people are alive and well, but damn, I have no freaking idea what to say to them. I guess a simple “Hi” might work. But that seems like the sort of thing that the insecure teenager would have said 10 years ago.

I should write for Rolling Stone...

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ummmm

If you hadn’t noticed, I have not really written much the last few days. I have been in such a bad mood due to the flu and some other things that I didn’t want to turn this into one big bitching session. Some things that have crossed my mind though…

-A friend casually compared our invasion/ occupation of Iraq to when you take a mouthful of coffee and realize it is scolding hot. At first I thought it was simply a funny analogy. As I thought about it though, I realized that it really fits our situation.
You can’t really swallow it because your insides will get wrecked. Spitting it out is just bad form because you’ll make a big mess and possibly burn others in the process. Letting it sit in your mouth and cool off wouldn’t be a very good idea either. The problem with this last option is that you will burn off so many taste buds that you won’t be able to enjoy anything else for quite a while. You might also injure your mouth. It is really a no-win situation.
The best thing to do is not rush into your cup of coffee. You should check the temperature. Possibly test the waters a bit with a finger. Blow on it a bit and cool it off. Maybe take a tiny little sip before opening wide. You need to do your homework first. This will keep you out of the no-win situation altogether.

-Maybe now that she has an Oscar, Reece Witherspoon will ditch that dooshbag Ryan Philippe. Then he can marry Rachel Leigh Cook and they can consummate the anti-Pacino; a dead pan, actor with less talent than the world has ever seen. This beast will crumble films as we now know them.

-All of you should start reading these two sports columnists:
Bill Simmons of ESPN.com’s page 2.
T.J. Simers of the LA Times
Those two are my favorite sportswriters and they should be yours too.

Now The Whole World Can Hear Me Bitch and Whine

I got no sleep last night. Literally. I tossed and turned forever, and finally gave up a few hours before work. Dragging ass and feening for my bed were the activities of the day. This would not have been so bad if my job was not to sit in front of a computer for 12 hours. Pile on that the minimal amount of work we had to do, and you can get the general idea.
I am sick too. I was feeling great yesterday. However, a night with no sleep, while draining me, seems to have energized the flu bug. I lose.
Sidenote: I blame the fact I have the flu on the Army forcing me to take a flu shot. I told the doctor that I got sick when I took it last year at school.
Tough shit Chuck. There is no reaction in your file, so you get it this year.
Even more off to the sidenote: Most people I know who take the flew shot get sick anyways. So why the hell are we paying a pharmaceutical company to get us sick? Why can’t we just skip it and get sick for free? People always bitch and whine about tax dollars going to waste because of the war and what not. Well if they really want to complain, they should complain about the military buying flu shots for all the troops and ORDERING them to take it!
Let’s see, do I have anything else to bitch and “woe is me” about?

Always…

-Sac High lost both the Men’s and Women’s Section Championship games.
-Terrence Howard didn’t win the best actor Oscar.
-We got knocked out of a 3 on 3 tournament by 3 players I know I am better than.
-The E-6 added yet another chaptor to his “Idiot’s Guide To Being an Idiot” manual.
-Apparently I am an asshole because I thought it stupid to rub the hands and comfort a terrorist breathing through a valve because he was, you know…injured trying to kill Americans. Seriously, how many other countries take enemy combatants and give them the care we do? For my sake I hope it is all of them; I am not counting on it though.
-I am coughing so much that my body aches and I feel pain in my forearms. What the hell is up with THAT?
-I got disconnected when I was talking to Becky the other day. I wasn’t happy because we don’t get to talk enough anymore; my new schedule is not conducive to it so far.
-USC lost to Cal; I HATE Cal.

From The Bleachers

Being deployed to Iraq makes it hard to watch sporting events from the states live. They don't show very many, and when they do show them they are on at the ass-crack of dawn. Lucky me, I work right through the ass crack of dawn so I couldn't watch them if I wanted to. What I can do though is follow along on my computer using the little gametrackers that various websites have. These things are great. They provide up to the minute stats and a little transcript of all the action. I watch these things like I am watching the game itself. Why?
Because I am a loser.
I pretend I am not only watching the game on TV, but that I am at the game.
Tonight I told Stanford's men's basketball team repeatedly that they sucked and that they were getting what they deserved. I pleaded to my Trojans to just hit a bucket. I called out "let's go" at least 4 times. I asked Tim Floyd why he didn't go back to the big lineup. I was sitting on fucking pins and needles as the game went through the final minute. It was painstakingly slow, what with time outs and all. Though I obviously didn't see the final play, I just knew that USC must have gotten jobbed on that foul call; I even let the refs know it in my own vocal way.
The thing to keep in mind is that I have coworkers in my office looking at me like I am freaking crazy. You know what though?
I really didn't care in the least. I was AT the game!!!

This Is What We Are Up Against...

I met an 11 year old detainee who was here with his older brother because they were paid by the insurgents to plant IED's.
"What was the going rate?" you might ask...

$10 per IED

I didn't know whether to feel anger, sadness, or pity.

I Hate That Game

The worst conversation a group of people can have entails nothing but
"Do you remember (insert rediculous cartoon, snack, TV show, fad from the good ole days)?"
I absolutely hate this game; I call it a game because it seems that the participants are trying to compete for the title of Most Wishing They Were 12 Again. It is annoying and serves no purpose.
We had a drill the other day and I was stuck in a hallway full of people who wouldn't shut up about it. It would be one thing if they went into some sort of conversation about experiences with the various fads/toys/cartoons. That never happens though. It always seems to go like this...
"Hey do you remember that one hit wonder band that sold like 600 million records?"
"Yeah, I loved Milli Vanilla Ace of New Kids on the Blowfish"
"They were great. Hey remember G.I. My Little Rainbow Mutant Transformer Pail Kids?"
"Oh man, I thought I was the only one who had those?!"
and so on...
and so on...
and so on...
I was standing in the hallway just hating life. What is the deal with nostalgia anyways? I mean, don't get me wrong, I like old music. I love old movies. I can't put down some classic books. But you will never hear me spend an hour spouting off "Do You Remember's?" And if I do drop one from time to time, it is to use as a reference for a story. I guess it is a way for soldiers from different backgrounds to find some common ground, but damn it is annoying for those of us that really don't give a shit.

The Best Thing About Tuesday...

I am a lover not a fighter.
I attack with my vicious rhetoric.
I joined the Army so I could shoot people instead.
These are all reasons I give to people who cannot believe that I have never gotten into a real fistfight or even thrown a real punch before. It is true though. The closest thing to a fight I've gotten into was in Jr High when I shoved some kid, who had been messing with me, into the crowd of on-lookers about 10 Ft away. He just left. So no fight.
There was boxing night at the frat house, but that was just fun between friends. That night though, was the only time I've ever thrown a punch. And it was half speed, half power, and half intended.
So needless to say I was pretty excited about my first boxing lesson last night. My teacher, or I guess "trainer" is the proper jargon, asked me what my experience was. I said that there was none and described myself as a block of clay ready to be molded.
First thing we did was check out my foot coordination; so out came the jumprope. I was ready to dazzle like the jump roping pro that any 7 year old girl is. I then discovered that I am no 7 year old girl, as a I stumbled and couldn't get more than 15 jumps in a row. We wont even discuss what happened when I was told to alternate feet.
Homework Assignment #1- Jumping Rope for improved cardio, coordination, and self esteem.
I then learned the basics of standing and jabbing and moving. I got pushed over when my balance was bad; I had my punch smacked intot eh side of my head if I didn't bring it back fast enough; I had a really good time. I was tired as shit and could barely lift my left arm by the time we were done, but I am ready for more. I even can't wait to do my homework. I have not had homework in over a year. For some reason getting some homework was the best thing about Tuesday.