well hello there my friend(s)...

not sure how many people actually see this.  anyhow, here is this dillemma that I have.  when i get back to the states, i think around janauary, i shall have approximately one month off.  i do not intend on going to chicago for the entire time, though i will be there.  i also do not intend to limit my vacation and travel to just oregon/seattle.  i wanna go elsewhere.  like out of the country.  any ideas?  and takers on going with me?  thinking asia.  prolly not Korea, for i am going to try to get stationed there later in my army career.  aiite, then, folks.  HOLLAAA!!!!!

new post coming soon.  i will discuss the army, my unit leadership, this stupid iraq thing, the government and their decisions, and more...if i get around to it.  i need to put it all on paper or recorded somewhere, these thoughts that run rampant through my head...or not, cuz i could potentially get in trouble for doing it publicly.  well, peace out for now...

ok so our address has changed...if you sent anything already, thank you.  hopefully it will get to me.  if not, here is my new address.

SPC. Cho, Yongmuk
HHT/6-8 Cav Unit 42545
APO, AE  09322.

Thanks...

You know, I have been thinking about this concept of not supporting the war, but supporting the soldiers fighting here.  I do not like that concept.  I have a lot of people tell me that, though they do not support the war, they support the soldiers fighting here.  Of course, me being a soldier, they have to tell me that as a friend.  I have been thinking about this for awhile.  It has bothered me. 

Even as a soldier, while I was stateside, prior to deploying here, I had similar views on said war.  I was actually kind of mixed on what to believe or think.  I know, most likely that I shouldn't be posting this.  However, I think this is necessary, to a degree.  Not too many people will be reading this anyway.  It seems xanga has been dying away within my group of people.

To continue, there is a question that I would like to pose to those that do not support the war.  If you are a veteran of this conflict, have been here, and still don't support that war, so be it.  However, in OIF 5 and 6, things have changed considerably, as far as I can deduce from informal interviews with fellow soldiers who have returned a second, third, even a fourth time.  Some as army soldiers, other as former marines turned army soldiers.  So, from that and other research and observation, I have decided that people who do not support the war really do not know what they are talking about.  They see the politics and economics of this war.  They do not see the reality of it.  They see the news and literature about this war, but they are not here, boots on the ground, seeing what is going on. 

I don't like what goes on here, and the reasons for being here.  However, it seems that at this conjuncture, the multi-national coalition's presence is necessary.  There are many reasons for it, but now is not the time.  I have been here a little less than 2 months.  I missed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years with my family to be here.  I will miss one more of each before I am done here.  I will miss weddings, birthdays, anniversaries (not mine), and much more to be here.  Actually, I get to be home for my birthday, I think.  But that is neither here nor there. 

People need to understand who they are supporting or what they are not supporting.  People say, "I understand." about things I tell them.  Do you really?  I don't think so.  But do I appreciate the effort and thought?  Heck yeah.  It's a weird concept to me, this war/combat/humanitarian effort/whatever you wanna call it now.  There are so many variables and views and angles to look at this from.  I think what is happening, as in the progress, is pretty good.  It is effective to a degree.  Am I saying it's almost done?  By no means.  There has been impatience in trying to "fix" or change a country that lived a certain way for years, decades, centuries, millennias, that to try to change it within five or ten years is just unrealistic. 

Eh, what do I know?  I am just a medic.

Racism and other thoughts.

as I sat there at 3 am in a little place called the huddle house (kind of like a crappier southern version of IHOP), i got to witness the differences between southern and norther race relations.  maybe it's because i was at the University of Oregon for so long where hippies and liberals make it fairly diverse and accepting, that i have been able to notice the difference more.  as i go through this life in this world, i see signs of racism everywhere.  now, i don't know if it's necessarily a major thing, for most people still are civil about it.  at least in the north, or northerners in the south.  there has been studies and such that say the army does a real good job about diversifying people, and acceptance and all that crap, however, i have noticed, not so much is that true.  there are strict regulations regarding the issue in the army, with serious repercussions for overtly displaying your racist tendencies, but it still happens.

however, the point i originally started with is this.  there were several tables of blacks or should i say african americans?  anyway, we were sitting next to them.  all well and good.  in walks three people, two men and one women, southern as you could get.  thick accents and the like.  and they were talking about the black people like they weren't even there...using the "n" word freely.  not the way blacks or "gangstas" use it in a brotherly tone, but rather in the racist way.  my friend from michigan was pointing it out and saying they had better watch their mouths or he would do something about it.  he is white...from the north.  but in the end he did nothing cuz we told him to stop.  he was being slightly belligerent.  however, i was painfully aware of where we were, a small town in the south, and also very aware of the fact that I am also not of the white persuasion.  now there may be some of you that actually read this and are thinking, oh Dave is over analyzing this, and exaggerating this thing.  not true...i was concerned.  anyway, the three white people were outside smoking a cigarette and one of the black men went outside to smoke as well.  as i watched out of curiosity, i was startled to see that they were being somewhat cordial, or maybe it was just tolerating of each other.  i wish i had been outside to hear what was being the said.  the black guy was pretty drunk, and it was weird to see him, no actually them, talking to him. 

it got me thinking about overt versus covert racism.  covert racism is so prevalent in the north while in the south, it's pretty out in the open.  i really would like to study this.  i mean there was a comedian, i do believe it was dave chappelle, who touched upon this topic, in one of his routines.  made me think about whether it is better, as he says, for the racism to be open, or behind closed doors like in the north.  don't get me wrong, i don't like eastern oregon by myself.  it is intimidating because it might as well be the south, the way the culture seems to be.  anyway, this was just some random thoughts.