Ok, this site is about to be deleted for OpSec reasons, so go and subscribe to my new one. Username: croftperkins

  Yeah. Led PT this morning. Had guys rolling in the mud and knee deep water for failing a room inspection twice...it was pretty cool, but tough to keep them all busy and in line at the same time. So after a day of chatting with the LT and a brief smoking session due to some unknown factor I was informed that I need to start taking charge of the guys because the Specialists are "all pretty useless". So that's what I did. And my problem guy refused to form up and do the right thing so I dropped him. He said, "No." After I left the room to grab an NCO to dust this fella he got down and started pushing. He seems to think that I have singled him out from the rest of the crew. Hmm, seems to me that the only guy I have to be on constantly to do the right thing is this dude. Am i singling him out? Probably. After three days here he's been busted smoking, talking on his phone, drinking, and eating in uniform ( no-no in da Army, mang!!). Not to mention disrespecting NCO's left and right like he's special or something. I guess my head got big and I was indeed powertripping. It was fun. I have been informed that I wiil no doubt be an E5/SGT by the time I get back from Iraq. If that happens then my sole mission after that promotion will be to "smoke the piss" out of that guy... Man, I love the Army!!

  Well, I'm getting ready to go to Iraq. Just for your Info you can go to Google Earth and find Camp Falcon. That's where I'll be. It's in Southern Baghdad. I've been squaring away my gear, all the last minute I had put off because I thought i wasn't deploying until 2009.The most important part of all this is to remain focused on the family, which I am kind of lousy at doing...My father, Step mother, and In laws will be here at the same time. It will be interesting to watch that unfold. Hopefully it will be less jagged than it appears to sound to Maggi and me.

  Some friends at a a party last Saturday thought it was absurd that I was buying anything I needed for my packing list for Iraq. I don't understand that kind of thinking. The SOP is the list, regardless of what Joe Snuffy says, or the experience of an ex-soldier who isn't a ground pounder. The "extras" i bougt are a camelbak, an extra weapons cleaning kit, and a better chest rig for my rifle's magazines. Then there are some cheap odds and ends like 550 cord locks which always come in handy, and extra tape and 550 cord, socks , uniforms, all that stuff....Basically the logic is that I don't actually need all this other junk, but these people were either females (who cannot be in combat arms) or Tankers who never fought a firefight from the ground the way an 11B does. I'm not knocking these soldiers, just pointing that my gear has got to be the best or I will be diminishing my ability to come home in one piece...It just makes sense to "Be Prepared" when your life is on the line...

   Anyway, I start the "training" for Iraq on the 29th and fly sometime after the 22nd of March. I'm moderately excited about going. I'll probably throw up on my self from anxiety. Ya'll be praying for me.I'm about to go cold Turkey on coffee, beer, and cigarettes...It's gonna suck and I will be testy, especially since I appear to be the only guy responsible enough to square away these new guys we got last week...

This is a printer friendly version of an article from www.washingtontimes.com
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Article published Jan 31, 2008
Airport found legitimate in troop treatment

January 31, 2008

By Audrey Hudson - The Oakland International Airport did not break any laws or regulations when it denied 200 Marines and soldiers access to the passenger terminal during a layover last year from Iraq to the troops' home base in Hawaii, the Transportation Department says.

Calvin L. Scovell III, the department's inspector general, blamed the mix-up on security concerns and a communication failure between the Defense Department and the Homeland Security Department.

The contract to allow military layovers at the California airport "did not require that military personnel have access to the airport terminal; it only required that military personnel be allowed to deplane and stretch their legs on stops lasting over one hour," said a report released yesterday to House lawmakers who requested an investigation into the matter.

The Sept. 27 layover was the last stop for fuel and food, but the troops, who were returning from a tour in Iraq, were denied access to food and bathroom facilities.

A Marine reported the incident to Rep. John L. Mica, Florida Republican and ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and said it "felt like being spit on."

Airport officials were concerned that the flight's ground staff could not provide "an adequate level of escort and control of such a large group of military personnel in or around the terminal area," the inspector's report said.

The report also said the Homeland Security and Defense departments have no coordinated policy to conduct security screenings or a communications process to allow the Marines and soldiers in passenger terminals.

The review also found "miscommunication about the proper storage and safeguarding of weapons carried on board aircraft during the layover" and that the airport "could not confirm that weapons [on the plane] would be secured and safeguarded in accordance with Department of Defense regulations and that the Marines and soldiers would leave their weapons on board."

An airport spokeswoman and a Defense Department spokesman said they received the report but were not prepared to comment until their respective officials had a chance to review the findings.

Calls for comment to the Transportation Security Administration were not returned.

The inspector general recommended the establishment of a task force with representatives from the Homeland, Defense and Transportation departments, along with representatives from the airlines and airports, to develop a uniform process for handling service members on all military chartered flights at U.S. commercial-service airports.

The lack of protocol for treating military personnel during transport is "no excuse for the poor treatment these brave men and women received in exchange for defending our freedoms," Mr. Mica said.

Mr. Mica said he and Rep. Tom Petri, Wisconsin Republican and ranking member of the Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee on aviation, will follow up on the inspector general's report.

"The shocking thing is that there is no protocol for handling our returning troops, and at Oakland they got a very rude welcome," Mr. Mica said. "We just need to get some regular order of the process so we don't have a recurrence of what we saw happen here."

   ...I'm pretty sure Jesus was apolitical. He didn't really mess with the gov't, just told us to be obedient and not to worry about, God had His way of squaring that all away. Well, here'ssome internet hogwash... www.liberalslikechrist.org

...Apostasy to me.

    I'm no longer a model Christian. Far from it. And alot of the blame can be found in the all this new church gobbledygook. I remember before I joined the army that I was just miserable at City View. Everything had gone from Biblically substantiated preaching to New Age Touchy-Feely postmodernist CRAP. Wanna hug? Get a girlfriend or go see your mom. Don't tell me that I have to stop being mean by calling it FALSE TEACHING and Doctrinally unsound. Unfortunately, everyone thinks I'm nuts. Of course, everyone in this sense is content to never ruffle anyone's feathers. I don't remember Jesus being too popular in the mainstream. They tried to run Him outta town regularly. He set the standard and no one liked it when it interrupted their presuppositional concepts of the "great king" and got in the way of what they thought was popular. And even today WE are doing the same thing. I am a joke. A fake christian, and try as I might I will get no better until I return to Word of God alone. I remember being completely in awe of God,Jesus, and the Bible. Many of you who know me personally remember these days. What's a man to do in this day and age of a "seeker friendly" Gospel? What do you do when everyone seems to believe the lies that big lights, multimedia shows, and a dumbing down of the true message of Christ is acceptable? I guess I have few options. Few people want to make the stand and choose the hard right over the easy wrong. At this point I would rather make God happy than be everybody's pal. I enjoy reading the Bible and praying to God, thanking him for getting me out of a life of despair and so much uncertainty. In light of Andrew's death I figured I would have been changed, perhaps even re-energized to get it right and walk straight...but I guess not.

   My whole point here is that I am disturbed by my unfaithfulness to God, my hatred towards others, and a generally disparaging attitude towards anything I once valued. I am going to Iraq very soon. I should pull my head outta my fourth point of contact and "get saved" again. Quit worrying about what evryone else is doing.  I feel somewhat retarded for being duped by own intellect, albeit limited it is. I know what the right thing is and what i distinctly and clearly hear God saying to me. "Come, home, Sinner.Come home. I sure miss your company,dude." Maybe not in that tone, but it sounds pretty close to me...

http://www.understandthetimes.org/commentary/c29.shtml

   Happy New year, suckas!!

   Had a good one with some friends over at the house with lotsa food and fun and a little too much whiskey. Spent last night and today blowing chunks and dry heaving. Thanks to my friends for letting lightweight me have more than one shot of whiskey. I don't normally overindulge, but for some reason my tolerance was nada and I went over the edge. Embarrassing to say the least.

  Spent the last week reading some Westerns given to us by SewSew because I was about burned out as far as entertainment goes. Pretty cool stuff. I've read three of them already and starting the fourth in  about an hour. Thanks, Eve. This is some great reading...

   Mandi is in town until next week Got here safely and I met her at the gate last night. Maggi is happy and the kids are all excited to see each other. Tomorrow is Maggi's birthday. Go say Happy Birthday and give her a hard time for being at the gates of uncoolness, also known as the big 3-0...

  Soubds like a cool movie title, only it's not some Hollywood feature film on it's way. No, little people, it's something called ridiculous, typical Army scheduling. I'm on this crazy detail and in order for some of the whiners to go see their Mommies and eat cookies for CHRISTmas we have to work seven days of 12 hour shifts. Inevitably someone was gonna have to "eat shit" as we call it in the Army. That was me and CPL Howie, the only two who can be counted on to show up and get the job the done. everyone has 12 hour shifts, but only after two or three days of regular shifts. We have to work  six days straight from 2300-0700 and on the 21st we get off and have to report for duty 5 (Five, or FIFE, phoenetically speaking)  hours later. Sweet. This is gonna suck like the mid-nineties. The Army rocks, it really does. At least I KNOW it's gonna suck, right?