My Iraqi Saga

Home Sweet Home

2006-11-02T21:01:00.000-08:00

Ok, I feel really bad because I've been home for a little while already and am just now updating my blog. I really wanted to take some time to start feeling normal again before I told everyone I was home. Selfish I know, but I couldn't help it. Things have been great so far. My Grandma picked me up in Indiana and I got to visit some family down there before we drove to Missouri. I'm at my parents' house now and they've been just great. I know some families have big homecoming expectations for them...my folks have been laidback about everything and I can't tell you how happy that makes me. I've been able to take things slowly and ease back into life. Oh, and their hot tub helps quite a bit as well! The weather seems extra cold and it was definitely a culture shock going to the grocery store for the first time. All those choices, it was sooo nice. I've been calling friends, one at a time. I still feel a little weird around people, I'm sure that will just take some getting used to. Anyway, I should be really close to done with this blog but be on the lookout at www.stacyincollege.blogspot.com cause I start school in January and I'm going to keep writing. Thank you to everyone for listening!

The days seem slower

2006-10-09T09:36:00.000-07:00

Alright, I know I'm leaving soon but somehow it just doesn't seem real, you know? I can't believe that soon I'll never hear another loud boom and think someone just got hurt. I'll never see another moped with 3 adults precariously perched on top weaving down a street. No more wild goat herds wandering across a highway. Not a single more wrecked palace. Humvees with young boys in the gunner's hatch will be a thing of the past. It's crazy to think about but it will be sooo nice. I'll come home and resume my normal relaxed life. I keep trying to imagine what life will be like in a month and I have nothing to go off of. For the first time since I turned 18 I won't be working. I'll be getting ready to go to college, a whole new experience as well. I'll be living in a new house. I think I'm actually a little anxious because I don't know what to expect. It will definitely be a whole new life and I'm excited to see how it plays out. Well, wish me luck...I'm a little nervous about traveling home. Ramadan is on and a crazy insurgent leader told his followers to kill an American a day for the religious holidays. Nice right? Anyway, it just makes me a bit nervous and I can use all your good wishes. I'll be seeing the US very soon...love and kisses all around!

Dude, I am sooo close to done!!

2006-10-02T04:18:00.000-07:00

It just hit me this morning that I have so little time left here in Iraq! It doesn't seem real. I can't believe that soon I'll never hear another loud boom and think someone just got hurt. I'll never see another moped with 3 adults precariously perched on top weaving down a street. No more wild goat herds wandering across a highway. Not a single more wrecked palace. Humvees with young boys in the gunner's hatch will be a thing of the past. It's crazy to think about but it will be sooo nice. I'll come home and resume my normal relaxed life. Life is gonna be so good.

Donate to my college fund!! pleasepleaseplease??

2006-09-14T02:52:00.000-07:00

Kay, before anyone gets annoyed with my new “Donation” button on the right, let me explain. I am starting college in January at the University of Missouri – Columbia and the military will help me out with some of the costs of my first year but after that I’m on my own. I read a neat story about a college kid in Boston back in the 90’s who got a short piece in the Boston Globe. He asked everyone in the city to donate a penny to his college fund. He got a bit of publicity from the paper and the local news station did a small piece on him. Well a bunch of people sent him pennies and more. He was able to pay for college and even had enough extra to donate to the local Boys and Girls club. Now I don’t know if I can get that much publicity but I do know that if everyone who reads my blog can take a minute to donate anything (a penny, a quarter, a dollar) then it really can help a lot with the costs of college. I also thought it would be an easy way for family and friends to help me do something good for myself. So I am hereby asking everyone to consider not giving me traditional birthday presents or Christmas gifts. Instead, pleasepleaseplease take just a minute to donate to my college fund instead. It’s through Paypal, one of the most secure online payment methods. It’s easy to do with a credit card and only takes like 2 minutes. I really appreciate anything anyone can spare…even just a penny. You can also check out my college blog and see how everything goes!

My laptop is back!!

2006-09-12T02:49:00.000-07:00

You know, we’ve settled into such a routine that I never feel like I have anything newsworthy to write about. I work at the Press Desk which means I’m in on all the latest happenings in Iraq, unfortunately because I’m privy to so much information I don’t feel comfortable talking about it in a personal blog. Hopefully I’ll soon have more to write about since we should start getting ready to go home. The new unit will be here soon, with any luck after we will train them we can spend a little downtime at the pool before we leave, that’d be nice.

Oh! By the way…

An anonymous someone accidentally broke my laptop screen a month ago and I was looking at having to send it back to the manufacturer, Hewlett Packard, and paying over $800 to have them replace the screen. Fortunately I happened upon an online news article raving about a company in Texas that repairs laptop screens and doesn’t charge too much. I did some research and saw nothing but good things about ScreenTek so I sent my precious laptop to them. Within just a couple days they had finished and it was on the way back. I am so happy with the service and the job they did, all for $390!! I can’t tell you enough how pleased I am with this company, I highly recommend them.

Happy 25th birthday!

2006-09-02T02:29:00.000-07:00

I know I know, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything. I hate to admit it but there just hasn’t been much to talk about till now. Up until this past week I have been living a very routine life…I haven’t done anything out of the ordinary. Work, eat, watch TV, read, sleep. I even lost my motivation to exercise; I’ve been so lazy lately. Thankfully I just enjoyed a 4 day pass, my 25th birthday and dinner with the General! Finally, something I can blog about!!

The 4 day pass was lovely and uneventful. I didn’t have a phone or laptop and was essentially cut off completely: a first for me. I read a lot, watched TV, hit the pool, and cleaned my room. Mostly I slept. That was the best part…getting to sleep anytime and as long as I wanted. Beautiful. Lately I’ve been sleeping about 5 hours a night so this was much needed.

Turning 25 was also much anticipated - now my car insurance goes down! I’ve been waiting for this for years! It was a good birthday, I had emails cards, calls, and care packages from everyone and I really appreciate all the love. I got some really cool books, some fun toys (sand toys from Mom, a slinky from Rachel) and some very sweet cards. Thank you everyone!

I also got a “happy birthday” from Major General Bill Caldwell (our big boss, the one who ives weekly press conferences on TV) and got to have dinner with him. It was pretty cool. He started a program, “Dinner with Soldiers” and once a week he sits down with two lower enlisted. It just happened that my turn came up on my birthday, lucky me. At first I was a little disappointed that I had to get into uniform on my first pass day but then I realized that this was a good thing, a birthday present from the General even. It was a great opportunity to talk to him about the things that are messed up with this organization. Maybe things will be better for the new unit that comes in?

Big bada boom

2006-08-03T22:35:00.000-07:00

Wow, it’s been a busy month…and loud too! I was just thinking a couple weeks ago that we’ve lucky and hadn’t heard the “Big Voice” telling us to take cover take cover, the compound is taking mortar rounds. And what happens? We just started getting hit like crazy! We hear the dull explosions almost every day and I was sooo ticked to wake up to a loud siren this morning. The insurgents are going a little crazy! It was so sucky, I kind of woke up to the thud and the sirens and when I went back to sleep I had the most messed up dreams. I dreamt that I woke up to the same siren but when I opened my door to look outside the trailers all around me were in ruins. The ground was all wet mud and the Marines were already out with bulldozers clearing away the rubble. A Marine was outside my door and saw me looking out. He seemed surprised that I was there and told me to grab what I could and get out of the area. The rest of the morning I kept imagining something crashing through my trailer roof. It was not a good morning. And stuff like that has been happening more and more of late.

Well today is a new day and things seem so much better! I just checked my deployment countdown thingy and I’ve only got 74 days till we leave here. Life is gonna be good again soon. Big news that points to things looking up: I’m got accepted to University of Missouri – Columbia for the winter semester!! I am so excited! I am starting the whole VA, grant, scholarship, loan process and it’s a little daunting. I know that if I start now I’ll be a lot better off though. Its nuts, my laptop just broke as well and I’m sending it off to get fixed but that means that anything I need the internet for I have to do at work during lunch and breaks. Oh, while I’m on the subject, if you ever break the glass inside a laptop screen and have to get it fixed check out www.screentekinc.com. I checked with HP and they were going to charge me $800 or so. I saw a couple different articles in online newspapers that mentioned screentek and figured I’d check it out. They are only going to charge $375 and shipping. I’ll keep you updated.

Oh, I talked to Grandma about this a little already but I’ll tell you all as well. I found out that we will demob in Camp Atterbury, IN which is only about an hour away from Sellersburg. I’m definitely hoping Grandma will come up for it but if anyone else wants to consider this your official invitation. I think there may be a short ceremony when we deplane and then maybe we could all grab some dinner or something. I don’t know much yet but I wanted to give everyone a heads up. It should be in the middle of October sometime.

Moving again

2006-07-13T05:05:00.000-07:00

Ok, this is a delicate topic but I’ve got to put it out there in case anyone reading this ends up in Baghdad. Something no one mentions to you before you get here and if you’re lucky you won’t find out the hard way. If anyone reading this happens to get stationed in the International Zone in Baghdad you can actually consider yourself extremely lucky. I feel relatively safe every day. I have a nice PX to shop at, a sweet pool I can swim in, and a day off each week I use for shopping and swimming. We have great living conditions with air cooled trailers, a fridge, a TV. My office is air conditioned with access to internet and telephones. I’m not out patrolling the streets and for that I thank God. The only thing that really took me by surprise is this…you cannot flush toilet paper in the toilets. Petty, I know, but harder than you may think! After a lifetime of doing things one way it is amazingly difficult to switch and do things the opposite way. That is all I’ll say about it, just think about it.

So big news…I’m moving offices!! Again! Yeah, I don’t really understand either. Maybe it’s to keep the enemy confused? All I know is the unit went from one building to another just down the road. Then I switched jobs and moved trailers. Then I switched jobs again and went to the palace. No the whole palace office is moving back to where everyone else is. Confused yet? So am I. I guess it might be nice to be around everyone in the unit again but it was really nice to work so close to home. I like walking to work in less than 5 minutes. Now I’ll be back to leaving for work a half hour early to give us enough time to put on body armor and drive to work each day. Boo.

If you saw me walking around the palace today you would just laugh. I’m sure everyone I pass gives me a funny look. I beat myself up at the gym a couple nights ago and I am a hurtin’ pup. I’ve been trying to hit the gym at least 3 times a week and have actually been doing pretty well. We have a guy at the gym that will happily set you up with a work out regimen. I finally realized I need some direction when I work out so I asked him to help. I told him I wanted to lean my legs a bit more and I wanted to work off a little pudginess. He then proceeded to tear me up!! I have never done squats before and I as dropping them out like a pro. I worked so hard that near the end my legs were shaking and twitching. I should have known then that I was in for a rough time. I hurt so bad yesterday and today! It’s hard to walk even! I hurt worse than I did after I took that stupid PT test! It hurts to walk, move my legs, sit, kneel…oh, it pretty much hurts when I do anything! Don’t get me wrong, it’s not just my legs either! Oh no, my “wing muscles” hurt terribly as well. You know the muscle in your back between the shoulder blades? Where, if you had wings, the muscle that would control them? Yeah, that too. But I know it’s actually a good thing. I’m going to try to go to the gym tonight and work through the pain; I think it might even help a little.

That’s about all for now. I’ll try to write again soon, I know I don’t keep up to well. Wish me luck, only 13 weeks to go. Thank you everyone for thinking of me, emailing, writing letters, and sending care packages. I really do appreciate it. Every time I get mail it just makes my day. So thank you all!

Gone, all gone!!

2006-06-24T02:48:00.000-07:00

Well I guess I had a good run. I made the most of it. I really appreciated every aspect of it. And now it's going away. That's right, they're taking my cell phone. Oh, the humanity!!! Actually it's really not that bad. It will suck to not have a phone but I'm lucky I got one for the last 7 months, not everyone gets that luxury. And it is only right that a Colonel should get a phone over a Specialist. That's the reason I was given, that we have a couple new high ranking officers and somehow not enough phones. Seems a bit crazy to me but if that's jreally the case then it's all good. Oh well, I guess that's all I have for now, I just wanted to make sure everyone knows not to call my cell phone number anymore. If you want my work number to call (which is totally ok) then shoot me an email. I miss you all a ton, every day I think about how close the end is. Only 16 weeks to go...4 months, that's nothing! That's just enough time to get in shape the rest of the way and come home feeling like a rock star.

Me and Dubya are old pals now

2006-06-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

Yeah, not really...but I did get to see him when he came to visit! It was pretty cool, in my office we guessed he was in town a lot sooner than the media did so we were watching all the newscasters standing outside Camp David and thought it was too funny! Then we heard for sure he'd dropped in for a surprise visit and found out he'd actually have a little time to talk to us. It was a neat experience. Sorry this is so short, I gotta head out to the gym. I'll try to write more tomorrow.

The wicked witch is dead...

2006-06-09T04:21:00.000-07:00

WOW! It has been a crazy couple of days!! In case you haven’t heard yet…Zarqawi is dead!! And we’ve been running on all cylinders the last couple of days at the Press Desk. Good stuff. It feels good to be here for this, I’m sure this is how people felt the day they caught Saddam. Anyway, I don’t really have much to say but that cause I’ve got to get back to work-the phones are still ringing off the hook.

Only 18 weeks to go-I cannot wait!!

Let's talk about the weather

2006-06-04T03:40:00.000-07:00

Most of you know that I lived in Yuma, Arizona for all four years of high school. Yuma gets extremely hot in the summer, between 110-130 degrees. We actually DID cook an egg on a black car on summer. I thought hat after surviving that I would be totally prepared for the summer heat in Baghdad. I was wrong! It just started getting hot here a couple weeks ago and already I thank God every time I step outside because I know I’ll be back in air conditioning in a minute. It’s like walking into the hot air stream of a really good blow dryer on full blast. You know how it feels when you realize you’re standing too close to a bonfire because your skin feels like its actually cooking? That’s how it is here because even the wind is hot. And I know the heat will only get worse! Plus, there have been quite a few “scorpion sightings” lately and it’s definitely keeping me on my toes! My buddy Calvert was sitting on his steps smoking last night and saw one scuttling out from under his trailer about three feet away! Usually I wear flip flops when I walk around after dark but not anymore, that’s for sure. I’ll have to start wearing my boots and carrying a flashlight with me at night. And I need something to squash scorpions, in case they get too close.

Whoa! We just checked the weather in Baghdad-the highest average high temp is in July and it’s only 110 degrees!! I know it’s been hotter than that the last two weeks…hmm…I wonder what it is in Yuma.

Anyway, other than the heat and stupid scorpions life is great. I really enjoy my new job at the Press Desk, I work out 3-5 times a week (thanks to Zep pushing me to go, if it weren’t for him I’d probably be 15 lbs heavier, honest), I’ll have my last bill (my car) paid off by the time I get home, I’m applying to colleges, and I’ve only got 4 ½ months to go! I can get through 4½ months o problem! That’s nothing, right? Just enough time to get in great shape, save a little money, and get accepted to college. Life is good. By the way, since I’m in a new office I have a new address-if I give it out will someone write me?

SPC Stacy Sanning
MNF-I Strategic Effects (Press Desk) (you can write Strat Eff for short)
APO AE 09316

Other than that, I miss you all a bunch! I’ll see you at the end of summer! We’re looking at around the middle of October to leave here-yay!!

Chess anyone?

2006-05-18T02:10:00.000-07:00

Heya, I may not have mentioned this before but…I learned how to play chess!! On the way back to Iraq from our leave in Ireland SPC Rzepka taught me how to play. I have to take a minute to explain what a big deal that is. My dad tried to teach me in high school and I didn’t really understand. My good friend Seth tried to teach me a couple years ago and it didn’t stick then either. When Zep taught me how to play he was super patient, repeated the rules for me over and over again, and didn’t seem to mind that I asked about a million questions. Now we play pretty often and it’s a lot of fun. I’ve even gotten to the point where I can beat him occasionally and I keep learning from him. A couple weeks ago we were playing chess outside by the pool and someone snapped this picture, I think it might have been LT Lunato. It looks like this game isn’t going in my favor but I did have a good time losing! Just thought I’d share. Miss you all!

Good times

2006-05-17T04:53:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a great couple of weeks. I love my new job, I feel really good about it. Working at the Press Desk is actually a good thing for me because I've worked so hard at not taking in any news the last few years that this is a good change...I have to deal with it on a daily basis and I think it's definitely helping me more aware. On top of that my main job is setting up radio interviews with officers here and I really like that as well. I’m embarrassed to say this, but I am just now starting to see what I’m a part of here at the US Embassy in Baghdad. I work in the Communications division and it seems like our job is to sell Iraq’s new government to the world. If the world doesn’t see and hear about the improvements being done here then Iraq doesn’t have a chance. If the American public doesn’t see the good that’s being and how far the Iraqi’s have come then their support will wane even more and, again, Iraq won’t be given a fair chance. And if we can’t get correct and true information to the Iraqi public then they’ll start to believe that they don’t even have a chance. It’s all about spreading information. This country is a little crazy; almost everyone has cell phones and satellite TV but so much of the information that gets passed around is misinformation. It passes from mouth to mouth and grows. And they’re normal people just like Americans in that bad news is more interesting to share than good news. The horror stories spread so much faster than the good stories and it kills me because where I sit I can see that so much of it is untrue. So we work extra hard to ensure that everyone knows all the good stuff that’s happening here and I think it’s really cool to be involved in it.

I want to take a quick sec to thank my Aunt Lisa and Uncle Mike in Missouri and my Aunt Denise, Uncle Greg, and the kids in Pennsylvania for the packages they sent. You all are the best and you have no idea how awesome it is to get a package in the mail that isn’t from drugstore.com! I really do appreciate all of you, for the phone calls, mail, and prayers. I feel so lucky to have such a great family when so many people over here don’t. I love you all.

So you guys wanna hear something weird? I went to Salsa Night the other night and it was just so crazy. We have this great area with a couple of sweet pools, a pool table, some foosball tables, and a wide open area perfect for dancing. I’ve been here about 6 months and this is the first time I’ve been to Salsa night. It was really strange to see so many people dressed in civilian clothes dancing with people in military uniforms, a DJ table where people have to yell to have a conversation, and all around people are just chilling and talking. I had to really concentrate and remind myself we ARE still in Baghdad. It was so unnerving I couldn’t bring myself to dance really, I was just people watching. I might go again, I dunno. The place had a good vibe to it and it was a really nice change of scenery but it was a little too much for me, you know? It felt like I was at any club anywhere else…not Baghdad. You would think that would be a good think but it didn’t seem quite real. Maybe the next time I go it’ll feel more normal, I don’t know. Oh well, guess we’ll see, huh? I’m outta here, got to o to work. I miss you all a ton. Hugs and kisses all around! p.s. I finally went swimming in the palace pool the other day and it was GREAT!! It felt so nice! Ok, now I'm really done.

A little on Ireland and a new job

2006-05-02T04:11:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Sorry, it’s been so very long since I last posted anything, over a month! Well, since then I visited Ireland for 2 weeks, came back to the desert, and switched jobs. On Ireland-I can’t say enough good stuff about that trip! It was amazing and absolutely breathtaking. I went with SPC Rick Rzepka, from my unit, who will be named Zep for the rest of this entry cause it’s easier. We drove almost the entire island! We started out in Dublin, which ended up being just like any big city. We were happy to be in a city after months in the Green Zone, Baghdad, Iraq. It was so nice just to see people out doing normal, petty things. I had forgotten what it was like to worry about where to eat, what to wear, shopping, and sightseeing. It was really great to just be myself again. I quickly developed an affinity for Jameson’s Irish whiskey (12 year is my favorite) and can now drink and enjoy good whiskey straight up. We also hit a ton of cool pubs in Dublin, even went to the oldest pub in Ireland! We went to an interesting old prison and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Everything was perfect. We even got snowed on in a city park! Zep’s parents flew in to Dublin a few days later and we rented a car and started driving. Poor Zep, he was in charge of driving and his mom and step dad were in the back. It must have been rough. Between driving a an after driving Humvees the last few months, driving on the wrong side of the road, and all the passengers making noises like we thought we’d be flattened at any second-whew!! I am sooo glad I wasn’t the one driving. I did get to drive but it was a week later after I’d gotten used to watching vehicles coming straight at us because the roads were so narrow. And I wouldn’t be completely honest if I said I did great. I did do great after the first 5 minutes. As soon as I got behind the wheel and pulled onto a road I realized my seatbelt was undone and reached down to fix it. I forgot to keep my eyes on the road and immediately hit a curb (a small one!) and jumped the van (a little!) and Zep just looked at me like I was nuts. But after that I think I did pretty good. Thankfully we were mostly on big highways while I drove, not like the bumpy narrow country roads Zep had to drive. Anyway, drove from Dublin down to Killiney to stay in the Fitzpatrick Castle. It was so cool, the castle had it’s bar in the refurbished dungeon. The village of Killiney was great, quiet, pretty, and tidy. Zep and I parked in a lot across the street from a pub and when we went to leave saw that the van was locked in. Apparently we parked in a church parking lot and the priest was waiting by the gate and chided us, saying that we had taken a spot the elderly use to go to mass. I felt awful! We traveled down the coast, stopping in little town to stay at bed and breakfasts along the way. We heard some great traditional Irish music in very town but the best music was in Dingle and Doolin. They musicians there were soo great! They had the crowd in the palm of their hands.

Ok, folks, I’ve realized a hard lesson. I wrote all of that 3 days ago and I finally understand I can’t save a blog and keep trying to add on to it cause I’ll never post it. So I’m going to go ahead and post this incomplete blog. Sorry, I’ll talk about Ireland more later.

One last thing before I post…I have a new job! Yay!! I work in the Press Desk for a Marine Major and I help answer press queries and will be working with radio interviews. I really like it so far and I can’t believe my good fortune.

Oh, and why didn’t anyone ever tell me, a Marine Corps brat, about the book/movie “The Great Santini?” This was an awesome book, I just can’t believe I’d never heard about it till now! Ok, that is all sportsfans.

Next stop-Dublin!!

2006-03-08T02:41:00.000-08:00

Sorry so long since posting anything. I never seem to have time to do anything but work when I’m online. It’s crazy that my job requires me to be online all day but I feel bad if I do personal stuff and my internet at my hooch hasn’t been working. Anyway, all is well. I’ve been rushing around trying to get my passport in time to leave for Ireland on the 17th. I’m really excited about it, cannot wait! I am so jazzed to get to go to Dublin for a week, stay in a castle, and explore Ireland with no schedule and no itinerary for the second week. I don’t want to look at a clock the entire time I’m there, I’m sure I’ll have to but I think I’ll try really hard not to. This will be my last chance to feel that free for the next 7 ½ months. Although, I did get to drive one of the SUVs last night…cranked the radio up loud and pretended I was in Arizona for a minute. That’s what the weather and the terrain remind me of. Arizona. It’s nice and warm out in the evenings, palm trees all over and if I don’t look at the dirty side streets with bombed out buildings I can totally pretend I’m in AZ.

Hey, Mom, you should be soo proud of me. I work out now!! I don’t want to mislead you; I certainly don’t go everyday or anything. And I really have to be pushed into going. And I don’t really push myself that hard. But I go! Occasionally. I actually went to the gym this morning, it was the first time I’ve gone by myself. My roommate thought she heard wrong when I said, “You know…I think I actually WANT to go to the gym.” Either way, I do work out some now and I’m proud. Other than that there’s really not much going on. I work 10 hour days 6 days a week and I really don’t do much outside of work. It’s crazy because before I came here I made friends online with people stationed in Iraq and was asking them what to expect. The thing that everyone kept telling me over and over again was bring stuff to stay entertained. They said you work for 3 or 4 hours then have a bunch of downtime where I could work out, do online college classes, read, watch movies…everything. Well, that is definitely not the case here at all! I feel like I never even have time to read books, which is really hard on me. Reading has always been my escape and I don’t even have that anymore. Since I work from noon till 10pm there’s really not much to do after I get off work. MWR puts on a ton of stuff here but it all starts between 6-9pm. So I do feel a little out of touch with people. If I weren’t so lazy I could get up earlier in the mornings but there’s still no one to hang out with because normal people are working so the only other thing to do is go to the gym. Ah, anyway, that’s my whining allotment for the day so I’ll post this and get to work. I miss you all! Wish me luck and fun in Ireland, I cannot wait! And it is REALLY nice to know that I’ve got 7 ½ months left to go…almost halfway!! Time is flying, I’ve got my fingers crossed that it will continue to fly through the summer and it’ll be the end of October before I know it. Love, hugs, and kisses…dole them out as you deem appropriate!

a taste of freedom

2006-02-21T02:13:00.000-08:00

hehehe...I can't believe I'm blogging about this but I got to drive yesterday!!! Seriously, I know I'm lame for caring this much about driving but I haven't driven a vehicle in sooo long...well, it was extremely nice. A great break. I didn't get to drive far, just to go get supplies, but I was in a Suburban with a radio and for just a little while I wasn't in Iraq, I wasn't a soldier, I wasn't in a government vehicle...I was just me for a minute and I loved it. I think that's what I miss the most, getting to be just myself. Anyway, I just had to share my little moment of freedom and peace with you all. I love you all and miss you bunches! By the way, for those who don't know yet...I am not coming home for my 2 week leave. I am, however, going to Ireland!! I'm super jazzed, I think the whole trip should be excellent! Maybe a little wet and cold but the trade offs should be totally worth it. If anyone's ever been and has any advice, please let me know. Much love-Stacy.

The war no one sees...

2006-02-16T07:57:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone! I was doing my job today in Media Outreach and part of that is to scan all the news coming out of Iraq and see if there are any good stories to try to get ran in soldiers' hometowns. Today I ran across this article http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-op-parry12feb12,1,1512246.story?ctrack=1&cset=true and absolutely loved it! It's well written by a real subject matter expert. This is the sort of thing people should share with family and friends, this is the stuff that everyone should be hearing about! Check it out, I'm not going to sit here and lecture.

I'm stuck

2006-02-12T00:59:00.000-08:00

I'm stuck right now. We just took a couple of close mortar rounds and we're locked down for a duck and cover. I'm just chilling and waiting. I'm bored now, sorry. This is a totally meaningless blog I guess. Ah...well...it's my day off so I'm outta here in a minute to go to the gym then be lazy all day. Talk to you all later!!

Freedom...ahhh...

2006-02-08T09:05:00.000-08:00

Hello eveyone...just wanted to drop in and say hi. Nothing much going on here, it's been pretty quiet. We did have a get together where General Order #1 was excused for the night and we were each allowed 2 beers and got to wear civilian clothes...that was really nice! I found Stongbow beer which was awesome, sweet and apple juice-ey...mmm. I felt like a human being with choices and options for just a minute. I actually felt like a girl for a night. Dumb I know, but it's the little things that keep me happy here. That's the worst thing about being back in the Army, my loss of choices. In real life I get to wear what I feel like, I can move if another city sounds like fun, I can quit my job if I don't like the current one or don't think I make enough money. Don't like where I live? Look for a new place. Feel like eating somewhere new? Go to a restaurant you've never been to. I miss all the things I can do in real life that make me feel free. Every day I'm reminded of choices I don't have. There are no "hairstyles" in the Army...it's short and down or long and pulled back. Hmmm...what should I wear today? Maybe, oh I just can't decide...the uniform with or without an inkstain on the pocket? hehehe...lame, I know. But I DID get to go shopping the other day!! I went with my friend Tashina to another camp and went to the equivalent of a shopping mall for here. You know, 5 small Iraqi shops that sold cheap things? It was sooo awesome, seriously, I'm not being facetious! I got a blow dryer (it broke the first time I used it), a mirror (I can't hang it because the walls of my hooch are metal, I'm looking for magnets), some junk food (yay, can't go wrong with that!), a plastic set of drawers, and some pirated DVD's. All in all, it was a great day off. We were driving in an SUV (not a Humvee for once) with no mission, no time to be anywhere, just doing girl stuff. It was sweet. I miss shopping. It was pretty nice to just cruise around for no reason though...that's always nice. Who doesn't love getting in a vehicle and just driving? It doesn't matter where you're trying to go, if you get a little lost, if you don't take the fastest route. As long as you just let yourself go and just cruise, it takes a person back to the late teens when driving was the coolest and most free thing you could do. When I'm done with this deployment my roommate from Missouri, Branden, and I are planning on taking a road trip to Canada and I'm going to insist I drive. Totally free, no time to be anywhere, no responsiblities, nothing. Ahhh...on that note, I'm out. That is the last thought I want to leave you all with...freedom.

2006-02-03T01:41:00.000-08:00

Alright, be proud of me…I ran 2 miles this morning. It was the first time I’ve done that in like 4 years. I did not like it and I never want to do it again. I think I have to every Friday with my section though. It hurt, it sucked, and I got sweaty (gross) but on the plus side…I should be in great shape by the time I get home! I was so pitiful this morning; I tried to get out of it hardcore! We were all supposed to meet at the gym at 9am so I called the boss and pleaded my case.
“You know, it’s been raining for like 5 hours and its crazy muddy everywhere!”
“Well, I know we’ll be inside the gym but the walk over is gonna be wretched, we should just postpone till tomorrow or something!”
“Well, it IS still raining pretty hard, who wants to walk in that?”
“Alrighty, I guess I’ll see you at the gym in a few.”

See, I just didn’t stick to my guns well enough! If I would have held out I could have stayed in bed! Oh, in case anyone reading this doesn’t know, I hate running…with a passion! I put more effort into trying not to go than I probably do in the exercise itself! I’m really not that big into exercise at all but I’m getting used to using the elliptical machine for 30 mins a day and doing some other stuff to try to stay in shape and tone. Running though? That’s another story. Running is all that is evil. Oh well…I guess I’ll get used to it eventually, right? And I have been doing a pretty good job working out almost every day. Thanks to the help of all of my workout buddies who make me go, if it weren’t for them I sooo would not make myself. I figure I used up all my drive and strong will to quit smoking last year…I didn’t leave any reserves. Which makes me really grateful for my workout partners, as much as I don’t like them for making me go, I love them for making me go.

So, I guess that’s all I’ve got for now, just had to rant for a minute about how evil running is. Talk to you all later!

Superwoman!!!

2006-01-27T06:04:00.000-08:00

Hehehe…I’m such a dork…in case you didn’t already know! Our friend Salinas came back from leave and he was hanging out last night for the first time since getting back. He is a total goober and has a complete Superman uniform he likes to put at random and it cracks us up. Well, we wanted to show him how much he was missed and wanted to something with the Superman thing. Yesterday I printed off a bunch of Superman logos that we taped to our shirts so when he walked in it was the first thing he’d see…haha, fun, fun. We had our little laugh and I decided I was hungry and started to head to midnight chow with my buddy Triplett. I almost forgot I had the Superman logo on! I went to take it off and was asked why…they bet me I wouldn’t wear it into the chow hall…dummies! I didn’t care a bit. Trip and I walk in, everyone stares, Trip laughed at himself because he couldn’t understand why they were staring. It was a total Homer Simpson moment, doh! You could see when he remembered the Superman logo. So all through the line the Peruvian guards are giving me crap…”Superwoman…hey Supergirl, what’s up…” The guys at our table had a little laugh and I had to explain it was a joke, just for fun. As we leave one of the Peruvian guards at our table looks up at me with a puppy dog face and say, “Superwoman…save me?!” I busted up laughing! We couldn’t keep a straight face till we got outside! Ah, it was great to be so silly/stupid for a minute! Anyway, here’s a new picture…sorry, I still don’t have a digital camera of my own so I have to wait until other people take pics of me. Mom, you’re checking out cameras for me, right?

I sleep right through this stuff!

2006-01-26T10:33:00.001-08:00

Oh!! I almost forgot! Guess what happened this morning? We got freaking mortared! From what people told me we took 5 incoming mortars around 7 am over by the PX...I don't think anyone was hurt, thank goodness. I slept right through it somehow?! I got a phone call and woke up in a daze.
"Hullo?"
"Hey, are you ok?"
"Yup...who IS this?"
"Oh, uh, SGT Lowry."
"Oh, ok, yeah, I'm sleeping. Bye"

And I zonked again until 10am when I had to actually get up for work. It makes me worry a little that if the stuff was really hitting the fan...would I even know it? Or would I sleep right through it until stuff was sooo close I couldn't get away? You know, our roofs on our trailers have already been proven not to stand up to stray bullets crashing through them. Ha! Plus, our roof is falling in! Oh, forgot to mention that too...it rained hardcore the last couple nights and it's caving in my roof. Water is leaking in all over the floor near our bathroom. So I guess I should put in a work order for it huh? Ok, that went way longer than I thought it would so good night all...sweet dreams and all that jazz!

A sweet pic of Baghdad!!

2006-01-26T10:17:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone...just wanted to share this amazing picture...it's so impressive! I don't really get to see anything like this in my nice safe life that circles between my hooch and my office. Wow. On a whole other line of thinking: someone had saked me about my belly button ring. I had only gotten it pierced a few months before I got activated. I ended up taking it out about a month ago. The uniform I wear everyday sits at what Mom calls my waist...you know, above the belly button. Ridiculous! But that's where the Army makes the uniform pants sit and it really hurt the new belly button ring so I went ahead and took it out. It's ok, I figure if I can use this year to really get in shape I can come home and get it redone on a washboard flat belly! Heck yes, this deployment will do me some good after all!! hehehe...

Surreal moment

2006-01-24T10:22:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Like the new pic? SGT Snyder walks around like a sniper with his camera...snapping pics of anyone not paying attention. Thankfully he's kind enough to make me smile and laugh to make up for all the pics he's gotten where I'm talking or doing something equally weird looking in pictures. I hope this shows that I really do have fun at work. I mean, work aside, aren't you supposed to have a good time? hehehe... So I really wanted to mentally show you a snapshot of me this morning on my way to work. It was one of those moments in a person's life you wish someone else could have taken a picture and written a caption. I dunno, it really isn't that big of a deal, but to me it seemed sooo surreal! I was running a little late this morning and instead of getting all the way ready at home I did what any normal girl would do when she's running late to work...grabbed my makeup bag so I could take care of that in the car. But nowadays I don't drive myself to work in my little Mazda 626; I catch a ride to work everyday in a humvee with Kevlar helmet and body armor. So there I was, in total autopilot, getting ready in the humvee. I just undid my chinstrap, pushed the Kevlar off my forehead a little and did a quick makeup job. It was when I was putting on my mascara that it really dawned on me what a bumpy ride it was. About the same time we came to an intersection and I had to stop to make sure the road was clear to cross. Looking down the Baghdad street at other humvees, civilian vehicles driving crazy, and buses, it REALLY hit me that...my goodness! I'm putting on makeup...in a humvee...on my way to work in Baghdad, Iraq! That sort of realization usually slips right past me and it makes life so much easier to deal with. I get away with pretending my life is pretty ordinary and block out stuff that would point to anything other than that. But this morning was too much and I just had to laugh out loud at myself. hehe...just thinking about it seems so weird to me even now! Ah well, whatever. Miss you all bunches! Hey, if you're the praying type, take a moment and think of two of the guys from my unit here, SPC Claffey and SPC Rzepka are doing...uh...something (I don't know how much I can say here so I won't say anything I guess!) and it'd be cool if you kept the guys in your thought! Thanks!!

hooah abuse

2006-01-23T10:51:00.000-08:00

Hey all, I’ve been meaning to blog about this for awhile and keep forgoing it for more important issues. Since it’s been pretty quiet the last couple days I’m going to talk about something sooo meaningless about half of you won’t read this all the way through. I’d like to rant a little about the word “HOOAH” and its uses and abuses in today’s Army. When I went to Basic Training in ’99 we yelled out hooah as a war cry type of thing, a morale booster if you will. (It never really boosted MY morale but that’s not the point here. You know, the Marines say “oorah,” I think the Air Force jokingly says “fly,” maybe the Navy says “swim.” The Army says hooah. And now they say it a lot. It’s no longer a morale boosting battle cry. Now it’s abused to the point of no return. Soldiers use it to say, “Yes.” We use it to say, be right there.” If you really don’t have an answer for a question just holler hooah and everyone will understand the poignant reply and all its deeper meanings. Somehow. I find it’s a very nice subversion tactic. If someone walks up to ask if I’m working hard, all I have to say is hooah. And it’s really nice when someone is telling me what I’m going to be doing, or what rule just changed, or why they think we’re fighting this war it’s totally acceptable to just say hooah. That saves you the time, trouble, and wasted breath trying to diplomatically disagree. Life is so much easier with hooah in our vocabulary. There is a downside to hooah however. First, for all I know, other people are just saying hooah to me instead of giving an honest opinion or answer. Second, it’s so overplayed it become extremely annoying! I hear it everywhere! Sheesh. K, kids that’s all I’ve got. It’s a little disappointing to me to read over what I just wrote because I’ve been thinking about it for like a week. I blame lack of sleep. If I had gotten my full ten hours my brain would be tip top. I’m just glad I got the point across. I miss you all so much. Haha, I just realized that no one will probably make it all the way to the end of this blog to read how much I miss them. Maybe I’ll write a fresh one, just in case.

Sorry so long!

2006-01-18T10:11:00.000-08:00

I'm really sorry everyone, it's been over a week since I've blogged anything! But I do have a good excuse-I started a new job in Media Outreach. It's been crazy busy and with my hours from 12-10pm I feel like I never have any time for myself! The job is going to be great; right now it's a little overwhelming though. It's very rewarding; I go home at night feeling like I actually helped each day. The new job pretty much has me browsing all the news coming out of Iraq (I'm sure my dad is sooo happy I'm paying attention to the news for the first time since 2001) and finding the happy stories to market to hometown media. It's cool cause I get to take the stuff that's published in a small military publication, one that maybe only gets read at the camp it's about, and send it to a soldier's hometown. There are some great things going on over here, I really see that now. There are a lot of stories about how much the Iraqi Army is doing for the people of this country; I wish I could market those to the States somehow. Like how many people got running water/electricity/roads/safety precautions just this week. The US is doing a ton, don't get me wrong, I think we hit a point where we aren't teaching this country as much as we've stepped back to let the Iraqi's start helping themselves. I don't really know, I only started reading the news like a week ago, but that's what it seems like.
Omigosh! I still haven't blogged about Iraq's "Army Day" ceremony! Wow, it has been awhile since I've been on here. Well, if you didn't know, Iraq held a ceremony here in Baghdad at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (that place is impressive!) and I got to help escort the media to the event. Oh and by the way, this was the biggest military ceremony they've held since the US has been here. Anyway, it looked amazing. All the Iraq Army soldiers were dressed and pressed and they were really representing! A lot of work went into it, from the set up to the soldiers practicing drills. The day before a guy in my unit, Jeremy, kept talking about how we were going to take incoming rounds the next day for sure...crap like that, being all obnoxious. We all knew the ceremonies would probably be targeted but man, I hate when boys try to cover up a fear by doing this kind of stuff! Well, he was right. We were waiting in the buses during the ceremony and heard like 4 or 5 mortars. The first one was loud but still a way off. The second hit close enough that we could feel it. The last one I heard whistled overhead and I thought, "This is it!" I mean if you hear it cut through the air above you, wouldn't you think the same? Luckily that one never detonated because it landed about 100 yards away!! Thankfully, the ceremony wasn't interrupted and it went really well.
Other than that I've just been working my tail off, watching movies (I'm addicted to Scrubs), and playing Tiger Woods Golf. By the end of this year in Iraq I'm gonna be wicked at video game golf! And maybe real golf too! I found the "Baghdad Winery and Golf Course" and I'm checking it out Saturday. How cool would it be if I get to work on my drive while I'm here? And if I ever get internet in my hooch I want to do some online college classes. Oh, wanna know what else I'm doing Saturday? Something I didn't think I'd get to do in Baghdad, that's for sure! I'm getting a manicure and pedicure!!! It seems soo wrong somehow but I’m excited anyway! Okay, on that note...love, hugs, kisses...you know the deal! I miss you all!

Finally, a day off!!

2006-01-08T02:53:00.000-08:00

Yayy!! I got my first real day off yesterday! I say real because I got Christmas off but so did all the E-4 mafia. And I had Saturday off last week but I spent most of it at the range, which is cool but I didn't get to relax really. I made the most of yesterday. Even though it poured rain most of the day. And even though I still had to go to a General's briefing at 6pm. Ok, let me go off on a tangent here...why on Earth would a General give a weekly briefing to a group of 40 or less?? It seems like such a waste. And I really don't think we should have to attend if it's our day off, that's just ridiculous. You end up spending a half hour getting back in uniform, spend an hour at the brief, then it seems like your day is over. It's just silly. Our 1SG told us to ask the General if we have to go on our day off and whatever he says goes. Haha!! Joke's on him, he didn't think we'd do it, I totally will! What have I got to lose? This isn't my career by any means, as soon as this year is up I'm back out of the Army again. It's sweet. Anyway, so yesterday...
It really did rain cats and dogs. No good thunder or lightning like back home but I really like the way the rain sounds coming down on my trailer roof. Everywhere I went I had my pants rolled up into Capri’s. I got so soaked, it was great. I went with my friend Tashina (SPC Venters in my unit) to lunch and to the PX. We met my friend Bill (civilian Blackwater PSD) at the palace then I proceeded to be a lazy ass and watch movies till 6 when I had to go to the brief. After all that and dinner we all went over to Longoria and Tripplett's hooch and played Tiger Woods Golf all night. It was so nice not to have to do anything. Oh, and I about died when I got to Longoria's and saw his holster...he has the same one I do!!! It was awesome, I told him about the contest them made fun of him for having a girl holster. So he called me Huck Finn for having my pants rolled up. Good stuff. That's all for now, see ya'll! (Sorry, I know this one was a bit random!)

A contest...kind of...

2006-01-03T08:54:00.000-08:00

I bought a shoulder holster from a little shop at the Al Rasheed Hotel here. It makes me laugh every time I see it because it reminds me of a 3 year old's cowboy Halloween costume. It's black suede with white stitching and I swear when I get back to the States I'm going to Wal-Mart to find boots and a hat to match. I just know they'll have them! So here's the contest with no real prize: Try to come up with a nickname or something I can get embroidered on this thing. I need something I can get stitched on there in old Wild West style cursive...it would totally make this holster the funniest thing ever! So if you have any ideas, please let me know. Oh yeah! As if this holster weren't gaudy enough...my friend Chris was walking with me today and looked at my holster funny. He looked up with this incredulous look and said, "You bought a Phat Farm holster?" Apparently, the little brass snap buttons have the Phat Farm logo on them!! For anyone who's lost right now, Phat Farm is an urban/hip-hop style clothing line, which makes a Phat Farm holster completely ridiculous! I think, just like the stuff you find in Mexico, a lot of things here are counterfeit, my holster being one of those things. Ok, enough info. Now start brainstorming! Please?

Interview on BBC Radio

2006-01-03T08:31:00.000-08:00

So the interview that SGT Trevor Snyder and I did the other day on BBC Radio turned out to be alot of fun! I was really excited afterward because my Mom and Dad called as soon as we got off the air and said they had listened to it in Missouri! Just by a stroke of luck my Aunt Lisa heard it on the radio and called my parents to tell them what station. They were driving my sister to the airport after her Christmas visit so they all got to listen to it! My Aunt Cara listened to it online! I'm still so stoked that so many people heard it. You'd think I'd be a little less stoked since I worked in radio for a couple years and my family heard my voice all the time but this is different. Anyway, I really enjoyed doing the show. I did feel a little out of my element because the other two being interviewed actually blog about important stuff like war, rights, and politics while mine is more like a journal. I don't get too deep here, it's not for serious thinkers. But I had a good time and I feel like I got across to Kevin, from the "World Have Your Say" segement we did, that I just do this to keep in touch, stay sane, and have fun. Hope the links work, I'm learning! It took me like 30 minutes to download the actual interview, just a heads up.

Thank You!!!

2006-01-03T08:20:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone leaving comments! I know I don't get back to everyone who has left me their email address and for that I'm sory. I started this blog because I don't get much time online and this is the fastest way to communicate. I still don't get much internet time and just don't send all the thanks I wish I could. You've all been so wonderful, letting me know not only are people actually reading my blogs, but also sending me the nicest comments wishing me luck and a safety. I just want everyone to know that even if I don't email you back, I really do appreciate you and the comments you leave. It always brightens my day to see comments in my email inbox and I feel like I have an even bigger family looking out for me. So thank you all again!

Happy New Year! Tracer rounds, machine guns, and mortars.

2006-01-02T04:55:00.000-08:00

So Happy New Year everyone!! I hope you all had a great time, I did! I got an email suggesting, “in case of celebratory fire on New Year’s Eve, duck and cover. If you’re in your trailer, pull your mattress over top of you.” Instead I donned full body armor and a Kevlar helmet and went outside to watch the tracer rounds light up the sky at midnight. I know it wasn’t what I was supposed to do, but I did tuck my arms into my body armor vest…doesn’t that count for something? I heard how amazing the night sky looked after the soccer game a couple weeks ago, tracers of every color flying through the sky and wanted to see it. I guess New Year’s isn’t as important as a soccer game because the display wasn’t all that impressive. It was pretty, colored tracers cutting through a black velvet night sky. There just weren't that many. I guess that’s actually a good thing because I heard a bunch of people went to the hospital after the soccer game from rounds falling from the sky. Anyway, I had a good New Year’s Eve. Matter of fact the whole day was a bit exciting for me, both good and bad. The good first, ok? That’s always better. We went to the firing range and it was awesome!!! I finally got to fire my pistol, which I feel much more comfortable with now. I’ve wanted to buy a Beretta since the last time I fired one in the military, back in 2001. I liked it then and I loved it this time! We also got to fire an M16, just to stay familiarized. The best part though was getting to fire a Sterling MK4, a British (I think that’s what they told me) machine gun that’s believed to have been Uday’s and was left in the palace. I don’t know if that’s true but I don’t care…it was freaking awesome!!! It was so damn accurate, I couldn’t believe it. And light, it didn’t weigh hardly anything. I don’t know much about weapons, actually more like nothing. I just don’t see why we don’t use this weapon in the US military…is it not that great? Is it illegal? Does it jam? Too expensive? I would think it’d be awesome to issue to soldiers who could put it to good use, with this accuracy, I know I would love to have one…I just wouldn’t want to have to use it on anyone. I think I’d just want one to take to the range.
Ok, enough about it, I’m sure there’s a good reason we don’t use them. So after the range I got dropped off at home cause it was kind of my day off. As we were walking into the palace I heard a huge boom not that far away. I looked up at my buddy and said, “Let’s go inside.” He looked at me like I was crazy…he didn’t understand why I was worried about it. Since it already hit he didn’t see why hide. From what I’ve heard here, when you hear one always get somewhere safe cause there’s usually more on the way. We went inside just after a 2nd one hit and the duck and cover alarms started going off. This being my first duck and cover I didn’t know what the heck they were saying on the intercom. It was funny, while I was walking in the hallway trying to listen a bunch of Marines came down the stairs mimicking the loudspeaker…they had it down! So I finally heard “move away from all windows…” and everything from the Marines. And since it seemed like they at least knew what was going on I followed them downstairs. I heard a couple more booms, they sounded farther away though, thankfully. I acted like I wasn’t nervous, just sat down and read my book. Really though? I was eying the ceiling; I kept thinking something would crash through. Kinda dorky, huh? Oh well, I don’t care.
Other than that, New Year’s was pretty good. I found out where to go for Midnight Chow (very important), played on the internet at my friend’s trailer (since I still don’t have internet in mine), and got to play Tiger Wood’s Golf 2005…that was awesome!! It’s one of the few video games I’m decent at and I love playing. That about does it for my New Year’s blog…hope you all have a great year, enjoy the hell out of 2006, I know I will. I’m living it up Baghdad style baby!

An interview, some permalinks, and the abuse of newfound power

2005-12-29T08:38:00.001-08:00

Ok, so I think I'm participating in an interview tonight for BBC Radio with SGT Trevor Snyder. I think this all came about because someone over at the Mudville Gazette linked to my Christmas blog. Which is actually pretty cool to me because when I first found out I was getting pulled back in the Army to go to Iraq I searched online for milboggers and the Mudville Gazette was my favorite site to visit because it has so many great links. Ok, let me just say, I feel very internet savvy now! SGT Snyder just showed me how to do the permalink thing and, I now I sound silly but, I'm really excited! Anyway, here's the interview with Greyhawk of the Mudville Gazette and Matt of BlackFive from last night. And here's the article announcing tonight's show.

Ok, I know I'm abusing the permalink thing so I'll stop now. I'll let you all know how the interview goes. Have a great night all!

Some pics

2005-12-27T05:43:00.000-08:00

SGT Trevor Snyder took these and since my family asked for pics, here they are. One is obvious, I'm just working. In the other one I'm playing hacky-sack with a soccer ball. Alright. That's all I've got. Oh, and good news...well you all probably don't care but this IS my blog! My smallpox shot finally healed! If you don't know about smallpox shots (and I didn't before now) they take about 3 weeks to heal. The doc told us it was supposed to turn into a nasty open sore and he was right. It sucked. I took really good care of it and did everything the doc told us to so hopefully even the scar with fade away almost completley. Now that it healed I'm putting Neosporin on it a bunch. That stuff is like magic! Ok, now I'm done. Sorry, I just felt like sharing.

Nothing says Merry Christmas like the sound of gunfire in the morning!

2005-12-26T06:13:00.000-08:00

Seriously, that is what I woke up to on Christmas day. I hear gunfire often but for some reason waking up to it on Christmas Day just didn't sit well with me. I had plans to go watch some people in my unit play football and hang out but after I woke up like that I changed my mind. And don't get me wrong, I didn't think I would get hit or anything. I feel "relatively" safe where I am. It just kinda messed things up for me. So instead I rolled over and went back to sleep. That's where I stayed almost the entire day! I watched "White Christmas" on my laptop, watched a bunch of TV, read almost a whole book, and talked to all kinds of family on the phone. The only time I left my bed was to shower and go to Christmas dinner at the DFAC (dining facility) where I had a pretty good dinner. They had Hawaiian ham (burned, but that's how I like it), yummy turkey, crab legs (I didn't eat them, we had a bunch of people get sick last month from the seafood so I played it safe), candied yams (mashed though, which was weird), cranberry sauce (yay!!), a bunch of other stuff I don't remember, and most importantly...pumpkin and pecan pie!! I have a serious weakness for pie. Heck, at Thanksgiving 6 pieces of pie disappeared between my cousin Caitlin and I. It was pretty bad! I got to Iraq like 5 or 10 pounds heavier than when I left Missouri a month before! Anyway, after dinner I pretty much went back to the hooch and drifted in and out of sleep with the TV on. I'll tell you, that was the laziest day I've had in ages and it was great!! So all in all, a pretty decent Christmas. Hope you all had a great Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanza/Nondenominational Holiday!! Email me with all your "holiday" stories, I'd love to hear them!

Correspondence

2005-12-24T05:02:00.000-08:00

Hello all, I love getting comments from everyone but if you would like a reply I need your email address. Alot of you write a name with no way to reply. If you mean to do this then no problem, I just didn't want anyone to think I was ignoring their comments.

Thanks

Merry Christmas from Baghdad

2005-12-24T03:48:00.000-08:00

Pics: 1-my sweet new Pez dispenser, I love it. Like my nice job of erasing stuff in the background? I'm trying to keep to the OPSEC thing. 2-two cute kids whose family was attending a Christmas party here today. The little girl was just adorable in her Santa outfit, and she knew it! The little guy was just a doll; he was a little shy at first. Their parents were really nice and let us take some pics with them in exchange for us doing a couple family photos with their camera. 3-a palace in Baghdad we control right now, previous resident-Saddam. I love walking through here and seeing the sweet all-American murals we've painted on the walls. I love knowing all us "infidels" are peeing in his toilets. Juvenile, I know, but I get a kick out of it anyway. 4- the Baghdad sky at night. Pretty, no? 5-home sweet home. The sidewalk out front of our hooches. Good stuff. 6-our pool at night. I feel so lucky to have access to a pool at all, let alone one this pretty.

Pics courtesy of (in order) MAJ Willhoite, me, and all the rest (not in order) SGT Trevor Snyder, SPC David Claffey, and SPC Rick Rzepka. Thanks guys!

Merry Christmas!! I hate to admit this but I didn't realize Christmas was this close! It wasn't until the end of the day yesterday when the good MAJ Willhoite reminded us about our Christmas Eve party. When I heard that it finally hit me that Christmas was upon us! I haven't felt it creeping up on me at all this year. We have a few decorations up around the office, a tree here and there, but that's about it. We did all get a stuffed stocking from the students at the school my 1SG teaches at in the real world. Those were much appreciated. I also got a Christmas box from a very nice lady named Sharrie Kreh. She runs a program for soldiers out of her town of Innsbrook, MO, a place only about an hour away from where I live. I was so happy to get the box that as soon as I got home I opened it up to see what goodies were inside. As I looked through everything I realized that the gifts were meant for a soldier who doesn't have a PX they can shop at, someone who doesn't have a nice trailer with a heater/air conditioner. Lots of soldiers are out in the desert sleeping in tents or on top of their vehicles. Someone like that deserved this box of goodies. So I emailed Sharrie to tell her thanks and ask her if she'd give me the name and address of another soldier so I could pass it along to someone who needed it. Let me just say that Sharrie is running a great program and if anyone would like to donate time, money, or items to the program please email her at momkreh@aol.com we love her over here! Ok, so Christmas and the lack of Christmas spirit. I don't do all the normal traditions people associate with the holidays. I don't bake much, I don't like to cook, I get bored with sports on TV, and I haven't gone door to door singing carols since I was a preteen. I do spend a lot of time with family, go around town to ooh and ahh over Christmas decorations, sing along with Christmas music on the radio, and watch some important Christmas movies. The highest on my list of important Christmas movies is Bing Crosby's "Whit Christmas." Even if I don't feel any Christmas spirit, this movie will always put me there. It's just not Christmas without this movie. Which is why I thank God I brought it with me! I found out we (and by we I meant the E-4 Mafia) get Christmas day off. My holiday plans are as follows: get of work tonight, go to my hooch and drop off my body armor and Kevlar helmet, relax at the Green Bean coffee cafe with my buddy Mikal Calvert, go back to my hooch and stay up late watching "White Christmas" and any other holiday movies I can find on TV. Whoo-hoo!! Since I do have the day off tomorrow I fully expect my phone ring off the hook with friends and family calling to say hi. What I guess I'm trying to say is...everyone who has my phone number, please call me tomorrow?! Ok, no more begging.

More importantly, I want to ask everyone a couple favors. This holiday, please say a prayer for someone who may not be having as good a holiday as you. You turkey didn't turn out just right? Chill, some people won't eat this holiday. You didn't get the gift you wanted? Some people won't get anything the holiday. Just remember someone always has it worse than you; please keep them in mind this Christmas. Oh, and this is really directed at my siblings, please try to get along with your family this year! Just pretend for a day that you're best friends and you may be surprised at how much fun you have. Try not to roll your eyes, sigh with contempt, or yell. Just smile and act nice and you may find yourself smiling for real. Be happy that you have people who can spend the day with you and tell them how much it means to you. I love you all, have a good holiday!

I'm a dork

2005-12-23T22:49:00.000-08:00

I accidently wrote that my roommate Michelle is from South America and she's actually from South AFRICA...like said, I'm a dork. Sorry Michelle!! I fixed it now.

Baghdad-home sweet home?

2005-12-21T06:34:00.000-08:00

All apologies for taking so long to blog. I’ve been here for almost 2 weeks but I wasn’t allowed to blog until I had my site checked out. Since a handful of very stupid people leaked classified information on their blogs the military is really serious about making sure we know what we can and can’t say. It’s a good thing though because even though I can use my common sense not everyone has that luxury! From what I understand, very recently a soldier talked on his blog about where he was traveling to, what time of day, what kind of vehicle, and bragged about getting to ride with important people and they got ambushed. Thankfully everyone got out ok, even though they had to commandeer a local’s car to get back into the Green Zone! Either way, it should have never happened which is why I’m holding a “DO/DON”T list…so I don’t get anyone killed.

OK, so here’s the update. Last I blogged I was still in Kuwait waiting on jacked up orders. My new orders came in right at the last minute and we barely made the flight to Baghdad. It was quite a change from the big and comfy commercial flight we took from Texas to Kuwait. I finally got my first ride in a military issue C-130! It was so loud but I loved it. You could feel every move the pilot made which I thought made for a very interesting flight. When we landed In Baghdad we were still not where we needed to be so we got to ride in a “Rhino.” I had never heard of a Rhino before now and it was also an interesting ride. A Rhino is an armored bus with extremely tinted windows. That was by far the most nerve racking part of the journey because we traveled through the red zone. Everyone’s heard all the stories about what can happen on a convoy through the red zone so I was really nervous. I was eyeballing everything in the road, on the side of the road, and up ahead. I was seriously imagining and expecting the worst but we got to our new home without a hitch. I stayed in a really nice temporary trailer with a real bed and everything! The next day we all went in to meet our new unit and check out our office.

WOW! We have it really good! We have a nice air conditioned office with working toilets and a sometimes working elevator. Our office is in a convention center that Saddam used often. It was interesting talking to a media member the other day about this building in previous times. She had visited here for press conferences during Saddam’s reign and said it was like waling on thin ice. If you did anything that made anyone mad you got kicked out and she couldn’t believe she was sleeping (we let some transient media people stay here) in the same building. It’s been said that the same conference rooms that we set up and use every week were once used by Saddam to gather people so he could kill them. An Iraqi said we only need to pull up the carpet to see the bloodstains. Rumor or not it’s still crazy!

Well now I’m all set up in my new home. I share a two room, 4 man trailer and a restroom. I’m happy we have our own bathroom instead of having a latrine trailer that the whole place shares! I have a great roommate, Michelle Guy. She seems pretty nice and has a really cool English accent because she’s from South Africa. It works out pretty well because we like a lot of the same music so I can keep my radio on all the time. I hardy ever see my other trailer mates; I think they’re on a different schedule. Anyway, I have a real bed, it’s pretty bad though so I’m ordering a memory foam mattress pad online. I have a fridge and television as well and we even get a few good channels! Mostly I’ve been reading in my off time since I don’t know many people yet. We do have a small and under stocked PX that I’ve hit almost every other night. I think I just want to shop because there’s nothing there I need and I keep leaving empty handed. I think I may redirect my shopping affection to online shopping; it may be my only option! We also have a small food court with a Subway, a burger place, a gyro place and a coffee shop. All the food from there I’ve tried so far was just kind of off. Not quite right, not quite wrong, it’s hard to explain. I’ll just say I don’t eat there much! Our DFAC (dining facility) is actually very good; they served steak, shrimp, and lobster tail two nights ago! I’ve been eating almost every meal there. My mom will be so happy to hear I actually eat breakfast now! I pretty much have to because my 1SG makes me and another Specialist meet him at 6:30 in the morning to do PT. He said we just got lucky enough to be on his schedule so we get to work out with him. Yesterday was rough because we ran but today we did upper body in our very nice gym and I did ok. My body is just taking a bit of a beating wearing body armor every day; it even feels like I have shin splints just from the extra weight! How crazy is that? I was really happy the other day because we got to lock up our bulky M16 rifles and start carrying an M9 pistol. Yayy!!! I have the funniest holster! We were told we couldn’t get a pistol till we had a holster so I bought one from a hajji shop at the Al Rasheed Hotel across the street. The only one that fit was black felt with white stitching…I look like a 3 year old playing cowgirl in a Wal Mart costume! I’m looking online for a new one, preferably one that points down at the ground, not straight back toward people walking behind me.

Wow, I’ve really been rambling huh? I’ll finish up for now but I’ll leave with this last story. A couple nights before we got here Iraq played Syria in a soccer (futbol) game and Iraq won. Apparently this means everyone who owns a gun, which is pretty much everyone, has to fire all their weapon up into the air to celebrate. Well, that isn’t a great idea when you’re in Baghdad in the red zone! The guys manning our office that night heard all the shots and thought we were under attack. They ran around putting on gear and getting ready for a fight! The phones were ringing, everyone else thought they were under attack. Eventually it all calmed down but the next day we found out that a bullet had crashed through our LT’s trailer roof! She had the lights off and heard a crash, when she turned on the light she found a hole in the ceiling and a bullet on the floor by her bed! How scary would that be? Omigosh!!!

Kuwait

2005-12-11T08:44:00.000-08:00

Wow, that was the longest day ever! I spent way to much time on a plane but on the plus side...I'm in Kuwait and the countdown has started!! My pay is now tax free and I'm finishing up day 365, 364 left to go baby!! I am really jazzed because at least my tour of duty really has started, I feel like I'm starting to be productive. I may be stuck in Kuwait for a minute because my orders weren't issued correctly. I'll find out more tomorrow. I love you all and I'll keep you updated. Good night all!

Off to the Sandbox!!

2005-12-08T21:02:00.000-08:00

OK, so Texas huh? Well it was really beautiful flying over the desert and into El Paso! I really miss the desert, it made my heart swell just getting to see it again. But then everything kinda went downhill. We got to our building and found utter chaos! There are more people going through at a time than are supposed to be. We didn't have enough beds or wall lockers. The buildings are very old, dirty and dusty, and freaking cold!! Every morning we have had formation at like 4 in the morning and every night we don't even get done with training till like 9pm and we still have all kinds of crap to do before we sleep. A couple nights we didn't get to bed till 12:30 then awake at 4am. It sucks. We eat MRE's (meals ready to eat) almost every day, get little sleep, and it's been really cold so I'm getting sick. Oh and on top of that!? We got a whole bunch of shots the other day and they suck!! I got the Anthrax shot which really hurts and the flu mist which is helping make me sick. Worse than all the rest is the smallpox shot. From what I understand, it will blister and pus and leave a nasty little scar. I am not happy about that at all. I'm not really digging the whole 2 week blister thing and scars are definitely not my bag baby! Oh well, it's all in the name of war, HOOAH!
So enough whining, wanna hear the good news??!!! I know where I'm going and I don't think it will be too bad.It actually sounds like I may have it pretty darn good considering. We spoke to our 1SG and really grilled him on what to expect. We are going to Baghdad. This is good and bad. Good because it's a well built up area, bad because I think that's where the trials are going on for Saddam so it might get a little crazy. On the plus side our unit has already been in country for a little while so if I stay for the duration of my unit's 12 months then I should be back in the states for Christmas next year! What a great welcome home, huh? All the family is already getting together so it'll seem like everyone's in town to welcome me home, I'll feel so special! Let's see, what else? I should get a two man trailer with another female, so no tent city, yay!! Well, maybe my first couple days, but after that I'll have a real trailer. Oh, we get satellite television so I get to watch cartoons and you know that makes me so happy! One day a week we should get a casual day and we get to just hang out and wear civilian clothes. Once a month we get a steak and lobster dinner. And the best part??? Drumroll please......I get a cell phone with free incoming calls!!! It's a New York phone number so anyone can call me after their nighttime cell phone minutes start and it's totally free!! They give us the cell phones to stay in touch with each other but he said we could give the # to family and friends. Omigosh, I am so freaking happy about that you have no idea! I am completely addicted to my cell phone and now I don't have to completely cut the umbilical cord! I don't get to surf the internet on the new one and I probably can't send or receive texts but I GET A CELL PHONE!!! Ok, I'm done bragging now. Also, I found out that sometimes I may get to escort the international media and I think that's pretty darn cool. Especially if I end up going to school for broadcast journalism. Maybe I'll make some good contacts?
Well folks, the next time I write anything I'll be in Iraq so wish me luck and keep me in your prayers please. I have been really busy this week and will probably stay really busy for the beginning of my time over there so please don't worry if you don't here from me for a little bit ok? Matter of fact, I just found out...well I can't say what I just found out or I'd have to kill you all (hehehe) so I'll just say just expect to hear from me for a while after tomorrow. Well, after that latest announcement I have to go upstairs and take care of stuff so I bid you all goodnight! I just got out of my last bit of training and it's 9:55pm and I probably should sleep sometime between now and 4am tomorrow huh? Love, hugs, and kisses!! You know which one you get.

My new look?!

2005-12-03T18:53:00.000-08:00

So I'm back to brunette again. I loved having blonde hair but a couple different people fresh from the sandbox told me it would be smart to go dark. Some crazy talk about how blonde haired, blue eyed girls have a high risk of getting kidnapped...I dunno. But since I don't really like the idea of being sold into slavery I figured, why not? I picked out a really rich chocolate color and I'm kind of digging it. Also, and this may sound bad, it was nice to spend some money! Those who knew me the past year or so know what a girlie girl I've been and I really miss shopping! Every time I see something I would normally buy I stop and remind myself I'm going to Iraq. If it can go with me to the desert then great, otherwise it'll have to wait till I get home. As you might have guessed I have a huge wish list of things I want to buy when I get back next year! I'm suc a dork!

Whoa. NEXT YEAR. Wow, it's strange to think that. I've never been away from all ties and support for more than 3 months and that was Basic Training in 2000. If you know me well you also realize how much it hurts to realize that also means no cell phone for a year!!! Omigoodness! I text, email, surf the web, and make a million phone calls a day. Sad to say, that may be the hardest thing to give up when I leave the country!! Oh boy. I don't actually want to think about that right now. It brings a pitiful tear to my eye.

Well folks, it's Saturday night, and while I'm not going out partying I do have a fresh bottle of Reisling to drink and packing to finish. I was invited to a club in D.C. but I know if I go I will miss my plane in the morning...I just know it. So I'll just relax and get ready to go.

I've got orders!

2005-12-01T10:38:00.000-08:00

Well, I leave this weekend for Fort Bliss, Texas to a mobilization site. They say we should spend a week there and then ship to Iraq. Holy crap. It looks like we'll be attached to a National Guard Public Affairs unit from Georgia. It even kinda looks like the 3 of us will be in the same unit. I'll post more when I know more.

Days 14-29

2005-11-28T18:15:00.000-08:00

So...Maryland. I really want to make sure everyone realizes what a paradise Maryland has been compared to South Carolina! SC was a "soldier" type setting. Formations, body armor, lotsa bunk beds in one big room, exercise, hands on Army training, and long power point classes. In Maryland I don't have formation, I live in the "permament party" barracks with my own room, bathroom, and kitchenette, no exercise (which is probably bad), and best of all...it's a college setting! That means just normal Broadcast Journalism classes! It's great, I love it!
I guess I'll go back to my first day here...it was nuts. My two battle buddies and I are the first Broadcast Journalists to ever come through as IRR recalls so they didn't know what to expect. We even thought for a minute we might get stuck in the student/AIT barracks (the same ones we all stayed in 3 years ago when we came thru here the first time). Thankfully someone sent us to the NCO Detachment and they set us up with these very nice, new barracks rooms. Unfortunatley no one had the keys to get us bed linens so our first night here was a bit rough. The school, DINFOS (Defense INFOrmation School) was really on top of our classes. They had to cram a 3 month course into a 14 day refresher, which we then crammed into 8 days to get weekends and Thanksgiving off. That's why I haven't really been in contact with anyone...it's been nuts!! School was fun and I could write a whole blog just on that but no time now. We'll just say the instructors were awesome and really helped us keep our good additudes. We graduated this morning...yayy!!! I finish my Secret security clearance stuff tomorrow then we wait for orders. I'm definitley a bit nervous. Wish me luck!!

Washington DC Nov 19th

2005-11-19T18:35:00.000-08:00

My two battles, Bobby Laron (that's Bobby eating my hair or something) and Mikal Calvert and I went to DC and had a blast!! I was especially excited because my old Army buddy (whom I havn't seen in like 3 1/2 years!) John Slosser and his girlfriend Marie met us there. Before Slosser got there my battles and I wandered around the Museum of American History. I really liked it and upstairs we saw a great exhibit on America's wars...we all cried. We did ok thru most of it but the Vietnam part really got us. It was really detailed and gave a realistic view (I think) of how things were then for everyone. The protesters, the soldiers, the families, the government. Very moving. They even had it pretty up to date and included stuff from Desert Storm and even the newest crap in the Middle East. It really sobered us up. At the end we were ready to go outside in the sunshine and make some jokes to lighten the mood. Then we visited the WWII memorial and a bunch of other good stuff. THEN SLOSSER GOT THERE!!! Oh, I was so darn happy to see him! He is one of 3 people I've kept in touch with. He was in Afghanistan for a long time, Korea for a year after that, then he wandered around Africa. I have missed talking to him and it was really great to meet up. I was soo happy to meet his girlfriend, it always makes me happy when my friends are happy and in good hands.
After Slosser and Marie left for home Bobby, Mikal, and I rode the Metro to some nightclubs and had a great time. That's all I'll say cause my Mommy and Daddy read this and, as always, they know I'm a perfect angel. That's about it, we had a good time and I hope you had a good weekend too!

Day 11-14

2005-11-13T21:55:00.000-08:00

OK, sorry I kinda fell off the face of the Earth. I'll try to go back and tell what happened.

South Carolina-
My last day or two we did that Convoy and Urban Ops training I was talking about. It was okay, even though we were in all our gear including the body armor. Just a little heavy. I hurt my ankle running the day before so the Drill SGT's put me on the Humvee instead of the big 5 ton. They didn't want me jumping off that far with my ankle hurting. It turned out to be awesome luck! My buddy SGT Pierce was our SAW gunner. That's a big truck mounted machine gun. Since I was sitting next to him I got to be his battle buddy. I was supposed to give him any help he needed with the SAW. We're cruising along, not knowing what to expect. We've got our rifles locked and loaded. By the way, we use blanks, no worries Mom! We were supposed to watch for anything suspicious. After a somewhat eventful ride we get to the "village" a little city of trailers that "insurgents" and "civilians" were in. As soon as we pulled up we were being shot at. Everyone but SGT Pierce and I jumped out and scattered like we were taught. We had to stay with the SAW while he laid down suppressive fire. Not even 5 minutes into it, he got shot down. (We had on Miles gear that beeps when we get shot so we know we're dead) He told me I had to take over the SAW! That was so freaking cool!!! I was spraying rounds into every "bad guy" that peeked around the corner and it was great!! I never want to do that for real but I'd do it with blanks and fake bad guys anytime!

Whoa, this is getting long so I'll go faster. We came back sweaty but done...yayy!! The female Majors and I finally went to the day spa and got the works! I blew so much money, but it was sooo worth it. We got manicures, pedicures, facials, and full body massages. Ahhh...good stuff! Rachel came into town again, we had a great time, AGAIN. We had a great time, of course. Such a good time I missed my flight to Maryland and had to catch a later one, I'm such a dork, I know!

My flight from Maryland was so late there wasn't a connecting flight till the next morning so I had to sleep in the New York Airport. That sucked horribly! At least now I can say I've been to New York!? That's all for now, I'll get to the Maryland stuff later...hugs and kisses!

Day 10

2005-11-09T20:10:00.000-08:00

11-09-05 10th Day Back In the Army
Well folks, today was a little tougher than the last few days. They let us out early yesterday so I think I got a little spoiled, getting done around 3pm. Yesterday was just a practice run with the rifle. We practiced all the different firing positions like being in a foxhole (a cement hole in the ground about 4x4x4) and laying on the ground all war movie style. We did practice with live rounds yesterday but it was fun and there was no pressure. Today was a whole other story! It was a record high of 83 degrees and we did the real deal. I had to qualify today, with a time limit, so I was much more nervous. After the regular firing we had to don our gas masks and fire 20 rounds with it on. In case anyone was wondering, I'm a totally worthless shot past like 150 meters with a gas mask on, so just don't rely on me to ever save your butt in a gunfight with poison gas in the air!! Anyway, the first time I tried to qualify I missed it by 3 shots, which kills me cause yesterday I did great and at Basic Training I did good! So I felt like a dork having to try again (I wasn't alone though) and passed the minimum by 3. Whew! By the time I got out of that foxhole I was sweating buckets (sorry Mom and Dad, I know that's not very ladylike, but it wasn't a ladylike glistening sheen either!) Come to find out, I stressed over nothing! Apparently, the Army needs people soo badly, it wouldn't have mattered if we qualified at all! We had 3 people who didn't qual at all and they were told not to worry about it, they'd get a waiver. How scary is that?? Well, you're a terrible shot and couldn't hit 23 out of 40 even with a 2nd chance but it's ok, don't worry, you can still take that nice vacation to Iraq!
Tomorrow should be the longest, hardest day yet according to our Drill SGT's. We do Convoy and Urban Ops. In the heat. With our rifle, web belt, ammo pouches, full canteens, Kevlar helmets, and body armor. Which all adds up to an extra 40 freaking pounds! Wish me luck. No, seriously, please wish me luck, I really could use it!! From what I understand we get to pretend we're driving a convoy of 3 vehicles in the desert, we'll get attacked or blown up, and react quickly and correctly by jumping off the trucks and finding cover and all that. Should be about 2 hrs long. Then we spend the rest of the day learning, practicing, and executing clearing a building with snipers in it. It really may be a fun day! Hopefully? I'm staying optimistic so I don't feel how heavy all that junk gets tomorrow! The plus side is we get Friday and Saturday completely off!!!! Yayyyy!!! Sunday I ship out to Ft. Meade, MD. And I think my lil' sis Rachel might come down to visit me again...even better! Oh jeez, it's almost past my bedtime! It's already 10 till 8!! Yes, I know that's the lamest thing ever but I get up at 5am and work hard the whole day. Did I mention my workday actually starts at 5:45 am and goes till usually around 5 or 6pm? So don't laugh at me for going to bed by 8, got it? I might come back tough and beat you up!!
Love, hugs, and kisses (you know which you get!)
-Stacy Sanning

Day 8

2005-11-07T20:03:00.000-08:00

11-07-05 8th Day Back In the Army
Sorry everyone, I kinda let my blogs fall to the wayside. I had a good reason though! My little sister Rachel came to visit, yayyy!!! That's us up above. But I'll tell you all about that in a minute. First let me back up to this past Saturday and the gas chamber. Oh yeah, good stuff. Actually, let me back up ALOT further and tell you a story about baby Stacy back in the early 80's. According to my mom when I was really little my dad used to run a gas chamber in Camp Pendleton, CA. He'd come home from there with CS gas still on his clothes and skin and he'd pick me up, not thinking about it, and baby Stacy would freak out and scream. Fast forward to Basic Training in early 2000. I was sooo nervous about going in the gas chamber, not knowing what to expect. I was in the 3rd wave of soldiers to go in so I got to see the first groups come out. It was so scary to see them come running out, grabbing at their eyes, puking, long streams of snot pouring out of their noses; everything on the face that could expell bodily fluid (mucus, tears...) was doing it's job double time! When I went in the Drill SGT's made us take off our masks and give our name, rank, and Social Security #. My eyes burned and teared up, my face felt like it was on fire, but when I got out I was pretty much ok. I wiped away my tears, sniffed my nose a liitle and walked back to the bleachers. I came out ok!!?? Mom said it was because I was predisposed to it at such a young age. Whatever the reason, the same thing happened this time!! A guy next to me never even got his mask sealed all the way and had a very bad time of it. I walked out pretty much the same way I did the first time, I shouldn't have stressed over it so much! At least it's over now.
Rachel came in later that night and I met at her hotel. I was there waiting for her because if I didn't get off post before 9pm I wouldn't be allowed to leave. So when I heard a knock at the door my heart jumped and so did I! I jumped up and ran to the door to look thru the peephole. Rachel is standing in the hallway with her videocamera and we had a goofy hug while she tried to get it on tape. We were screaming and hugging and then...the door shut behind me! I took one look and just laughed cause I realized I had left the darn key in the room!! Of course Rachel got a big kick out of that and she got to tape me getting a new key from the front desk like a goober. The rest of the night was just a fun adventure of clubbing and talking. That's all I'm going to talk about here cause my family reads these blogs and they just know that Rachel and I are perfect angels!!! We got back to our hotel room at like 10:30 in the morning, slept for 2 hours and had to check out. Our only plan for the day was to watch the movie Jarhead but between bad directions from the guy at the front desk, driving around looking for a theater for like 3 hours (no kidding!!), eating lunch, finding a theater that wasn't playing it, and finally finding one that was, we finally got to watch the movie at like 4:20 pm!! It's always an adventure for us! The movie rocked, of course, then we ate some Mexican food and she drove me back to post with the promise of visiting me in Ft. Meade, Maryland in like 2 weeks. I had such a good time and now I miss my sister even more!
Today was actually a pretty good day. A hard but accomplished day. Did PT at 5:45am and actually ran without feeling like I was dying! I read online about some breathing techniques that actually worked so I felt really good about my run. Then we learned about Convoy Operations...essentially, how to be a soldier when traveling dangerous roads when you run into enemy fire or bombs. I had to jump off the side of a truck (a 5 ton for anyone who knows military vehicles) that was like 12 feet up in the air. Then we had to spread out in attack formations and point our rifles while laying on the ground to show that we had all sides covered. It was hot outside but cool. Other than that, not much else to talk about I guess...dinner was ok, they served fish and pasta and I made myself a salad. Oh, and I may have to take my belly button ring out cause my uniform sits right over top of it and it kinda hurts. I haven't decided all the way yet though. Ok, that's definitley everything so good night all!!

Day 5

2005-11-04T19:58:00.000-08:00

11-04-05 Day 5

Well sorry I skipped yesterday, there wasn't really anything good about yeasterday and I didn't feel much like sharing. I'll run through it fast so I don't bum you all out or get down myself. They woke us up at 4am to give us a pee test at the crack of dawn. Not very nice, it felt like Basic Training all over again with the surprise wake up, pounding on the door and throwing on the lights. No biggie to me but I will say I think there's one guy who won't pass it cuz he kept asking me quietly how long it takes for marijuana to leave your system...hypothetically. And we did have an older guy that couldn't pee for like 3 hours...poor guy missed that great breakfast of eggs and grits, darn! After that it was pretty much a day of crappy classes. The only one that keeps running thru my head is the one on IED's, or Improvised Explosive Devices and the damage they cause to the human body. It started by showing all the crazy and unexpected things you have to watch out for because they could be bombs. Stuff like a pile of rocks, a coke bottle, a gas funnel, and pretty much any little piece of trash laying on the side of the road. That really sucks because everyone keeps telling us that the entire country is covered in trash. I guess it's cause no one wants to pick it up and lose an arm! Our instructors, a couple Drill SGT's, kept giving all these examples of what not to pick up by telling us what happened to their buddy or what almost happened to them. They did a good job of making it very real. I could tell it was already affecting me because my legg wouldn't stop tapping up and down and I'm usually a pretty calm person. Then it only got worse because for each explosive device they had shown us, they showed photos of what happened to humans from the very same bombs. I will just say it was sickening. It's the kind of thing that if it had flashed on tv at home I would have looked away and changed the channel to cartoons. But I couldn't change the channel and I had to sit there and nod my head like, uh huh, yup, seen that before. I have 3 other broadcasters in the class with me and no one wants to know that their future battle buddy can't handle some bad stuff. OK, that's all. One good thing from yesterday...I had spaghetti for dinner and it actually tasted good and it didn't hurt to chew anymore, yayy!!

Today was way better! Well except for having to run this morning. I could have done without it but I'm a little glad we're starting now since in about 6 weeks I'll be wearing an extra 60 lbs around everyday in body armor and stuff. My legs could use the extra workout beforehand. I was pretty proud for the first 3/4 mile (we only ran a mile) cause I kept up and was brething ok. But all of a sudden, as I was about to pass a very fit female (my Major Sherry Rodriguez) I realized my lungs weren't working as well as I thought! I just hit a point where all I could get were burning ragged breaths. I need some breathing tips for sure! Any suggestions?? Anyway, I had to slow the heck down and put my hands on my head, I was seeing spots, not cool. But after like 100 feet I could breath again and quick jogged the rest of the way in. The whole rest of the day I've been coughing up a storm and my throat still hurts. I don't feel like I quit smoking (January 11th, 2005 for those of you who didn't know!) I feel like I'm still a smoker, it sucks! My body feels pretty good though, I was pretty sure this morning my legs would have kept going if my lungs hadn't skipped town!

The rest of the day we learned how to read a map and to some convoy ops. I remembered alot of the map stuff from Basic and both Drill SGT's seemed impressed with how "high speed" I was. Matter of fact, I stood out so well they started picking on me for stuff so I spent the day passing crap out in class and cleaning up after. Seriously, for those of you who don't know, this really is the way a DS rewards their soldiers. I don't know what twisted individual teaches them at Drill SGT school that the good kids get more chores but I'd really like to have a say in their curriculum! The convoy operations stuff was kinda cool until I asked a DS, only half joking, "I won't actually have to do this kind of stuff as a Broadcast Journalist, right?" and he looked at me like, oh you disillusioned child, and proceeded to tell us about a squad of paper pushers and computer guys. The first month they were in the sandbox they had to clear a building that kept firing at their offices. None of them had ever done any combat and they had to go across the street with rifles and freaking clear a building of snipers just so they could work. Ah well, at least the Drills are giving me a realistic idea of what to expect, that's good right? I'm loving them right now because they let us go today at 1pm, yaayyy!!! I really haven't done anything productive but I don't care. It's nice just to put on civilian clothes and pretend for an afternoon that I'm just visiting here, hahaha!!

Well folks, it's chow time (I can't help but picture dogs in Army uniforms eating at tables when I use that word!) and I don't want to miss...well, actually I probably DO want to miss whatever they made but I'm starving so I'm out. Wish me luck for tomorrow, it's time for the gas chamber. Omigod, I can't think about that! I'm soo glad I didn't get a facial today. Open pores in a gas chamber? My face would feel like it was melting off! Pain...terrible pain! Heck, I'm not even going to shower tonight on hopes that my body oil will keep the CS gas from burning my skin. Dirty girl, I know it's gross but oh well!

Good night,
Stacy Sanning

Day 4

2005-11-02T19:53:00.000-08:00

11-02-05 4th day in the Army
So this will be a short one...cuz it's been a long day and I'm ready to go to the bar and get a shot. My mouth still hurts a bit from the fillings I got yesterday and I'm thinking some Southern Comfort may just do the trick. Maybe just a couple shots...that outta do the trick. Maybe I'll sleep better on my "high speed" Army bed too??

So reality hit today...well actually it felt like reality smacked me in the face! I got my new Army uniforms today. When I went to the dressing room to try them on and saw myself in the mirror I got all misty eyed. Not from pride or patrotism though, oh no! I was so dismayed to see myself back in a uniform I really never thought I'd see myself in again. I know that sounds so melodramatic and I promised Mom, Dad, and myself that I would try to keep a good attitude but it was a sad sight to see. On the plus side the new uniform, the ACU (the new camoflage uniform) is pretty sweet! The first time I was in the military I had to wash, starch, and iron my uniforms to a crisp. You got 2 winter sets and 2 summer sets. The new ones are wash and wear! That is soo freaking cool! They're alot softer, have mostly zippers instead of buttons, and just look better. The new PT's are way better also. They are more comfy as well but more importantly, they have reflective lettering and symbols. I guess they realized making us run in the street before the sun comes up probably wasn't very safe. One of the changes I do not like is the new PT. It is a slowed down version of old PT with some football practice exercises and more upper body stuff thrown in. Seriously, even the Drill Sergeants think it's dumb and worthless. It doesn't actually stretch anything out and u spend 30 minutes doing stuff that should only take 15.
I've been seeing famous people down here! Did I mention that? Yup, we've got all the stars. The lady who gave me my new boots (oh yeah, did I mention I don't have to shine the new boots? Hell yeah!) sounded just like the comedian Wanda Sykes. Drill Sergeant Smalls sounds exactly like Chris Rock when he yells at the "ate up" Privates. I think I hurt his feelings when I told him so. He gave me a hurt look and asked, "I'm not intimidating? I'm funny?" I told him it's probably alot funnier to me because I know he's not gonna smoke me (make me do exercises till I want to die) and I'm sure the Private's are shaking in their ill fitting boots. It made him feel a little better. Oh, and I don't want to forget our own genius...the First Sergeant who said this afternoon that "war is a thinking man's sport." That really got me. My view of war is just a little different.
I think my little sister Rachel may come down to visit me Saturday night and Sunday. I'm soo freaking exciting I can't even express it. I haven't seen her since this past summer because she lives in North Carolina and I've been in Missouri. I'm just sitting here beaming at the computer and the other people in the room probably think I'm crazy, oh well!
Oh yeah, some good news! I'm in a barracks with 3 other females, all Majors (a pretty high up officer) and we all agreed to bribe the one guy who brought his own vehicle down and force him at rifle point to take us to the salon for facials and massages the day after we do the gas chamber. It's going to be heavenly!! CS gas does not feel good on your skin and we could all use a stress relieving salon so I get to hobnob with officers at the salon. And one of them, Sherry, has offered me a job! Actually what happened was the dentist I went to said I had a great personality and when I get back from war if I wanted a job he'd pay for my school! When I told her she said to please consider working for her husband, also a dentist, and they would pay for my school! They have a practice in Memphis, Tennessee, how cool is that?
Okay folks, I totally lied, this wasn't short at all! One last thing...all the Drill Sergeants are laughing at me because I'm so girly! This is a big turn around from the first time I was in when I was such a tomboy I was more tough than alot of the males. The DS's laughed at me filing and buffing my nails at the dentist office. When I tried on my new boots today DS Taylor actually giggled when he saw my pink and white ankle socks and underneath? My hot pink toenails of course!! They said I'm gonna love it in the desert.
Love you all!! Good night!
Stacy Sanning

Days 1-3

2005-11-01T19:51:00.000-08:00

For any of you who don't know I've been involuntarily activated back into the Army (I've been out since August 02)to go to Iraq. I got the letter a month ago and I just arrived in Ft. Jackson, South Carolina for 2 weeks of inprossessing. I'll get my records updated, get new uniforms, learn how to do PT (physical training)...stuff like that. After my 2 weeks here I go to Ft. Meade, Maryland for 2-3 weeks of refresher on being a military broadcast journalist. After that I go to Iraq, it's still up in the air how soon though.

11-03-05 My 3rd Day Back In the Army
So I guess I'll actually go back a few days...my first night I flew in a little late so all I really did was get on post around 11pm, got some bed linens (who calls it that but the military and hotels?), and tried for about 2 hours to fall asleep on the most uncomfortable bed ever. And let me stop there...anyone who has been near me in the last 6 months knows I just blew about $1000 on the best bed on Earth, a Stearns and Foster (a $1600 bed I got for $700 at the Slumberland Outlet) and Egyptian cotton sheets. I LOVE MY BED. That's all there is to it...I absolutley love my bed. I don't have my bed here. Need I say more? I will just in case. My bed is super soft with great support. My new "high speed" Army bed is not. It's a 3 inch thick mattress on top of metal links. I now sleep on a flat feather pillow. Ok, enough said.
Woke up at 0500 hrs in the freaking morning. Omigod! The last month I was home there were many mornings I didn't go to bed till 5 in the morning. Aw jeez, it's pretty rough, no kidding. And we have to eat breakfast. Mom will be so proud. None of it is very healthy. None of it is very good. Everyone already knows about military food so I'll move on.
Spent the day doing paperwork and getting everything "squared away". Pretty much the same thing for the first 4 days I'll be here. Found out for sure that my scoliosis (crooked spine) is not bad enough to keep me from deploying so they're definitley keeping me. Got 3 fillings today...ouch! Got my new ID card today; the picture, of course, is terrible. Talked to the people who were supposed to be able to give me some answers. They told me I am going to Iraq. No, they don't know for sure where. I should find out a few days till the end of my stay in Ft. Meade, Maryland (about 5 weeks from now) and that's all they had for me. The good news I got from them is I can be promoted without having to take a PT test (I may not have to take one the entire 18 months I'm active duty) and I wouldn't have to even go to Sergeant School. So that's cool. Also, I found out from Finance today that I'll be getting paid like I've been in for 6 years! I thought only my time in would count (about 2 years) but even the time I've been out counts for me and that ups my pay big time. The money should be pretty good for me on top of the fact that the day I arrive in the Sandbox (Iraq) taxes stop coming out of my pay. Yay!!
Guess I'll get off the internet for now...gotta be up early tomorrow and my mouth still hurts a bit. Good night all. I love you and miss you!!
-Stacy