It's been a year since I've been home... I'm not really sure what to say about that.

I'm back in Baghdad, Camp Liberty, for the rest of my time here. Out-processing is mindless, so I'm just waiting for that last sunset.

Just waiting...

It was like one of those alien science-fiction movies.  The movies where someone is in a room with the window blinds down, and suddenly the light outside changes to a different color, and the blinds fly open and the person is sucked into a spaceship where they receive probes in places they'd rather not talk about.  That's how today was, minus the ( Read more... )

50 weeks down.  One more week to go.  Well, one more week here, anyway.

In order to leave Iraq, each employee has to go through "out-processing," which is a week-long series of meetings and mind-numbing paperwork sessions.  It'll be fun, I can just see it.  Now, within each group that deploys (and demobilizes) together, one member has to come to ( Read more... )

Nothing caps off a 98 degree day like a dumpster fire in the middle of the main prison camp. Apparently some of the water deflected off the side of the dumpster and hit a detainee. Oops. I guess I'll try to be more careful with my aim next time ( Read more... )

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A loud rumble wakes my roommate and I around 0600 this morning.  My mind attempts to register it as a car bomb, as it usually is.  I slowly become conscious of the thousands of other noises that are starting to bombard my hearing.

It's raining outside.  Thunder rolls over head.  Jim, my roommate, peaks through the blinds.  "What the...?  Hey, Kinsey ( Read more... )

About a week ago I went to my Lieutenant with an idea for training.  We hadn't done a whole lot of practical skill training since the rainy season started and some of us were eager to get back into that mode now that the weather is starting to warm up again.  I proposed making some props and dividing the training area into several stations, each ( Read more... )

Happy Anniversary, Iraqi Freedom. I don't care what the media says about you, the people of this country are better off today than they were three years ago. Don't believe me? Drive to the airport, hop on a plane, take three connecting flights and two convoys, and stop by the prison. I'll show you the death house, the drowning pool, and the ( Read more... )

45 weeks.  Well, 46 if you count my time in Houston.  My year, give or take a few weeks, is almost over.  While the days seem to be dragging by, it is all happening so fast.  So cliché, I know, but true.

There was real milk at the chow hall today.  This is, by far, the greatest thing to happen in my Abu Ghraib world in weeks.  By real milk I mean ( Read more... )

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