Bluegrass at Holt's Music Shed

This is a video (shot by Charlie) of me and some of my friends playing at Holt's Music Shed last night. The song is "Somehow Tonight". I usually play with Steve Shelley (guitar) and Steve Treadway (bass) at McDonald's on Thursday nights, but last night we decided to head out to the metropolis of Avery and play with the Morris Bros. (and whoever else decided to show up) at Terry and Tammy Holt's place. Terry makes instruments and this is his shop. On Thursday nights, they have a little get together for anyone who wants to come. Tammy (mandolin) plays with Mike (banjo) and Matt (guitar) Morris. They've put out a couple of CDs and tour around playing at different events.

I wasn't real happy with my vocals. The room was a little echoey and I had a hard time hearing myself...or maybe I just stink. I just learned this song not too long ago and couldn't remember how the second verse started. Steve, the king of forgetting words, had to remind me how it started. Nevertheless, a good time was had by all. I'll be posting some more from this soon.

Music

Anybody who has known me for more than a few seconds knows that I love music. I've found over the years that music holds the power to convey thoughts, images, and feelings that you can't quite convey any other way. Ultimately, music has the power to heal hearts when nothing else can.

I've started listening to Keith Urban a little more lately, after I saw his "You Look Good in My Shirt" video and found out that he was a great guitar player. I've liked his stuff before, in fact, I used to sing "Making Memories of Us" at karaoke occassionally. After looking into his music and videos a little more, I ran across this video that is just incredibly powerful. I had heard the song before and hadn't paid it much attention but the video brought it home for me. The song was written by Darrell Brown, Dennis Matkosky, and Ty Lacy. These guys must have had some serious heartache to deal with. I guess, for some, that's how things are. Anyway, take a look at this incredible video:



I think I might continue this series on music with some bluegrass that I've been playing lately. I may even be able to get some video of Charlie singing with us. That's right...he loves bluegrass and sings with our group once in a while. So stay tuned.

Back to Normal?

See...I told you I'm getting back to normal.

You People are SOOO Boring!!

I haven't blogged anything in a while and I know why. It's not an easy thing to talk about so I'm just gonna come right out and say it. I've been battling depression since I got home. I guess that's what folks would call it. It feels more like a disconnect. I couldn't really put a finger on what was causing it until I met a friend of mine, Paul Reed, for dinner when I was in Charlotte last week. Paul and I went through the glorious hell of OCS and commissioned together. Prior to commissioning, Paul did a tour in Iraq and a lot of his personal life story mirrors mine. So, basically, he knew where I was coming from.

I told him that things just don't seem right at home, that the things that I used to think were important weren't anymore. I told him that I don't have any tolerance for gossip about people and their relationships or what happened at their jobs or the seemingly significant events in their lives. Why didn't they all just understand that none of that matters? I told him that some days I can't feel the wind blow and that I can look up and not see color in the sky. It all seemed so unimportant and trivial.

Paul listened for a while, smiled and told me that it does matter and that, eventually, it will matter to me again. He asked me how many people I knew drove to work everyday scrutinizing every detail along the way looking for changes that might indicate trouble. He asked me how many people I knew had contingency plans laid out for troubles on the way to work, have rehearsed those plans, and constantly play them out in their heads as they drive along. He asked me how many people have first aid kits in their car, much less directly on their person, all day everyday. He reminded me that this boring, superficial life we lead is normal and that the amped-up, on-edge life I led for a year is not. It's not even close to normal.

Paul said it took him several months to turn the soldier off. I guess I'm still trying to flip the switch. I thought I had. I wasn't even in "contact" that many times. Paul said it didn't matter, that the potential was there every day and every day I went out the wire expecting it. That's why when it did come, I didn't feel any adrenaline. It was business as usual.

I still jump at loud noises. The other day, I was laying in bed and Luke snuck in with his Nerf gun. The darts for this Nerf gun whistle as they go through the air. He shot it over my head and it hit the wall above me, whistling as it went. It took me about a second to realize what it was, but in that one second my adrenaline and training had already kicked in and I was looking for cover. It took me a couple of minutes to get rid of the shakes.

It was good to see Paul again. It was good to talk to somebody who had "been there, done that". I'm back to work and that is a good thing. I'm letting go of a lot of stuff, junk that I've been carrying around inside my head, junk that has been weighing on my heart. I'm learning that there is excitement in this boring life we lead. I've just got to remember where I left it.

Coming Home

I'm currently in Kabul waiting to come home. It's not long now. I thought I'd sit down for a minute and just put down some thoughts on this deployment.

I knew when I joined the Army that deployment was not only possible but also highly likely. I didn't know it would come quite as quick as it did, though. At the time it seemed like an awful long time to be away. I sat down the other day and thought about how long I've been gone. With all the schools I had to attend before deploying, I've been home for maybe a month since June 2006. But looking back, my time here has gone by quickly.

I've met a lot of interesting people - people that I will never forget as long as I live, people that I will happily forget within hours of departing, and people that I nor anyone else will ever see again on this earth. It's the people here that make this tolerable. Without those friends, it's a miserable, lonely existence. Laughter is the one thing that holds us all together. We giggle at fart jokes. We belly laugh at homosexual references at another's expense (we know his turn for reprisal is coming). We laugh nervously at the unexpected and surreal events of a firefight or IED attack.

It's been said that war changes people. Who am I to dispute this? It does, but it changes everyone in a different way. For me, it's allowed me some time to put things in perspective. It's shown me moments of love, joy, and happiness. It's also shown me horrors that I couldn't have imagined and will carry to my grave. Even so I'm still glad to have been here. I can say that I was something that others didn't want to be. I went places that others feared to go. I was a soldier.

I'll be home in a week or two. It's been an adventure to say the least, but I'm ready to hang up the rifle and the helmet for a while...at least until Uncle Sam calls me again.

I made this video a while back and am just getting around to posting it. It's kind of a overall of my time here, plus a few other shots from different schools I went to. Enjoy!

Go Tigers!!

Hey everybody! Just a short one today. Our 1SG took this picture for me the other day and I thought it turned out pretty good. Of course, it was a picture of me, so naturally it's good!! About 2 more months to go. I can't wait.

The Gang's All Here, Too

Well after a..."ahem"...relaxing, restful R&R (see Mom's blog), I'm back to business in Afghanistan. I finally got a group picture of everyone just before we rolled out the other day. They were not so enthused about it. Imagine that. We spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week together and in close proximity to each other, therefore we can't tolerate a group picture. Anyways, I told 'em to shut up and stand still. They didn't even have to smile....and they didn't. Here they are....

Left to right it's Shorty (our interpreter), Special K (my driver), Justin (new guy and replacement for our CPT), Pac-man (another new guy and replacement for our other LT), yours truly, Dumbo (he's a cop in North Charleston), Cheska (his pashtu nickname meaning sexy - only problem is that a group of Afghani guys gave him that nickname), Alabama (our team chief), and Doc (team medic). Not pictured is Steve (our other interpreter who's taking the picture), Grif (my gunner who is home on leave) and SFC Airborne (our sour-puss E7 who didn't want to participate). For operational security reasons, I can't give you their real names. I don't think you can read anyone's whole name in the picture. Anyway, these are the guys that I trust my life to and who trust me with theirs everyday. I know that I've said that the reason I'm here is to provide safety and a future for the kids of Afghanistan and stuff like that, but when the doo-doo hits the air circulation device, these guys are what I'm here for. Men in foxholes don't fight for God or country, they fight for their buddy in the foxhole with them.

Monkeying Around

Here's a post for Luke. One of the Afghani workers on our FB has a pet monkey (no Luke, you may not have a pet monkey). He brought it to work the other day.

I'm not sure what kind of monkey it is....I'm no "Jeffco" after all (that's a joke that probably only Luke will get). But it was still interesting to watch. The little thing was pretty mean. It was nice if you had food in your hand.

But if you ran out of food, woe be unto you...as Doc found out about 2 seconds after I snapped this picture. It grabbed his hand and tried to eat him for lunch.

Hope

I took this picture the other day while we were at the ABP headquarters. I thought it was a little poignant.




Things are still very quiet out here. I haven't been blogging for a number of reasons. First, our internet connection has been pretty crappy and connections have been off and on. Second, there really isn't anything too interesting to me anymore. I've seen it...been there...done that. So, if you all have anything that you want to see about Afghanistan, make your requests. If the law, Afghan culture, and my SOPs allow, I'll fill them as I can.

Because it's there....Part V

And now ladies and gentlemen, the gripping conclusion.....



The guys in the white hats always win.

Because it's there....Part IV

Our hero is getting closer to heaven with every step...physically and metaphorically. He's so close to the top, he can smell it.....and it smells like sweaty body armor.



Can he make it?!? Will he require a CASEVAC?!? Will there be a T-shirt at the top?!? Tune in next week for the gripping conclusion!!!

Because it's there...Part III

...meanwhile back at the ranch, has our hero met his match? Let's find out...




Tune in next week when our hero mistakenly thinks he's near the top.

Because it's there...Part II

When last we left our hero he was struggling for breath even though he had only begun his journey. Let's see how the continuing saga plays out.....




Tune in next week when our hero says..."Oxygen, bring me oxygen!!!!"

Because it's there.....Part I

While I was stuck in Gardez for the past week or so, I went mountain climbing with a big group from the FOB. I had nothing else to do, so I thought what the heck. Besides, you got a free T-shirt for doing it. I'm all about a T-shirt, especially a free one. And what's that? I have to climb it in full battle rattle (read that as with an extra 50 pounds on)? Sure...no problem. After all, there's a free T-shirt involved.

Please remind me to not ever be suckered into something like this again, even if there is a lifetime supply of free T-shirts involved.

Tune in next week when our hero nearly collapses from a heart attack.....Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel.

Snakes...Yikes!!!!

Here's another one for my boys. We've had a couple of reptilian encounters lately. The other night, one of our interpreters was coming out of the bathroom and almost stepped on this...

He came running in shouting in Pashtu and finally composed himself enough to blurt out "SNAKE" in English. This is a Saw-Scale Viper (Echis carinatus). It is one of the most dangerous snakes in the world. In fact, some argue that it is THE most dangerous because of its combination of a potent venom and generally grumpy disposition. It's venom is a highly potent hemotoxin and it has a really short fuse. To tell the truth, it has short-man disease. They only get about 2 feet long at most and I guess it feels like it has something to prove. I didn't get a very good picture because I didn't want to get too close for obvious reasons.

The other snake is this one...

It's an Indian Rat Snake (Ptyas mucosa). It's essentially the Afghani version of a chicken snake. At first, we thought it might be an Asiatic cobra (Naja oxiana), but it's not. It's about 5 feet long. The Afghan guys who do security here caught it and are keeping it as a pet in a box.

Guns

This post is for Charlie. I asked him what he wanted to see about Afghanistan. Duhhhhhh...guns. Well here you go buddy.

Today, several of the Border Police came over to try out some new machine guns they got and also to train some of their newer soldiers. We were more than happy to arrange the use of our range.

This first video is of them firing the PKM. These weapons are all Russian made. They fire 7.62mm rounds. The commander is giving them a countdown before they fire..."Yo"..."Dwah"...."Drei"...which as you can probably guess is pashto for 1,2,3. I did get to shoot the PKM with them, but it's hard to shoot video and a weapon at the same time. In this video, you can hear the rounds impacting on the metal targets which were between 150 and 300 meters away.

This next video is the same guys firing the AK-47 and the AMD-65. The AMD-65 is a shortened version of the AK-47 and is made in Hungary. Both operate identically and both shoot the same round. I didn't get a chance to shoot one of these but I'm sure I will before I leave here.

More Afghan Roads

I was talking with Mom the other day and told her that it would take about 3 hours to get to Gardez which is about 30 or 40 miles away. She asked why in the world does it take so long?

Here's why....

Mom also wondered if there was anything green here. Here's a short video of us riding through a rice paddy on the way back from Gardez. You can see how bumpy the road is....and this is a good stretch.

Me and My Ride

Hey everybody. Well I got a little break so I thought I would add this one. This is my ride, Bumper # H107. It's an 1151 model uparmored humvee. It's got a lot of factory extras (and a few homemade extras) including Frag 5 armor package, navigation and communication system (think Magellan dash mount GPS on steroids), two radios but no CD player, and A/C believe it or not. The A/C works most of the time. But there ain't one cup holder in the whole thing. I'm thinking about adding spinners to it.

I'm going to bed now....