Defiantone.com

In Iraq I really only knew a few things to be true - I knew that it was going to be hot during the day and I also knew that it was going to be dark and noisy at night.

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When I finally left I rode out on dark and noisy military transport - a continuation of a theme. My camera doesn’t like extremely shaky environments full of low light conditions but I think I captured enough for you to understand how enjoyable the ride actually was for us. If you look at the bottom picture, cram yourself into a closet with 4-6 other people, crank up the volume to the maximum level on your speakers, and sit/stand there for three hours you’ll have a slight understanding of how “comfortable” it was

I’ve uploaded a few more pictures from my time in Iraq in the gallery - the new stuff starts on page 4

I got home and met a fantastic girl in the airport - well - I it wasn’t the first time I’ve met her but it had been quite a while since I had last seen her.

We went home and she showed me around our house - where we had the lengthy task of unpacking looming on the horizon.

Luckily - I’m a task oriented guy and we got starting working at the task so it could be done - and so we could look forward to the party we were to have that weekend.

The house is complete with a garage and two dogs in the backyard - one of which will flop around like a fish if you ignore her.

We had a party and it was a great time despite me knowing only a handful of the people there - I met quite of few of Jessica’s friends but there names are already a mystery to me - damn short term memory. Feel free to check out more photos of the house in the gallery - thats it for now

Tags: Balad, beer, booze, Deployment, dogs, fun, gallery, home, house, Iraq, Jessica, military, moving, party

While I haven’t yet reached the west coast I have arrived in America and its quite nice to be back. I’m still rocking the same clothes that I’ve been wearing for the past 60 or so hours. Traveling via military channels seldom goes without a hitch and I had quite a few.

I was scheduled to leave Iraq on a nice and roomy C-17. We got to the terminal 8 hours before our plane was scheduled to depart (standard procedure). We got on the buses when the time came for us to depart but were turned around halfway to the plane - our original mission time had been scrubbed due to a sand storm. It dashed our hopes of leaving on time. We waited for 4 hours after our plane was supposed to depart in hopes that the skies would clear - the didn’t. They sent us back to the housing area and told us that we should come back 12 hours later. A few hours after we got back they told us that our flight would be leaving in 6 hours - a full 6 hours early wahoo! It turns out that they lied - we ended up waiting 14 hours at the terminal for our plane to leave.

While there we experienced the ubiquitous indirect fire attack (they were shooting mortars at us). I was asleep on one of the benches as EVERYONE else in the room hit the deck and covered their heads when the klaxon alarms went off. I didn’t move and inch. I woke up a few hours later and laughed as they told me about what had happened. I laughed because its funny - really - it is. I guess you have to be a complete and total cynic to laugh at sleeping through a mortar attack. Truth is, I’ve slept through dozens of them and was fine. They can’t aim and the base is HUGE! The odds of probability were on my side.

So - eventually we got stuck on a C-130. I’ve got to say - worst plane ride ever. Most of you have been crammed into economy seats - these seats economy look like first class. In order to cram us all in we had to be creative. The plane had seats along the outside wall of the plane and seats in the center facing out - while seated you were facing someone else. In order to make the fit we had to alternate legs - your leg, the person across from you, your leg, another person across from you - I have a video that I’ll upload later when I have time (and I’m not paying for internet by the hour).

We got to Al Udeid (in Qatar) and we scheduled to come back to the terminal in 14 hours to catch our flight. We were supposed to meet up at 5PM. The time came near and we were told that we weren’t going to leave as planned. We were told to meet again at 5AM. We got to the terminal at about 0530 expecting to leave around noon. The airplane gods are a vengeful bunch and delayed our plane - again. Our departure time slipped an additional 3 hours. Oh joy!

I’m finally home and thats the important part - and - I’m only hours away from seeing my girl. I can’t wait.

Tags: air force, airplane, Al Udeid, Balad, Deployment, Iraq, Jessica, military, Qatar, travel, USAF

Well, I’m halfway home and I’m trying to type this out on a keyboard that was made for germans… das ist nicht so gut.

I’m in Leipzig at the moment and I’ve only got a 8 hour flight ahead of me before I get to my connecting flights in the states. All in all, I’ve had over 36 hours of delays while I have tried to make my way home. The delays ate up my free time in Baltimore but its no big deal - I’m going to get home soon.

Tags: Deployment, Germany, home, military, transfer, travel, USAF

Well, after 130 some odd days my time in dodge is finally over and I am getting the heck out of here. I’ve got more time to kill before my plane gets here but I don’t have to sleep another night (or day in my case) in Iraq.

The most baffling thing about my trip is that for some reason I haven’t made the Iraqis free. I put together explosives and they get dropped on people and for some reason we haven’t cleaned up this whole debacle yet. I figured I, of all people, could come over here and stop the shenanigans in Iraq.

Alas, I have failed in my quest to make them free - I don’t think this one is going to be fixed overnight (or within the next 3-5 years).

Oh well -

Tags: Balad, Deployment, desert, Iraq, John, travel

Numbers can be used to describe and pretty measure everything. Today I’ve got a few numbers of note -

365 - Its been an entire year since I started dating Jessica and it’s been the best year that I can remember. We’ve had the luck of finding each other and it’s been an absolute blast. This is the first time that she has ever made it to a year while dating another person and it is one heck of a milestone.

21 - Jessica is going to have a birthday next month and its the last major birthday milestone in a young adults life - well, there is the 25th birthday and that only comes with lower insurance rates but we’re not going to include that one. She might want to include it because she is bleeding her parents dry in insurance rates - she’s had a few “incidents.” She is headed to Vegas to celebrate the birthday with her family and one of her friends from school. I’m sure most of it is going to be a giant haze (as it should be) but I know that they are going to take care of her.

25 - I’ve been going to the gym religiously and I’ve been working on dropping off weight that I’m tired of carrying. To this date, I’ve lost a total of 25 pounds. I started at a slightly unhealthy 195 - a weight where I saw some of my clothes fit poorly and where I found my energy sapped. I feel so much better physically and I feel so much better about myself. I’m hoping to drop another 5 pounds before I leave and get back to a healthy fighting weight. No, I don’t want to fight but its a healthy weight and I think I have learned how to successfully maintain it without going crazy. The last time I deployed to the sandbox I changed my diet but I found that only an insane person with no taste buds could maintain it. This diet seems to work and it allows me to eat what I want - as long as I moderate my consumption.

42 - The current estimate of how many days I have left in Iraq. No one is more excited about leaving than Jessica - I’m excited but I think she takes it to an almost fanatical level. I’m really looking forward to getting home and returning to a little variety. I’ll actually be able to look back at my week and count of the things that I’ve done rather than having it all blur into one giant haze of groundhog day.

Tags: birthday, Deployment, Iraq

I wrote about my last experience with Nextel thinking that it couldn’t get much worse. Boy - was I wrong!

I called Nextel again and asked to speak to the government account services. I was transfered to customer service elevator music waiting line - I spent 23 minutes on hold before I was disconnected.

I called again and asked for the government account services - the agent on the other end of the line inquired why and I told him that I planned to cancel my account. He immediately retorted that “you’ll be charged with a $200 cancellation fee because your account is valid till Jan 08″ and I explained that I was in the military and that I would be canceling my account in accordance with the military clause. He was disappointed that he couldn’t use fear to make me continue using their service. He was summarily rude from that point on and he placed me on hold for 32 minutes while I waited to be transfered. He came back once or twice, probably hoping that I had hung up the phone in disgust. I was not going to give up on this one - no way in hell.

Eventually I was connected to the correct department and I explained the situation and told her that I had reference numbers for my previous conversations. She wasn’t interested and told me that she would have to look up my account history. It was at this point that she began to lie to me. I wanted to scream “LIAR!” at the top of my lungs but knew that it would do me little good. She told me that they had never received a copy of my orders (even though three agents had previously seen that they had) and that I would have to fax them in. I spoke in a low, clear, tone - much like you would use to explain to a child that their course of action is going to get them into trouble - and told her that faxing another copy was not an option. First, I had previously faxed a copy of the orders. Second, no fax machine is available in this country so I had no method of delivery. I knew this would have been a foolish choice as I would have been forced to fax it, call back and confirm it was received, and then call to cancel on yet another day. They were trying to delay the inevitable. Third, I told her that previous agents had confirmed the receipt of the original fax and that there was no possible way I would resend the information. Four, I had far better things to do than to waste my valuable phone time talking to customer service on an issue I had already called about 7 times.

She placed me on hold.

She came back 10 minutes later and asked if I would like to transfer the line to another family member. I declined.

She asked if I would like to suspend the service in lieu of cancellation. I declined.

She placed me on hold for another 5 minutes.

When she returned she sounded as if she had beaten, she told me that she would cancel the line without a termination fee and that I would owe no more to the company.

She asked if there was anything else she could do. Instead of really laying into the lady for blatantly lying to me I decided to take the high road - she wasn’t prepared for what was about to ensue - it would have been ugly. So, I declined.

I have never had great experience with cell phone contracts - each time I’ve tried to discontinue a service it felt like pulling teeth. Even though I pay more up front to start service without a contract, I think it may be the best option in the future.

I will NEVER use Nextel or Sprint again. Their horrendous customer service practices sour their otherwise adequate cell phone service.

Tags: bad, cancellation, customer, Deployment, dial-tone, horrendous, house of lies, loathe, Nextel, poor, service, transfer

The back story: I called Nextel before I deployed in order to cancel my service - things didn’t go as planned even though they assured me that everything was fine. Jessica notified me that Nextel had sent me a bill in February - I was obviously annoyed so I sent them an email - they ignored my email so I was forced to call them. I called them and things didn’t go as I hoped - read on -

I called Nextel while I was at work today in an effort to get rid of the erroneous charge and cancel my line. I talked to a gentleman in customer service who looked up my account and saw the previous phone conversations where I had requested cancellation of the service, discussed faxing a copy of my orders, called to verify that they had received all of the information required, and checked up to make sure that it was everything was going to be processed. He asked for a phone number so he could call back should we be disconnected - I told him that I was in Iraq - he was instantly nicer to me. He told me that he would see what he could do and asked to place me on hold - I obliged his request. A few minutes later, he told me that he had canceled the charge. He was unsure as to why there was a disconnect within his system because the account SHOULD have been canceled on the billing cycle ending in January. The customer service representative was helpful and polite throughout our conversation - all phone calls to customer service should be modeled on our interaction. Unfortunately, my interaction with Nextel was about to careen of a steep cliff - he told me that I would have to talk to cancellations yet again.
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Tags: bad, cancellation, customer, Deployment, dial-tone, horrendous, loathe, Nextel, poor, service, transfer

So, in case you weren’t in the loop I am writing this post from the other side of the planet. I got to Iraq the other day and it all seems fairly normal. Sure, we have more security measures than you can shake a stick at but its all for a good cause - nobody wants to get blown up. I’ll be working night shift while I’m here so if I happen to call its going to be during your evening (for those that I call in the states).

I took a quick video but its going to be a while before I can upload it. The connection in the internet cafe is slow as heck but I might be able to get to this website at work. I’m not exactly sure if that will work but I’m going to give it a shot when I get a chance. I’ll try and take a few pictures here and there but rest assured that I’m fine and I’ll be back home in a few months.

Tags: Deployment, Iraq, military

Well, as I’ve mentioned, I’m scheduled to depart for my four months in Iraq and I finally have a date when I’m leaving - Jan 1. I still have quite a bit to do so I can take care of all of my personal affairs but I think I’ve got almost everything else wrapped up at work. I’ve got some training records to take care of this evening or tomorrow but I’m not sure when I’ll have a chance to do it. Odds are, I’ll have to give up doing something that I might enjoy so that I can finish my work.

I’m planning on snowboarding tomorrow - pending a check on the snow reports. Jessica is off to attend a wedding so I’m taking advantage of my free time to go while I have a chance.

Leaving here is going to suck but I need a break from my regular job. I tend to last for about a year in a particular location before I need to deploy for a while, take a vacation, or just change work sections. I definitely want to come back to maintenance but some people have been scheming to put me in Munitions Control when I return. I’d rather shoot myself in the face.

Why is it that people that do a good job always tend to get screwed while the worthless ones get nothing. Today, for example, one of our resident idiots wasted an entire day away. We tend to give him menial tasks because he is completely incompetent. Keep in mind that he has the same rank that I do and that he has been in for about five more years. We gave him the task at about 10AM and he told me that I had more work to do at about 1430 when I came back from what I was doing. I started on the rest of the work for the day (knowing full well he would skate out at the earliest opportunity because he was too worthless to even help) at about 1500. I enlisted the help of everyone else in the shop and we all left at about 1645. Who knows what time he left but I don’t think he finished the menial task we gave him. What a worthless piece of shit.

It doesn’t help he tends to fuck up on anything we might give him - I’ve got troops with less than a year on station that I would trust more than I might trust him.

Ok… back from the bunny trail

I’m not sure if I am going to get the uniforms I need on time by the time I am scheduled to deploy. I told my deployment manager that I would show up in my BDU’s (greens) in the desert if all else failed. I’m sure they would see the error in their ways and get me what I needed immediately. Its a shame that we can’t get the stuff on hand before I actually leave. Can you imagine how funny I would look when everyone else is wearing some brand of desert pattern and I am rocking the woodland?

I’m not looking forward to the bag drag - I think I’ll be carrying 4 bags - and after I get the required gear I’ll have to carry two additional bags - for the remainder of the necessities (clothing, towels, boots, etc.) Its a shame I can’t check a hand cart in my luggage and use it on the other end. If I had a few bungee straps it would work like a champ.

Ok… this has been a bit of rant - haven’t had one of those in a while - I guess you can tell how my Friday has been

Tags: Deployment, fun, Iraq, military, moving, travel, work

What a week it has been. Earlier this week I gave my apartment manager notice that I intended to move out before the beginning of the month because I was slated to deploy. I found out a few days later that I was actually not going to deploy. On top of the fact that I wasn’t deploying I had already spent the money that I normally would have spent on rent so my only option was to apply the last months rent and find another place. I was going to have three paychecks in between the day I found out and move in day so I was sure that I could pay for rent and deposit but the whole thing was going to be a giant pain in the ass. On Thursday I was told that another guy that was slated to go to Iraq had received orders to Korea and they needed someone else to go. I volunteered… as I pretty much always will. I knew that Jessica was excited about me being around and that I knew she would be down because of my decision but I knew it was a tough choice I needed to make. I will miss her greatly but I will be back - and our lives should have slightly fewer stressers as I should be able to pay off one of my creditors.

So, I’m packing up all of my stuff to move into a storage unit before the end of the month but I don’t know when I’m leaving yet. The estimated in place date is from the day after Christmas to New Years - its all TBD. I’ve got a large chunk of the apartment packed up and I can probably get the rest packed up (that I won’t use in the next few weeks) in a night or two.

This should be an interesting trip but I’ll be fairly safe out there, well, as safe as one can be. I’ll continue to post here as frequently as I can. If you remember what happened last time you’ll find that I have enough time to rant and rave - almost daily. I’m not sure how the filters/internet access are going to work so I’ll have to see how it goes.

Tags: Deployment, fun, Iraq, military, moving, travel