Defiantone.com

For the next few months I’m going to be the designated person that is going to work nightshift. I’m the only one working but I think I’ll be able to keep myself motivated and on task (well, aside from a random blog post here or there). I’ve got an important test coming up in a few weeks and this should give me ample time to study. There are few other distractions on this shift so I should be able to get quite a bit accomplished. No one will actually see what I am doing but they’ll see the finished work. I will act like a ninja for the next couple of months. My stealth and cunning will see me through my work. It should be fun -

Jessica (obviously) does not like this arrangement as I will not be at home with her all of the time. Luckily, I will be awake when she is awake but we will be sleeping at different times. They did have me slated to work swingshift (3pm-11pm) which would have led to great frustration - she would have only been able to see me during the week if she stayed up late. I was able to swap with someone else so this isn’t that bad of a deal. I’ll be on this shift until I take leave in September. After that, I have no idea where I’m going to end up.

The weekends are going to be strange as I’ll want to sleep from 8AM-2PM - we’ll see how it plays out

Tags: military, night-shift, ninja, work

This is going to be a taxing weekend. I get out of work early to eat dinner with Jessica’s family (who recently joked that I might as well call them in-laws - you can draw whatever conclusion you wish from that remark) prior to her graduation ceremony from Bates (technical school) where she is working on a Biotechnology associates degree. She gets to walk today but she still has about 6 weeks left of school. She should be done with the biology portion in the next week or two but she has a few other classes to finish up the degree. I’ve been quite unhappy with the way she describes how the program is ran. I often feel that they are just jerking the students around and delaying classes and projects so they can eek out more tuition. She hasn’t been paying the tuition but her parents have - and I’m sure they hope it reaps large dividends.

Directly - and I mean directly - after her graduation she’s off to the edge of Ranier National park for Jenny’s (her best friend) wedding. She’ll play the role of bridesmaid for the event. She’ll miss the rehearsal but she’s had some experience in the role so I’m sure she’ll be fine winging it. I’ll leave Saturday afternoon to head to the ceremony. I’ll have to leave afterwards as I am on standby on this three day weekend. Why a three day weekend? My base (home of the 62AW) has recently gone 62 days without a DUI and Monday has been declared a “down” day. It’s not really a down day because they’ve scheduled work for the flight line and I have a part to deliver so that it can get done. So, its not a three day weekend for everyone.

Sunday will probably spent at her parents house for fathers day. They’ve (her parents) tried to coerce her into preparing dinner - she’s thinking about ribs - and I’m thinking that it sounds like an excellent idea.

The next two weekends are surprisingly empty of plans but after that we’ve got the 4th, then two weeks of nothing, and then a camping trip to somewhere near a massive salty body of water. Its going to be a busy summer and this weekend is going to be one of the busiest.

Tags: busy, graduation, Jessica, military, plans, summer, USAF, wedding, weekend, work

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

I’m not in the mood to write a full post so I’m going to give you a file and a couple of links. First off is the best appeal to an Article 15 punishment that I’ve ever seen. Its well worth the read - I had a feeling that I wasn’t the only sarcastic ass in the Air Force.

Next up is an writer that looks at our nation and its productivity if we completely eliminated obesity. Its more editorial than fact but she does bring the work of a few economists into the mix. Its an interesting read thats worth checking out.

Last is an article about corn and how it is and isn’t impacting the cost of food and gasoline in our country. For some reason, as an Iowa native, I feel compelled to write about corn whenever I get a chance. My home state only stands in the spotlight once in a great while. Most Americans only hear about Iowa once every four years during the Caucus. It’s a shame that most of them are still unable to point it out on a map.

Tags: Article 15, corn, ethanol, food, gym, links!, military, oil, USAF, weight, workout

I took a few photos of the main office before I got on the bus to head home a few days ago. In stark contrast to the night - we have sunlight - just want to make sure you all know that we have the sun over here too. I only see the sun for a few hours a day but I prefer it that way - I sweat less when I avoid the sun. Wow - the sarcasm is unbridled today -

A shot into the distance and a view of the sun - that is going to scorch the earth in a few hours.

This is our building - I can’t tell you where it is because force protection blah blah blah

I am one of the few that can drive the deuce and a half. It is loud, old, has no shocks (that I can tell), and turns like hell. But, its a turbo diesel and a 5 speed so its fun to drive once in a while.

The sad part is that the truck is as old as Jessica - ouch -

Yes, the barricade of the left reads Mortarita Vile

If you want to check out all of the Iraq photos - I’ve added a few more recently - head to the gallery.

Tags: Iraq, military, photo, truck

The current situation in Iraq has been under intense scrutiny and debate for some time. We find it ever more in the spotlight as the democrats and republicans use it against each other for political gain. General Petraeus recently gave testimony to the Armed Services Committee and provided them with this slide. I haven’t had a chance to read through the transcript and frankly I don’t care - what concerns me is the information in the slide.

Slide 2 - Attacks have evened out - to levels we were experiencing in Oct 2004

Slide 3 - Deaths, both military and civilian, are at levels close to those of Jan 2006

Slide 4 - Ethno-sectarian violence in Baghdad is at the lowest levels since May 2006 (the limit of the chart we are given)

Slide 5 - High level attacks roughly match the levels found from May 2006

Slide 7 - We are on pace to discover and clear 30-40% more weapons than any time in the past

Slide 8 - Insurgent strongholds have shrunk considerably since December 2006.

Slide 10 - Most of the nation is under or will be under Iraqi provincial control by the end of 2008

Slide 11 - The Iraqi police and Army forces should be have significantly more operational Battalions by the end of 2008

The slide does paint a rosy picture - but - as we all know - its not that rosy. The Iraqis really need to man up and take this country over. The longer they squabble over power the more detrimental it will be to their long term prosperity. The charts do not give the entire picture as they only provide a limited time line. We’ve been here for 5 years - I want to see the charts for the entire time on the ground.

Unfortunately, the US military presence will continue until the politicians can come to an agreement. Even after the government begins to function and corruption decreases (which I hope it will) the Iraqis will continue to rely on the US military to do things they cannot - Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), Combat Search and Rescue, Logistical Support, and Air power.

As bad as I want to see our guys out of the fight - things could fall apart quickly without our help. I just don’t think they are ready despite continued progress - I wonder how longs its going to be before we are done. Waiting sucks - it really does. Its a shame we can’t get the Iraqi government to subcontract our role in their country. How cool would that be? Don’t let them pay us - have them pay Black water, KBR, or whomever they wish. They could regulate and control the situation to their desire until their own military and police forces can handle the country as a whole.

Tags: desert, Iraq, ISRAFGHYIANONANAQ, military, news, politics, USAF, war

Its rare that we see a new vehicle in my career field because we drive the heck out of them. While the mileage is never high, the vehicles have seen many hours of use.

When I was in Korea we had an ‘85 Chevy truck with 140k miles. Black smoke poured from the exhaust, the battery wouldn’t hold enough charge to run the 4 ways for more than three minutes, the heaters didn’t work, and it was beaten to living hell. We drove that truck everywhere because it was the only one we had. After we had sent it to motor pool for the 20th time to get fixed, they finally decided to replace it. They gave us a brand new truck - I never thought we would ever have a new truck - and I was right. By the end of the day the commander caught wind of it and took our truck and gave us his old model. We ended up ahead in the end but I thought it was a bit messed up that he did that…. Trizinsky was his name. Anyhow… two weeks later we saw the truck that we thought had gone to the scrap yard - and it was being driven by Civil Engineering. I guess they upgraded too - I don’t want to know what they had.

Our current shop truck is a ‘98 Chevy with 99k miles on it. The drive to work is only 4 miles so we aren’t going far in it but we are making quite a few trips ~13000 or so. I’m guessing that most of us don’t take any of our vehicles on that many trips regardless of how many miles we put on it because we tend to go longer distances. This truck has been beaten to living hell. In fact, we drove it till the doors fell off - literally. Since I’ve been here we’ve had problems with the doors. At first, we the latch broke off the inside of one of the doors. Soon after, the mechanism in two of the other doors broke leaving us with one working door. Sure, we could get out of the drivers door and open the rest from the exterior but in an emergency would we really want to do that? We turned it in for repair and two weeks later it came back with 3/4 working doors. Oh well, at least it was an improvement. Most of the doors shut poorly - probably due to wear and tear. Yesterday the door did finally did tear - off its hinges.

Would anyone in the civilian sector think of driving a vehicle as beaten as this? Probably not - it still serves its purpose when the doors are attached and we’ll probably drive it until the engine seizes - I give it another year or two. I’m glad we have a truck - it could be worse - we could be stuck with nothing to drive but buses and forklifts.

Tags: miles, military

The military has a zero tolerance policy to discrimination based on sex, religion, race, or creed. The civilian world has no such policy.

We live in a world where we see should no longer be looking at the race of an individual - we should view each person on their merits. Lines dividing us based upon sex, religion, race, and creed should blur more with each passing day. Unfortunately, there are some out there that try to separate and segregate us based upon these categories.

The United States has an African American man and a Caucasian female running for office. There are some out there that use racist and derogatory terms to identify these people. I have to wonder why they do it. I know that these two individuals, as all others, are equal to me in every way. They share the same blood as I do and they live and die as I do. They are no more superior to me than I to them. We all stand on the same playing field as humans - some of us rise higher than the rest but it has nothing to do with our backgrounds. Everything should be based upon our merits.

I have a few family members that make racist comments - they think that its an acceptable practice. I think they are ignorant fools. I have a few friends that think that an African American should never run for office of president because he is a “insert racial epithet here.” I think they are ignorant fools.

What kind of individual judges people based upon their skin? Should I treat the ignorant as my equals? Should any of us? I would rather hold an individual of a different race that hates me based upon my merits higher than a friend that likes me but hates others based upon their race.

Some people need to grow up - we are living in a world where lines of race are blending with each passing day. Areas that used to be dominated by one race are seeing many cultures prosper. Should we shun these newcomers? - absolutely not. We should embrace them and all they have to offer. We should meld their culture into ours and learn about their history. These people are our long lost cousins. They are family to us - we’ve just been apart for generations.

Racism should stop - unfortunately, as long as the ignorant live we may never see the end of it.

Tags: family, hate, military