Still No Love

Well, we are still locked out of our blogs and I am beginning to think it is permanent. It is really annoying, because the majority of mil blogs that I read are highly supportive of our effort over here and in my opinion help to counteract some of the bias from the media. I really don’t understand why they don't want us telling us our story and keeping our friends and families up to date on what we are doing. It is especially aggravating for me and the guys in my unit, as we got another 4 months added to our sentence and our blogs were a nice break from the day to day grind that is our 16 month vacation.

To add insult to injury, I went down to the MWR lab to post a story and the server was down, so I can't even go that way. So, I'm pretty frustrated with the whole thing. The MWR route takes at least an hour from start to finish, for a task that used to take about 10 minutes. I'll do my best to keep the posts coming but I've been pretty busy lately and it has hard to find the time to sneak away for an hour. I do most of my posting at night on my off time, and most nights the last thing I want to do is make the hike down the MWR building and wait in line for a computer. I know it isn't that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things and I could have it much worse, but this blog was one of the few things about Iraq that kept my in touch with those of you at home so it is hard to have it taken away without any explanation.

We grilled some steaks tonight in celebration of the Super Bowl. They were pretty tasty. I would put up a picture, but, well you know. SSG Johnson's parents sent him a toaster oven so we had some cheese bread for a side item. We also toasted some sandwiches today and that was a nice change of pace. We are getting up at 0200 to watch the big game. Tomorrow will be a long day for sure. The only negative is no commercials for us. Just an endless loop of the same crappy AFN commercials we have seen 10,000 times.

Theater policy allows for a 4 day pass to Qatar every 6 months in theater. Our Brigade originally didn't allow anyone to take a pass due to manning requirements, but since we got extended we all should get the chance to go. I am slated to make the trip sometime in March. Flecker was supposed to go today and be the guinea pig but the flight got cancelled so he isn't going for another week or so. You can go jet skiing, go shopping in a mall, see the town, and drink 3 real beers a day. Most importantly, you get away from the office for a few days, which will be nice. The guys I work with are great, but after 10 months of seeing them everyday, all day, a break won't be a bad thing. We haven't started fist fighting yet but the verbal sparring has increased.

Can’t really think of anything else exciting to share. I better go try to grab a few hours sleep before the big game. Have a good week.