So I might have strecthed the truth

I realize that I promised you all details of my adventures down south during December and January. Then I thought that if I kept you all informed via this blog I wouldn’t have anything left to tell you when I get back to the States this summer. So, instead I have put your tax dollars to good use by lying in my rack reading some good books, listening to some quality music, and thinking about life. This is what I have come up with.
Let’s start with the book I’ve just started reading called “The World is Flat” by Thomas Friedman. I’ve only made it through 75 of 635 pages but so far it is a very interesting read. In a nutshell it is about the globalization of the economy and how technology has shrunk our world so much that it is no longer round but flat. From what I’ve gotten out it so far is that America is screwed. The outsourcing of jobs to India is happening at a ridiculous rate everything that can be sent through a fiber optic line in the form of a digital information packet is flying under the Pacific and Indian Oceans to the much cheaper job markets of Bangalore and other cities in India. Why can an Indian be ecstatic about making $15,000 a year doing a job that an American does grudgingly did for $80,000? Does that mean that the Indian is getting severely under paid or that the American is getting ridiculously over paid? Friedman interviewed the CEO of Reuters news service, Tom Glocer about the outsourcing of many of the many journalistic “grunt” jobs like posting raw data snippets to websites and TV programs. Glocer said that by outsourcing the mundane basics it leaves the real journalism to the real journalists. “That needs a higher journalistic skill set- someone in the market with contacts, who knows who the best industry analysts are, who has taken the right people to lunch.” A Reuter’s inter-office memo stated that this out-sourcing of the low-skill will free up American intellect and capital to do more “sophisticated work.” But I have some problems with these lines of thought. I am not nor will I ever be a journalist (ask Mom about me and papers!) but I don’t see how someone could achieve the “higher journalistic skill set” without doing the grunt work. I don’t think they sell it anywhere. I’m pretty sure it comes from the same place that any other “higher skill set” comes from: starting with the grunt work, getting good at that and slowly moving up the chain. There is a reason I didn’t get put in charge of a squad the second I graduated from boot camp (even though I am awesome…again ask Mom). I had to learn how to field day my room (cleaning it really, really good), I had to learn how to pound nails and cut boards to the right length, I had to learn how to motivate myself. Once I had this all down, I got promoted and was given more and more responsibility. Doesn’t it stand to reason that if we out source all the grunt work and just focus on the “sophisticated stuff” sooner or later we won’t have the ability to do that very same sophisticated work because no one will have spent time in the trenches learning the ins and out of their profession slogging through the mundane basics.

About Time!!

Well, the delay has been significant but that just means there is more for me to type and for you all to read. So right now I will just give you a brief overview and then I will get into more depth when I have more time to type....so in a couple of days... So lets see. My squad got detached from the rest of the platoon for awhile in order to do a bunch of bridging. We took out 4 military style bridges and put in 4 culvert crossing....this included working an extra long day on Christmas....oh well.....after that we came back to Dwyer for a couple of days and then headed back out to build a combat outpost for a grunt battalion. Now we are regrouping and refitting and getting ready to head back out into that thing i like to call the desert for more base constuction. More details will come soon I PROMISE!


thanks for all the prayers

Dan

Its my party and I'll cry if I want to

Alright so after a delay brought to us by broken down equipment here is another update. Life out here at Camp Dwyer hasn't changed much. My squad is now the only squad left in Charlie which defaults us to the company's do everything squad. It is in my nature to be helpful so that quickly turns into me and my squad doing everything for everybody. It makes the day go quick but my Marines are getting frustrated because we haven't gone out on any sort of mission yet. The good news is that this will change very soon. We are all going out to pull some bridges out and put culverts in. That will be nice cause it will chew up a week or so but it also means that we will more than likely that we will be working on Christmas. Oh well, welcome to the Marine Corps. Talk to you all in a couple of weeks

A week to remember

Last Monday a couple of Marines and I flew out to a small base to do some bridge recon. We couldn't get a ride on Monday but we were promised a ride on Tuesday down to at least one of the bridges. WE were supposed to leave at 1000 but when we showed up the drivers were just waking up because they had been driving all night. We were told to come back at 1130 but when we came back the told us it was going to be at least 3 hours before they could leave because the trucks had to get loaded. When we checked at 1530 they were still messing with the trucks so we just decided not to go because the sun was going down and we couldn't do the recon in the dark. So Tuesday was a complete wash. The convoy never left and so I had nothing to do all day, typical. Then on Wednesday we left base early (around 0600) in order to make up for Tuesday. Well we made it 20 min out of the gate and one of the 5 trucks we had started acting up so we turned around to get a new one. So now we are an hour behind schedule. After that things went smoothly for awhile we made it to 2 of the 4 bridges we were supposed to look at that day. On our way to the 3rd bridge, however, we took a wrong turn and while we were trying to turn around the 7-ton I was riding in got stuck. It took 2 and a half hrs for us to get unstuck and continue on our way. So we finally got all of the bridges looked at and made our way to another FOB where we were going to pick up some detainees. When we got there we were told that it would only take 30 min to an hour before we left. Well that turned into 3 hrs and so we didn't leave to return back to Deli until after dark. About 20 min after we left the lead vehicle took a wrong turn and got himself stuck in a giant mud hole. Where we were driving was open desert with a smattering of mud huts and this guy managed to find the local watering hole and tried to drive straight through the middle of it. So now we had 1 vehicle stuck. The next truck decided to try and get around the stuck one so that he could chain up to him and give him a pull . While truck 2 was going around he got stuck worst than the first guy. 2 vehicles stuck. Well the thought was that the 7 ton I was in and a lot of pulling power to we all jumped out and the driver took our truck around on some drier ground to pull the second truck. The problem was the 2nd truck was stuck really bad and the 7 ton driver didn't know when to let off the gas so they managed to get the 7 ton stuck. 3 trucks stuck. At this point the convoy commander was pretty ticked off so he sent his truck up to give the 7 ton a tug because it wasn't stuck THAT bad. Well the driver of that 4th vehicle miscalculated his route and attempted to drive through the worst of the mud. In the process he got vehicle number 4 stuck. We had one truck left that was mobile. It was big and heavy and its 4 wheel drive was broken so we weren't expecting much. True to form 20 feet off the road on its way to try and pull the 7 ton it too got stuck. So now it was 2000 getting cold and all 5 trucks in our convoy were hopelessly stuck. My buddies and I had planned on a 7 hour round trip so we only brought minimal cold weather gear. All I had besides my uniform and flak jacket was a light weight fleece, a fleece beanie, and my gloves. The convoy commander called in to his battalion and they sent a convoy down that was supposed to meet up with up at 0200. So there we sat freezing, keeping watch, and hoping the Taliban were as cold as us and didn't want to come and play. The other convoy showed up at 0200ish like they promised but they weren't there to pull us out. They were there to pick up the 3 detainee's we had because there was a time limit on how long we could hold them with out processing them. So the bad guys were whisked away to warmth while we were left to fend for our selves with a promise of a wrecker sometime the next day. So we waited and froze and kept watch. The next morning (24 hrs into the convoy, 12 hrs into being stuck) the sun come out and warmed us up and we were excited because the wrecker convoy was supposed to be on the way. It wasn't. That convoy didn't leave until 1600 that day. So we spent the day listening to firefights going on all around us wondering if they were getting closer. We saw a couple of IEDs go off and prayed that none of our boys got hurt, and we saw 2 harriers do gun runs on targets in the city. And we waited for the wrecker. By the time they got to us it was dark again and so they didn't stop they just drove on past to another base....twice. So we spent another night freezing and worrying and watching. Finally Friday morning at 0900ish, 39 hrs after we first got stuck, a convoy showed up with 2 wreckers and we were pulled free with in an hour. We all danced a jig and jumped on the trucks and headed back up to the base to clean up and get into a warm sleeping bag. So thats how my week of bridge recon went. It was an adventure to say the least.

Thanksgiving ......Marine Corps Style

It started off just like any other day...the squad walked the 1 mile to the lot so we could continue working we did that all morning but then we knocked off early so that we could go stand in line at the chow hall that was 300 yards long. After chow we got to stand around for 2 hours waiting on General Conway and Sergeant Major Kent, the Commandant and SgtMaj of the Marine Corps. They came and told us that we are all doing a really good job and that this Thanksgiving will be one of the most memorable ones because I spent it in Afghanistan. Doubt it. But that is not to say that I am not thankful. I am extremely grateful for my parents and my sisters who have put up with my running of for the third time. I am also really thankful for everyone else back in the States that is suporting me with prayer and packages. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

The Class IV Lot

In the Marine Corps, Class IV refers to any material used in construction. So, lumber, nails, HESCO, concrete, windows, all that is Class IV. We have a giant lot full of shipping containers that are full of class IV. Unfortunately when those containers got here they were not put down in any sort of actual order. This means that for the next week or so 1st squad gets to hunt through all of the containers and figure out what is in them and clean up all the stuff that got broken in trnasit. It can be kind of a dirty, backbreaking, and tedious job. But in the end it makes it worth it when we are trying to prep for a mission.

Camp Dwyer

Well here I am chilling at Camp Dwyer. As of right now it looks like 3 platoons from my company (120 Marines) will be living in one giant tent, sleeping on cots. I guess that means we will all become really good friends :). I am worried about the lack of running I will get to do out here. Most of the roads are made of moon dust, a kind of sand that is the consistency of baby powder. Hopefully the missions will start comin fast and hard so I can be busy and not think aobut the crappiness. I'll keep you all informed.