Camels, Sand, and Stuff

2007-08-23T23:34:00.000-07:00

Seeing the Finish Line

There's a great feeling every time a pack more of my stuff to be shipped. It also reminds me how much useless stuff I brought: tons of cds I didn't listen to, way too many books, and a PlayStation 3. On that note, I would like to say to anyone going to Iraq DO NOT GET ONE. The outside is glossy and easily scratched, while the controller cords are USB cords that disconnect at both the system and controller, and the dust will make it impossible to use within months.

I'm already having to deal with cleaning several, several M249 S.A.Ws, as well as their extra barrels. I've already spent 3 days on nothing but doing them, but I still have a long way to go.

I've finally found a roommate for my apartment. Sgt Christopher Hicks, who is one of my two roommates in Iraq, has decided to go the deal (which cuts my rent in half, thank goodness). Since I can stand him here(a surprisingly rare thing apparently for me to do), I should be able to stand him back home.

Also, I've working on what work I'll be doing once I get back. I should be going to the Annual Craighead County Republican Committee that is coming up. I plan on talking to some people there on ASU CR's plan to help solidify the ASU Indians and the Indian family as unofficial mascots, which we call our "Indian Pride Project". I'll get into more detail later.

2007-06-10T23:26:00.000-07:00

Alot of stuff happened since i last blogged. Two embedded people from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Amy Schlesing, a reporter with the paper, as well as a photographer named Staton Breidenthal both came and stayed with Charlie Company for about a full month before going to the crazy world of the Anbar province.

During their time with us, we had our first casualty. Specialist Erich Smallwood was killed when a large IED exploded near under his humvee. I had only seen him a couple times, but it horrible to know that we have lost our first guy as part our own deployed unit since World War 2 (when we were an artillery unit).

On a more postive note, we have finally dealt with the issue of getting an Advanced Combat Helmet (ACH) to Specialist Christopher Centers, who was shot in the head by a sniper, but lived and was even able to come back and continue doing missions. I asked SSG Ewald, one of our radio guys who had simply lost his ACH and who still had a older model helmet as well, to give Centers his helmet. This wasn't much of a problem, as he has stayed inside the base the whole time we have been here, so safety was much less of an issue. So the story pretty much ends for now, although we still haven't heard from our CIF about the ACH they were supposed to get Centers.

It still though should be noted that the fact that the Iraq Funding Bill was over 3 months late due to Congressional squabbling affected one of the avenues of how Specialist Centers was supposed to get a helmet, as there were attempts to get his ACH from a supply sgt's connections back in the US. That route was complicated by the fact that stateside units were in a budget crunch as the Army had to prioritize them lower due to budget problems, and so making it harder to get a helmet to for a guy that just got shot in the head. Just another guy caught in the crossfire of Capitol Hill's political wars I guess, and just another reason why we should all thank our local congressman.

2007-05-14T21:58:00.000-07:00

SURPRISE!!! YOU'RE ON HIDDEN CAMERA JIHAD!!!

Giuliani defends his position on abortion, just as soon as he figured out what it was.

Mitt Romney wants to re-tool Washington. Don't we have enough of those already in Washington?

Taliban leader Mullah Dadudallah killed after endless taunts about his name.

Iranian president(2/3 down article): "With each other's help, we can turn the Persian Gulf to the gulf of peace and friendship." And I'm sure if he put aside that whole Holocaust-denial thing and worked with Israel, that would help the Arab-Israeli peace process, but I think either would happen only between the time pigs would fly, and when the Governor of California becomes a "girly man".

2007-05-09T22:48:00.000-07:00

Once again a lull in between posts, this time because of me making a powerpoint presentation for a proposal(hows that for illiteration?) to use facebook.com as an official, stablished manner of doing business for the Arkanasas Federation of College Republicans, of which just elected me as state operations director. While I can't really attend meetings till probably late next fall, I can still email reports fairly well, and already I've proven more effective than the last person, but that didn't take much.
On Army matters, we've pretty much have finished dealing with a supply officer who was giving us a hard time with getting a new Advanced Combat Helmet(ACH) to a soldier in our unit that was narrowly escaped death with he had been shot by a sniper in the head from behind during a mission while I was still on leave. The round just scraped along the side of the guy's head instead of penetrating it, and he's still in our unit to this day. He was given an old "kevlar" helmet, essentially 1980s technology, and we've been having trouble with the supply officer to understand that a guy who just got shot in the head might not want something that is obsolete.
Nevermind that when I came up to him recently, he had said we didn't given him any paperwork, which was impossible, because for us to even start the whole process, he'd already have to have the paperwork. Of course, it should be hard for him to know, as he never even bothered to get out of his seat to even check his records. This guy is responsible for issuing replacement equipment to thousands of people, and this guy wont even get up to double check something we know he should have?

Here's some newslinks:

Al Sharpton, proving his tolerance, doubts the belief of God in Mitt Romney's religion.

Taiwan: Yet again proving that US politics isn't as partisan as you would think.

Hillary Clinton wants Congress to to repeal the the authority it gave Bush. For which she voted. For a war that has already happened. In related news, Hillary Clinton apparently has a time machine

Sam Browback apparently wanted to tick off the cheese head vote by telling Wisconsin Republicans that Peyton Manning is the best quarterback of all time. Thou shalt not diss the Farve amongst the cult of the cheese.

UN to nominate Zimbabwe to chair commission on sustainable development. Apparently, sustainable development includes having an inflation rate so high you might as well make your own Zimbabwe cash on your HP Deskjet Printer just to keep from loosing your personal worth.

2007-05-04T01:54:00.000-07:00

True Facts About Fred Thompson?

Ah, like "True Facts About Chuck Norris?" They don't quite get to that point of completely irreverent and just plain strange comedy, but they're often nearly as good, and they're more consistently funny than the "Mr T. Vs...." Internet comics that came out in a glut several years ago.

Here are a few facts about Fred Thompson:

* Fred Thompson has on multiple occasions pronounced "nuclear" correctly.
* Fred Thompson has blasted more people in the face with a shotgun than even Dick Cheney.
* The masked executioner of Saddam Hussein: Fred Thompson.
* Not only does Fred Thompson cut taxes, he cuts tax collectors.
* Fred Thompson is the only person to have ever bested Miyamato Mushashi in a duel. The reason Musashi is so vague about the book of the void is because the fifth ring of combat is really Fred Thompson.
* The reason Fred Thompson didn't want to stay in the Senate for long is because all the extra scrutiny kept him from doing his favorite hobby: Prowling the streets at night killing drug dealers.
* Every night before going to sleep, Osama bin Laden checks under his bed for Fred Thompson.
* Fred Thompson took over what was Al Gore's Senate seat, thereby dramatically reducing the Senate's carbon footprint. Fred Thompson then created carbon offset offsets by wastefully burning hippies.

2007-05-04T00:18:00.000-07:00

The first Republican presidential debate was last night. It's hard to keep up with everything all 10 candidates said (and that's excluding possibles like Gingrich and Robert Thompson). No one missed up to bad, though it was painfully obvious Mayor Rudy and to a lesser extent, John McCain were walking a very fine line between their positions and the party base. Interestingly enough, Mitt Romney walked it and was really on the ball, and that's review is coming from a guy who it's crazy about the guy.

As for the others:

Huckabee... um... uh... no comment...though he sure has great speech style, right?

Tom Tancredo- you could tell he was WAY out of his comfort zone, stuttering like he was being questioned by a policeman.

Brownback and Hunter- As far as could tell from what little I watched, both did well, but good luck on them breaking out of the pack.

Tommy Thompson and Jim Gilmore- Oh, I'm sorry, were they talking?

Ron Paul- After seeing this guy's Libertarian craziness, I'll state what I had said after watching Arkansas' own, Congressman Marion Berry's suspiciously slow and slurred "howdy-doody-looking-nimrod" speech that was made on the U.S. House floor:

"I think I'll have what the guy on the floor is having."

2007-05-02T23:05:00.000-07:00

Often, we have to explain to people what "Route Clearance" means. Of course, most fans of CSAS know what it is, but the title is a bit ambiguous. IED hunting is essentially what it is, and considering IEDs are by far the most common reason for American casualties in Iraq, having your main job as finding them is, needless to say, is having a dangerous one.

Never to worry, as the Army has taken measures. Not only do we have great vehicles, but we enlist the help of bomb disposal robots. They are great to have around, though they apparently don't take a blast well, as it isn't made of several tons of steel and flies like a soccer ball when blown up. I guess you could just say it's just another job hazard really.

2007-05-02T22:41:00.000-07:00

Disney is currently working on an internet project for preteens similar to My Space.com , giving you another reason to sell your Disney stock NOW.

2007-05-02T22:28:00.000-07:00

Navy patents a new weapon using sound essentially as ammunition. The working title is the "Ashlee Simp-53"

2007-05-02T21:49:00.000-07:00

Nancy Pelosi:

"A Friend of Syria"

Turns out that Nancy Pelosi's trip to Syria has paid off... if Nancy wants to run for office in Syria.

2007-05-02T12:35:00.000-07:00

Another CSAS Blogger?

Specialist Tony Taylor (Sitting on hood) is serving his second tour of duty in Iraq. His first tour was with a Mississippi cavalry unit before deciding to volunteer again as a fellow soldier in his original unit, our own 875th Engineer Battalion. I'm trying to get him, along with one or two others, to be "contributors" to the blog. Wish me luck. Oh, by the way, yet another CR conversion helped by Hunter Shumard.

2007-05-01T22:40:00.000-07:00

A recent study shows a growing percentage of immigrant blacks in and less African Americans in the minority makeup of American colleges and universities, and apparently choosing more black immigrants is a threat to black diversity? Come again?

2007-05-01T02:14:00.000-07:00

The British Army Chief of Staff says Prince Harry is going to war, and not only that, but they plan to have a special operation in which Harry will stand out in the middle of nowhere with a "kick me" sign on his back, and send in air strikes on any and all terrorists that approach him, which will lead to "the battle of Basra" being started, ended, and won by the Brits in about... 15 minutes.

Hey, you got any better ideas on ending this war faster? Ya, that's what I thought.

2007-05-01T00:25:00.000-07:00

In March, Hillary Clinton had a double-digit lead over Barack Obama. Now, he leads her by 2 points. The Hillary machine will deal with the foolish human male soon enough. Resistance is futile.

2007-04-30T23:55:00.001-07:00

In the political shuffle that all the presidential candidates are doing, apparently Hillary Clinton has lost her maiden name.

2007-04-29T03:41:00.000-07:00

Air Force set to implement widespread ban of tobacco products on all bases. With thousands of jittery, irrate ammunition handlers suddenly on the job, what could possibly go wrong?

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=45458

Fight on current Iraq operations bill may halt mine(and IED) resistant Marine Corps MRAP vehicles. See, Harry Reid told you the war would be "lost"... that's his gameplan anyways.
Give our own troops hell, Harry!

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,269073,00.html

2007-04-29T02:30:00.000-07:00

Some people have made fun of the supreme weirdness of President Bush's and Karl Rove's dancing. I say it's the only two things in quite some time for them that could ever be looked at in a positive light. Therefore, let 'em dance.

http://kutv.com/topstories/local_story_115205315.html

Attorney Generals usually don't have a problem being the life of the party at their Law School reunions, but AG Gonzales somehow finds a way. (from: a certain Bud Cummins fan involved in blog)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070429/ap_on_re_us/harvard_gonzales;_ylt=AomvQDvzxoWVFKdiaUh7IYms0NUE

2007-04-25T04:58:00.001-07:00

About 3 weeks ago, one of our sold Army soldiers, Specialist Bateman, decided to take on LSA Anaconda Air Force airmen at their own game, the "Balad Idol" contest series that the local airmen do when they're not busy working in harms way(in their branch of the armed services nowdays: slips, trips, and falls)...

In short time, this red necked wonder sang his way past 2 weekly rounds, with such classics such as "Little Less Talk, a Lot More Action", and Garth Brooks' "Rodeo". Facing off against 5 other people (4 airmen and a civilian obsessed with Luther Vandross), he decided to used a hide a trip up his sleeve....PLAYING A #$%#%#$%#@!!! INSTRUMENT AT AN IDOL CONTEST FOR ONCE. I should have known, as he actually had a guitar as his carry on for the plane trip into Anaconda,and has a tendency to spontaneously have country jamming sessions.

As little seriousness as I gave him, I was proved wrong, as his completely acoustic version of "American Soldier" (who saw that coming?) received the most applause in an audience made up of over 80% airmen. However, Bateman had to deal with the fact that every single one of the judges was either a commissioned or senior non commissioned air force officer. It was not helped when an Army Colonel providing entertainment during the intermission replied to the judges' observation of there being only one army soldier in the semi-finals with saying that most of them were busy "outside the wire" at the time while the air force was normally busy being obsessed with silly Morale-Welfare-Recreation events.

So our Specialist Bateman was deliberately denied the chance at the finals, being left our of a three way tie, two of which were obsessively singing bad Luther Vandross songs, but if it means being either being a third-place soldier or a first place airman, we'll just be happy to cut our losses while were still ahead.

2007-04-23T22:38:00.000-07:00

More missions, more news, Senator Harry Reid's "this war is lost" memo that the Army didn't get, and why I may no longer despise the country of France.

As usual, my apologies for the sparse blogging. When I'm pulling both supply day shifts and night missions for a combination of 22 hours of work a day of keeping me awake at one time, blogging becomes a second tier responsibility.

This time, I was a driver for the lieutenant of my old line platoon. Apparently, you drive a humvee in a completely different manner than a mine-clearance vehicle, and requires me to swirve all over the place. At one point, we drove though a road famous for being virtually ruined because of all the blast craters. I drove through it, with Lt. "Bull" giving a expletive-laced directions on where exactly to drive, with us reaching mixed success. "Left, now straight, now right....RIGHT! Ah, just drive through this ****...". Since I'm still blogging, you can guess we made it through.

On news:

Mitt Romney may use his 500 million dollars to try and convince evangelicals to vote for a Mormon... good luck. They're still getting over the Catholic thing:

http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/with-campaign-finance-loophole-romneys-wealth-cannot-be-matched-2007-04-17.html

Extreme left-leaning Huffington Post goes extreme on blaming other extremists, with a blog titled:

Abortion Ban & Virginia Massacre: Don't Forget To Thank The Nader Voters

Oh, Senator and apparent Multi-National Forces in Iraq commander Harry Reid would like to let everyone know that the "war is lost".

A link on presidential hopeful Nicholas Sarcozy, and why we should like France again. No, really, and no, I am not on crack.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0423/p25s01-woeu.html

2007-04-16T12:26:00.000-07:00

Specialist Hunter Shumard:

Man on a Mission...

This certainly wasn't the first time I've been "outside the wire", but it was the first time I was out and able to take photos (a DV Cam format video camera and a Digital D40 Nikon still photo camera). Sad part is that most of my outside the wire pics weren't focused enough because the dirt on my vehicle's windows kept the auto focus from working, and good luck going manual with a new camera while moving.

Good news is that I took at least a dozen great quality photos with the Nikon camera, including the one on the upper left showing some of my route clearance team joking around. (it's hard enough me getting one person in the middle of an emotion, but six perfectly?) It looks even better enlarged.

As for the strictly mediocre news, we found absolutely nothing of value on our patrol, save for finding an Iraqi Soldier's helmet. It's quite amazing how I seem to deflect any enemy contact by just me being with a patrol. Depending on who you ask around here, that's either a good thing or a bad thing.

Lastly, I did get to see several locals out, including even several children having a soccer game. It's amazing to be in a place where kids keep on playing soccer as a group of heavily armed gunships go by their field looking for bombs, the armed soldiers in them waving at the children, the children waving back, neither really serious anymore about the other's proximity, but rather accepting the other as part of daily life. Through it all, through war and whatever else tries to stop it, life goes on. At the very least, a little part of it somehow finds a way. If that includes a soccer game, let it be a soccer game.

I'll go back to news and commentary hopefully in my next blog.

2007-04-11T22:44:00.000-07:00

Bad news.

Apparently the private computer Internet server company that I normally post my blogs on (but not "Blogger" itself) has apparently thought me and the other people in my HQ platoon that use it did something wrong. Whether by not paying at the right time or too much Internet usage, I have no clue. It also put back one of the larger blog projects I was wanting to post.

Good news is that apparently it's possible for other soldiers to see my sight again on their computers, where if not the most of the viewers on average are, at least make up most of the more regular ones.

In other news since my last post:

The United Nations calls for an "impartial investigation into allegations its soldiers took part in the rape of women in Darfur last December", or else it will send more angry letters.

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/international/index.ssf?/base/international-5/1175852947304990.xml&storylist=international

The BBC has canceled a 90 minute drama of Britain's first surviving Victoria's Cross recipient (the British Army equivalent of the Medal of Honor) do to it being "too positive". Don't worry though. I heard "Confessions of an Iran Hostage" will have a second season put into production.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/08/wiraq308.xml&

John McCain releases an editorial on his latest visit to Iraq and his position on the Iraq war. Needless to say, Senator/Imaginary Multi-National Coalition Forces in Iraq Commander Harry Reid will throw a fit about this.

http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/News/OpEds/0415542b-00b7-4931-bb5e-63f81edb7e74.htm

(By the way, a not-so-short article on John McCain is in the works for this blog.)

Meanwhile, after Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi went on a much-hyped trip to Syria to say howdy to Syria, Congresswoman Pelosi now says she is considering to have "a dialogue" with Iran, who I remind you is the main supplier of EFPs, the most deadly kind of IEDs. Iran denies this, but can't seem to answer for the fact that the EFPs show up mostly in the more Iran friendly Shite areas of Iraq rather than the Sunni ones. As someone who had almost lost a fellow soldier and good friend to an EFP , which was probably smuggled from Iran, I find the fact of her even considering it obscene.

http://www.timesrecordnews.com/trn/local_news/article/0,1891,TRN_5784_5480384,00.html

And last but not least, a John Brummett article about Congressman Marion Berry says that the Congressman has heard "nary a peep" about any criticism about his support for using the "power of the purse" to withdraw troops from Iraq.

Yes, Congressman Berry, it is hard to hear "a peep" from halfway around the world, but if you didn't hear my whole argument about causing a logistical nightmare and risking the very same local national guard troops you say you support, well, don't you worry. I'll do it again soon, but just because this Army supply guy supports the troops too.

http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2007/04/09/JohnBrummett/341675.html

(p.s. In this article/interview, he apparently shows support towards Pelosi's prior and possible future trips to speak with leaders of Syria and Iran respectively, about four paragraphs from the bottom.)

2007-04-06T01:48:00.000-07:00

(NOTE: Consider this part 2 of 2 I guess of "I'm mad at Congress and I can't take it anymore" pair of essays. I probably will make more parts of it if Senator Reid and his political sharks keep at their game of political chicken with the President and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.)

I’m sure if you have followed up with the military news now, that you may have heard of the military’s plan to buy up large numbers anti-mine “route clearance” vehicles to replace the current armored humvees. These vehicles have a v-shape style underside that diverts an IED explosion away from the soldiers in its cab, providing much better protection than flat-bottomed humvees. They are so successful that insurgents, wanting to take out as many as possible, have made issued massive rewards on some of these vehicles. Still, these vehicles can take all but the very worst explosions, and have led to the sparing of surely hundreds of the lives of our soldiers.

Needless to say, the operations making of these vehicles have to work at full speed and efficiency to keep up with the relatively sudden massive requests from our troops(keep in mind, it takes several years to fully equip the army with a particular vehicle normally, and these things are harder to make than your standard model Honda Civic. With the current surge going into effect, and with the Marine Corps saying that EVERY Marine humvee going into direct combat will be replaced with a particularly tough and safe new anti-mine truck, there’s little room for a slowdown.

This takes a lot of money to better protect soldiers like myself with these things, but Nevada Senator Harry Reid will have none of it. Just days ago, Harry Reid, using his new title of “Civilian General of the Multi-National Forces in Iraq” said that if his party’s withdraw bill is vetoed, that he will force a bill cutting off funding proper of operations in Iraq, including the troops in it.

Just the fact that this idea is being seriously floated around is threatening to damage the operations and logistics of the desperately needed anti-mine vehicles, while they’re especially needed with those entire brigades involved in the surge being equipped. It’s hard enough just replacing the ones that get destroyed, much less make a surplus of them. Of course, Reid and particularly people of the granola-consuming variety will have none of it, safe transportation (and the people inside of them) be darned.

The biggest part of my problem with Reid’s withdraw threat is two things. First, last time I checked, Congress wasn’t part the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They can’t simply override actions of the chain of command, especially in the middle of an operation. To do so is complete recklessness in our separation of powers, especially the part of civilian legislators pretending they have ever worn a uniform when they haven’t. Don’t serve, don’t command. Also, while withdrawing funds is currently the only way for Congress to stop the war, it may be the worst way for it to be stopped. While it may take them seemingly forever to vote on something, they can work faster than the army logistics system. Any sudden change from the powers that be can set the logistics system back anywhere from weeks to months. Of course, soldiers outside the wire see more than one IED in a few months.

Lastly, I will give no explicit details in casualties in my company, but I do know a few soldiers I know who literally were mere centimeters and inches from death. I get angry about what Senator Reid is doing because it affects me and my friends personally, and risks their lives of people who need as much protection as they can get.

By the way, remember those anti-mine vehicles I was talking about? The 875th needs them for us to do our duties, and keep us safe from harm, so we can come home to see our loved ones, so we too are guaranteed to be affected by Reid’s hi jinks. Now, you see, I’m not the only one who should be angry.

(Next blog I’ll hopefully be ready write finally about the most influential but most frightening experience here, though I will be glad to say that it does have a happy ending.)

Shumard Out.

2007-04-04T09:46:00.000-07:00

My second big experience in Iraq, though certainly not as influencing as my first. Nothing ever will , but I'll build up to that, when I can find how to talk about it to other people, meanwhile, at least enjoy this ironic but much more positive moment in my life here:

"There has been an indirect fire attack... all clear, all clear, all clear." It seems like I still hear it every other night, time after time. It's amazing how you get used to it. Even the first time, which was the first night I had even been in Iraq, walking out of a dining facility, speakers all around me bellowing out "This has been an indirect fire attack....all clear, all clear, all clear", while blackhawk helicopters flying all around me, with their massive spot lights lighting up huge pieces of the ground, looking for the terrorists that had just attacked the base. Meanwhile, I look over at another soldier who was with me and said...

"Did I miss my first mortar attack? This sucks!" and walk back to my room like nothing happened.

Stay tuned. Thinking about another massive blog either tomorrow or the next day, regarding Senator Harry Reid's threat to suddenly withdraw funds from Iraq operations, the possible damage it could do the the Army Logistical System, including harming the flow of desperately needed anti-mine vehicles, and how our 875th needs those vehicles in particular. Get ready for one heck of a speech... somebody's gotta say it.

Shumard out.

2007-04-01T10:53:00.000-07:00

Well, the supplemental/pork-filled, military-withdraw-attached Iraq Bill passed the senate, and so goes on directly to the White House shredder. Meanwhile, the Associated Press argues that, in fact, the deadline to get a military budget bill passed all the way through can go up to possibly June, if the Pentagon started re-routing it's priorities(and I bet soldiers could still do our jobs if we had our units' budgets cut in half, but that doesn't mean that's the best way to do it).

Let me put it this way, a single company unit can keep it's costs down for several weeks, but eventually something is going to go wrong and a certain genius will get a $150,000 robot blown into pieces. By the way, I'd like to give a shout out to the sargeant involved in operating it. Way to go.

In order to keep casualties down, the Army has spent literally billions on robotic equipment that takes the hits for their operators, and they have already done so for our unit. We have gone from using bandages that were developed originally in world war I to clotting agent bandages (that are over 100 dollars apiece) in just 5 years. Medical advances are coming several times faster than they were before the war. By stopping the war via a budget cut, we reduce the protection and treatment of the soldiers involved(easily the costliest element in the war) and risk making the death rate higher than it already is.

But politicians see where the political winds are blowing on the war, yet they want to "support the troops" at the same time. What's a congressman to do? Especially in Arkansas, where tens of thousands of people are affected by the lives of service members in the 39 th Infantry Brigade, the 875th Engineer Battalion, and several C-130 equipped Air Force units based in Little Rock? Why, pledge your support of the troops, while starving the budget of the troo..errr....umm... "illegal war for oil".

Therefore, politicians like Congressman Berry use a politically charged, doomed bill against the advice of brilliant generals such as General David Petraeus (a man that literally wrote the book on counterinsurgency tactics in a military field manual right before his transfer to the MNF-I command) to give our Army one final chance, after he had shown up months earlier at a soldier support group fundraiser giving a thousand dollars(by the way, he is the richest member of the Arkansas Congressional delegation, worth well over a million dollars) and talked like he just donated his own kidney. Ironically enough, the long fight for the bill he voted for also risks desperately-needed support for units (including mine) in the billions of dollars, much much more than a thousand dollars, or one of his kidneys for that matter.

Congressman, by voting on this bill, you started a chain of events that I believe does not help the 875th. It does not bring the 875th back here any sooner, and if political bickering in Washington D. C. continues into late Spring without an Iraq War budget bill, it will ruin our financial and materiel support, harming my unit, its mission, and possibly harming its soldiers.

2007-03-23T08:01:00.000-07:00

What we have to deal with: Recent News

So far, I doing decently on holding the fort till SSG Hatley gets back. I haven't had a break during daytime in at least 2 weeks though, and it certainly makes me think twice about being a supply sgt.

What's in the news lately:

Lawmakers bribing other lawmakers to vote for the latest Iraq War supplement bill (which forces the army to mostly pull out of Iraq by next summer, regardless of what the army has to say about it) by putting in billions of subsidies...
Unless you can tell me how funding the construction of Peanut storehouses has a ***n thing to do with funding the soldiers, sailors, and airmen serving in a war zone half-way around the world, I think the word describing this would be "repulsive".
Not to say that neither party is innocent of putting unrelated and unnecessary funding in every bill in the past 10 years, it's just that no one seems capable of stopping it. We have been reduced to the point where it's not unethical to sneak a "rider" in the next farm bill about funding for the "Electrical Engineer Museum and Hall of Fame"(ironically and seriously enough, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Engineers may have the lobbying power to pull that off).

In other news, thousands of anti-war protesters in Portland, Oregon circled around an effigy of an American soldier, where they then set it on fire, along with the American Flag. My guess is they couldn't find any crosses to burn, so they had to settle with an imitation of us. Frankly, it looks to me as just another form of bigotry, no less than a neo-nazi rally.
I know many of you former Vietnam veterans have sworn to protect us from the hate that you hate to deal with when you came home from war. Don't let us down, don't let these hate-filled scum take over our country. God knows we have to deal with it from over here.

http://www.ktvz.com/story.cfm?nav=oregon&storyID=18920

It makes me sick.

2007-03-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

I have learned to despise the blogspot network more over the next few days than ever. If I wait more than a few hours to save or post blogs, the connection between the blog system and me messes up, and an entire night's worth of words goes down the drain. The horror, the horror.

I have effectively taken most of the duties of supply while SSG Michael Hatley gets to see his family and go to Disney world. While there are periods of time I just about shut the door on people once the crowd goes away, but it's not all bad. Doing desk work is a nice change for doing the exact same errands every day, though it would help not to keep taking crash courses in how to fill out supply forms every other day (my gosh, how many weird situations do you have to come up with in order to warrant the number of different supply forms, I will never know). It doesn't really matter though in the big scheme of things. SSG Hatley is finally taking a break to see his wife and kids for once in over 6 months, and for me that's uplifting enough.

2007-03-09T09:03:00.000-08:00

It's amazing how paper work, authority, and governmental-contractor management can seem to create a world of it's own. I have been dealing with the civilians here on my FOB trying to get a guy a piece of equipment, and it's the convoluted nature of it all is amazing. Keep in mind, you don't see "Halliburton" mentioned as much as you have thought, hearing from the great mind himself, Michael Moore(gag). Rather, Halliburton's Iraq work is done mostly by a subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown, and Root (as we call them, KBR), who then subcontracts various work to various other subcontractors.

Meanwhile, they of course need civilians running around telling soldiers that they are not authorized to get Item X because they don't have DA Form 37234337-dagzulualpha-to-the-number-of-pi.

....in come the south and southeast Asian folks from "Prime Projects International".

Needless to say, understanding each other here doing logistics and supply work can be challenging, assuming the usual situation of the moment: a KBR manager, me (the customer), some guy from some island I've never heard of before(FYI, all Prime Projects International personnel in the future shall collectively be known as "Fez") , and usually some active duty guy over seeing the rest of us, are all trying to be on the same page while not being in the same place. It happens, eventually.

I find that to deal with the whole craziness of it all at the weirdest of those times is to first sit down, have at least one hand holding up you head, and simply start laughing. It makes for a nice short break, and apparently the Asian workers apparently think it's funny too. Why did I choose supply again?

....and yes, this was a picture I have used before already. My camera had to be resent. So there.

2007-03-03T03:09:00.000-08:00

While getting ready for coming back to Iraq from leave, I forgot to pack my camera, so I'll be using pictures from the internet and ones already on my computer in place until I get it back, which shouldn't be much longer.
This week, I've been learning more about supply paperwork, like doing issues and turn-ins, as well as how to drive a person not normally involved with supply work to the point of insanity, with a single sheet of paper. Since all of the civilians have been doing this to us the whole time we've been in Iraq, this must not be hard to do.

As I've heard right before leave, Congress is thinking of cutting funding for soldiers that are part of the Iraqi War "surge", or at least adding nearly impossible goals in legislation that would least lead to that end. Congress is walking on seriously thin ice by trying to take control of this war. Just because you have "power of the purse" of the military doesn't make you a general.

2007-02-28T10:53:00.000-08:00

First living Medal of Honor recipient to receive honor for quite some time... on February 26, 2007, President Bush presented the Medal of Honor to retired Lt. Col. Bruce Crandall for actions he did under fire as a helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War. He was played by Greg Kinnear and his action are recreated as part of the good (but very violent) movie, "When We Were Soldiers".

As for news from me personally, I can tell things have changed slightly for me. One of my roommates is on leave, while another has changed to a totally different job with a shift totally opposite from mine, and so I can go up to 2 days without being in a situation in which I would even say a word to him. Awkward to say the least. Meanwhile, I may be able to go on another "route clearance" mission, which usually are a nice break from the monotony of supply work. Bad news? People don't worry about being blown up while issuing socks.

2007-02-23T10:14:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been a long, long time since I last posted, probably because 1) While on leave, I was trying to focusing on anything but stuff involving Iraq, including this blog, and 2) Recently many military networks, including many FOBs and possibly all of them, have blocked off blogspot based blogs(which the large majority of miliblogs are based off of) from their networks, making it possible to see or manage those blogs only via private servers, which can't stop me, but eliminates a huge section of possible viewers in the overseas military, including some of my biggest fans in the 875th supply section.
I did enjoy my leave, by the way, got to go to bed late at night and sleep later(my personal mission, since I haven't slept past 10am in months), went to the Arkansas Sportshow and continued my tradition at cheating at getting fish at it's trout tank(I'm snagging them, and you'll just have to catch me if you can....which by the way, they did again this year). I also did get to hang out at Jonathan Carmack's house to watch the Super Bowl, including the Super Bowl commercials not shown on the Armed Forces Network's viewing of the game. Finally, just days after I got home, it snowed. Like, couldn't make to to town in my own car snowed. The timing of it all couldn't be much better.
The two weeks flew by, however, and now I find myself back in the Sandbox, and doing business as usual. I am now about done on work that I'm having done to my bed (which I will call the "Beasley bed", named after the guy who came up with it), and will show a new picture of my room real soon. Stay tuned.

2007-01-16T01:41:00.000-08:00

It's tough trying to do a blog and write a decent op/ed for a paper(in 300 words or less), all while trying to do a full time job in a war zone.
I'm trying to write a letter to the opinions editor of the ASU Herald (who just happens to be fellow conservative Lutheran Andrew Wilson) about why a quick military withdraw would be so disastrous (the tentative title is "Genocide, and Nothing Less"... noticeable enough?). It's been awhile since I've used the ole "making a case for the conservative by attacking from the left" (anyone that supports actions to help Darfur that reads this and still wants a hasty withdraw from Iraq while still knowing the country's tiny ethnic minorities face genocide are officially hypocritical scumbags). Anyways, hopefully this will wind up in the ASU Herald:

Genocide, and Nothing Less
By Hunter Shumard

As a soldier serving in our armed forces, I don't pretend to know the magic answer to the question of how to defeat the insurgents and bring my fellow soldiers home to their families. I can offer no advice other than focus on embedding our soldiers inside the Iraqi Army to train them more, being the most promising of the Iraqi authorities, and also to remind the Iraq government that we cannot keep fighting the good fight forever. What I do know is that the idea to redeploy our forces 4-6 months from now is simply the most irresponsible act we could do. The lucky ones would be powerful leaders of the Sunni, Shia, and Kurdish groups that would gain more autonomous power over their areas. The losers? Just about everyone else, but the Assyrian ethnic group in the country stands out. If the country goes under, they will be yet another small minority left behind in a war-torn country to be ethnically cleansed. There search for evidence on this isn't hard to find, as we have withdrawn from Iraq hastily once before in the first Gulf War, and I guarantee you, as there wouldn't not be any real authority, not even a dictatorship, the mass graves will be larger this time around. To leave now would be accepting that genocide is in Iraq's fate. Genocide, and nothing less.
The history of a democratic Iraq has is still in it's infancy, and will be for a long, long time. We were foolish to think we can take a multi-ethnic, war-ravaged country ruled under dictatorships for decades and expect a spotless democracy to be made faster than ramen noodles. Every democracy takes decades to grow, including the mess our country was in it's first few years, complete with revolts and a civil war with a death toll that was much worse than Iraq's. We have forsaken Iraq once before. Let's not do it again.

2007-01-12T07:32:00.000-08:00

It's been raining for about a week, all of my future job possibilities except for a cashier job at Lowe's went down the drain last fall, and now the most powerful female in America is the one holding the whip shown on my left. Needless to say, I think it's safe to say this year is off to a very, very crappy start.

I've decided to go forward with the "Operation Razor" campaign when I get home, and will enlist the support of some of my old friends of a certain hated student organization (the one that had a dozen of its posters on campus set ON FIRE a few years ago: http://www.asuherald.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=9dc430c5-d0a1-4fab-ae14-fea19f3b97c7 ).

We'll probably do our old throw-fliers-and-posters-onto-everything-over-a-mile-radius technique. I'm pretty sure I am going to go through with having a flag signing at the Arkansas Sportshow if I can get some sort of permission. Wish me luck.

2007-01-10T09:53:00.000-08:00

I know it's been awhile since my last post, but it's kind of hard to come up with interesting news after Saddam's hanging...
As I am about to leave January 26th, people have apparently already given my family and Laura gifts, and thank you everyone that have. Best yet, the birthday gifts still haven't came in yet(that's on Feb 1st by the way), so I have more to look forward too. Oh ya, the Arkansas Sports Show will be happening while I'm on leave too, so rock on. I'm seriously thinking of doing publicity for camels, sand and stuff by having a flag for everyone to sign. Even though I'm not sure the folks there would like me not being a vendor, I could always use the "are you not supporting the troops?" card, which is priceless. Hey, while I'm stuck here, I might want to have the few benefits of the job. Look for me there, maybe I'll work something out.

P.S.-some of you may have heard what happened to a soldier that was from NEA(who WASN'T from the 875th, just to clarify)... You can go to http://www.kait8.com/Global/story.asp?S=5919457 for more.

2006-12-31T05:50:00.000-08:00

I guess it should be obvious that it's about time to make another entry. As many of you know, Saddam has gone to you-know-where to play games of "Bridge" with Adolf, Joseph, and Mao for all eternity. Needless to say, we here at the 875th aren't exactly sending flowers to the funeral. We're busy dealing with the nuts who give him a run for his evil. Despite the fact that they're many, many terrorists of his ilk that try to harm us every day, each and every time the attacked units go back to work without missing a beat, or, due to the fact that terrorists couldn't hit the side of a battleship with a shotgun, their attack fails entirely. They miss us, and usually, we don't miss them.

...as for the last words of Saddam? He supposedly he told guards reportedly taunting him as he was led to the gallows that they should "go to Hell". Ironic to the last.

2006-12-27T10:06:00.000-08:00

Since it was Christmas, like most workplaces(even ones in war zones), we decided to have a Christmas party. Everyone hunted down food they could bring and put up got 3 Christmas trees complete with lights and decorations. After the party, we had our first medal award ceremony, when soldiers like SSG Turpin, Supply Sgt. for Alpha Company.
It is less than a month before I go home to the great state of Arkansas. It's seems like it's been forever since I've been home. I'm kind of interested in what has changed since I've been there, and every time I leave for more than a few weeks, some dramatic change happens to my home. For instance, the time I left for basic training, I had came back to see that most of the back yard had turned into a duck pond, my furniture had been changed around completely, and my carpet had been removed in place of tile. Soldiers often can have a case of time-shock. You feel like you've missed a huge chunk of things since you left, like you've blacked out for 2-12 months.
Hopefully, it won't be hard to take in when I do finally get back. Even though I missed Christmas, I will be home days before my birthday, meeting with old friends and new, like Matt Lagrone, who was a commo sgt in Baghdad awhile back and has a military blog himself: matt.lagrone.blogspot.com, as well as my amazing girlfriend, Laura Canady.
I still have no real clue what I'm going to exactly do the two weeks I'm home, other than that I'm not getting up before 10 in the morning any day the whole time.

2006-12-22T08:18:00.000-08:00

The Christmas Edition:

I guess that since I haven't posted lately(and that I have even more cool pics), I guess I'll fire away again. The Christmas spirit is everywhere here... even the Muslims(ok...non-practicing ones) are wearing santa hats right now, and the food has gotten better for some reason(the press coming around more often?), and of course, come the Christmas decorations. Recently, one of the guys here had received a 6 foot tall inflatable snowman. His first response of course was to say "What the **** am I going to do with a 6 foot snowman in Iraq?!" The next one was to somehow make due with it.
In the wildly popular tradition of troops deployed to Iraq, we have decided to mix life of both home and our jobs together. As we are combat engineers in Iraq (which has now became sort of a group of "Explosive Ordinace Disposal units' assistants"), we decorated our lovely snowman with IEDs... deactivated and gutted ones of course, and mixed the string pressure fuses with Christas lights... and TA DAAAA! A combat engineer snowman.... boredom brings invention.
Finally, my date for leave is now in stone. I should be home by the afternoon of January 28, making it before my birthday(Feburary 1). I do intend to have a series of "birthday/homecoming" parties throughout this great state, from Paragould to Stuttgart to Fayetteville to Arkadelphia. As most of you are from NEA, most of you will go to the Paragould ones. Until then Merry Christmas and a happy new year.

2006-12-17T07:38:00.000-08:00

On a much more than normally interesting note, Carrie Underwood came to visit our FOB a few nights ago. I was able to get one of the tickets, and waited for over two hours in order to get decent seats. I wound up in second row thanks to that. As for the concert itself, Carrie and her band played great, and I even got to be in a picture with her (though it took the Army Captain taking our pic forever to figure out my digital camera). Definately worth the time. With decent luck, Toby will come over here again. as well.

2006-12-14T09:58:00.000-08:00

Now doing the boring part of my job today, entering stock numbers on weapons parts to order them. Good news is that I'm good at it. Bad part is, I'm good at it, so I have to do even more of it. I want to go on more non-supply missions now, but SSG Hatley has given me a strict limit. As boring as that can be, nothing stops boredom like seeing stuff go boom, and being actually near it. It also feels like I'm doing something really good for everyone here. As important as my job can be, it's still hard to get excited about it. Ah yes, I also found Sgt Hatley's box of PS Magazines, that is, the horribly corny magazines that try to be less dry than the Army technical manuals in giving out maintence advice, at the price of having the opposite problem.
I also made up a possible "letter to the editor" to some media outlets back in Arkansas, Called "New Year in Iraq". If you are interested in reading it before I send it on New Years Day, email me at karls_bbq_stand@yahoo.com . When I do send it to my email list, please forward to everyone that may be interested in it.

2006-12-10T03:58:00.000-08:00

Hey folks,

Just got around to making another entry, since it's been awhile. just made some shelving to deal with the massive mess that was our supply room, and now it's much better than when we had moved into it. The amount of stuff we brought with us, along with what was already here(my gosh, who's brilliant idea was it to get THAT many D size batteries!!) was getting out of hand. Also, at one point before this I went on a mission with the line platoons, which, all I can say was interesting and boring at once. It can also be said that the cushioning of humvee seats still are a bit on the spartan side, especially to be on them for a full day at a time. The vehicles here are still much better than the ones we have at home though.
I also got my Christmas gifts as well, which included tons of power bars, toiletries, several bags of assorted coffee, an expresso maker(!), and a copier. Since I have no room for anything else, I asked that any other gifts just be mutual funds or something that I don't have to stuff into my room.
Finally, I believe my R&R leave will be sometime in early Februrary, so if anyone wants to do anything, let me know so I can put it somewhere on the schedule. I'll be going all over Arkansas to visit my friends (ROAD TRIP!), so unless you live in Hope, it shouldn't be hard for me to stop by.

2006-11-30T02:03:00.000-08:00

(I realized I mentioned some of this as part of a broader subject about care packages. However, for us, decent razors actually turn out to be the most important and, over the course of the tour, most expensive to pay for part of care packages.)

Operation Razor:

Since we have been away in the past few months, you back home have showed your support for soldiers of the 875th Engineer battalion by donating large amounts of material and financial contributions to our support group, exceeding all expectations. Not only where we able to send the soldiers of our unit back home to their families free of charge, but we were able to help send home our fellow soldiers attached to us from Vermont and Indiana. We are blessed to have such support on the home front. That is why I believe that you can aid us again.
As many of us here have noticed, one of the hardest things to get at our PXs is toiletries, particularly soap (would someone bring some "ivory" for me?), mouthwash, shaving cream, and particularly decent razor blades to shave. While the cheap "bic" style razors are fairly common, Gillette Mach 3 and Schick Quattro razors are impossible to find, despite the PXs rationing all the said items to only 2 of each per customer. Even when they do have them, they pretty much are worth their weight in gold.
That's why we need your help in sending care packages to the soldiers of the 875th. Our community has supported us before, so we know we can count on you again.

Sincerely,
Specialist Hunter Shumard
Armorer/ Supply Clerk
Charlie Company
875th Engineer Battalion

NOTE: This is for the Charlie company (Paragould) unit. This does not include the other company units.

send all packages to:

Specialist Hunter Shumard
C Co., 875th EN BN
APO, AE 09391

2006-11-30T01:33:00.000-08:00

Hi, I'm Hunter Shumard, and I'm nervous as Bill Clinton in a confessional... and ooo... lobster! :P

Just a made a video clip from the military's "Holiday Shout Out" program. You know the video clips service members do in the holidays when they're overseas and have them sent to be played at their local TV station back home. Apparently, it's just as hard as it ever was for me to be comfortable on camera. We had to do a couple takes, and I'm pretty sure a campaign video of Al Gore speaking to the camera could easily defeat this little clip of me saying happy holidays to family and friends, while trying to stand the strong lights in front of me that were set to "vaporize". I'm thinking of hunting down a camera of my own and doing a clip of my own for some folks back home. In the meanwhile, just look for me and the rest of the 875th on KAIT during commercials.

To add to the interesting day, IT'S "SURF N' TURF" NIGHT!! WOO HOO!!!

2006-11-25T09:36:00.000-08:00

Since people keep wanting to know what I want in my care packages, I decided to make a list:

Mouthwash- don't know what the restrictions on liquids with travels applies to mail also, but if it's possible, it would be great. The stuff usually takes forever to get resupplied in our PXes apparently.

Razor Blades(& especially refills)- By the way, with all due respect, do you think you should "support the troops" with those cheap Bic razors you yourself don't use? We use Gillette Mach 3 and Schick Quattro razors like any other sensible guy would. Also, if you think nice razors are worth their weight in gold back home, it's like every day was the day before Christmas over here.

Nonperishable Food- Try peppered beef jerky, sugar, coffee creamer (as just about anyone that likes coffee has their own coffee maker around here) and, my personal favorite, microwavable popcorn.

NOTE: We are a combat unit, meaning we have few females in the Battalion, with only about 2 dozen in one company (which is not mine). While female soldiers deserve their necessities just as much as male soldiers(maybe even more so), it does not mean you should swamp my all-male company with feminine hygiene items. Save that for headquarters company. Thank you for your time.

If I think of anything else to send, I'll let y'all know.

2006-11-20T09:33:00.000-08:00

It's amazing how things can be put in weird places. It's always a good idea to put things in their original, labeled boxes. Frankly, I don't think ammo pouches look anything like binoculars... but that's just me. The good news is that despite even an inventory, we've been able to avoid after hours work for some time now. I remember the long, long nights during our training at Ft McCoy, working 100 hour weeks and combing over same serial numbers and doing the exact same form for another again....and again...and again...those are days I don't want to revisit. It's like I'm catching up on my reasons to stay sane. Hope it keeping on going.
Also, I'm attempting to hunt down some presents for Christmas coming up, but for one thing, the PXes(Army and Air Force's shopping marts) don't exactly have a wal-mart inventory, I can't get decent advice on gifts, and people keep telling me NOT to give them gifts (strange world indeed I live in). I did find quite possibly the most original and clever present for Jonathan Carmack EVER, if not the most useful. enjoy it man when I send it to you.

2006-11-12T11:00:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the sudden disappearance, but I saw a dirt cheap price on the first 5 seasons of "Family Guy" a few days ago and got distracted from my normal off-duty hours activity of blogging. Now that I got done (kind of wish there was more episodes, but they'll be more), I am back to business as usual.
The rains apparently have a way of making dust into nice puddles of mud. As you can see in the picture before you, one night our conex area flooded and caused the metal panels that were supposed to keep the mud down to float away and scatter all over the place. Thankfully, we have not had a rain since.
Also, the postal service decided to damage one of my letters from my girlfriend. This foolish and vile act will not be tolerated, and I will be hunting down the mailman responsible for this... like a dog.
(Crickets chirping in audience)
Oh well, till next time.

2006-11-05T08:49:00.000-08:00

The inevitable finally happens. Saddam Hussein, along with 2 more defendants including his half-brother Barzan al Tikriti, were all sent to death by hanging today. He had wanted to face a firing squad - that request was refused.
I am glad the Iraqi people have been able to take another step in the search for justice. At the very least, we finally have something once everything but the biggest kooks can agree on. However, I’m afraid though what the Sunni extremists will do now in the immediate aftermath of this. While I couldn’t tell immediate events to you, anyone that seriously thinks that our unit’s time here in the next few days will be a cake walk would be lying.
We have reached another highlight in this war, and should not forget that, but also not forget that it is not the end as well. This war has seen great ups and downs. Don’t forget either of them. Sure, it’s tempting to say “This is crazy, I’m out of here”, but remember that we would not be here now if we had finished this 15 years ago, because I will promise you, if we do leave again before our job is done, we will be doing it again in 15 years once more.

2006-11-04T11:47:00.000-08:00

A perfect example of some of the better aspects of my job. This here would be a nicely modified M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, or SAW for short. In this case, this one is much more compact,making it hard for many soldiers even to notice it is actually a SAW. Why on earth these modifications couldn't be done. Back home, it was a joke to give the SAW to the smallest (and usually lowest ranking) guy in a squad. I remember being forced to carry it my very first AT (Annual Training) in Fort Chaffee, AR. Carrying around the thing was terrible, but oddly enough I was better at it than an M16, qualifying on with it on the Camp Robinson SAW range in the summertime. It being hard since the drought that goes on months before we go there makes tracer rounds stir up massive amounts of dust within a few rounds, plus it's tendency for the whole range to be set on fire every 10 minutes. Despite that, me and one other guy in the company managed to qualify. While I still sort of miss the weapon, I'll always remember the pain of carrying the thing with about 400 rounds of ammo.

2006-11-03T11:40:00.000-08:00

Since I have said little about what it's like here(some of it I can't tell you, for reasons mentioned in one of the previous blogs about Army web search teams looking for possible OPSEC violations), I figure I'd talk about my living quarters for now. This would be my part of one 3 man room, which I actually do like. It includes 3 small drawer sets, a closet drawer, a single size bed, a night stand, a 13 inch tv/dvd player, a fridge, and a computer with a table.
It's nice to have something other than a dirt, tarp, or simple concrete floor. It's such a small place I can reach any point of it with at least one foot in the bed, but I can at least clean the floor in less than half a minute with a swiffer (which I am slowly but surely mastering. The only possible bad part about it is dealing with two other people with different 8-10 hour duty shifts while I have 10-12, so I have one person waking me up half the time about an hour too early for me while another wakes me up getting in after midnight. But as long as they dodge my thrown alarm clocks, everyone concerned will continue the routine unhurt.

2006-11-02T09:27:00.000-08:00

Long day at work again. Doing a complete renovation of our work area, and it looks like a mess. It's hard to make tough compromises, like setting the furniture to make work easier, and at the same time have a good place to put the large flat screen tv (that was already here when we got to Iraq, major score there) as such so we would be able to see "Special Report with Brit Hume" from any position of our room. When that happens, I will consider half of my life complete(the half when I get more decent spot for internet). Bah... times up again... must... get... sleep...

2006-11-01T09:22:00.000-08:00

The now-famous line former senator John Kerry said:

"You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

That's funny... you went to Yale, and then wound up in Vietnam. As for some brilliant guardsmen from Minnesota, they have their own reply.

2006-11-01T01:35:00.000-08:00

(Link to Stars and Stripes article about this blog entry here)
Wouldn't you know it, a story about the military having a team of soldiers who go around searching through blogs for possible OPSEC violations comes out a day after I had started blogging. I figured it was going on to some degree. They've went through about 500 blogs so far, but I'm sure there's a whole lot more to go. The question that's been on my mind for a while is: What exactly counts as an OPSEC violation? I know saying things like "Hey, we're about to go on a mission in...." counts, but what about something that happened months ago? What if it's something that has became irrelevant? Is there any point in not mentioning when and if we leave when you can read it in the latest edition of "Stars and Stipes? There are many, many variations of that example, but the point is this: can't there be a consistant (and lets face it, feasable) set of regulations that could be based on OPSEC? Sorry to get on the rant, but it's frustrating to only be able to say "Fine, and how was your day?"

2006-10-29T07:32:00.000-08:00

Interestingly enough, there was a downpour last night which, combined with the constant moving of our vehicles, left most of the parking lots around our living areas in a muddy mess. Good news is that things don't take that long to dry here. Bad news is at least every other night or morning it rains again. Apparently, some areas of Iraq can have quite a crazy rainy season, as this place right now reminds me of what I expect Seattle, WA to be like this time of year.
In other news, a guy to the supply room to have his weapon fixed. You see, his M4 didn't work quite the way it used to before he DROPPED THE THING OFF THE SIDE OF A GUARD TOWER. The rifle had to be turned into the post arms room for repair, and which led to me having to explain what would cause an M4 to be either bent or cracked in seven different places. While it is now repaired for about 2 days now, everyone including me, my supply sergeant, the armorers at the post arms room and the soldier assigned to the weapon all neglected to notice that there was a part not put back on when it was repaired... Back to the arms room tomorrow...

2006-10-28T14:00:00.000-07:00

Whew! Thank goodness it's the weekend! That whole week of working in the Army was
really starting to get to me. Glad to be finally doing pretty much the same exact thing as I did then. Anyone that has done a tour here would have caught on to that bit of sarcasm fairly quickly. One of the things of a deployment is how days seem to merge together, sometimes to the point to being not unlike the movie "Groundhog Day", where the same day repeats itself over and over again.
Sure, you could try to change up the routine by spontaneously going to the gym instead of the movies one day, and there's always "Mexican Food Night" at the chow hall, but every now and again, there will be those long stretches of time where you find yourself writing down a date that was a week before, or trying to remember whether or not you gave flashlight batteries to someone, only to find yourself trying to filter out a half-dozen moments of deja-vu, and people will actually try
to use that to their advantage on getting more stuff. These people just happen to be closely related to the masterminds that say "Hey, I lost my Oakleys, can I have another pair?" The battle never ends.

2006-10-28T13:12:00.000-07:00

OPSEC DISCLAMER:

By the way,it should be known that even though I will be constantly looking for OPSEC(Operations Security) problems with my entries, anyone who notices any problems with OPSEC should try to contact me so I may check it out. I'd rather not have my blog shut down before I really even started it.

2006-10-28T12:54:00.000-07:00

Hey folks, I'm Hunter Shumard, Armorer for the Charlie Company(Paragould, AR) unit of the 875th Engineer Battalion of the Arkansas National Guard, currently deployed in the wonderful resort land known as Iraq. I figured that it was more efficient to simply use a blog to communicate with all my friends and family since it takes me about 3 hours to write a decent letter. Also, I've finally received internet access after being stuck in the dark, barren stone age world that is without the world wide web(the horror...the horror), so I'm now on as much as I can be. Hopefully, I can share my experiences, stories, and pictures along this journey through this place.