Greeting from beautiful Qatar where I am on my four day rest and relaxation pass. Bottom line it’s a lot like a work release program from prison. Everything we do is highly supervised and regulated. The nightly night cap is limited to three beers a person and unlike the last time they closed all the loop holes, which I may or may not have used in the pass to score more drinks.
But perhaps I am getting ahead of myself. Getting here was anything but restful and relaxing. After arriving over a week ago at the airport I found myself being bumped from every flight due to being a low priority. For those who haven’t been reading the news the Russians are at it again and invaded Georgia in response to Georgian military actions. Rest assured the US does not stand for “excessive military response” unless it comes from a country whose name happens to rhyme with kisreal. But anyway I digress, the Georgian military got priority as they urgently and expeditiously redeployed for two days I watch them come in on the helicopters get pep talks from there unit commanders and spiritual advisors, use their break to clean there weapons and fly off to fight an enemy that was tearing through their country. I asked one of the officers how he was doing and he responded with the understatement of the century, “Glad I am going home wish it was under better conditions.” So at least I have that to look forward to a better homecoming. I can’t imagine returning from war to fight a war.
When we finally got here we were greeted by the ground rules. To summarize I am under greater restrictions here than Martha Stewart on house arrest, however despite this it has been a nice little rest. Also I tried complaining telling them we are being treated like children, however on my first excursion out into town one a fine Army member decided to sit down on a display chair and didn’t realize the glass between separating the display area smacked his head on the glass and had to go to the hospital for stitches. This may sound elitist but at least the officers should not suffer from the harsh restrictions after that incident I might not say the same thing about the enlisted.
All in all the trips been fun albeit a tease making me miss home more.
I can’t complain though when I get back I’ll have less than a month and a half to go.
Missing you all.
Ben
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
17 comments:
a voice from the wilderness calls, " if only 3 beers, there must be 3 shots,make mine doubles"be careful of your of what you expect at home.back before the elections, there could be a war in the streets.glad you were out for a while. hope you're home even sooner. sorry qatar wasn't as much fun as in the past but at least you didn't get any stupid calls from aircraft carriers for bombing missions. be careful out there. dad
You piqued my curiosity with the comments about the Georgians flying BACK....where had they been deployed?
Hoping that the next six weeks passes quickly and safely.
jack of all thumbs- piqued curiosity is one of my favorites.georgia with its 2000 troops was the 3rd largest coalition force. as of 8-6-2008 bbc reported they had only had 1 fatality.some reported them " supporting"in central iraq. some say trying to prevent weapons from iran.few seem to know what's going on and even fewer seem to care.ben should be back at base by now. maybe he has more info. he was probably trying to find out if they had booze.be careful wherever you are.thanks for your concern for ben. ben's dad
'Dad',
Thanks for the enlightenment.
Truly caring for our men and women in uniform requires asking hard questions of our political leaders who send them into danger. When did this become unpatriotic?
My best wishes for the safe return of Ben and his friends.
We need them here.
"jack",now you're asking tough questions.i'd probably frame it as," who or what is a patriot?"i laugh when i see the american flags on combat uniforms.in nam, we had more confederate flags carried in pockets than religious articles.did that make them unpatriotic?if asked why we were there, most often the response was to get ourselves and as many of our buddies out alive.where are ben's other readers? take care. ben's dad
we are thinking of something witty to say!
Good lord, there's nothing witty to say about only getting 3 beers.
I mean, that would get my older brother drunk, but that's about it.
Also, "Qatar" kinda sounds like "guitar."
So, how short are you?
Stay safe.
to all who have responded to this blog. our engineer is in kuwait and should be stateside soon.your responses and concern for ben are a great source of comfort for myself and i hope for you.this is a strange conflict with day to day contact with loved ones possible at times and too long periods of silence at other times.the laughter and love in the comments should be put in the dictionary as the definition for " support the troops" dona nobis pacem. ben's dad
Thanks for the good news. As one of the many who do not have a loved one in harm's way, I am still aware of the extraordinary price paid for by the few.
In my view, the concept that the few should serve (again and again) while the rest of us shop is fundamentally unfair and corrosive to our national fabric.
Sincere thanks to your family.
jack-of-all-thumbs, ben landed this afternoon and i got an " i'm home" email from him.he and noel have a lot of catching up to do and i'm glad he's home and not back on a base somewhere.if you are in or near the new york city area, i'd be glad to sit down with a beer or coffee and chat with you.i can be reached at bopdun@aol.com.
Thanks for the good news. And although my oldest friend in the world is a judge on Long Island, I haven't been up that way in years.
So, I pass on your kind offer. But I'll raise my next beer here in NC to all those like Ben and his family, who've shouldered a load for the rest of us.
And now it's time for that 'rest of us' to assume that other responsibility that we seem to have forgotten, namely understanding the issues enough to pick responsible civilian leadership. If we do a better job of that, we'll hopefully have fewer men and women following in Ben's bootsteps.
Thanks again.
Now that Ben is home safely, any recommendations of a blog, etc. to give us a boots-on-the-ground view of life in Iraq?
jack, i stop by here at times because this is as close as i can get to ben "there".that you have appeared in response is welcomed.as i said on your sss site, one often hits a wall.i did on my return but got lucky. i became a psychiatric nurse.language there has different rules. unfortunately, most "shrinks" don't speak any language but payment or legal.out of space, energy,will go on, later mike.
Mike,
I'm hoping that Ben's transition back to stateside is a smooth one. We're in the same media market as Camp Lejeune and Ft. Bragg, and the local news of troubled vets has been disturbing.
I'm working on a much easier transition, stepping back from news and politics, now that it appears that caring but pragmatic adults are about to take over. And not a moment too soon.
jack,it's never easy returning "home" part of you always remains "there".as an engineer,ben is trying to find a way to combine the two.i was concerned about the way the election was physically effecting you,proud of your poll place postion and actions and am glad its over and you're relaxing.a man has to know his limitations.inshallah. mike
You weren't drafted. It's not WW2. You're not protecting America. You ARE murdering innocent women and kids to steal Iraq's oil (and water) for the "jews".
DEANBERRYMINISTRIES.US, don't be afraid of the truth. Under "jewish" governance, American authorities are now doing everything the communists once did. Traitors. You've helped the judeo-communists take over our once great nation.
Post a Comment