Misuchan’s Milblog

India has announced its embassy in Afghanistan will remain there, despite the recent suicide bombing that killed 41 people. India’s ambassador insists that the attacks won’t “deter India from our engagement in Afghanistan.” I guess that engagement doesn’t include having any troops sent to Afghanistan to help out NATO. *Looks around* Nope, don’t see any Indian troops, hmmm.

The Times of India

I want to take the metro to work. I want to walk a dog down a city park. I want to live in an apartment. I want to wear civilian clothes again, everyday – not just on holidays in garrison. I want to celebrate Christmas, New Years, and the 4th of July again. I actually want to be there to see the fireworks, not just watch them on youtube or CNN in the chow hall. I want to visit art galleries and national monuments, absorbing the culture and history they emit. I want to attend a concert, or just go to the movie theater. I want to have a social circle of friends, who all share the same interests as me, who aren’t around me because an act of Congress mandates it so. I want a real job, where I can gain respect from my technical abilities, not from the insignia on my chest or how many times I’ve been to the Middle East. I want to go to a real college campus, not to some online school where the credits won’t transfer to any other school. I don’t want to hear someone tell me I’m a bad Soldier because I want these things for my life, because I decided to only give my country six years of my life instead of 20. I want to live America again.

I’m finally in Afghanistan now. When I walk around post, I can see it in everyones’ eyes they know I’m fresh meat. I take at least half of my squad with me everywhere I go. I can see the value of the battle buddy system. Both the American soldiers and locals working on post stare at me like starving Ethiopians that just saw a Big Mac for the first time. I know it goes with the territory, and it was pretty bad in Korea as well. However, I don’t really see any of the other NATO troops staring at me, such as the Polish or Australian soldiers. I wonder why they are showing more respect…

A big voice just came over the loudspeaker, “Fallen comrade ceremony at 2040 hours.” Damn, didn’t we just have one of those two days ago? I thought Iraq was the one with all the casualties. Guess we’re at a peak time right now, what with those 900 Taliban guys busting out of jail down south recently.

I can say I’m under stress, but not because of the enemy. It’s all coming from the lack of organization of my unit. My squad was detached from our signal company back in the rear, and sent with the brigade headquarters company. During our processing for deployment back home, no one in our signal company really cared, and we had to figure out how to get here basically on our own. We were the redheaded step-children of both companies.

…post is unfinished and will probably stay that way.

And I don’t care to know much about him.

Chosun Ilbo.

You shocked the hell out of me when you did that. Didn’t I tell you that you were my hero, always standing up for yourself when you knew they were treating us wrong? I thought you knew.. that all of us had problems at home. We were all dealing with our own serious problems, but we still had sympathy for yours. I’m sorry that people who were above you couldn’t, wouldn’t or didn’t know how to fix your problems, but if I knew how, I promise you that I would have - and I’m sure some of the others above us tried. I have to admit that I was disappointed in you. I went through the same things you did, personal problems and all, but I never let those people see me breakdown. I refused to lose to worthless pieces of humanity like them. I thought you were even stronger than I was. I wish you had opened up to me more, and I promise I would’ve had your back. I’m sorry I couldn’t help you.

But most veterans groups stood by the Webb plan because it would pay full tuition and fees at the most expensive state schools, provide a new monthly stipend tied to local housing costs, and would give Reserve and Guard members who have served lengthy deployments since 9-11 access to the same GI Bill benefits. The chairmen of the armed services and the veterans’ affairs committees, Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), co-sponsored the Warner amendment.

http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,168277,00.html

Another link… with my man, Obama:
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/05/22/obama-mccain-spar-over-gi-bills-education-incentives/

“Senator Webb and the leaders of both parties have introduced a 21st century GI bill that would give this generation of returning heroes the same chance at an affordable college education that we gave the greatest generation,” Obama said.

Might I also add, the greatest generation THAT DID NOT VOLUNTEER, unlike today’s military. As an all volunteer military aside from stop-loss, we deserve MUCH MORE than the GI bill our grandfathers in WWII and Vietnam received.

Even though my ETS date has returned to it’s original date, my unit ever so skillfully has determined I would be a good pick to go to Afghanistan. Well I deserve it, if you take into account the 4 years of dwell time on my ERB that I spent in Korea and a couple months back here stateside. The unit selected a handful of people, why not the whole company I have no idea. They informed us a week ago that it was for sure, and this week we were on leave, while everyone else deploying in the brigade had two months notice and three weeks of leave. Yes I am crying a river again. However my ETS date has not reverted back to the one I had under stop loss… so it has me wondering. Okay well I have a day and a half left of leave to enjoy, so I’ll return probably from I-shit-in-a-can-a-stan.

That’s right, THIRTY SEVEN (since two weeks ago). It goes a little something like this…

Miss [Employer],

I would love to have an interview, but I have been recently stop-lossed on active duty for the Army. Hopefully there will be another position available for me if and when they lift the stop loss. My clearance does not expire until 2012 ([SNIP]), and I continue to work on websites and networks. I am sorry for the inconvenience.

[Misuchan]

—– Original Message —-
From:[Employer]
To: [Misuchan]
Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 1:06:50 PM
Subject: Web Developer / Web Programmer/[SNIP]- Please respond ASAP

Web Developer / Web Programmer/[SNIP] - Please respond ASAP

I located your resume on the internet database for Web Developer / Web Programmer position with our firm and would like to schedule you for an interview as soon as possible. Please forward your current MS Word resume, salary/hourly rate so that we can submit your resume for this position. Please let me know which day this week would be convenient for you. The project manager would like to discuss your skills and qualifications in support of this position. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Please let me note that I have never applied for a job. EVER. (Unless the Army counts?) They contact me…
I normally don’t respond to job offers, but the location was too much to bear. It was exactly where I wanted and the position I’ve wanted for 8 years. I had to show how much I cared. A lot of other Army folks out there feel as frustrated as I do right now?

I’ve noticed and been bothered by something since leaving advanced individual training. And that’s females living in the same barracks as males. I know, I know, I’m tearing down what we’ve fought for in feminism ect. Bullshit. These little girls, and that’s what they are - 17-23 years old usually, living in a building full of 100-1000 hormonally charged Army boys. And the Army wonders why there are so many rapes? The female Soldiers are really not innocent either. They act like groundhogs. They hear a bunch of young male Soldiers outside drinking at their little barracks grill, and they pop their heads out of their doors like it’s the first day of spring. I’m not going to go into why I think most of them act this way, other than it could be a lack of attention received by most other “normal” males, i.e., ones with functioning eyeballs.

Not all Army chicks are Miss America, er… Miss Utah.

So what am I proposing here? Seperate us. Yeah, I said it. Segregate us to your fullest ability. I’m sick and tired of the cat calls when I’m walking a few doors down to the freaking laundry room or out to my car when I actually get the chance to wear civilian clothes. I’m sick of drunk [hood-rat] guys banging on my neighbor female’s doors at 3am in the morning. I’m sick and tired of little prick-headed privates I don’t know and don’t care to know hitting on me in my place of rest and relaxation. I may be wrong in that this could make things better, but I should have the choice, shouldn’t I? Who said Co-ed HAD TO BE FORCED?

Ain’t that some SHIT? I check mypay today and good ole’ Uncle Sam has added 10 months onto my service agreement. Also, last Friday I checked my ERB and it had moved me to a different company. I then questioned my commander about it and he said it wasn’t happening. I have to give him credit for fighting it, but Sir, you’re only a captain, and I go where Uncle Sam demands. While it was a great 3 months at this company, I’m ready for another change. So no one knows who’s deploying and if we in fact are, ect. ect. I love how the Army has a plan for everything! So the word is Afghanistan in June, but the brigade is going somewhere different from our battalion, and selected people in our battalion are going somewhere different than that. Well at least I can be rest assured I’ll have my Associates before I get out now :D

This is a different topic, but lately I’ve been publicly discussing my plans for when I get out… as in getting a contracting job on the east coast doing network admin type stuff. But what really bothers me is other NCO’s reaction to this, as if everyone in the military joined to retire. They seem to get really offended, with some tone of jealously in their voices. As if I’m having outside help or something? I’m doing all of this alone. I’m the only person who got me to where I am today. But they always have to react with “oh you better watch out for that economy, you don’t want to jump back into that.” Or “do you have your degree yet?” It’s not really the words, it’s their condescending tone, as if they’re saying I would never make it. But when they do this, all I can keep thinking is this is the furthest they’re going to get in life, and it makes my confidence go up even higher. Because the more NCO’s say this, the less people I have to compete with on the outside. I’m only going for federal, clearance requiring, veterans preference positions, so now I’m pretty sure the biggest group I’ll have to compete with is retirees. I’m 25 and they’re 40, reentering the workforce? Ooh, that’s a toughie.
Like the fortune cookie I ate two weeks ago said, “If you believe, you can.”