Kelly Smith Weblog Aficionado: Just a guy vs. Life

37..... Today, is my 37th birthday. I generally make posts on my birthday, but all I can say is that I am alive and well and on American Soil. What could be better than that? I am not sure if I will be here on my birthday next year or not. Who knows what the military has in store? I have had this blog going since I was 28 years old. Maybe I need to plan a 10 year blog anniversary? Hmmm.... that's a thought.

Democratic Convention..... I wish I could be there.... This could be every bit as pivotal as the 68 convention.....every bit.

Without a backward glance.....

Grey........ The air is cruel as clouds taunt, The sky begins to cry. But still I smile, because tomorrow's sunshine is possible.

Blatant racism in the coverage of the Obama's. Just because they concluded their speech like this..... Some people in the blogosphere have likened it to Hezbollah like fist-pumping. This was on far right-wing zombie Cal Thomas's Human events forum. The comment has since been scrubbed, but here is a cached copy. [LINK] This is absolutely unbelievable. This is being done obviously because of the color of their skins. Do you need proof? Well, I will give it to you. Zan and Jase did this for years and the media never took them to task for it.

Being a pessimist in America is chancy..... Anything can happen...... ......anything.

Sometimes I wish I were back..... Back in what is familiar. The sights, the sounds, the stench, the heat, the utter drudgery of Southwest Baghdad. Now that I have been back for over six months I wish that I could go back. I wish I could go back and do it all over. Because maybe if I did something different over there, things would okay over here.....

Catharsis..... Since I have been back I have found myself unable, or unwilling to post pictures of SW Baghdad on my blog. And, "No" nothing to do with the "cynical vet" mystique. In all actuality, it could be laziness, but I am not sure. I just found that I didn't have the enery to do so. Looking back, however, I realize that I just finished with the BEST and WORST job in the Army. I miss the guys so much... Now I have gone from Rifle Platoon Leader to OTI (For those of you who didn't know. There are two jobs in the Army.....Infantry, and Other Than Infantry. I was born signal...transferred to Infantry, and am now a Signal Company Commander. Until the next iteration...here is the high point of my tour....when it was over, and I knew everyone was going home alive. Me, Stone (MY RTO), and SGT Bogonko (One of my Squad Leaders) Waiting on a flight home at Ali Al Salim Airbase.... SSG Gass (from 2nd Platoon), Doc Basham (My medic from 1st Platoon), and Me. Imme...

WWGD (What Would Grunts Do?) Imagine that you are a Soldier in an Infantry Battalion. You have been gone from home for a few weeks shy of 15 months. You have experienced Snipers, RPG's, IED's, and your fair share of fire fights with the local milita. You have had dangerous duty patrolling in Southwest Baghdad. You have had your fair share of action, and you are now smart enough to know that "boring" days are good days. Now your time to rotate back to the world is at hand. The new Battalion is there to replace you, and you are simply waiting for your turn to get onto the freedom bird (airplane home) What would you do with your free time? Make your Lieutenant's life a living hell..... ....and they say they love me.....

Unbelievable.... Sitting at an informal military gathering, many drinks were purchased and downed. One superior Officer, (in rank only.....because he has been in longer than me and the system hasn't flushed the turd), made the statement, "Yes, I know I am cheap...but hey, I don't apologize for being "Niggardly" (Italics and underline is indicative of his inflection on the word). Being the only Black Officer in the Officer call, and one of three in the battalion I just looked down and pondered my drink. A hush fell over the members of the table..... I chuckled. He says.... "Let me guess, Smith...you think I am prejudiced because I said, "niggardly"? I reply..... "No Sir, I think you are prejudiced because you assumed I didn't know what the fuckin' word meant." He was mad. I couldn't make this up folks.

I see that I need a turtle.... One of the new additions to family life that occurred while I was in Iraq was the purchase of a dog. A dog that has gotten on my nerves to no end. The kids like her so I can't very well get rid of her. She has pooped on some of my military gear and chews everything. Maybe I need to invest in a turtle like these.

Persona non grata....me. Storytelling: In the days that have passed since I got home from deployment, more than anything people have asked me, "So how was it?" My friends who are not in the military have this notion that every day things were going on like those shows, "Over there", or "the Unit". More often than not I would say, "It sucked..but it could have been worse." For some reason people are inclined to believe that I am downplaying things but really I am not. I had Soldiers wounded, but not one death. Not even a death in our battalion. At one point we were the only battalion in theater to not have had anyone killed. In that regard I consider myself lucky. We were engaged by both Shi'ite and Sunni militia, but more often than not our engagements were because of spillover between factions. I really haven't had the urge to go into a great amount of detail about things. More often than not, people want to know things, but g...