A new beginning

This post marks the beginning of ... well, a new beginning.
I'm back from Iraq and living back in Minnesota.
Apologies for not blogging as much as I wanted to in Iraq (restricted government access may have had something to do with it), but now that I'm back, I'm going to start blogging more frequently.
About what, you say?
Well, I'm glad you asked, hypothetical reader. You see, three of my Army buddies and I moved into an apartment in northeast Minneapolis. The apartment is close to everything, really. Just down the road from the University of Minnesota campus, right on the riverbank, across the bridge from downtown. I'm pretty sure the Mall of America is upstairs somewhere.
And so, I shall be exploring the city, blogging as I go.
Trust me. It's is going to be fun. Yes.

On fark!

On front page of Fark! Yay.
http://www.theredbulls.org/article279

Kuwait Part 10

Seven days and you're still in Kuwait. Everyone else has already gone up to Basra. The boredom kills you. You get up, you go to formation, you eat, you lie around, you work out, you eat, you go to formation, you go buy something, you eat, you go to formation, you wait to see if you're on the next flight, you're not, you go to sleep. Repeat. Then you start busing yourself with tasks. You try to take pictures but the MPs tell you you're not authorized. You try to use the Internet but the Internet Cafes are packed and slow. You try a lot of things, and you just go from meal to meal to meal, formation to formation to formation.
You're Kuwaiting.

Kuwait Part 9

You step into the barracks and your eyes ache as you adjust to blazing sun to dim fluorescent twilight. Inside there are instructions stating that the hangar-like structure can hold 70 people, 85 in a surge. The cots are arranged in three rows. You try to grab a cot by the wall, near the outlets, but you’re too late. You’re an island in the middle, surrounded by people walking and people talking and people packing and you’re flanked by a Vietnam vet and a character from Dubliners. The Soldiers who have been living in the barracks before you complain about the depleted space, but that’s just the Army way. You bus out to the range tomorrow, and you will shoot.

Kuwait Part 8

There’s a briefing. Do don’t this. Always do this. Camp Buehring has this: PX, two gyms, two cafeterias, internet cafes, KFC, Subway, Taco Bell, etc. Camp Buehring also has this: Persian sand vipers, camel spiders and scorpions. “We do not actually have anti-venom for the Persian sand viper yet.” Well that’s good to know.