one more jump

made the 79th jump today. Was pretty fun. Got to jump out of a Blackhawk helicopter from 1500 feet. Starting to get more nerve wracking then ever though. See, i havent had the big scary wreck yet that i think most people have. Sure, i have gotten a concussion, bit both sides of my tongue at the same time, gotten the wind knocked outa me, bounced about 3 feet in the air when i hit the ground (least thats what it felt like), twisted an ankle, would have broken both ankles on the jump into Iraq if it wasnt soooo muddy. But over all, pretty good times. Both when the jump master tapped me on the helmet and yelled go at me today, i hesitated. Had to take a deep breath before i threw myself into the great happy air. Then when i was counting to six, (like your sposed to when you jump outa helicopters) i started to wonder, is this the time i have to pull my reserve? Not exactly the best way to be thinking, but hey, when you have six free seconds and all you get to see is the ground rushing up at you, your mind starts to wander just a little bit. But i did it, so it makes me happy that i still have to courage to conquer that fear. Only 21 more to go and i get to join the century club. Not a real club or not like i get to wear a special badge or anything, but something i want to do before i retire. I also need/want to go to jumpmaster school so i can get master rated and then...OH BOY...i think i will quit..HA HA...100 jumps, master rated, combat jump..there wont be much left for me to do in the airborne community.
One of these days i will get that dang school.....

another name

well, its finally happened. Someone i trained here has been killed. Its the first guy i remember anyway. Not too sure how to feel about it. Sad of course, but not sure if its really cuz i kinda knew him, or just the fact that another American Soldier was killed. Which of course, set me to thinking about all the boys i know that are over there and the ones that i have known that got themselves killed. This brings the total to 6 at least. Im afraid there might be more, but i really dont know if i have the emotional energy to look through all the names to find out. Its heavy enough of a load just looking at the 1500+ names.
There is an Afghan civilian here helping us train the rotational unit. He reminds me of my soldier from Italy and Iraq. I was emailing him, but havent heard from him for a little bit, kinda making me nervous. Im going to email him as soon as im done with this. Hope he is just on leave from Afghanistan and not hurt or killed.
A buddy from ANCOC sent me the newspaper clipping from the service they held for Rice back in Kansas.
Well, time for me to get to dinner. Hope you all are well.

chicken fried

have gotten involved with a gal. not sure where its gonna lead, but we sure do enjoy each others company. She isnt the normal girly girly type. She is more the get in the mud, beer drinkin, 4-wheelin kind. Which suits me just fine. She has a harley. She lets me do my thing with the boys, and can cook pretty dang good.
Those three little words are threatning to creep in. Not that its such a bad thing, but we are tryin to keep this realistic. Im here for another year or so and then who knows? What a dilema.
Neither one of us really knows what to do. We are both gun shy and kinda rough around the edges when it comes to this kinda stuff.
she has basically been living here for the last 2 weeks. i forgot how nice it was to have someone in your life.
goin on block leave here in a month. guess the 2 week absence will let us know how it might all work out.

more thoughts

You smug faced crowds with kindling eyes
who cheer when soldier lads march by
sneak home and pray you'll never know
the hell where youth and laughter go

i like that quote. I had it on the back one of my books when i was out in california back in 1999-2001 and now it seems even more appropriate.
Got a good soaking today when i was on my bike. Of course, if i would have waited, the rain blew over and i could have been ok, but since i thought it was gonna be an all day thing, i braved it home. Oh well, bike got nice and clean.
Spent some on the weekend up at a local lake with some friends. Had a boat and went tubin and skiing. Was alot of fun. Didnt see any alligators, so that was nice.
Got my ticket for going home. Sure am excited to go. But of course as soon as i did, there came open a chance to go to california. Was thinking it would have been cool to go back out there and then just drive home, and then fly back. But since the ticket is nonrefundable and all, guess no cali trip for me.
not much else going on. Gettin ready to go into the woods for about a week. Hoping for dry weather.