Of Pens and Swords

He’s been gone on leave for about 2 weeks now, should be getting back soon. It’s been nice having him not here…The Queen doesn’t harass me all the time, things I put on my desk mysteriously stay on my desk, the smell of burnt coffee isn’t permeating the building…ahh, he’s due back soon.

Other things of interest around here is they still know how to rotate rules to keep things interesting…for instance: Go to the chow hall, in uniform, and they asked for my ID. I commented something like it was bound to happen, got it out. The next day, I pull my ID out, they said they don’t need to see it. I said, since when?! You never know who may be trying to eat in here! The guard shack at one of the access points now has to physically inspect every ID now as well. I ask, why the change in policy, they say, because some of the ID’s have been damaged. I said, well, now that I can’t carry the thing in it’s protective casing, it’s a lot more prone to damage…but oh well. They have new signs up too…Remember those LDRSHIP posters that came out back in ‘99, well, they have signs that simply state Loyalty….Duty…Respect…et cetera. Just one word. I wonder how the Fraud, Waste and Abuse commission would look on that…spending how much money on a 4 foot square piece of metal with one single word on it. I want to see signs like “Quit Your Bitchin’”, or “Shut Up and DIG!!!” or, “Do you know what your battlesight zero is?” or maybe “If the enemy is in range, so are you!” Signs that actually say something. Something that is actually motivational.

I guess none of this really matters much, however. We’ll be home in about 2.5 months, give or take a month or so, maybe. There are a hundred rumors as to when we’ll actually be coming home. I think that some people may be getting a little stressed as to when we’re leaving, and knowing that it could be later than the rumors put it. I wouldn’t mind getting home earlier than we’re slated to, but I’ll never expect it.

Ahh, it would be nice to have a beer every so often…

Today, the vein was throbbing noticeably at about 5am this morning. That was about the time that I found out that the PT test that I was supposed to take was moved up an hour, and well, nobody seemed to think that it was necessary to notify me about it until well, 5am. It was put out via email yesterday was the response I got. Hey wiseguy, ya, you with the snappy signature line somehow hinting that you’re a professional, a leader…did you think that I come in on my day off to read emails? Oh, well, I notified your supervisor. Ahh, failure point number two. He won’t tell me unless it is told that it possibly would reflect negatively on him…That set off reason #2 I’m annoyed to no end. Last night, for the 20th or so time, I hear a junior enlisted soldier come in and tell me that my supervisor was bitching to him, about me. This time, it seems, the super is mad that I’m on detail and not coming to work. Well, Mr. Genius, that’s what happens when you task me out all the time on DETAILS! I don’t mind, because I’m not in the office, however. He shouldn’t mind either, since he has a penchant for going around and telling everyone that I don’t do anything. If I didn’t accomplish anything, why does he care when I’m not here?

Well, I talked to the super’s super today about that very issue. It’s getting to the point of angering me, not just irritating me anymore. I’m seriously getting pissed. The thing is, the Super will never understand that. I can back him in the corner and tell him to knock it off, and he seems to just phase out of reality and all of a sudden focus.

My back went out yesterday, the day after I found out that I’m truly more fucked up (in my back) than previously thought. Coincidence, or nerves getting to me. Either way, it sucks being stuck in bed all day because you can’t sit up. It gets really boring. The back has tweaked out on me a few times the past year, but hasn’t done a full out Fuck Off Yo maneuver since I was in Germany a couple years back. It hurts like two mofo’s today though. For the first time, I sort of wish I had one of my Super’s “kick you in the head really hard” pills, and just zonk out for a day. How he eats those by the mouthful is beyond me, but anyways…

We got an email yesterday from Fearless Commander, and he says the timeline for leaving here is still the original one. I can almost hear the collective groan of lost anticipation, especially from the people who A. haven’t been deployed before this, B. shouldn’t have given hopes on rumours C. haven’t learned yet to rely too much on a specific date when leaving anywhere that the Army has sent you. If the orders say no more than 545 days, I’d say, expect that on the 545th day, to be on the freedom bird. Anything before then is just a bonus. This is only my 9th deployment however, so I may be misinformed. hehe, all I know is that the last time I came over to Kuwait, it was for 90 days. The end of our 6th month here, they finally gave us our desert uniforms, and a week later, we came home, wearing our brand new uniforms. At least this time, they gave us our uniforms before hand. Me personally, I didn’t want to leave before our scheduled time, since I have my finances based on that date. Selfish? yup. I still don’t make any decisions that effect anybody else in this arena, so I’m allowed to have a selfish thought or two.

Well, time for me to zone out. I didn’t sleep very well at all last night, due to the back hurting and well, I stayed in bed all day long to begin with. Now, I’m sort of tired.