My Army Times

Live Science

One thing about the Army is change. Things constantly change. If I wrote about every single change that has come down the pipe, it would appear very misleading. First I’m going to Iraq, then I’m not, then I’m going to Italy, then I’m not. Then I’m going to some other part of Italy, and then I’m not.

Nerve wrecking? Not really. Because one thing about the Army is change. If you expect things to change, it makes life much easier.

For now though, things look as if they are pretty solid, and Italy is indeed ahead for me.

I’m eager to start producing stories again. I haven’t worked on anything in a while and I’m sort of missing it.

When ever you PCS you are entitled to 30 days of leave, whether you’ve earned it or not. I took the full 30 days, moved my mom to Pennsylvania, and am now in Florida. I head back to Fort Campbell by the 14th to clear.

Clearing is so much fun. And I say that with as much sarcasm as I can muster.

This is where you turn in all the stuff you were issued when you first arrived over two years ago, cleaned and ready to be re-issued. If it’s not up to standard, they won’t take it and you are financially responsible for the item. You must go to every office on post and have them sign off on your clearing papers saying you don’t owe them any money… that kind of thing.

Once you have your clearing papers signed, as I understand it, you are cleared to leave.

I can’t wait to clear.

The sooner the better. I’m really looking forward to this. It will be a new chapter in my life… one that not everyone has the opportunity to write.

Finally, I fixed the guest book. Now you must enter a security code in order to leave a message. This will prevent spam, which has plagued this site since I first discovered the v-blogosphere.

I apologize for the lack of stories lately. I probably won’t be doing any stories until I arrive at my next duty station in October. In the mean time I’ll “re-run” stories that I posted when I first started this v-blog.

I did this story about a year ago when stop-loss was just beginning to catch the attention of soldiers.

Although this policy may conflict with some soldiers plans to separate from the Army I do feel it’s smart and necessary. My only problem with Kerry is his problem with this policy.

I think we can all agree our military should not have to deal with attrition on the battle field while we are at war. This policy solves that problem.

Besides with the implementation of lifecycles in the modular unit concept stop loss will not be necessary. But that’s a few years off.

One thing interesting about the story is I used an animation of papers to cover 18 seconds of video… which was cool because b-roll was tricky for this story.

My position with the Division Public Affairs Office at Fort Campbell is considered excess, therefore I must PCS (Permanent Change of Station). The options were Korea or Europe. For Europe I had to reenlist for an additional year.

Beginning October 10th I’ll be working for the Armed Forces Network (AFN) in Vacenza Italy. That means I must pick up and move between now and then.

Naturally I’m disappointed I wont be going to Iraq with the division I’ve come to know as family. But if I had to go anywhere, and I did, Vacenza Italy would be my first choice.

I spoke with the Air Force Tech Sergeant who runs the shop I’ll be working in, and there will be plenty of deployment opportunities. But for now, the plan to bring you stories from Iraq has been somewhat sidetracked.

So instead I’ll bring Italy to you.

Latest and greatest.

I thought maybe you’d like to hear this story in English. Enjoy.

ajc.com

Sorry for all the articles. They are interesting though.

BBC NEWS
“In this difficult hour, the people of Great Britain can know the American people stand with you,” said Bush. “And just as America and Great Britain stood together to defeat the totalitarian ideologies of the 20th Century, we now stand together against the murderous ideologies of the 21st Century.”

MSNBC.com

Documents like this are leaked for a reason. While I’m not surprised this (if true) is coming, I certainly hope insurgents don’t think this was in response to last weeks bombing in London.

I was going through our video library and came across this. With the help of interpreters, SPC McDonald produced this August 2003.

For all you Arabic speakers… this one’s for you.