'INSERT' History Month

Asian history month, black history month, womens history month, gay&lesbian month, um...vertically challenged multi colored D&D fan month...point is it seems there's a month out for just about everybody these days, with the exception of whites and males. Now I'm not about to start a rant about how I'm offended by this and how I think whites and males deserve a month too, cause quite frankly I couldn't care less. All these times of the year do is stress that the group in name is more important and/or should be payed more attention to during these 30 days. It also, whether intentionally or unintentionally, goes against the entire concept of the people having a month. The reason all these groups of people have months is because at one point or another the group was mistreated and everyone thought they'd make it better by saying "ok during this time of the year, its YOUR time." But in the end all the groups wanted was to be treated as equals (or so they say) Yet the only thing these months do, is imply the opposite. Its saying 'hey its black history month. start paying attention to all the things blacks have done, but pay attention now cause its their month, yes they are special'. Maybe its just me, but personally I don't like the idea of the BLANK-history month. Maybe someday we WILL achieve equality and people will stop seeing in terms like this...and maybe someday I'll trip over a stack of gold bars and fall down next to the winning lottery ticket paperclipped to the map to atlantis underneath the foot of a naked supermodel.

Ugh...muslims

For those who don't know, I don't like Muslims...at all. I don't agree with 90% of their philosphy and beliefs, I don't like many of their views on society, and I don't trust them in the least. Does this mean I don't like them? Not necessarily. We have several Muslims in our unit as translators (iraqi by nationality). They're cool people and are ok to be around, but you can bet your ass when the bullets start whipping by on the battlefield I'm not putting my back to any of them. Lately I've been debating back and forth on getting help for this issue of hatred and discrimination. Sometimes I think its an immense priority and I need it taken care of as soon as possible. Other times I say to myself "screw it, I dont mind hating them." It gives me someone to blame when I'm having one of my rants, I can vent to myself or others and use them as a scapegoat for just about everything thats going wrong in this country (even though most of it IS their fault) and above all, I'm sure its much easier to kill someone when you hate them. Now is this to say that all Muslims are evil, no. I'm not that ignorant and I'm not one of those yahoo's who thinks that all arab or muslim people are bad. Though this does not mean I'm not suspicious of them. People say to me "you know not all muslims are terrorists" yeah well a whole hell of alot of terrorists are muslim. Someone also once said "you know not every bad guy happens to be a muslim." 'True' I told him 'I guess I was mistaken in thinking all NINETEEN of the 9/11 hijackers were muslims, or the orignal world trade center bomber, or the 09 Christmas flight bomber, or Major Hasan...any of this getting through?' Rather he ignored my valid point and began to pummel Timothy McVay (spelling?) into my brain for about 15 minutes. We spend all our soldiers precious time and lives trying to fix these third world nations (all of whom are muslim by the way) and half of them blow us up saying "we dont want you here" Well no wonder your countrys going to hell, one half says you need all the outside intervention you can get and the other simply wants to continue blowing things up without regard for the next 5 minutes like a kid with ADD and an M80. I seem to have gone completely off topic by now so I'll stop and save my rant about how I hate playing nice-lets-be-friends with these sand people for another time.

Life and...life

Today I was taking a water break during some work and took a seat on a concrete barrier. I glanced to my side and noticed a little moth or something. Being bored I lifted my water bottle to squish it, then I thought...'why? Its not bothering anybody, hell its not even doing anything, little guys just sittin there probably as hot as I am' So I let him just fly off.

It seems many people in this day and age focus on two things 'Life and Death' They jump through flaming hoops perched on a tightrope precariously dangling over a lava tank full of sharks. Why? Simply because that's how life is if you want to live it, and I don't mean "live" it like the adrenaline junkie says in movies but I just mean average day to day life. There's a million things you have to focus on these days just to survive, then, before you're even close to being dead, stuff comes at you from all directions about what you should do to prepare and make arrangements. You drive down the road and see billboards for funeral loans, you put on the TV and constantly see commercials about "what will you're family do if you were to suddenly depart" hell I already have a full will and material divy-up written up, signed, and stored. When it comes right down to it, it seems that just about everything these days has to do with one of those two things.

Personally, my past few years have been like that, just without the 'Life' part. So much of what I've done has revovled around death, pain, dispair, suffering...even if the focus is on preventing or fixing those, they still hover around like...well like an unwanted moth. After the moth incident I instantly began taking notice and observation of all the life around me, despite where I am. Little ants go scurrying about, bugs fly around, patches of grass and trees grow here and there with small beds of flowers among them.

Back in Whiskey school (medical school) I had such a fascination with the OB/GYN unit...no, not because of 'that', get your mind out of the gutter. The section focused so much on child-birth and pregnancy. Several of the guys thought it was pointless or 'gay' for guys to get into that field, but personally I think it could be one of the best. What could be better than seeing new life every day as your job? I know plenty of girls that get all excited when they find out a friend of theirs is having a child, I must admit I do too. I don't go as crazy about it but I feel it inside just the same. I've seen death with my own two eyes, even had someone literally die in my arms. When someone is having a child, its life, a whole NEW life. A miracle unto itself.

When I got to my unit after med school a soldier asked me, "so when we're oversea's, would you rather kill and insurgent? Or save one of us?" I replied with a smile "well personally I wouldn't want any one of you guys to get hurt. But if I had to pick, I'd take saving a fellow soldier anyday" I still stand by that philosophy today.

In the end, life is indeed short. But its still a great miracle unto itself and I think I need to start valuing it higher than I have in the past and try to let it more into my life. As stated everything around me now just seems like death, death, and death. Its time to start putting Life back into it. Life...and Life.

New Position

I've been moved from 2nd platoon to the Headquarters platoon. Now instead of just being a regular line medic I serve as the Commanders personal medic and one of his personal security. I must say I was rather suprised when this was bestowed upon me. I consider myself a knowledgeable and competant medic, but surely there were better, more experienced medics to choose from. Perhaps this goes hand in hand with my promotion (they DID happen on the same day). Maybe the higherups are giving me a job with such demand for decisiveness and responsibility to see if I earn my newest rank. While I am a bit intimidated I will certainly give it everything I have and more. I have never quit anything and hate failure more than just about anything. Scout Medic hooah!

Promotion

Today I was promoted from the rank of Private First Class to the rank of Specialist. Just over 2 years now to try and make Sergeant, here goes nothin.

The beginning

Hello I'm the Doc. Posts in here will be, for the most part, about my tour over here in Iraq. Others may be other aspects of my life that may (or in some cases may not) tie into it specifically. We'll just see where it goes.