Taking cover at Fort Hood

Taking cover at Fort Hood, originally uploaded by The U.S. Army.

This photo is from the Army flickr feed. I hope we have the guts to convict this terrorist.

Air-assault mission in Paktika province

Air-assault mission in Paktika province, originally uploaded by The U.S. Army.

Cool pic from army.mil

Maureen at Al Faw Palace

Maureen at Al Faw Palace, originally uploaded by reenie61b.

This is one of my favorite pics when I was in Iraq.

Opening Day! Originally Published 3 April 2006

I can't believe this snuck up on me this year!! My beloved Red Sox are playing today. If I were home, I would have Joe and Jerry on my radio and not getting much work done. Here's an article that sums up my thoughts.

I can't wait to get home so I can catch a Sox game in person. Last year Dave and I went to Camden Yards for two games to see the Sox because it was so hard to get tickets to Fenway. It must be because I have either been here long enough or am close enough to going home that the hard rain that fell the night before last isn't bothering me. I just throw on the boots and slog through the mud. We have some new girls (very young) in our tent and they are still learning about how to be in Iraq. They took brand new M-16s right out of the boxes and were trying to figure out how to attach the sling. I've never seen a brand spanking new M-16, all black and shiny. Every one I've ever shot has been all hacked up. It's such a riot, they treat me like Yoda, since I am (a lot) older than they are and have done, well, just about everything I've ever wanted to do. They pump me for information about how I did this or that. They are very impatient to be successful and they sound very much like what I must have sounded like when I did the very same thing to some other Yoda-like woman. What I think is the most interesting is that they have no idea that although I have done a lot and they must think I am wicked old and wise, I still feel like I have so much to learn and can't wait to get to it. Anyway, back to Coco Crisp our new lead off guy - you've got to wonder whether he succeeded in baseball because of, or in spite of his "breakfast of champions" name (as Shaughnessy puts it?)

GO RED SOX!!!

Stop the Foolishness

Derry residents deserve better than the pathetic spectacle I witnessed during the last Council meeting. I will admit that I have learned a lot in the last few weeks. I found out that if you have the audacity to voice an opinion that gridlock and Parliamentary posturing are ineffective and embarrassing, then you get attacked by the perennial seat warmers who themselves call Council members "stupid" and "liars." I found that people who support me as a candidate for Council, who bravely have my signs in their yards, have been subject to such viciousness, that I am just plain disgusted. If I seemed unprepared to list my donors, it was because I could not find an elegant way to say that I refuse to subject them to the same viciousness that would certainly have rained down upon them had I left a verbal record in that venue. Apparently, the two seeking re-election will stop at nothing to ensure that Mr. Newell's "tipping point" scheme for controlling the Council is fulfilled (see pg. 18, March 5, 2009 edition of Nutfield News.) I'm confident that the residents of Derry are sick and tired of this foolishness, and will vote to make it stop.

Please Vote on March 10th - Derry, NH

The blog post below was originally posted on 18 December 2005 when I was in Iraq. The reason I feel it is so important is because of what I saw the Iraqis go through to cast their vote in this election. People risking their lives and the lives of their families, making their way through streets that had been turned into the wild west, in order to hope for a better future by casting one vote. Those of us who have become cynics should take this lesson to heart. Anything is possible. My original entry follows:


UPDATE - I had to block out Pauline's face for her safety. I'm sorry Pauline.

This is a picture of me and my friend Pauline who works with me here. She was so excited about being able to vote in the election that I asked her to write a few words for my blog. Thanks, Pauline!

Casting my vote was the second dream that came true,
First being the ousting of Saddam.

We hoped it would have been done in 1991, but between 1991 and the liberation of Iraq, saddam was left to execute the worst of his evil on the society, the people, the land, the environment, not even the apple orchards in the north nor the palm trees, that counted in millions, and the natural marshes of the south survived his wrath.

I believed the end had come only when I witnessed the 3ID (3rd Infantry Division) crossing the Kuwaiti border into Iraq on CNN.

I was cheering them along, and thought it is finally happening, over 30 years in forced exile, I will have a chance to visit my homeland again. You see it is not just my birth place, it is the land of my ancestors, the Assyrians, who contributed so much to civilization (visit http://www.aina.org), both in ancient times and their second glory was spreading Christianity from Iraq all the way to China.

Watching the 3ID, I suddenly felt that an invisible prison door opened and my soul felt it was free at last. It was unusual because I was never conscious of it before, yet we, the Assyrians and all Iraqis in exile, over 4 million, lived the same way.

I thanked General Webster of the 3ID for all their contribution towards the liberation of Iraq, as I told him, they didn't just liberate the Iraqis inside Iraq, they liberated the Iraqis in exile, thousands like me, have finally been able to come back and visit their families after years of separation. And now, we all participated in shaping the future of Iraq by voting.

A heartfelt thanks to our troops and their families for all their effort and their sacrifice to spread freedom and democracy - freedom has a price, that is why I’m here now to be part of that effort.

Pauline

Camp Victory Sports Oasis - Originally Posted 16 December 2006

This picture is of my co-worker Pat. He is an American but made a poor choice to snooze around me with a camera. He's been in Iraq in the summer before and told me they wear those headcoverings to keep their skin from blistering off in the 140 degree sun. Sounds like a good idea to me!! At least we'll get to ease into the summer.

Well, Camp Victory Sports Oasis happens to be the name of the big DFAC or chow hall here. There is a smaller one called the Coalition Cafe over by our tent city, but we usually go to the big one because it is closer to our work trailers. Both chow halls are surrounded by blast barriers and are guarded by about ten armed (locked and loaded) soldiers with full kevlar and flak vests checking ID cards and patting down all the Iraqis and other folks that don't look like Americans. Once you get past the first set of guards, you head over to the door that is used for DOD contractors and other civilians. Guarding that door today was a young soldier who I look forward to seeing there. As you are walking up to him, he always has a huge smile and says with the cadence of an auctioneer, "Welcome to the Camp Victory Sports Oasis the finest dining facility in all of Iraq have a wonderful dining experience and a wonderful evening ma'am Hoooooah!" Well, what else can you say to that but Hoooah? Anyway, I'd love to get a picture of him but he'd probably yell at me to keep moving, so I'll have to find him outside of the chow hall setting.

It's funny seeing the mix of people here while eating. Some of the young soldiers look no older than my sons Tommy and Andy. I saw a group of them sitting in a booth, six in a booth for four. You could tell they were inseparable. It was cool and sad all at the same time. Then you see the old guys, some are National Guard (my favorite patch on one rifle butt was "One Weekend a Month, BullS#$%!) some are the older contractors that the guys at Fort Bliss called the CW Vets, meaning civil war! Anyway, lots of women soldiers and us contractors, but I'll save the being a woman here thing for another post. Goodnight!!