Oh, you know, just your average Kuwaiti Wednesday

Less than three months from going home means that there is a LOT of work to do while still pushing missions into Iraq AND getting ready for a new unit to come in and take over. In general, I’m a disorganized person and having to work on at least four projects at once to keep my attention is almost disastrous. I’m taking this opportunity to test my newfound organizational, time management and scheduling skills - and seeing that there are 43 guys relying on me to get the home, I should probably pass!

I’ve spent the last few days doing “Life After Kuwait” counseling. Do you have a job to go back to? Do you want to try to look for work in the military? Do you want to extend your commitment and do another year in the Middle East? And my personal favorite, “Do you have any outstanding warrants in Nevada or any reason you may run into legal trouble when you step off the plane in Las Vegas?” Truthfully, I’ve been blessed with a crew that is not only well-behaved, but surprisingly well-adjusted for a group of people that are constantly asked to work 20-hour days with little to no thanks from anyone outside of me. As you probably can imagine, an atta boy from a 25-year old officer isn’t exactly the most motivating factor in the world.

But we get by. Weekly BBQs, spades and dominoes til all hours of the night,  rock band battle royales. SSG Babb’s spandex-only Rollerblade team. Just your average Wednesday in Kuwait.

I often get asked what the hardest part of getting deployed is. The long hours? Nah, it isn’t like I have anything better to do. Being away from home? Nah, I moved out of CT three years ago and have done a pretty damn good job surviving on my own ever since. The constant threat of attack while on mission? You get pretty numb to it after a while. For me, it is the complete and utter loneliness that starts to kick in around month #3. Being an officer, I don’t have a lot of options for face-to-face social interaction. A unit of 250 Soldiers might only have 4 or 5 officers, tops. Being 25 and single, I don’t really have a lot in common with the married-with-children type folk . Just not my cup of tea and thus giving us really nothing but work to talk about. And I HATE HATE HATE social situations that involve work conversation. So the toughest part? Finding a way to laugh and joke around and smile every once in a while without ever losing the control that I’m in command of this platoon, and that makes me in charge. I think I failed miserably the first few months, but have come around to garner that respect. Hence why I’m still able to throw bones with the guys til 2 AM, and still get on their ass for showing up late to work when I was there 45 minutes early to help prep for the day. I joke around I don’t do a lot (as made evident by my current quest to get #taxdollarsatwork to become a trending topic on twitter), but in reality, this job is a fucking bear, and it requires everyone’s 100%. Sometimes, I have to fake it, and I won’t lie, I’m TIRED. All the time.

I’m gonna end every journal with 5 songs I’m listening to. Those of you on twitter prob already know em, since I’ve been posting #nowplaying updates out of bordemn at least once an hour. But here we go:

1. Hold My Hand – New Found Glory

2. Fields of Athenry - Dropkick Murphys

3. Say Anything – Cartel

4. Bad Days – Something Corporate

5. Emaline – Ben Folds Five