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Blog Entry 72 of 72 Baseball,football,the Grateful Dead,Jesus and me

Could be politics, religion, music, sports, family life or anything in-between and outside the lines. (I refuse to say "outside the box," even if my chosen line means exactly the same thing) Chronologically, I'm 39. The consensus among those who know me best puts me somewhere between 10 and 13 in terms of maturity. I love listening to Jimmy Buffett, the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers and all acts Country (except the Dixie Chicks who offended my long-held,closed-minded view of decent behavior) I have deep, strong beliefs in all things I believe in and sometimes in things I don't. I pride myself in my contradictory nature even though it is a sign of weakness to change one's mind. I have been known to waver more than John Kerry talking about national defense, though I remain steadfast in my beliefs. I am prepared to argue to the death on one issue and one issue alone; Dickey Betts should be allowed back in the Allman Brothers. On this, there is no compromise. I believe in compromise in all other areas so long as the compromise includes everything that I want or believe in. In all seriousness, I am a lucky man, blessed with a wonderful family and an uncanny ability to not care about anything if the situation requires such. I believe that minds are like parachutes in that they have been known to fail their user, albeit with a slightly lower fatality rate. So that's me, or at least that's kind of me. I mean, I felt that way right before I didn't.

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Trying to get to Baghdad

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Contributed by: Bill Prather on 4/23/2008

Ahh, it's been awhile, friends! A result of this war-thingy. The Army, in its infinite wisdom (or lack of) has seen that we've been quite busy. Somewhere along the way, someone messed up and left me with a couple of hours alone. In the baracks, no less! I'll try to get as much information into this entry before my Internet privileges are revoked. (It ain't wise to tick off "the man.")

You see, my unit is still in New Jersey. That's right. Jersey. Fort Dix. In New Jersey. Yep, that New Jersey. Wonderful place to train. You know -- if you're headed to Kosovo. Know what's better than training in New Jersey? Training in New Jersey and living on a pretend Forward Operating Base (FOB). Again, the Army and its inherent lack of wisdom figured that detaining a bunch of soldiers in tents in the sticks of New Jersey would be great training for the desert environment in Iraq.

That's right. Jersey. I said, Jersey. Because we're going to Iraq, you know.

Thank goodness for Mr. Bob. Mr. Bob is the company providing the port-a-johns. Not sure who's in charge of the shower trailer. I digress.

My apology for griping. The sign of a well-adjusted soldier is incessant complaining. Honestly, deploy a bunch of us to Hawaii and we're likely to whine because the sand is too hot and the beer too cold. It's just the way we are.

With any luck, we'll see Baghdad in early June. It takes a few weeks in Jersey to get a soldier to write those words! Jersey! Sheesh.

I sure hope they play the "call to prayer" right outside of our sleeping area at 5 a.m. every day in Iraq! (Someone here thinks that is a good idea, too.) Hopefully, they'll turn it up really, really loud. If any of our soldiers were undecided about their ability to kill an Islamic terrorist, First Army has shown them the way! Does your neighborhood have that guy with the loud car/truck/motorcycle who revs it every morning at 5? Remember that "I want to kill that guy!" feeling you get every time he wakes you up? Bingo. It's called Psy Ops when the Army does it.

Once we get to Iraq, our unit will be supporting the Fourth Infantry Division. Colorado's 104th PAD fell in with the 128th MPAD out of Utah. I can't say enough about the caliber of our soldiers. Remarkably, we get along well. That's not a given in the big-ego world of Army Public Affairs.

Our job in Iraq is "command information," but we do much more. When your local tv station shows a soldier in Iraq saying "hi" to his or her loved ones, we're the folks providing the video. We produce written stories and video pieces for publication and broadcast to the military and elsewhere. Who knows, the next video you see from Iraq might be ours.

The real story of what's happening in Iraq isn't being told. We're working to change that. American soldiers -- your friends, family and neighbors are defeating terrorism as you read this.

When we get to Iraq, it's our job to help tell that story. Hopefully, someone's listening.

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Showing 1-10 of 11 comments

Submitted By: Charmaine Robledo

posted on 5/1/2008 @ 4:58:43 PM

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Hey Patrick, as a Philippine-native, I hope you were able to navigate your way around, as most Filipinos know English. I know I was able to understand it by the time I was four. :-)

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Submitted By: Patrick Bunn

posted on 5/1/2008 @ 1:27:46 PM

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I was sent to Clark Air Base in the Phillipines for a 3 week TDY, which was cool, except I was a Korean linguist. Get home safe....

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Submitted By: Charmaine Robledo

posted on 4/30/2008 @ 1:15:16 PM

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Hey, did you say you were stuck in Jersey?

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Submitted By: Gene Boshell

posted on 4/29/2008 @ 6:00:54 PM

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Bill - your being sent to NJ to train-up for The Sandbox is pretty much like my being trained in the language, then being sent to Kentucky to while-away my time in the dungeon ... uh, I meant Arms Room. Hang in there; your angst is understood.

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Submitted By: Gail Kirkegaard

posted on 4/27/2008 @ 6:34:54 PM

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Your writing sounds like my nephew's - all these military code words and initials and abbreviations for things I wouldn't know about anyway. Well, What I do know is you're an honorable and brave man. You have earned the right to complain. Thanks for keeping us in touch.

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Submitted By: Michael Rule

posted on 4/27/2008 @ 8:25:28 AM

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Hey! Great to see your post! Thanks for using your off time to keep us informed! Well done. Looking forward to your next one. (PS, Trust Gladys to find the bright side!)

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Submitted By: Stan Dyer

posted on 4/26/2008 @ 1:53:23 AM

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Is "Army Intelligence" really just an oxymoron?

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Submitted By: Gladys Mercier

posted on 4/25/2008 @ 8:30:56 PM

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I am so glad to hear from you. Stay in Jersey as long as you can, it is safer there! Do they have any blue crabs there?

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Submitted By: William Boucher

posted on 4/24/2008 @ 9:42:06 PM

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Say hey Bill. Awesome post.

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Submitted By: Seth Davis

posted on 4/24/2008 @ 9:38:37 AM

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Good to hear from you, Bill. It is a surprise to hear that you're stuck in Jersey, though!

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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Bill Prather

Arvada , CO

Bill Prather has posted 72 blog entries and 299 comments since joining on 7/15/2006. Bill Prather 's average blog rating is 4.45.

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