Oct. 1 – I met the members of my team today. The team consists of a handful of officers and about a small team of sergeants. The officers seemed to be young. The truth is all the sergeants here are 40 plus years old including me. More and more the mission is clear. We are going to the Middle East. The answer is the same, no one knows where. I was issued my patch which is the big red ‘1’. This is the famous First Infantry Division. I just hope that I can live up to history.

Oct. 3 – I had my dental work done today. The dentist and the hygienist spent most of the time telling jokes while my mouth was clamped open. What makes this story funny is that the doctor was telling the dirtiest jokes that shouldn’t be told between men. It had to have been at least 10 minutes before they started working on my mouth. If I were a betting person, I believe the doctor would give me additional shots of Novocain to continue his standup routine. When he was done my teeth were fixed and my face felt like 5 inches whale blubber.

Oct. 5 – We spent the entire day getting all our equipment. I received at least 3 duffle bags of equipment! Later that evening our team partook in some bowling and wings. As a fitness instructor, I spent most of my time around women most of the time. Spending some time with just men laughing and joking was so refreshing to me. Don’t get me wrong, I really love being in the company of women but just with the guys it was so cool. There were 12 of us all together. 12 separate people coming together for a common cause. I didn’t know anything about any of these guys. All I knew is that these guys represented a family. For a moment I got emotional because we were all going to a foreign country to live, train, and yes fight together for one year! I am aware of my feelings about this but if these guys were willing to make this sacrifice, so am I! I have only a few accomplishments in my life and being a soldier is one of them. I am so proud to be an American soldier in service to my country. Many Americans don’t realize how blessed we are. I am going to a country that has been in a state of war for hundreds of years. The people are divided on just about every issue. Because of religious and ethnic differences, they can’t come together on any issue. I ask sometimes what makes us so different. I know one thing for sure that this country has taken into account the humanity of all people regardless of race, creed, color, and now sexual orientation. Even though many ideas have gone against our Judeo-Christian history will still believe as a country that all people are created equal. I’m proud that I’m going to another country to represent that belief. What disturbs me is that even though we have these freedoms we as Americans are so quick to take them for granted. I hear more complaints about what’s wrong with America than I do about what’s right with America! Usually, the comments come from radical people that have never served in any capacity to this country. I’m going to Iraq where there is danger but it’s easy to have an opinion on the future of this country from the safety of your easy chair! I didn’t say that our way of life is perfect, but all Americans should understand that the freedoms we now enjoy didn’t come free, it came with a price.

Oct. 10 – Today is the day that we start our field training. Now we are moved into a room that sleeps 6 people in 3 bunk beds! My team consists of 11 people. We are a combination of different personalities. We have two that are quiet but friendly, two that are party animals but are too old to keep that gig going on a regular basis. We have one guy that is 51 years old and what makes him so interesting is that he has to have the comforts of home around him. For example, he somehow managed to get a coffee pot going that has an automatic timer on it so that each morning he has a fresh cup of coffee waiting on him before we begin training. We have a cowboy machinist, a fireman, a businessman, and of course me, a fitness instructor. I like my team. We balance each other really well.

Oct. 13 – We are qualifying with our weapons today. I’m nervous because I’ve never fired a pistol before! I’m carrying also an updated version of the M-16 that also has another weapon system mounted on it as well. Yeah, I know that’s a lot of firepower! Today is a long day. We didn’t get in until 10.30 p.m… I didn’t get a chance to eat lunch or dinner. I was so exhausted when I finally made it to my bunk. I know I push you guys to do your very
best but I just realize that I must start taking my own advice!

Oct. 15 – We have another long day at the range. I still have to qualify on my rifle. We wear our body armor all throughout the day. We added an additional 30 pounds to our body weight! I noticed that my hamstrings are extremely tight and my left knee was giving me so trouble as well. I was laughing because when we woke up this morning all of us were so stiff. We looked like we all belonged in the Michael Jackson ‘Thriller’ video. No
worry, it’s just something that we must get used to. I’m not worried about that but when you add a temperature of 130 degrees heat index that will be
a challenge!

Oct. 19 – We did the obstacle course today. All of 11 of us completed a course that had us climbing, crawling, straddling, and jumping, over and around stuff! We wore our helmets and carried our weapons. I couldn’t believe that I made it. I saw that 50-foot cargo net in front of me and thought to myself “hell no!” With the grace of God on me and the cargo net in front of me, I ascended the net. After that, we navigated across two rope bridges, crawled through tunnels, swung across an overhead ladder, and low crawl on our backs under barbed wire through the sand. At the end of the course, I sat on a wood stump trying to catch my breath. As I regained my strength, and my heart rate became normal I began to laugh out loud. The members of my team asked me “why are you laughing?” I stood up and started high fiving everyone and said, “you guys made me look good!”

Oct. 22 – We are talking classes to speak Arabic. Picture this. A room of 50 men reciting phrase after phrase of Arabic sounding like we have chicken
bones stuck in our throats! I think we are going to offend these people. We are tearing up their language; especially those guys with the southern
accents. We sound more like ducks. The poor man who is trying to help us is from Iraq. He has his work cut out for him.

Oct. 24 – We are doing a Combat Lifesaver course. We are giving each other IVs. Let me tell you this. It’s a bloody mess! I gave one of my captains an IV. There was so much blood squirting out I thought he was going to pass out from the sight of it! None of us is a medical specialist. I hope nobody has to get an IV from me. I’m going to make them lose at least a liter of blood before I get the entire needle in!

Oct. 27 – I’ve got to share with you some of the funny things that happen here. I won’t give you the original names of the persons in which I speak about. There is one sergeant in my section who we will call ‘Mr. Coffee’. He is older than I am (thank God!) and the funny thing about Mr. Coffee is that we have determined that he is the type of soldier that has to have all of the amenities of home around him. When we were moving into our training barracks he was the first to go to Wal-Mart and purchase those plastic 3 drawer storage bins. He also bought a coffee pot. This was the kicker; he also bought one of those rugs that you see in someone’s bathroom. He placed that by his bed so that he could have something ‘soft’ to step on to in the morning! Mr. Coffee always can be found sweeping out the room daily because we track in mud on our boots every day. During the day he can be found with a coffee cup in hand during our breaks. He’s a good sport about our teasing. Yesterday he came into my room and swept it clean. I asked him if he could come in on Wednesdays and do our windows. He just smiled and went on with the task. We all made offers to marry him, but he refused.

Oct. 29 – There is another member of my team who we will call ‘Skywalker’. Why do I call him ‘Skywalker’ He looks exactly like the actor in the last Star Wars movie. He looks like the young Darth Vader (Anakin Skywalker). He is an officer. He’s about 28 years old (old enough to be my son!). He is a regular army officer who happens to be an infantry officer. When we prepare to go out for our training, he is always ready. He has all of his equipment snapped and ready to go. Out of all of us, he has the most infantry training. He is always so serious. When we have downtime, he is always cleaning his weapon. I can tell that he gets annoyed at me because when I get a chance to sit down, I am either writing letters to my family or writing in my diary. I believe we all will become friends. The truth is that all of us must assess our strengths and weaknesses and then use them to our advantage. Skywalker needs to smile or something – he makes me nervous!