Leaving for two weeks

After yesterday's packing and mad running around my room trying to get ready, I spent today relaxing with my family (sort of LOL, who relaxes with 5 children around?). I took my sisters and mother to the mall, where we had a girls afternoon out. A whole lot of fun:-D I swear everytime I see my sisters they get bigger. Anyway, I leave at 0600 tomorrow morning for 2 weeks of fun in Texas with my beloved boyfriend and his parents, so I will be out of the loop until my return. I promise lots of pictures and stories though:-D
In the meantime, another installment of my Iraq journal:

18 January 2003
20:20
Well, back from 3 days at the range. It was an absolute blast. Well, save for one of the instructors yelling at me after I got frustrated with the M2, 50 Cal. It totally sucked. The next day we had fun running around in the Humvees firing all of our weapons. I also got to shoot the M249. That was really really fun. Although, now my hearing is shot to bits right now. Having 3 16's in the vehicle firing and then firing the SAW is really loud. The first night we were out there, I made the attempt to sleep on top of my Humvee, but I slid all over the place. But I tell you what, the sky was extraordinarily beautiful. The second night, after we moved to our second location, I slept on the back with the cargo back dropped. Not the most comfortable, but still nice. I hadn't realized that I missed sleeping outside. I have run into a lot of people I knew in AIT, now that we have another unit attached to us. It has been highly entertaining.
I am now the BN XO's driver, which should prove to be interesting. He is the greatest guy:-D.
19 January 2004
19:45
It's been a slow day. I fixed up my vehicle, went to Finance, dropped off my laundry, went to the PX, for my vest sewn, and even got to get online at the online cafe. I talked to my best friend for a little while online, and then while in line at Subway, got into an entertaining conversation with some Apache mechanics.
The brigade CO and CSM came through a little while ago. Last time I saw them, I was bawling my eyes out. Currently I am watching MASH:-D Always guaranteed for a smile and a laugh.
20 January 2004
16:45
It's been a fun long day. I woke up at 04 this morning to drive to Arifjan to pick up one of our Humvees. I was so proud of myself, I managed to make it there and not get lost:) While waiting around in Arifjan, the radio played the Macarena. Me and another girl were sitting in the front seats dancing. We had everyone walking by laughing their asses off. I also managed to tear off the radiator plate on the NTV. Driving was such a blast. Going down this morning we were running behind as we weren't given much time at all, so running down the highways, I was flying at 170 KPH:-D I was having way too much fun. When we got back, I made my morning runs, and then went to the PX. It actually only took me an hour this morning. This afternoon, I have been busy emptying trailers, and lashing down generators. My knuckles are now for the most part bloody.
21 January 2004
22:21
It's been an entirely entertaining day:-D This morning was slightly boring with not much to do. But this afternoon, well, didn't stop. Spent the afternoon first filling sandbags, then spent 3 hours fighting with a Humvee tire. I was trying to take the old one off and put a new one on the rim. that was one of the hardest things I have done yet. Got all nice and dirty and greasy and sweaty and I could go on but I won't. This evening, I showered and went to chow where I ran into some friends. We ate dinner together, and enjoyed a rather raunchy conversation. We also talked about one of the guys in the unit, of which it is often wondered if he is gay. As we got up to leave, I noticed him 2 tables over and made the wry comment that there was our gay * and as I said so, I pointed. But where I pointed was at a very confused looking, cute, guy. Us 3 females just lost it at that point. I just returned from spending an hour online. Finished up a few emails:)
We leave in a couple of days. It should be a good day. I am driving the XO, and I have determined that he is the funniest guy in the world. In our truck will be a bobble doll:-D
29 January 2004
14:45
Finally in Iraq, though it is no picnic here. We are in Abu Ghraib, the Baghdad Central Confinement Facility. A prison! I made jokes last year about being in prison, but now we really are. The convoy up here was good, though we did have our share of incidents. The first day, we stayed in Kuwait, before going across the berm. That morning we had major fog and broke contact several times, so we were moving incredibly slow. That afternoon, we had an unscheduled stop to help out serial 1, which consisted of mostly B co, with a flat. We were stopped just outside of an Iraqi checkpoint and had to pull security with all of these curious people around trying to get food or sell us things. That evening, we pulled into CSA Scania, which was little more than a little mud puddle to stay overnight. That night was interesting. We left that morning, and had driven for a couple of ours before an MP convoy that had found IED’s stopped us. We were there for at least 3 hours pulling security, and then EOD blew them in place. That was a blast as the noise was rather startling, and we had shrapnel flying back all the way to our convoy. No one was hurt though. We finally arrived at our location about 10 minutes after we left the IED site, and started settling in. It isn't too horrid here, though sleeping in the open bay SUCKS. Right now we are trying to change over with the S1 shop that was already here.
30 January 2004
10:05
A quiet, peaceful day. I was kicked off the convoy, due to a lack of seats, so now I am in the office alone:) Always a good day. It kinda sucked, not being able to go, because it would have been nice to have seen my friends, but I know that I will be down on Monday for certain and I can see them then. I met one guy the first time we went down to Victory, last Tuesday. He was rather cute, and was flirting, mildly with me:) Nice guy:-D LOL. So far this morning has been uneventful, I got up finally around 7, though my alarm clock went off at 0630:) I got dressed, went to chow, and then per my norm, headed over to the Internet café to see if Mummy was on. She was, which always makes my day so much better. I chatted with her for about 30 minutes before I had to head to formation. Spent 30 minutes in formation LOL. 1SG said it be quick and I suppose to his standards, it was:-D Now I am back, just kicking around hoping that eventually someone will have something I can help with.
31 January 2004
09:05
This morning is off to a glorious start. I woke up in the middle of the night last night stuffed up beyond belief and it hasn’t gotten any better. Last night was rather rough on me, as I had a rather big fight with someone, over whether or not they was responsible for securing HQ 1 (our Humvee). It got so bad that we ended up with the 1SG. I have guard duty this afternoon. Should be entertaining, as the last few days have been hot. I made the mistake of telling Mummy this morning and now she is all worried and stuff. I talked to her for a long time this morning, while paying off my Visa bill and a couple of other bills. I also finally bought Gracie’s birthday present, a cute Navy blue Ralph Lauren Polo dress.