Episode 19:  May of 2005

May 31, 2005 10:00 a.m. (Baghdad Time)
Al Asad, Iraq
By LCpl Sincioco
Revised on April 20, 2008

"Know what you know, but more importantly, know what you don't know, for therein lies true wisdom."
—Confucius (c. 551-479 BC)

May Day

In the last few days of April leading up to May, the insurgents attacked us with renewed determination.  We haven't had to put on our flak jacket with the alarm blaring as often we did in those last few days.  And in the month of May I had an epiphany.  I came to a sudden realization that there is no substitute for my own platoon.  8th Comm, Data Platoon, for better or for worst, is my home platoon, where I belong; where my friends are.

The Weather

It's been getting hotter and hotter by the day here.  One day it would be 100 degrees, the next 110 degrees.  I was told it will reach 130 degrees in the summer.  I'm not looking forward to that.  I rarely walk to the chow hall now due to the heat.  I just eat whatever food is in the TACC building, the building I work in, which is lesser in quality than the chow hall.

I haven't been PTing much this month mostly due to the heat.  On day, the insurgents got smart and decided to hit our water supply.  So we lost water for a few days which meant we couldn't shower or PT even if we wanted to.  I nearly ran out of clean clothes.  I had to dig into my reserve clothes.  Laundry is a 48-hour turn around now, so once water became available I still had to wait 2 days before I got clean clothes.

The Internet Cafe

The internet cafe lost most of its appeal after they put the "no personal laptop" policy into effect.  Have you ever gone to an internet cafe?  The computers are filled with spyware and probably key-loggers.  It's not a very secure computer to be doing anything other than casual web surfing.  I do sneak my laptop in once in a blue moon to synchronize (download) my emails and update my web site.  You see, the internet cafe has Sony VAIOs, and my laptop is a Sony VAIO so it resembles the computer they have.  Yeah I know, one of these days I'll get in trouble for it.  But until then.....shhhh!

Sit, Stay, Go, Roll Over...Good Marine

This year began for me in Iraq and it will probably end there too.  The latest news is I will be rolling over for the next rotation.  A list of when everyone is going home came out earlier this month.  And guess what?  Not surprisingly, yours truly is not on the departing list.  I just signed the official letter of voluntary extension today, as a matter of fact.

When they asked for volunteers back in April I volunteered to stay.  A few days later, they told us they didn't need us.  Hey, this is the military where planning is not an exact science but an art.  We are short on DSID operators and those who are single volunteered to stay, so that those who are married can go home and be with their family (with the exception of one).  Besides, the new arriving DSID operators could probably use a hand.  They haven't exactly trained for the things we've learned here in Iraq in the past 5 months.  No one can school you on the real thing, so they say.

Indirect Fire (IDF)

And speaking of art, do you know that the dirt that gets thrown up in the air by an indirect fire against a dimly lit moon sky looks awesome?  On May 20th, I went to a port-a-john just before heading to sleep to piss.  As I was pissing, I heard what sounded like an aircraft flying really low.  Then, it started whistling.  And I knew immediately it was no aircraft.  A split second later, a blast impacted not too far where I was.

And do you know what I discovered when a mortar hits nearby while you are pissing?  You come to a dead stop in the middle of it.  Ouch!  Not by choice mind you.  Mind over body just doesn't work in that case; reflexes takes over.  The impact shook the ground and the port-a-john.  My ears could tell how close the impact was, it was the loudest I've ever heard it.  And for the first time, my adrenaline actually kicked in.  The insurgents are getting closer and closer to the Tin Cans by the month.

The word has it that the shrapnel went as close as reaching the smoke pit by the female's bathroom.  After the impact, I continued to relieve myself.  As I open the door of the port-a-john to get out, I looked to my left and saw the blast.  I actually stopped for a second to admire it.  In that split second I almost thought it ironic that the very thing that causes death and destruction has a certain beauty to it.

Then I snapped out of it and noticed a few Marines running back to the Tin Can and I thought I'd better do the same.

When I got back in the Tin Can, all my roommates have put on their flak jacket and Kevlar as a safety precaution.  Everyone was all excited and shaken up.  Our gear, as I was told, is optional once we are inside the Tin Can.  So, I climbed on top of my rack, put on my headphones, and immersed myself in the world of Smallville.  I was so tired that night I fell asleep with Smallville playing on my laptop at my side.

Smallville

If there's one word I would use to describe the month of May, it would be Smallville.  I was reluctant to watch Smallville when I first heard of it.  I didn't think watching yet another spin-off of Superman would be that interesting, but I'm glad I was wrong.

GySgt Curtner came on deck one afternoon.

I took off my headphones and replied, pretending I didn't hear Cpl Weller.

Cpl Weller looked at me funny.

Smallville gets the honorary first for me.  It's the first TV series I want to completely own on DVD.  Staff Sergeant Stantun lent me his DVD of Seasons 1, 2 and 3.  But as LCpl Mummey wrote, Smallville is more addictive than drugs.  When I saw the PX selling all three seasons on DVD, I couldn't resist.  I grabbed it faster than you can say "Save Me!"

I started watching Smallville mid-May.  I had a goal of finishing all 4 seasons by the end of May.  Unfortunately, today is the last day of May and I'm still on Season 3 Epsiode 6.  Each Season has over 20 episodes.  I still have about 40 Episodes to go, so even if I continuously watch Smallville between now and tomorrow, there's no way I would make it.

It's good to be addicted to a TV show that teaches family values, love, morals, and the search for the truth—which ever version of the truth you want to believe in.  The last time I had this much excitement over a TV show was over "The Wonder Years."

The Good News

If there's any good new this month I found out I'm scheduled to go to Qatar sometime in June for a 4 day vacation.  And best of all, I'm supposed to rendezvous with LCpl Mummey!

I hope they are showing Star Wars Episode III in Qatar, because that would kick-ass if I can see the last episode of Star Wars in a movie theater.  If not, oh well, I've already seen a pre-production version.  But, here's to hope...

Another piece of potential good news is that I'm supposed to get two weeks of time off since I'm rolling over for the next rotation.  Not free mind you, it is charged against my vacation days.  So, they submitted me for October 15-28.  I tried to get November for my birthday or December for the holidays, but that wasn't possible due to the planned election in Iraq.  Things you sacrifice for Democracy, eh?  So, the next best thing is October so I can be home for my mom's birthday.

In programming news, I got a working version of the Help Desk System I've been building for our Data Platoon.  We entered testing phase mid-May.  But being the military, testing-phase means production use.  Data Platoon has been using it internally and it seems to be working fine for them.  We are still in the paper-electronic parallel phase.  The goal is to switch to an all-electronic process, eventually.

I know this is no surprise to the folks back home, but the military doesn't exactly move at the speed of business.

—LCpl Sincioco
United States Marine Corps, 8th Comm BN, Support Co., Data Platoon