... is ramboambo's blog. most of the people who read this all know/read one another already, so i'm not going to point you to someplace that you already go. but alot of you have said that you like reading about what's going on down here from a soldier's viewpoint. well amber is a medic who was deployed down here for a year at the same bases i've been at and is already home. so you get to read the whole journey from her. and being a female and a medic, it's just two different viewpoints than mine.
i recommend if you read her blog, that you start at the beginning and work your way up to the most current. i started mine mid-tour, so you miss alot of the angst from the beginning. as a reservist/guardsman it really, really sucks. with me, they pulled me on active duty and ripped me away from my civilian job 2 months before we deployed to the combat zone. it was really painful. you're all geared up, mentally ready, and then you get stuck in this HUGE holding pattern. and it's largely just piss-poor planning. this war has been going on for 5 years now. reserve and guard units are shouldering a large portion of the burden. there is no excuse for our training to be substandard, and our readiness levels to be at the state where it requires 2-7 months of training and prep work to deploy overseas. 2-3 weeks maybe, but not months on end. you feel alot of the frustration reading her blog.
she hits on the frustrations of combat. i've tried to stay away from some of that stuff for a variety of reasons. opsec, the fact that i have problems after the fact explaining what happened and ran through my mind, a sense of disbelief after it's over and other stuff. she just does it much better then i've ever been able to. the other thing that she hits that i haven't experienced yet is the home-coming. her blog ends rather abruptly with only one post since she's been home. and you can tell that she's having problems explaining everything that's going on, and that while she feels goofy for saying some of what she's saying, like she's being melodramatic, she's not. and has to say it if she's trying to explain it.
anyways, if you're one of the ones that has commented on being interested in this stuff, read it.
5 comments:
Thanks for the tip about ramboambo's blog. It's a real eye-opener.
I lead a quite peaceful life reading my books, tending my garden, taking my wife out to dinner...
Thank you guys for making my life here possible. I appreciate you.
Sean, I've added Amber to my daily reading..and vow to read the blog through. I agree with John...it's an eye opener to read yours and Amber's blogs. I'm enjoying her pictures on her website as well.
Thanks!!
Sean: Hey, thanks for dropping by on my little blog.
And also, stay safe.
john/leelee... thanks to both of you for taking the time to read what we write and for being open to what we have to say. lots of scary stuff going on in the world these days because of people with closed minds who believe what they're told. it's something i've always wondered about 1984. was it big brother's fault for doing the manipulating and getting so big and powerful? or was it the fault of the people for being so easily manipulated. the problem with that is that everyone thinks that the "free press" is answer, that somehow or another what it publishes will always be the truth...
blah. didn't mean to turn that into a rant. thanks guys. :) glad you like amber's stuff.
pw... thanks for mentioning me in your post. i found you through trouble and pgh. keep putting out the good stuff!
I read the entire thing in about two hours one night. She sure has a different way of looking at things. She is also very lively in her writing. I hope that she comes back in her life at home.
IHS, Craig
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