By the way.

If you wanna get a good close up at the spider, click on the picture and you'll see the full size picture! Enjoy.

Not much to say

Like I said before, pictures can be worth a thousand words, so today that I got some time, I'll try to load some pictures and see what comes out of that!

Well, one thing. Yesterday I was sitting by my computer and this cute little spider (for some the spider might not be little and probably not cute either) comes out of the side wall, and continues to move until it was right by my computer. Then it proceeded to just SIT there. It gave me some time to call some people over and take some pictures before I did the right thing and put it to sleep (nice way to say smashed it!). Here are some pictures. We named the late spider Jimmy the Camel Spider in case anybody wishes to say their condolences.

The other pictures are from my new crib. You may notice my old computer, which I use strictly for work, since that's pretty much the only thing it's good for (there are some programs that dont have a version for MAC that I need to use in the Army, so the old computer is not completely worthless. It's got a "cheap" version of Windows that doesn't even let me set up a desktop background!) You may also notice the third screen, which is a monitor my company owns and nobody was using it, so I snatched it and use it to look cool and smart in my new home!

I got some in the other computer. I'll try to post them later. Till next one.

Better luck at dominoes and Virginia Tech wins again!

So... this Friday was Domino night again. Only one table playing, with a team waiting. The rules are a bit different from ours, but still the same principle. We're playing with "premios" for the first four hands. 100, 75, 50, and 25 points, plus you count every point left, not just the losing team. Obviously we don't play to 100 (duh!), but to 500, and capicua is worth 100 points. If you end with the double-O it's called "chuchazo" and it's another 100 points! Anyways, I did win 3 games Friday, which was WAAAAY better than last week. I took a few pictures, which will probably end in our facebook page (if you haven't checked it yet... you should, it's actually pretty decent. My commander already mentioned the fact that half the fans in the page have the last name Pazos... good job!)

Work's going. Going. The routine is actually not too bad. I only drink coffee right now. Now that I dont have a crazy mission schedule, I stopped with the energy drinks and I started working out again as well. My commander runs 3-4 times a week, and I "volunteered" to be his running partner (like many things in the Army, the word "volunteer" usually means "volun-told"). Long story short, I'm running 3-4 times a week now.

And... in a weekend full of upsets, Virginia Tech crushed Miami! After last weekend's last minute win, it was extremely pleasant to see Virginia Tech come out and absolutely demolish Miami (You could say I'm not particularly fond of the Hurricanes). Also, Venezuela won its first game in a final stage of a Soccer championship (sub-20 level, but still... it's a good start) against a pretty good Nigerian Team. Real Madrid also won and is leading the Spanish league. All I need now is for the Colts and Falcons to win and I can call it a weekend!

No Barbeque Sunday this week. Oh well, there's always next Sunday.

Oh... one last thing. We just got a Green Beans Coffee trailer delivered to our base. Green Beans is kind of like a Starbucks, but less fancy, and only in areas where the US is deployed. Most of their profits go towards helping Armed Forces, so it's pretty cool. The trailer is literally like 100ft from my tent and should be opening pretty soon! wooooooo wooooooo!

Bueno, that's all I got today! Un abrazo a todos!

Antonio

Moving

I officially took over my new job about a week ago. The way things work out here, your job comes with a new living area, mainly because the tents are segregated by Platoons. Well, the new LT that replaced me would take over my living area, and I would take over the XO's living area. The only problem with that was that the XO couldn't move out, because the guy he was replacing was still at Garry Owen. Long story short, I've been living in 1st Platoon's tent for the past week, waiting for this dude to leave Garry Owen so that all 3 of us could move into new living areas. That happened TODAY! Space wise, it's about the same, but I got a kick-ass corner desk and a new computer monitor (I'll post some pictures later this week). It's also quite nice since only 4 people live in this tent.

Aside from that, everything's pretty much the same. It's calmed down a bit, as I sink fully into my new job and responsibilities, which is nice. I can't complain really, I like it. It's very different, since I dont really work directly with Soldiers anymore, but there's more moving pieces, so the challenging part of the job, I do like.

Well, I'll wait for Titi to post again, since we're doing the tag-team approach to blogging these days (read her comment on my last post).

Cheryl: Thanks for the care packages! The soups have made my days! And I'll save the one with the cold weather stuff for later this year when the temperatures actually drop. If I pull that stuff out right now, people might laugh at me!

Antonio "Andronio One" Pazos

Training the Iraqi

Here's a link to a news article my Commander found about some training my Company's being doing with the Iraqi Army:

http://www.theredbulls.org/article333

Pretty good, simple article. Enjoy.

Domino night.

After a busy day, the one thing I looked forward today was playing some dominoes. We all had a good time, except for my partner. If there was a perfect "third" partner, that was me tonight! It was just amazing how bad I could screw my partner's game. And for all of you Pazos' out there, believe me when I say, it was a sight to see. Either way, I eventually realized it's a 2 on 2 game, and not 3 on 1, and we actually won a few games.

Time to sleep. For some reason, we don't get weekends off in Iraq.... bummer!

Facebook page.

As promised, here's the link to the facebook page my Company just started. Once you open it up, it has the option to become a "fan." By doing that, the link will show up in your profile and you can access it later. I think the page has public access so you can access it even if you dont have facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/El-Paso-TX/Eagle-Company-4_6IN/132615851657

It's a pretty nice page, there's tons of pictures of our Soldiers just hanging out. It'll give you a pretty good idea of how we live up here in Garry Owen.

Hey titi, how's that for consistency? I think this makes it 4 days in a ROW posting! woot woot!

Quick One

My dad forwarded this link to me today, saying I'm famous now. It's a teaser for a documentary my Brigade is preparing, I believe. Anyhow, they have a quick clip at the beginning of an interview I gave a while ago. I'm not sure if they plan to post the entire interview or a longer clip later on, but I'll be sure to keep you posted.

Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX19nALxZXI

Also, my new company commander is starting a facebook page for my company. It'll have random pictures of our Soldiers just having a good time, mainly intended for all the families back in the rear.

That's all I got today.

A Picture is worth a thousand words.

Typical question I get: So, how's the weather in Iraq?

Answer:

Enough said.

FINALLY, A ROUTINE AND SOME MOTIVATION!

Play drumroll.... tan tan tan ta tan!)

I'm back.

Not only am I posting again, I also changed the look of the blog, so if anybody were to "accidentally" type the blog's address, they will see the new colors, and maybe that'll force them to read what I have to say!

I sincerely apologize for not posting in so long (well, actually, not really. I'm not sorry, AT ALL) but I've been busy (lazy) and really stressed out (again, lazy). So.... here's a quick and short update of what's happened since I last posted:

I went on mid-tour leave (for those not familiar with the concept, it's pretty simple, you HAVE to take 2 weeks of vacation during the time you're deployed, it's not an option). Yes, I know it sounds crazy to go on leave after only 4 months of being in country, but like most things in the Army, it wasn't my choice. I was originally scheduled for March (the last month available), but due to some changes in personnel (I'll go into detail on that in a bit) I was forced to "choose" a different month. So it came down to how much of an asshole I could be, because everybody else in the Company had already picked the months they wanted to take leave on. My question was: Do I want to screw somebody out of their leave? Well, being the nice person and good leader that I attempt to be, I decided to take it early, which just happened to work out, since my parents' 40th anniversary was in August.

Sooooo, the time off was QUITE nice. The "two weeks" basically turned into a month away from my base, for which honestly, I can't really complain. Since my base is really small and there isn't a daily flight out of here, I had to take the Monday flight to a much bigger base still in Iraq. Well, this "base" is HUGE. It is so big that there are bus lines that run 24/7 to move people from one place to another. To put it in perspective, my base has a 20ft trailer that serves as a PX (where we buy candy, junk food, hygiene items, etc). Camp Adder (the one I spent 5 days in, while waiting for my flight out of Iraq) has 2 PX's, one that is almost as big as the ones in the States, a Pizza Hut, Burger King, Taco Bell, 2 Pizza restaurants, barber shops, and the list keeps going, and going. The point I'm trying to make is that those 5 days I spent there felt like a vacation already (compared to how I live in my current base). From Camp Adder, I flew to Kuwait, where I spent another 3 days waiting for a flight, and then... I finally made my way to Venezuela (which only took 5 more flights and 2 more days). I'll write a post later on about the trip itself, but basically it was 2 weeks of pure relaxation and rest. On the way back, it took me 7 more days to get to my base. I left GarryOwen on 27July and got back on 28August. Not bad, eh?

Getting back into a rhythm was pretty hard. We changed Company Commanders while I was gone, which for me, it means paperwork, paperwork, and then... some paperwork. Aside from that, I wasn't going to be a Platoon Leader anymore. I was changing duty positions and getting ready to be the Company Executive Officer (that's the personnel change I was referring to earlier in the post), which meant training on new things. A new lieutenant was scheduled to arrive to the Company at the same time I got back, so I was in charge of training him so he could take over my Platoon. Basically, instead of a smooth transition where I train the new LT, he takes over, and then I train for my new job, it all happened at once. I was training the new LT, still going on missions, helping train some Iraqi Army Engineers, and also learning how the supply system for the Company works, as well as all the maintenance issues that come up every week.

Needless to say, I dont think I've ever been so stressed out. I can remember weeks in college where I thought the world was going to crash down on me, or days at ranger school where I didn't think I could make it, and they dont even come close to the first 2 weeks after I got back from leave. It was that bad. I think I got like 12-15 hours of sleep just the first week alone, and something similar the next week. Good news is that it's pretty much over. The new LT took over my Platoon, signed for all the property I was responsible for, and now I don't go on missions as much. As the XO for the Company, I'm responsible for the Supply and Maintenance system for everything the Company has. It can be stressing at times, but with a good filing system and good time management, you can foresee a lot of the issues and prevent some of the headaches.

Oh, I also got promoted, so it's 1st Lieutenant Pazos now. I'm pretty excited, got a new job, a challenging and very different job, but I'm looking forward to it. Being the Pazos that I am, I love me a good challenge, baby!

Even though I dont have "troops" under my command anymore, please feel free to send stuff in mass quantities like before. I will still hand it down to the guys. I'm sure they'll appreciate it. By the way, my new Commander is from Puerto Rico and is an avid dominoes player. I'm his new teammate and we have domino nights once a week, where we form 4 teams, 2 tables, and play a little tournament. The rules are a bit different, but heck... it's still dominoes!

Titi: I hope your Antonio fix has been re-stocked. If not, feel free to complain, and I'll make sure to post a longer one next time. Love you!

By the way, this is my first post with my new Macbook Pro. I absolutely love this computer. The extra 300-400 bucks you pay for it compared to a PC is worth every single penny!

Well, that's all I got for now. Should've kept you reading for a good 2-3 minutes! Hope all is well back home and I will be seeing you all sooner than later!

Un abrazo,

Antonio

Quick picture. That's me with my Driver and my Gunner right before my last mission as a Platoon Leader. It's guys like these that make me proud to serve my country.

Oh, and Happy Birthday to Marco! Titi and I had a little argument. She says you're turning 27, I say 26. Which one is it?