one year

A year ago today, it was a cold windy day in Hastings, Minnesota. B Company was mustering for its first day of active duty; three days later, we boarded the plane that carried us on the first leg of our long, ridiculous journey.

Has it been a year since I left home? It seems like another lifetime, and it feels like it was yesterday.

We’ve been to ABSURDCON (Absurdity Condition) ZULU and beyond, having long since crossed into a universe where anything is possible and nothing is surprising. It’s a Bizarro Universe we live in, that special place known to soldiers of all eras where the normal becomes impossible and the extraordinary becomes mundane.

Lest my writing become too ponderous and self-important, let me remind you that in the last year I’ve spent more time playing video games and reading books and generally killing time than probably any other time in my life. I’ve honed my skills of waiting to a keen edge, so much so that I doubt I’ll be fazed by any trip to the doctor’s office or the DMV ever again.

Ironically, today my hit counter rolled over to 10000. (You lost the bet, Mrs. Melobi…>:D) It was on 19 August of last year that I hit 1000. Modest traffic by the standards of most sites, but seeing as how this was mostly a narcissistic exercise, I’m a little surprised by the minor fame I have achieved.

Today it’s a cold windy day in Iraq, but there’s no snow on the ground, but rather water – it’s been raining for thirty hours straight and there are no signs of relief. It might as well be called Lake Liberty; the water is ankle-deep everywhere and deeper still in many places.

Who knows what the next year will bring? But, at least, next March won’t find me in Iraq.

(read the extended entry for my list of highlights…)

Some of the highlights of the last year for you:

• Departure (14 Mar 2004)
• McKenna Urban Combat Training (7 Apr 2004)
• Arrival at Ft. Hood, TX (27 Apr 2004)
• Day I became a blonde (14 May 2004)
• Red Team Sports Cafe – worst DFAC ever (7 Jun 2004)
• My life next to Burger King (25 Jun 2004)
• First day in DCUs (10 Jul 2004)
• The first of many “pimp your ride” moments (23 Jul 2004)
• Toga formation (guys from other units still remember us doing this) (31 Jul 2004)
• The breaking of the Fellowship (6 Aug 2004)
• Combat network administration (18 Aug 2004)
• Tactical inkjet (1 Sep 2004)
• Narcissistic Blogger Syndrome (NBS) (27 Sep 2004)
• The end of the TDY party (29 Sep 2004)
• Operation: LOGIC BOMB (11 Oct 2004)
• In Kuwait, finally (24 Oct 2004)
• The drive to Baghdad, part 1 (4 Nov 2004)
• The drive to Baghdad, part 2 (16 Nov 2004)
• Thanksgiving (27 Nov 2004)
• Christmas (25 Dec 2004)
• Happy New Year (1 Jan 2005)
• Senator Coleman (8 Jan 2005)

Oh, and fun fact: in the last year, I’ve taken approximately 1,786 photographs, which take up 7.89 gigabytes of disk space.