The Kids are All Right

Just a quick anecdote today. Archer and I were talking over lunch one day, and I was sharing my concerns about potentially leaving 5-year-old Lena and nearly 3-year-old Rain for a year in Afghanistan. Archer and I are about the same age, but I started the family thing later in life than he. He's got a couple of teenage boys.

Archer tells me not to freak out too much, then hits me with some additional perspective. "The thing that gets me about teenagers," Archer says, "is that they've become their own people. I'll not only be leaving them as my kids, I'll be leaving them as my friends."

There's an oft-quoted war-chestnut that "soldiers don't go to war for their countries, they fight for their buddies." I don't envy Archer's dilemma, and I'm glad I don't yet have to walk in his boots.

Another Red Bull on the Net!

Thanks to milblogging.com--as well as my fellow blogger Kentucky Woman--I recently found a mil-blog written by Capt. Mark Martin, Minnesota Army National Guard. Martin is apparently working as an Embedded Training Team (ETT) member in Northern Afghanistan, near the town of Mazar-i-Sharif.

Click here to find his "270 Days in Afghanistan" blog.

Apparently, he's teammates with a couple of Croatian soldiers, so he may be more rightly regarded as a member of an Operational Mentor and Liaison Team (OMLT). It always cracks me up to note that the European acronym is pronounced "omelette." I'm sure they're all a bunch of (cannot ... stop ... myself ...) "good eggs."

Notably, Martin is the first fellow wearer of the Red Bull patch (see the cow on his left shoulder, above) that I've found on the Internet. I don't know how often he's able to write--or how good his Internet connection is--but I hope he keeps it coming. It's good, informative, and plain-spoken--all things I aspire to be, too.

A quick note about how to "read" an Army uniform, by the way: The left-shoulder patch is your unit patch. The right-shoulder patch is your "combat" patch (technically, called "shoulder sleeve insignia" or "S.S.I."). While the newer Army Combat Uniform (ACU) offers fewer clues as to a soldier's past accomplishments and qualifications, it's common practice for soldiers to check out the new guy's (or gal's) right shoulder, to see if they've been "over there."

While you can't see his right side, Martin apparently commanded a company in Iraq 2006-2007. 'Nuff said on that.

While I'm sending out good vibes, please remember Capt. Martin and his family in thought and prayer, and wish them all godspeed. His profile indicates he's got teenage boys--which probably means he's already seen a different kind of "combat." Not only that, it reminds me of an Archer story I've been meaning to dust off and tell y'all ...

That, however, is a story for another day. Maybe tomorrow?

Home Sweet Tank

As Household-6 will attest (and protest), I'm a chronic do-it-myselfer and home remodeler. For example, I've been working on finishing the basement for what seems to be nearly a decade now. I'd better get cracking if I want it done before I ship out.

I mentioned a few days ago that I've been attending some Army training here in Fort Indiantown Gap, Penn. It's a long way from push-to-talk radio stuff, but it's a lot about how the Army moves information around the battlefield these days. Lucky for me, it's as much hands-on as it is PowerPoint briefings, but I worry about retaining it all. We've been drinking from the proverbial firehose since we got here, and my brain was pretty much fried by the end of Tuesday's sessions.

Unfortunately, the Internet service to our barracks was equally fried much of Monday and Tuesday, and I couldn't e-mail friends and family. Just the first of many communications outages, I suppose, but it was frustrating.

With nothing to do on my computer--I didn't much feel like playing video games, because the modern Army makes video games seem like work--I tried watching TV in the barracks. I was pleased to find cable TV offerings such as Comedy Central, Speed, and the Military Channel, but would've really enjoyed kicking back with "This Old House" or some other home-improvement show.

Home-improvement shows are less about reality, I know, and more about fantasy: People always seem to get done in time and under budget. Hey, a guy can dream, can't he?

Anyway, tonight I found the Army's apparent answer to do-it-yourselfing: The Military Channel was airing back-to-back episodes of "Tank Overhaul," a 2007 and 2009 TV show that tracks the efforts of hobbyists who rehabilitate old military hardware.

I still prefer Home Depot to the Army Depot, but, hey, any part (you heard me) in a storm.