October 30th (morning of)

Eh, the Halloween party is tonight, for some reason I'm not too thrilled. I guess I just feel real left out and unimportant to the whole affair. Everytime I offer to help it gets turned down, so one person is bearing the burden, and its already clearly causing her a lot more stress than it should.

So when they were over to set up more preparations I stayed upstairs for the most part. It proved to me that I was right in my above theory, especially after I again offered to help, but it was again refused. But it dissipated a bit between then and a really entertaining night at work, only to reform now that it has the opportunity to creep back to mind.

Part of me wants the party to start already so it can be the hell over with soon, since I doubt it'll be much different than last night was during the second session of preparations. Dunno. Maybe part of it is my demeanor.

Anyway, one escape is reading other blogs. And I had the luck of having a link to one I was previously oblivious to, and its that of an Army Medic that just got back from Mosul, Iraq. It's called "A Candle in the Dark". And as far as I've read (which hasn't been too far), its insightful and entertaining about things over there, so here's an excerpt (and I must note that NCO means "Non Commissioned Officer" for those in the dark, which are the higher echelon enlisted personnel):

Men that have been shot, whether alive or dead, go limp instantly. Like pulling the cord out of the wall while using the vacuum. Haji must have two thimbles of blood in him because he goes pale at the mention of
bleeding. Looking at a man before shooting at him is the most exciting thing I have experienced while at the same time feeling stranger than anything I have ever done. People would serve me tea out of their front door as I pulled security on a corner next to their house. They always tasted it first as if I was Caesar or something. Children will flip you off then wave to you and smile obviously not knowing what it means. It was taught to them by other units. I'm sure the guys did it and the kids saw it as a greeting. Children draw you pictures of Americans smiling and fighting for them. Raiding someone's house and searching it makes you feel guilty while you destroy their possessions; then you find the stash of RPG's and $10,000. Fresh pomegranate juice is really good.
Kurds are a real nationality, Palestinians are not. Just like Kuwaiti's. You are a part of history but since it is the present you don't fully appreciate it.

Outside of the war zone (yes, you Kuwait and Camp Victory) they think they're in the theater but they aren't. They play silly ass games, drills, exercises for readiness and play soldier. The "soft MOS's" like the moniker war hero but really they are as safe as most of you back home. Sergeant Majors who have nothing to do but ask soldiers what side of an NCO you should walk on and why the boonie hat is not the uniform. Combat awards should involve gunfire being leveled at you and not just around you. Just because you can hear it doesn't mean you're in danger. Civilians shouldn't be here outside the wire. We saved their asses one to many times. Burger King should be for the Joe's in combat not in a small military city in Baghdad or Kuwait. Internet should always be free and chow needs to be open 24 hours a day since some of us have a combat schedule and not bankers hours.