GOING HOME!!!

Hey folks.....well sorry no picture this time, but this will be my last post from Kuwait. Yep. That means I am headed home......now I only have to go through 12 hours of customs and a 20 hour plane ride back to Norfolk...sweet. Oh well. I just wanted to say thanks to all those who sent care packages, emails and put posts on this blog. Heck even if you didn't post and were just able to read and think, "man...Evan is still weird," then my mission was accomplished. Even though I didn't have direct contact with most of you, the fact that you were logging on to check my status....helped me make it though....sooooo, thanks again!

Merry Christmas

That time of year.

Happy holidays to all. The end finally seems in sight....or so they are telling us. Latest stupid thing I did was kickbox Slingblade in the pouring rain. We were trying to reenact the scene from Lethal Weapon 2 where Mel Gibson gets in a fight in his front yard. It had been raining for the last three days so it was pretty muddy.....not to mention freezing since it was only around 45 degrees outside. Don't worry I got it all on film. If you remember, Slingblade was the other guy I jousted from the earlier post. Other than that not much else is new. I put in a few pictures for the holiday season above.....hope you enjoy.

Hooka 2

Hooka

Roadtrip

Who would have thought that a simple trip to the airport could be so much fun? Well let me tell you about it. Our Squadron's intelligence officer was finally headed home and needed someone to take him to the airport. Somehow we convinced our chain of command to let myself and two of my best friends to take the trip. So, armed with weapons, a four wheel drive vehicle, a full tank of gas, a GPS, no real adult supervision, and a military intelligence officer to bounce ideas off of.....we were off. It was weird to put civilian clothes on again and face civilization. Long story short we left about 4 hours early (you never know if you will have to cap haji along the way) and made a trip of it. Things are strikingly similar to back in the states....except all the dudes are wearing man dresses and head gear. We checked him in and spent the rest of the time in a hooka bar. Note the pictures above. Oh yeah....we also put on ski masks and walk around base just to see if anyone will take us down or not. It was nice to not think about anything and just toke the hookas all night. On the way home we did no less than 100 donuts in the open desert. I am talking about...driving 30 miles and hour in reverse and cutting the wheel....not even looking in the mirror......oh the freedom. So all of you that read this and think I grew up to be such a responsible young man....well...I guess it's not too far from the truth.

Some of the decorations and festivities I was talking about.....oh the joy. Makes you wish you were where I am huh?

Gobble Gobble Gee

So holy cow, two posts in the same week. Hopefully everyone had a great Thanksgiving. It actually wasn't too bad out here. Aside from being away from family and normal hours for football....it was fine. I will also say this, the decorations were out of control. Just when you think someone can't put up anymore decorations in a chow hall.....think again. I am not just talking your normal amateur streamer or hand drawn turkey. I am talking ice sculptures, decorative cakes, about 1,000 streamers, fruit displays, melons carved into flower bouquets, bread baked into those weird things that look like old school trumpets stuffed with veggies and squash. Heck they even had models of the Nina, Pinta and Colada....wait Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, yeah that's it. Anyway, there was no shortage of food and am now I am a bit afraid of all the Christmas decorations that are to come. Enjoy all the left over turkey sandwiches, soup and late night pie. Word.

Top) An old picture of our wardroom when we all had mustaches. Thank God those days are over. Bottom) After a mission with one of the maintainers. Sweet.

Why Why Why...

So I have kinda turned into a lazy dirtbag. For those of you who check on this regularly I know it is annoying to check for a new post and find the same old picture (sorry mom). For those of you who check on this regularly just because you are bored....I am not sorry (George). Just kidding. That being said, all is well here. It is kind of a tricky phase. We are almost done...but still a while to go. Same shit, different tempature if you ask me. It usually drpos to about 45 at night and early morning. I know I have turened into a weekling in the tempature department, but damit that is cold compared to 120. Here are some reasons you know you are on an Army base:

1. No matter how slow they make people drive and how safe you think you are it isn't safe enough.
2. People wear reflective belts on camaflague uniforms during the day?
3. I have to show my ID when I am in shorts and a tee-shirt (That say NAVY all over them) at the chow hall. (do they think I snuck on this base in the middle of the desert just to eat some crappy food?)
4. Every where you go there is someone in line and they don't know why.
5. You get excited when it is turkey pot pie night at the chow hall.
6. Ugly chicks actually have a chance.
7. It is not uncommon to see a 50 year old woman with an M-16.
8. Someone is in a meeting right now, and someone else is having a meeting about that meeting.
9. You get a weapon pointed at you or raked across your back with a feeble "excuse me" at least three times a day.
10. Living in a trailer is considered "high end" housing.

I hope everyone is doing well and happy Turkey Day to all of you. I look forward to figuring out what kind of mystery meat I will be fine dining on!

Joust

I guess its been a while since I have posted, and for that I apoligize (for the regular checkers anyway). However, I think you will find this post amusing. As you can tell from the pictures above, the jousting has taken place. Don't know if I ever mentioned it or not, but we though it would be a good idea to ride bicycles at each othere with helmets, body armor and at least 15 feet of 1" pvc pipe. The object of course, to knock the other man off his ride...or cause as much damage as possible. It was surprisingly quite a moral boost. Probably because we are just dumb enough to realize that the armor we wear does a pretty good job (at least for this) so the next time we do this we will only go harder and faster. I wish I could post videos beacuse that woud put your mental anugishes to rest and make you realize just how good of an idea this really is. Slingblade was my opponent...the goofy looking guy with the skull and crossbones on his chest.