From the Peanut Gallery - 08/25/2005

Yes I'm back with a new edition of from the Peanut Gallery. It's been a while so let's start with the most obvious question.


Q:

Why no post lately, it is the only way of know what you are doing and if you are ok.

A:

Well this is an answer that has three parts

1. The purpose of my blog was never to be a place for self-introspection or blithe narcissism. The purpose of my blog has always been to have a place for my friends and family to keep up with me while I was in Iraq. When I left for here I didn’t know what kind of access I would have to communication so I figured it would be better for me to give little update that all the people I know could get to instead of answering the same question 55 times. Since I’ve been out here I’ve acquired Webcams, VOIP, VOIP chat and all other sorts of nifty communication devices. So I’m able to reach my family as often as I feel. There isn’t as much need to update my blog as it was for my original intent.

2. I never talk about my company or sensitive information on my blog. It’s one of those subtle things that if you have been paying attention you would notice. On the flip side everything that has really been going on with me that would be of interest has been things with the company and classified information. As a result while there have been plenty of interesting stories to tell none of them would make it on the blog anyways.

3. There really hasn’t been much going on. Iraq isn’t as mysterious to me as it was in my first six months. It is industry now, being in Iraq is my life it is normal to me now not abnormal so things you all would consider noteworthy are no longer noteworthy to me anymore. I’m institutionalized now.

Q:

How hot is it there?

A:

When I got this email it was much hotter I would say we were hitting about 125° F /52° C with lows in the low 100s/35-ish or upper 90s/36-ish. With it hitting the end of August it has cooled down to so the highs are about 116°/47° And the lows are coming in at about low 90s/33-ish in the early morning can be quite chilly.

Q:

What do the troops think of Cindy Sheehan and do you think the President should meet with her?

A:

With most things domestic the troops I know don’t care one way or the other. Her plight isn’t relevant to them. The fact of the matter is that bottom line her son and every other solider in the military today joined of their own free will. The military is ALL VOLUENTEER and it won’t change. Everyone I talk to is pretty much saying sure it's sad that her son died but, when we sign up we know the risks of this job. It’s the risk that each and every military personnel take as well as the civilian contractors.

Yes, Mom I’ll always be your baby boy but in reality these are men and women here not children. They all decided on their own to join the military. So when I die or someone else’s adult offspring die don’t go clamoring to the high heavens talking about Bush killed my son. No, he didn’t, your son or daughter choose to accept those risks. Your son or daughter may not like them but that’s how it goes. By failing to remove the President from office you accepted the policy. The president was re-elected on the promise that he would continue the polices of the last 4 years.

If you didn’t like the fact that people are here in Iraq then you should have voted for the other guy. You did? Well did you tell your friends and family to do the same? Did you convince them that the other choice was a better option; did you do the same for your state Senators and Representatives that agreed with this policy? Instead of looking at the President and blaming him look at yourself. Your failure to convince enough people to vote against him is the problem not him.
[/rant]

On top of that the political statement she was initially making has become muddied with every left wing nut that has a bone to pick with the President. I think her statement and the anti-war statement would have been more effective if she stood out there alone for those five weeks. She should have made one statement "I have nothing to say until I speak with the President." and from there she shouldn’t have said another word to the media or anyone else until the President spoke with her or he left without speaking to her.

I used to think before I got here that the Administration would have to start up a draft to meet the needs of the military. But, unless we start getting invaded there will never be another draft. There is no need to have one. Who needs the negative publicity for their party or the social upheaval that a draft would cause? On top of that the military personnel don’t want draftees they would much rather have an individual who was willing to sign up over one who wasn’t.

Now then should the President meet with her? 100% absolutely not, for what? The king doesn’t sully his hands with peasants and at the end of the day that’s what you are looking at a king and a peasant.


Q.

Are we winning the war?

A:

It all depends on how you define winning. What is winning? What were/are the objectives of the US military? By my account the goal of the US military was to topple the Baathist regime that was in power in Iraq due to the fact that the regime was *cough* harboring WMD. It’s not the military’s place to question the judgment of the President it is their place to execute the President’s plan. So if you use that definition then we are winning and we won a long time ago.

Is a condition of winning the war to maintain order in Iraq (i.e. act as law enforcement) then they are starting to win that war. At the same time it was a failure of political leadership that caused the breakdown in maintaining order not a problem with the US military not being able or willing. Because the political leadership reacted slowly then military did as well, the military is only as effective as those that lead them. In that I would call it a quagmire or a stalemate. Today the military controls 99% of the area that it occupies with an iron fist. It is the areas outside of the military’s control that currently has problems but, the military’s job is to win wars not, maintain order and issue parking tickets (how many howitzers does your police department have).

Is a condition of winning the war to stop the insurgents from killing Iraqis? Well if that is the case then we are losing, right now the only thing that is going on here is that Iraqis and foreign insurgents are killing Iraqis.

You can find victory or defeat in any action in this war. I would define it as a quagmire with several issues, all political that need to be resolved before VICTORY can be declared.

This is Tommie: All bad things come to an end too.

Well, after the homecoming ball we didn't officially break up but the relationship was over emotionally. I took her as low as she could go. She still had the fact that she was smarter than me so that were her edge if she could beat me in school then she was ok so she put all her energy into being the smartest. Around senior year I wasn't attracted to brains I was attracted to tits. So her attempts to best me were null. I had been invited to the kingdom of cool, I had offically made it. I wasn't playing her game.

Well back to college U of M cost 21k a year that was expensive, I mean I knew I had a full ride but, I had to keep a 3.0 average (B average).

Some how my folks said why don't you look at a historically black college. See in the states White folks when thru three phases when it came to the education of Blacks

1. They didn't want blacks to read at all
2. If they did learn how to read then they could at their own school.
3. If it's against the law, then I guess they have to learn with us.

HBCU are what we got in stage 2. It's were in the 1890 till probably the mid 1980s where blacks when almost exclusively to get their college educations. They weren't allowed to go to White schools. Well Tennessee State University had an engineering school that had a 96% employment rate out of its graduates it was 8k a year I was eligible for a full ride scholarship if I went to this summer school program (man was that a joke) but, the thing was when I went to that school they had some of the most beautiful black women I had ever seen in life. If I were to die and go to heaven it would have been TSU. I was sold if I could get into TSU I would never ask for anything again.

Well, that was the final, final straw with Daria when I told her I was going to go to a Black school she was incredulous. I was like whatever. So at our graduation our Valedictorian, Salutatorian, and Senior Speaker were to speak. Well the school had a contest for the Sr. Speaker and of course I won. I'm an excellent public speaker, she was pissed that I beat her on that. So she had a hissy fit and they made a special speaking role called Star Student for the student with the highest SAT score in our school, which just HAPPENED to be her (my SAT score would have been off the chain if I took it 3 times too). Well, everyone that spoke had a well wishing speech except her she had some diatribe basically going off on all the people that slighted her in the past 12 years with a special nod to me. I mean she didn't say any names but everyone knew the people she was referring to. I remember when she came up with that speech I begged her not to do it because she was going to make people mad, and at this stage of the game it was too late to try and get back at everyone. She said she was going to change BUT she was going to win. I was so mad at her for that I didn't speak to her again. Well not again she sent me some letter during the first week of college just to insure I got her message. I didn't talk to her again until after I graduated from college and I could tell that the bitterness was still there.

And you know what? I can't blame her.

But, at the same time she didn't know what my ultimate goal. The whole point of me doing what I did in high school was to make sure my brother didn't have to go through the same things I did. I know he hated being Tommie's little brother and he was always compared to me in school by our teachers but, the way I see it at least he was compared to someone cool instead of a punk. I think that would have been worse.

Rogue's Gallery: 0014 Desert Queen

Oh what can I say about the Desert Queen. She is a black lady who runs the laundry at one of the bases I frequent. She is funny to me. I’d say she is in her late 30s/early 40s or so she has this crazy long Barbie doll weave in her head. Not that I have a problem with weave but let’s just say it isn’t well kept aside from that having an extra two or three pounds of horse tail on your head isn’t the wisest thing to do when temperatures are 120/49+. But, her best asset her I would assume would be her newly crafted breasts. She walks around with low cut shirts on and man I tell you what she is the Queen of Iraq.

This woman can part the ocean when she steps in the place. Not that she is “cute“by my standards (Ken Obi called her 10x2. 10 in the body, 2 in the face) but, hell when you can strut your stuff around a fortress of young able-bodied men you tend to get what you want. I mean I’ve talked to her a bit and she is a nice woman for what I know her valley girl voice annoys me a bit but, it’s cool it gets her what she wants. When she comes into the chow hall EVERY man in the place turns her way to get a look that has to be a high. I’ve watched it happen several times; the other funny thing is when she walks by conversations automatically start to be about her. It’s crazy, yo.

I have been asked if I would do her and I tell everyone, I wouldn’t and they always look at me funny and I always say it’s the Devil Dog in you son you’d eat from Satan’s doggy bowl. I think anyone who is out here is a bit nuts (present company included) and I think the women here come for the extra attention they can get. In the normal world most of them wouldn’t get a second glance but, here you can go from a stateside 4 to an Iraqi 9.

Out here, well it changes you.

I suggest you read that link before you read the rest of my blog entry it makes more sense that way. But, if you don’t read it I’ll give you the summary. It talks about the difficulty that veterans are having as they return from the war. I can really empathize with them. I can understand one level at least what it is like for them. I in no way have experienced exactly what they have experienced but, this environment changes your mentality and your overall outlook on life. The people here rely on their training and that training rubs off on you in a way and as a result you become more martial in your outlook there is less pondering and more moving to action here.


There have been times where a base has taken incoming and I've been outside near that impact. It's either physics or you prayer that kept everyone safe that day but, we just kept camly walking and someone casually stated "I think that was a rocket? I guess whe need to get our flaks and go to our meeting points I'll see you in a bit."

We parted ways and grabbed our gear and that was that. I mean if the same thing happend outside in a mall parking lot there would be mass chaos in the mall. Here with the same level of protection a mall would give us no one would think twice.

I mean it’s bizarre how things are to me now, when I first got here I was freaked out by the number of guns that I’m surrounded by coming from the suburbs when you see handguns and large caliber rifles that is an indication that the communication process failed spectacularly and that you need to be heading the other direction ASAP. Now it’s just another day often times I’ve taken apart and put a weapon back together just to see how to do it.

I often wonder what kind of person am I going to be when I get back, I think I am still the same but at the same time while I've put the world on pause the world has moved on without me. Am I the same Tommie my friends and family still remember? Am I something greater or am I something less? I don't know that anwser. I still question the morality of this as well, I mean even though I'm not the trigger puller my skills have been used to assist in the death of dozens if not hundreds of human beings. I can argue that it's part of the job or that we have to accomplish the mission or that's what we are paid to do but, how will I justify this when it's my turn at the pearly gates. Is it good enough to say to God that I was doing my job? Does God make exceptions for war? How many degrees of seperation is there between the person who fired the bullet and the people that supported the fireing of that bullet? Where does forgiveness begin? What piece of my sould do I have to leave behind in order to make it? These are questions that I don't really have the anwser to and while I don't think of them much I do think of them. I know when I was at home adjustment to the real world was awkward. While I'm quite sure I won't go Deer Hunter that doesn't mean I won't have trouble adjusting I just think I'll do it faster than Matthew Sepi or Daniel Cotnoir.

Tommie Hu$tle: asshole

I have these dudes next door to me they are all cops, you know good old boy cops that came out here to ‘help the Iraqi police force’ but if they can pop a towel head or two that would suit them just fine as well. At any rate when Mahi Mahi was here we used to listen to music. I listen to rap music and not that mainstream 106 and Park bullshit. But, the real deal I listen to 666 Mafia, UGK, Too $hort, Webbie, Mike Jones, Eightball & MJG, Juve, Cash Money, if it isn’t South and it doesn’t have that thump then it doesn’t get play by me. It is what it is. Well them being cops they hate rap music so when we were listening to music not very loud mind you but loud enough to remind the cops that a Black guy was near by one of them came over and say you music is bothering everyone in the building and you need to turn it off.

Oh really, well it’s not bothering the two of us in here but, you know what I’ll be a good neighbor and turn it down a bit so you can continue working. But, I’m sure as soon as you get some Lynard Skinnard, Jimmy Buffet, AC/DC, Creed, or whatever bullshit you listen to you’ll be pumping it out to high heavens.

Well a couple of weeks later we were listening to music and mind you I had already adjusted it to a “comfortable to White folks” level but, of course they weren’t happy with that so what do that do bang on the wall as hard as they can. Turn that shit off asshole!

Ok cool we’ll turn it down again, whatever man.

So of course yesterday it happened the motherfuckers were over there playing Sweet Home Alabama loud as hell, and I mean loud and they were over there hootin’ and hollarin’ like they had just got first place for their prize pig Mrs. Biggels at the county fair. Now then I could have been Christian about it and turned the other cheek but you know what fuck that, Jesus didn’t have to listen to that bullshit. So I go over to their office and say hey guys could you turn that noise down I’m conducting business next door. The looked at me like I killed all their little fun. But you know what I don’t give a DAMN! If I can’t play my music you can’t play yours.

That’s right I’m a hater.

This is just an aside

This is one thing I’ve never understood about white people and maybe someone can help me out, but I don’t know if they even know. They are good for offering their advice when it’s not asked for.

I’ll be somewhere listening to my music or some rap music will come on and without fail someone is going to say to me “You know, I really don’t like rap music.”

Ok…I really don’t like tomatoes but, you don’t see my going up the produce guy at the store to let him know.

I suspect that what they are trying to emote is that they don’t understand why such music is popular simply because the content runs counter to the social mores that they hold to be self-evident, white people by and large are law abiding citizens who trust wholeheartedly in the goodness of their fellow man. They tend believe in the rule of law and the words that are spoken from duly elected leaders. White people by and large are optimists.

Blacks on the other hand have gotten a raw deal when it comes to the law, they tend to believe that the law really runs on a sliding scale (which happens to run light to dark) and their attitudes reflect that in Black popular culture.

On top of that White people are more in tune with words than with beats. They tend to focus on the words rather than the beats. Do you think it is the lyrical content from Uncle Luke, Master P, Lil’ Jon, Mike Jones, and the Ying Yang Twins that made them millionaires?

But, that’s all logical if you can’t understand why Snoop Dogg had to go to the party blaze some endo, smack up his bitches, then whoride on a punk bitch that was sect trippin’ then there’s really nothing I can do to help you start liking it.