Memoirs written in prose of Sergeant Robertson, Damon M. USMC while in Iraq | ...with frequent appearances of King Hammurabi.
If you are new to this journal, make sure to start reading in chronological order by scrolling down to the bottom of the oldest post in October 2004. Damon's letters from August 20th, 2004 - October 23rd, 2004 were all added to this blog on Oct. 23rd, 2004. All subsequent letters are posted in real time.
Saturday, October 23, 2004
Dear Family and Friends: For those of you just joining the long list of recipients, I apologize for the lack of a colorful background explanation. Here's what you get: I'm going to Iraq this Thursday. Now if you're up for sassy commentary, like most of the folks included on the mass mailing list, by all means, stay tuned. Like spoiled wine turned to vinegar is the active duty experience in the Marine corps... oh wait... did that sound pessimistic? Shozbot. I've been out in the sun here at camp Pendleton all day and I'm burned, dehydrated, and undernourished. I haven't seen the business end of a chow hall all day. Tomorrow is the day we bring all our gear out, stage it, move it, stage it again, etc. until at last we move close enough to an airfield to be in danger of catching a plane. The flight is supposed to take about 24 hours, and Lord only knows when that actually starts because flights get bumped all the time and we'll sit there, having hurried ourselves I assure you, and wait until the doggone plane arrives. This afternoon, some of the 0481 sergeants got up in front of us in the blazing back parking lot of our company "office" and disseminated some wisdom from the last activation. Unlike myself and my fellow marines from Concord, the Fort Lewis marines actually got to go to Iraq. Musta been nice. But before I get too far ahead of myself, an 0481 is an MOS designation (military occupational specialty). They're basically glorified ground guides. As a 1345 myself (Heavy Equipment Operator) I usually try not to run them over when I'm moving heavy things around or running over fire hydrants (long story). With me? So this bloated dude, we'll call him "Box," gets up in front of us and starts talking a bunch of trash about how he had to load plan aircraft for the air force and how "nasty" they were, and the same for the army, and etc. etc. [in the Marines we use "nasty" to indicate anything that isn't "locked on," "Squared Away," "hard core," etc. It's basically stupid] Box makes the comment "The air force is nasty, but they're nice, 'cuz they know how nasty they are compared to us." I shake my head. SuperMarine, my best friend here, silently cusses to himself. I know we're both wondering the same thing: Where does a glorified ground guide get off talking like he's Rambo, just because he's a Marine? I mean, I move big boxes with Big machines and in a port or airfield, people like me are responsible for effecting most of the physical changes in the environment people tend to call "work." We don't talk like we're Rambo. We know we're engineers. The likelihood of seeing the "serious action" portrayed in all our briefings is pretty limited, to be quite honest. Yeah, I bought a high-speed sling for my rifle, some other cool gadgets that cost me a pretty penny, but c'mon. Am I really going to use my Big Knife? Probably to trim my boot laces... Anyway. I didn't see much of Toothless today, but he did manage to keep us out in the sun for two hours more than anyone else. What, after all, is the use of being Staff NCO, I ask, if you can't make everyone else wait for you? I dunno. Sounds neat. Thank God I won't stay in the Marines long enough to figure it out, though. Enough rosy commentary! These next few days will be hectic and I might not have the chance to email you all for awhile. I might not end up having any access to "gmail" while in Iraq and I'll have to use some "Secure" server the Marines provide. Come what may, I'll do my best to keep you all informed. Make sure you check your email regularly for updates on all the Top Secret info I can find! [JUST KIDDING] God bless you all, :D
# posted by chevas @ 7:28 PM 