catman's requested update

[thebrad]

Brad...nice to see you on the boards again. Hop over to general posts and give us an update on things going on your way! Thanks for your service little brother, we are all very proud of you!!!

Wish I could, with honesty, put up happy news - but I really can't. I just handed one helluva fine soldier's flag to his father last monday. While on his last few days of block leave, after he served consistently above-and-beyond expectations for a year in Iraq, one of my platoon members was killed by a traffic accident involving only himself - no seatbelt - an icy winding and hilly Wisconsin road - and whatever he was drinking. It's hard to think about the fact that I told him on several occassions that he had terrible luck as far as being caught by the wrong people for what some would call insubordinate behavior - what I thought of as honesty, or for always being on hand when one of our trucks was consistently being wrecked into things to include a building we were contructing and getting five feet deep in 'human waste' amungst several other things. He was a much loved member of the platoon and company and from what I saw in the time around his funeral service, his small town too.

I don't care about my grandfather's estate - but I am pretty frustrated and angry that in the nine months since his first stroke while he's been in a nursing home and in the hospital atleast weekly for tests - they couldn't catch earlier what has turned into a body completely infested with cancer - meanwhile sending bills enough to completely drain an eastern Nebraska farm from him and everything the old man owned. They knew that there was more wrong with his health then the aftermath of a series of strokes and had been working until a few days ago to finally discover what it is. Since his stroke his mind comes and goes - on my three visits to him while I was in Nebraska on leave his mind was with him once. I'm thankful for that.

Two and a half weeks of living in my parent's basement while I was on leave was a bit much... I still claim Nebraska has the greatest people on earth. But while I had the days off they were all working! I had a blast hanging out with my brother and his wife again and tilting back a few beers. However she can't drink at all right now - they have been trying to conceive since I was in Basic training. They didn't know if she would be able to be a stay-at-home mom when they first started planning a family - but since it took so long she should be able to. Wouldn't that be neat to actually see a kid raised by his/her own parents?! I was able to see most all of my family including even second-cousins. They still think I'm crazy and now add brainwashed to the list too - but still great to see them all!

I've hardly worked at all since coming back from Iraq. My commander is doing an excellent job as far as taking could care of all of his soldiers keeping their days as free as possible... heck, these guys will most likely be leaving back for that dusty place in the same year they came back! The deserve as much time to their families as possible - from what I saw (and it's my job to watch) they were some of the hardest working soldiers on LSA Anconda. Thank God their horror stories are construction related injuries and construction supply issues. For a lot of them their toughest trial was the loss of a good buddy after the deployment was over.

I suppose the only other news I have is that my gold bar has faded to silver and I'm not quite so despised anymore...! Being a platoon leader in Iraq was by far the most rewarding experience of my life and I've already started my series of pathetic begging and groveling to get to do it again! I may have been pushed on past PL time by then though and hopefully an XO... where atleast I would still be near the troops!

Anyway - PF: thanks for all the support. Your Shake and Bake Project: TheBrad