How does one describe Veterans’ Day in Iraq? You can’t really. Everyone here is a veteran. If I were to live the “thank a veteran” creed of today I’d be thanking everyone I saw. It’s not just that everyone here is a veteran – most of us are veterans of multiple deployments. Almost as a collective, every unit in FOBs Diamondback and Marez took the day off. We did the same. I went to breakfast with a couple of my team members. Afterward we stopped by the airfield MWR to check e-mail. Then we walked next door to the pax terminal to buy some coffee. The weather was spectacular so we sat on the patio of the pax terminal and sipped our coffee. There were a couple of civilian aircraft on the tarmac. The place was almost empty. Sitting in the sun without sweating your ass off is welcome. It’s cooled off quite nicely.
The rest of our day was spent doing various leisure activities. I went to the gym. We watched boxing on AFN. Later we held a cookout. I bought steaks and near-beer at the PX. Then we fired up a grill and cooked up a feast. After a bountiful dinner, we sat outside in the cool evening air and smoked some Cuban Montecristo #4’s. We laughed and retold stories of our deployment. I have a great team.
The low point of the day came after the cookout. I went back to the MWR to watch football. AFN aired the Titans – Jaguars game. My Titans absolutely laid a stink bomb. I’m becoming convinced they have the worst offense in the NFL. They’ve been riding their defense all season. Today a couple of key players on their D-line were out so they couldn’t stop the run. It became predictable. They fell behind early and the offense continued to put the defense in unfavorable field position with turnovers and “3-and-outs”. Vince Young is having an atrocious season so far. This just isn’t going to be their year. At least I have the Patriots to pull for. Alas, they didn’t play today. Every pro game I was keeping an eye on came out unfavorable but one – the Colts were beaten by San Diego.
The rest of our day was spent doing various leisure activities. I went to the gym. We watched boxing on AFN. Later we held a cookout. I bought steaks and near-beer at the PX. Then we fired up a grill and cooked up a feast. After a bountiful dinner, we sat outside in the cool evening air and smoked some Cuban Montecristo #4’s. We laughed and retold stories of our deployment. I have a great team.
The low point of the day came after the cookout. I went back to the MWR to watch football. AFN aired the Titans – Jaguars game. My Titans absolutely laid a stink bomb. I’m becoming convinced they have the worst offense in the NFL. They’ve been riding their defense all season. Today a couple of key players on their D-line were out so they couldn’t stop the run. It became predictable. They fell behind early and the offense continued to put the defense in unfavorable field position with turnovers and “3-and-outs”. Vince Young is having an atrocious season so far. This just isn’t going to be their year. At least I have the Patriots to pull for. Alas, they didn’t play today. Every pro game I was keeping an eye on came out unfavorable but one – the Colts were beaten by San Diego.
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