06 January 2008: Rain, then cold

Sometime around 0200 I woke up to the sound of heavy rain. A fast moving front came through and dropped just enough rain to make the morning trod to breakfast a very messy affair. I elected to skip the DFAC and, instead, ate dry cereal in the hooch. Fortunately, a fresh supply of my favorite coffee had arrived the day before so I enjoyed a taste of home. It was a bright and clear morning but the passing front brought colder temperatures. Today may have been the coldest of the deployment. It is at least 80 degrees colder now than it was just three months ago. I'm not going to debate my friends in Providence. This isn't Rhode Island cold. It's in the thirties with wind chills in the twenties. Winter has arrived in Iraq.

I spent a little time today staging stuff to be mailed home. That's yet another sign that the end is near. Most of the stuff I've accumulated in Camp Liberty I'll either give away or mail home. There's no sense in taking it back to Balad. I'll be doing the same thing with most of my gear there. It is astounding how much junk a person acquires in a year of deployment. When I first arrived, I had two dufflebags of issue equipment and uniforms, IBA, kevlar, weapon with magazines, and a backpack with laptop and personal documents. Now I've got two hooches (one in Balad and one in Camp Liberty), furniture (nothing that I paid for), TV's (again, not that I had to buy), a refrigerator, coffee brewers, loads of extra equipment that various redeploying units have given my team, and various other odds and ends. Most of this stuff I'll just hand off to my replacement. Combining the gear from this deployment with that of previous deployments, I've got enough to open my own military surplus store. It seems that way at least.

I stayed up late to watch the Titans - Chargers playoff game. As expected, the Titans lost. Jeff Fisher is a good coach but his offensive strategy always has Titans fans living on the edge. We call it "Fisherball". Fisherball is intentionally keeping the score close in every game - always rely on defense to bail you out. Have you every noticed how rare it is for the Titans to blow out an opponent? It almost never happens. This is why I love Bill Belichick. He goes for the jugular early and never lets up. I like that strategy so much better. Piling on the points is a great defense as well. Build an insurmountable lead early and then just unleash your pass rushers to feast on the opposing QB. The Titans can't ever do that because the game is always too close.

That's ok. I said it before and I'll say it again. This is the Patriots' year. I'm glad I like the Patriots.