Respect the Law and Use it

Coming in to FOB Warrior yesterday I saw a sign that said "Respect the Law and Use it", it then repeated it self in Arabic underneath. I saw the sign and thought to myself first off "that would be a real cool sign to steal" you know if it didn't mean getting out of my truck in the middle of Clemson, especially after having pissed off half the town of Kirkuk. How did I piss off half the town of Kirkuk? Well that is the story I am about to tell.
The convoy had been stopped for about an hour for a suspected improvised explosive device. I was the gun truck commander for Gun 4 at the rear of the convoy. Usually Gun 4 is pretty boring relatively few decisions to make and most of the time all you say over the radio is "Copy" or "All vehicles clear check point". Today was another matter though. A large amount of vehicles had gathered about 200 meters behind us on the road. The road was curving around and a lot of tractor trailers where parked to the side hiding the approach of any incoming vehicles towards us. Suddenly a navy blue 4 door Opel sedan came around the parked tractors, flying at us at a extremely high rate of speed. My gunner started yelling and waving his arms at the vehicle. It still didn't stop. 50 meters away. "Crack,....Crack" One warning shot, then another. The vehicle locked them up and slid to a stop. After about a minutes hesitation the vehicle turned around and sped off. About twenty minutes later the same thing happened. The vehicle looked suspiciously like the one that had taken a run at us earlier. It sure seemed liked it was testing us. Normally I won't report warning shots because you have to go through the Spanish Inquisition afterwards, but this time I decided to let the C2 know what was going on. This vehicle was acting very suspicious, much like a VBIED (Vehicle Bourn Improvised Explosive Device to you civilians) . If it did it again this guy was going to get lit up by the .50. Luckily a few minutes later EOD cleared the suspected IED that we had been stopped for and we started rolling out. This is when things started getting exciting. The convoy came up on a traffic circle. Our route of travel required us to enter in the circle at 6 o'clock and leave at 12. Well Gun 2 missed putting up the block as they entered the traffic circle so a large amount of civilian traffic was able to infiltrate to convoy. This screwed up the KBR drivers who didn't really have a idea of where they where going to begin with. So the ninth KBR fuel tanker, (oh yeah by the way the trucks we where escorting where fuel tankers full of aircraft fuel) exited the traffic circle at 3 o'clock a very bad thing to do in the middle of a extremely crowded city in the middle of the day. Gun 3 had managed to set up a block when they got to the circle so after my truck entered the circle they tried to bound up to the front of our part of the separated convoy. Hundreds of hayji vehicle are all around us, 3 is trying to get to the front literally pushing vehicles off the road to get to the front. Gun 4 is still in the back. 5 miles down the road we finally come to a stop. Gun 3 had stopped us on a frickin bridge!!! I'm on the radio cussing at gun 3 to move us. He finally pulls his head out and puts a block on west bound. I hop to the front of our element and start leading us to safety. There was so much traffic in the way. It was literally like parting the Red Sea of vehicles. I felt like frickin Moses or something. We finally got back the traffic circle and took the right turn and caught back up with the rest of the convoy. Every one else in my truck and myself where so wound up that when we finally got back on base 5 minutes later we all almost fell asleep after all the adrenaline drained away. It was pretty intense for a while. So many people glaring at you. People pointing at you, so many vehicles. Our 5 ton truck literally rammed a couple vehicles to get them out of the way, pushed them off the road. Some crazy stuff. Any way the trip back was very quiet and that is the story, mostly.
Ben
out

It's Time to Listen

This is a great article and one that I think puts our whole "world epidemic" in to perspective. If people would really just start listening (and especially respecting) other people, where they come from, and their life experience, this world just might be a better place.

Imagine an America that had been listening to the voices in the Middle East. Not interviews with military consultants on CNN, but traumatized Palestinian children, the Israeli whose family disappeared in a bomb blast, the castigated Afghan widow, the Iraqi father who cannot find or afford medicine for his daughter. What if we had been listening for years, no, let’s say decades?

Click Here for full article: http://www.odemagazine.com/article.php?aID=4141

Get back in your fu@#%*g truck

The subject of my post is a pretty common phrase that I use around here. The damn third country nationals really seem to like to get out of their trucks when we are on a convoy. I have learned a couple phrases in arabic, mostly things that have to do with vehicles. Truck, engine, lights, fuel, air things like that. However nothing that comes close to "Get back in your fucking truck". The TCN trucks break down quite a bit so we are stopping all the time. I try to stay in the truck as much as possible, but my I am the rear gun truck commander so my vehicle has to stay at the rear of the convoy and make sure that the tail of the convoy is covered. So if something happens in my part of the convoy, my truck has to stay there while I go find out what is going on. So I dismount from time to time. Probably the most dangerous thing to do. When your in the truck you have all the armor of the truck, lots of comm and a big crew served weapon to take care of bussiness and are relatively safe. When your out of the truck its just you. While I would laugh at any haji bobby that tried to fuck with me its still a little intense running up to a broken down vehicle all exposed with nothing, but a M-4. The TCNs don't understand much english so you have to usually resort to yelling and pointing to get your point across. You would be surprised just how quickly people hop to work when you are yelling loud enough in the right tone of voice. Every time something has happened to me or something exciting, is a time that I dismounted the truck to find out what a stupid TCN was doing. They also try to take advantage of every stop to get out of their truck and go pee or get something to eat or some kind of other fucking around. We don't have time for that hence the phrase "Get back in your fucking truck!!" They look at you and say something in JATWASH language and scurry back to their truck. Well I don't really know how to end this story so BAM there its done.
Ben

The rest of the crew - City of the Rocks

This is the rest of the crew having a tasty adult beverage. This picture was taken on top of a rock very close to our campsite. One would not want to fall backwards!

Picture of Bryan at City of the Rocks

This is another picture of me standing on the rock formations really close to lookout rock.

Idaho City of the Rocks

We just got back from a AWESOME trip down to City of the Rocks in Southern Idaho. For the most amazing granite rock formations in the western united states, one MUST check this out. We arrived there on a Saturday afternoon. It looked like it was going to rain, but ended up being a fabulous night. After driving around to every camp site in the park, we finally decided on one and set up camp. There were hardly any other people there at the time, so we had the luxury of choosing the best spot. We hiked around all day, and the following day. We almost got lost (easy to do), but ended up finding the trail as the sun was going down. Below is a picture from our adventures there. This is a picture of Terry standing on the (almost) top of Lookout Rock.

The Law in Iraq

I spoke with my cousin Ben (The Law) today. He called me from Iraq. It was VERY nice to hear from him since we don't get to communicate on a regular basis. It sounds like he is doing pretty good over there. He has been on a few missions already, and it is his job to protect army convoys. I'm not sure why the Army can't protect themselves but.... He sounds like he is in pretty good spirits, but that something could happen any day. He almost shot someone yesterday, and that was kind of freaky. Anyways, he would really love a Dentist Scrapping tool for cleaning his gun, and not much else he requested.... If anyone reading this knows Ben and wants his address to send him some stuff, just let me know.

No Internet, No Blog.

Obviously right? Still no internet for Bryan in Fairfield. Word on the (dirt) street is that a new provider is coming to town and I won't have to use the evil LiteLink service that I've been forced to use. I'm praying that the new service comes quickly. I would really love to be able to use my Rhapsody account again.....

You Deserve an Explanation

I promise there is a good reason why this blog has remained stagnant for so long. Not necessarily because I haven't wanted to write, but mostly because I live in a rural part of Idaho and my current internet provider, a company called Lite Link is the worst company on the face of the earth. These people have a monopoly on the internet market in Fairfield. Since they are the only people that provide the service, the believe that they can offer crappy service. And they do. I've been without internet for almost 4 weeks now. And since the service provider employees are located in Twin Falls, I have to pay $80 dollars for them to come fix my internet. I have to pay them to get the service I ALREADY PAY FOR working. It is complete BS!! Anyways, there is good news. The good city of Fairfield, ID, headed by their magnificent Mayor David Hanks are here to help. They are putting the finishing touches on a new T1 line for the city. Once the line is complete, and they have the service up and running. I'm personally going to call up Lite Link and tell them what I feel. I'd tell you what I feel right now, but there might be little kids reading.

SOON! Soon there will be posts and pics again. IdahoRocks blog will be back!

Home Sweet Home

I'm back. I'm here. Wow. Feels Great.

I stand on a small island among a sea of white

Outstretched before me the great arms of mother nature herself

Calling me to her

Her purfume is a two stroke essence, reminding one of epic voyages accross her great expanses

Her voice that of the faintest falling snow

She whispers to me....

Hurry up and get your $*C&ing snowboard on and come ride me you son of a #@!t*h!

Freshie???

"Freshie???" the old Korean lady asked me and my friends. "You want freshie??? Hahhahaha you want freshie!!!!" The old flower lady had overheard a conversation some friends and I where having about fresh snow and how good it was to ski on. She went on to try and sell some flowers to a bunch of guys and then laughed some more and said something about being hungry. The topic of the conversation remained the same though about good powder skiing or 'freshie pow pow'. New snow is the absolute best to ski or snowboard on hands down. There was no freshie in Korea, but here in Idaho we just got dumped on with tons and tons of freshie pow pow. Some nice, fluffy, deep, perfect pow pow. I came up to Fairfield after a blizzard through the back way around Gooding Idaho and saw fields of snow that boggled the mind. That afternoon Heath, Amanda and myself got the snowmobiles running and took off to the backcountry. Heath and Amanda riding and myself getting pulled along behind the sleds water ski style it was great fun. The snow was so soft and deep that the sleds would get stuck if they went off the trail. Heath would drag me up to the top of a hill with the sled going full power and just barely make it up. The skiing down the hill was great, except there was too much snow!!! You had to find a really steep hill or the snow would stop you. It was a great time. The next day Amanda and I went skiing at Soldier Mountain. Tons upon tons of fresh powder lines that you could hit from all directions. Some truely great freshie pow pow. Idaho really does get great snow. If it had only gotten here earlier. Its Freshie now though. And that is why Idaho kicks pututer.

Zen and the Art of Skiing

I started skiing at the age of two. Back then it was cross country skiing with my father and mother. It started out being carried by my dad on a backpack, then evolved to myself skiing. At age seven I downhill skied for the first time out in Utah. I enjoyed cross country skiing, but I loved downhill skiing. Skiing has always been very asthetically pleasing to me. The grace, elegance, speed, seeing how far you can push the limit, pass over it and come back to talk about it all combines to form something like art. When you think about it skiing is almost a art form. You need form, grace, balance and determination to be a good skier. Are these not the same disicplines of a artist? I think so. Next to nothing I have ever experienced comes even close to the exhiliration that I have felt getting fresh tracks cruising along though a wooded glade, with nothing but the moment on your mind. Or blowing down a hill, pulling huge super G turns, turning so hard my legs feel fit to burst and knowing that one little mistake would be my last. Skiing, like running brings me to a almost different plane of existence. I can't honestly say that I have had a "Zen" experience or if I had would know it, but this is probably pretty close. When I am skiing my entire body and skis seem to become one. The skis go where they are supposed to without any conscious effort, everything works together in one seemless functioning order. The skis become just a extension of my body. Some sort of wierd laminated maple macroblock core growth that sprouts from my feet in the winter. That say LINE on them. Right about know you might be asking yourself, "What caused 'The Law' aka me to go off on this whole philosophy kick?" I had a couple really great, no not just great. They where awesome out freaking standing kick ass days of skiing with another great person, that I met skiing. Maybe I'll write about that later. That is my story and I'm sticking to it.

Nature in the City

Even in the city there are plenty of ways to be close to nature. As with most everything else in life, you just need to get up off your lazy butt and just do it! Yesterday Amie and I went on our normal walk. We left the house here on 28th & Jefferson Street and headed towards The Boise Greenbelt. On this short, probably 2-3 mile walk, we pass a multitude of natural goodies. 2 lakes, 2 Rivers, 2 Enormous Bald Eagles, a Blue Heron, hundreds of Crows and black birds, finches, woodpeckers, ducks, loons, seagulls, and other water fowel. It really is a solice for me living in the city to be able to have something like this so close to where I am. Even though nature may seem far away, all I need to do is start walking and I'm in the middle of Nature, right here in the city.

The tools of the trade 

S.E.R.E in Idaho

Lying on the cold desert floor I could hear the sound of the ATV getting louder and closer. I pressed my body closer into the dirt and pulled my ruck closer to my head. Myself and my team had been traveling over flat open ground with little cover aside from a few sparse sagebrushes and some yellow grass, when all of a sudden the throaty roar of one of the ATVs that had pursuing us the entire night roared to life a little ways away. The darkness revealed nothing in any direction and neither did my NVGs, only the sound, that was steadily getting louder.....and nearer. Hiding until it was gone was our only option. I pressed flat onto the ground and crawled next to a tiny sage brush, the biggest one with in any reasonable distance. Not daring to move a muscle in the darkness to attract any attention I barely breathed, knowing our chances of evading detection where slim already. Tdup, tdup, tdup, TDup, TdUp, TDuP, TDUP, the ATV was very close now. Then it shut off. Heart pounding, breathing faster I wondered if it might be giving away my position. Silence for several minutes that felt like hours then the ATV started back up and drove away. After the sound of its passing faded away I whispered "Lets go" and started moving away in a hunched of position to below the ridgeline and better cover. As the team started to move a bright light shined on us and a voice yelled out "FREEZE!!".
"You are all now Prisoners of War"
Sounds like a story you would hear from a Vietnam vet, downed aircrew member behind enemy lines or a Special Forces operator, but here it was happening to me here in good ol' Idaho. No it was not some wierd milita group or something, it was simply S.E.R.E training or Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape. What is S.E.R.E you might ask well it is training that aircrew members and selected other people go through to teach them to survive out in the wild, evade capture by the enemy, resist interrogation, and escape if possible. Even though I was going through the training for less than pleasant reasons it was still a great learning experience and best of all it took place in beautiful Idaho. When I was creeping through a sage valley, skirting a ridgeline or hiding underneath a bush I could look up into the clear night sky and see thousands of stars and through the NVGs see shooting stars light up the night sky. Like one of my instructors said "Well my job requires a lot of work, many hours and discipline, but look at my office" as he gestured to the terrain with the sun setting in the distance. That is my story and I'm sticking to it.

Idaho Rocks. But so does Colorado

Idaho has some amazing snowboarding, but when there is no snow, the next logical place to head to is Colorado! The state I was born and raised in! Of course, the best place in Colorado is Summit County. Home to four great Ski Resorts, including Keystone, Coppermountain, Breckenridge, and Arapahoe Basin. This little go-round, we chose to hang out in Keystone. 5 days of fun and snow awaited us. This is a great mountain with tons of terrain. If anyone out there is looking for a place to get some killer snowboarding or skiing in, Summit county is your choice. All 4 ski resorts are killer. Plus you aren't far from many, many more. Amie and I highly suggest it. Here is a picture from our little trip.

Craters of the moon 

Craters of the Moon

For some of the most unreal and mind boggling scenery, one must check out Craters of the Moon National Monument. Amie, the Law, and I decided to make a day out of it with a nice stop at some great hotsprings on the way home.

Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve contains three major lava fields covering almost half a million acres. These remarkably well preserved volcanic features resulted from geologic events that appear to have happened yesterday and will likely continue tomorrow...
Established by Presidential proclamation in 1924, Craters of the Moon National Monument has been enlarged by additional proclamations. The expanded Monument and Preserve are co-managed by the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management.

The pictures we took of the area are even cooler since we visited at such a opportune time. The weather surrounding the mountains made our visit feel like we actually were on another planet. The caves and small hikes were fabulous.

As the Seasons Change

As the seasons change here in Idaho, I am reminded how much nature reflects my own life. Leaves falling and the beginning of winter is just like the shedding of old ways of life and ideas, and making room for new ones to come in. After a brief hybernation period of course. The beauty of the fall here in Fairfield and Boise is indescribable. The oranges, yellows, pinks, reds, and everything else makes me really think of the world as a painters canvas. The beauty all around us really inspires. I'm looking forward to a great winter of Snowboarding, snowshoeing, kiteboarding, snowmobiling and more! While I'm sad to see the warm weather leave, I'm excited to embrace the snow and do some playing!

Getting Lost

I get lost. Alot. Usually not on purpose, just a random turn out hiking, running or what have you. It has always turned out ok, but this was one of the craziest ones. The other day I went running up in the Stanley Basin around our cabin. It was snowing out with rather poor visibility. So I decided to go running. You know something short, maybe 3-4 miles, 6 at the max. So I started running and see a path that I have never ventured down before. It is a small jeep road covered in a couple inches of snow. Everything is fogged over, eliminating all points of reference. So I started running down the road at a good pace. After numerous twists and turns through the woods I came out in a large meadow. Having been running for around a hour to a hour and a half I was getting tired. Coming out of the trees I saw a large meadow. How overjoyed I was to see this meadow thinking that I was almost back to the cabin, it was so beautiful. Seeing a road at the edge of the fog bank I was positive that I was there. Another half a mile and I was at the road.....it was a paved road.....not the road that I was looking for. Later I came to find out that it was the road to Alturas Lake, many, many miles away. Well I was in a kind of conumdrum. Tired, cold, far away from anyone or anything, and lost. I Ran about a mile up the paved road, figured that I was going the wrong way, so I ran back to where I found the paved road. My mind and body where beginning to get numb, but I had enough sense to follow my own tracks back to where I started. Sounded like a good idea to me. As I was getting back to the main road after the long back track through the woods, the fog started to lift and blue sky started to peek through the clouds. For some odd reason I decided to take another short cut. This proved to be the most disastrous course of action. Leaving the trail I bushwhacked through the woods to get back to the main road. Well I forgot there was a creek in the way. After looking for a good fording point, I found a bad one and slipped on a rock. Crawling out of the creek soaking wet and back onto the bank I saw my salvation!!! The road!! And it was the right one too!!! I started running again with a new found vigor. The cold, wetness and exhaustion seemed to just melt away. The next couple miles and the last hill breezed by and don't stick out to clearly in my memory. After sprinting up the driveway I collapsed on the deck with a big smile inside and a great sense of achievement. (Big comfort to my aching body yeah...)