Well, well, well
Howdy. My name is David, and there's probably nobody reading this.
Well, to start off, the reason I'm writing this is simple stress relief. See, I find myself in a tumultuous point in my life, and in the past I've found writing in a blog greatly helps both with thinking shit through and letting off steam.
A little (turns out to be a lot) about myself:
I'm 20 for a bit longer, and a US Soldier. Infantryman, to be exact. Up until recently I was a sniper for the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry division, based at Ft Bliss, in El Paso, Texas. Now I'm just a regular joe Infantryman again, and I like it better this way -- the 4/1 doesn't know how to use snipers at all.
I grew up in Fairport, New York -- spent 18 years of my life there, and it breaks my heart to see my hometown turning into this commercialized, sprawling, cookie cutter suburbia a little more every time I go home. At least that makes it easier to leave each time. Not much else to say about Fairport.
Educationwise, I left high school halfway through my senior year and went to college early. That might make me sound smart, but nope, I just got fed up and basically forced my parents and guidance councilor to present me with some options when I refused to go to school anymore. So, early college, and I finished my HS diploma with equivalent college courses.
Well, I had started to get sick of college anyway after two years, but my girl Erin kept me going for a while. When we broke up, I had no reason to stick around, so after a few months of soul searching and agonizing I decided to just enlist in the Army. I always knew I would, at some point, but I figured on finishing college first. God, how annoyed to you think I was when my first few months in the Army were JUST LIKE HIGH SCHOOL? Man, I was pissed.
Well, here I am now, PFC Stocum, David J. Plain old Rifleman. I've been in the Army for 15 months, and it just keeps getting lamer. It's the unit, the experienced guys say, but a variety of things here at Ft Bliss have convinced me not to ever consider reenlisting. Heeeelllll No. So don't expect me to talk much about the Army -- on my down time, I don't like thinking about it. Actually, I'll probably bitch some, but that's not the focus of this blog.
What is the focus of the blog? Besides bitching about personal issues, I'll mostly just talk about stuff I like. What do I like? Guns, knives, and weapons in general; cars, movies, books, and music. Also physics, architecture, mechanical technology... well, you'll see. Oh yeah, and politics/law. How'd I forget that one?
Oh, I'm supposed to talk about the future or something. Right, well, if I survive this whole war thing -- I leave in 9 weeks for Kuwait, en route to Iraq -- I plan on making it through my enlistment without deploying again (how the hell do I do that? Hope...), and getting out in Oct 2009. Well, if things all work out, I'd like to go back to college and get my EMT certification at the minimum, maybe even go through the whole Paramedic training course. Then I'd like to be a firefighter in a city that's close enough to the country that I don't have to live in a damn urban hellhole all the time. Billings, Montana looks pretty good, or maybe Seattle.
Right well, I'm done for now. Nobody's going to read this anyway, but peace out.
Well, to start off, the reason I'm writing this is simple stress relief. See, I find myself in a tumultuous point in my life, and in the past I've found writing in a blog greatly helps both with thinking shit through and letting off steam.
A little (turns out to be a lot) about myself:
I'm 20 for a bit longer, and a US Soldier. Infantryman, to be exact. Up until recently I was a sniper for the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry division, based at Ft Bliss, in El Paso, Texas. Now I'm just a regular joe Infantryman again, and I like it better this way -- the 4/1 doesn't know how to use snipers at all.
I grew up in Fairport, New York -- spent 18 years of my life there, and it breaks my heart to see my hometown turning into this commercialized, sprawling, cookie cutter suburbia a little more every time I go home. At least that makes it easier to leave each time. Not much else to say about Fairport.
Educationwise, I left high school halfway through my senior year and went to college early. That might make me sound smart, but nope, I just got fed up and basically forced my parents and guidance councilor to present me with some options when I refused to go to school anymore. So, early college, and I finished my HS diploma with equivalent college courses.
Well, I had started to get sick of college anyway after two years, but my girl Erin kept me going for a while. When we broke up, I had no reason to stick around, so after a few months of soul searching and agonizing I decided to just enlist in the Army. I always knew I would, at some point, but I figured on finishing college first. God, how annoyed to you think I was when my first few months in the Army were JUST LIKE HIGH SCHOOL? Man, I was pissed.
Well, here I am now, PFC Stocum, David J. Plain old Rifleman. I've been in the Army for 15 months, and it just keeps getting lamer. It's the unit, the experienced guys say, but a variety of things here at Ft Bliss have convinced me not to ever consider reenlisting. Heeeelllll No. So don't expect me to talk much about the Army -- on my down time, I don't like thinking about it. Actually, I'll probably bitch some, but that's not the focus of this blog.
What is the focus of the blog? Besides bitching about personal issues, I'll mostly just talk about stuff I like. What do I like? Guns, knives, and weapons in general; cars, movies, books, and music. Also physics, architecture, mechanical technology... well, you'll see. Oh yeah, and politics/law. How'd I forget that one?
Oh, I'm supposed to talk about the future or something. Right, well, if I survive this whole war thing -- I leave in 9 weeks for Kuwait, en route to Iraq -- I plan on making it through my enlistment without deploying again (how the hell do I do that? Hope...), and getting out in Oct 2009. Well, if things all work out, I'd like to go back to college and get my EMT certification at the minimum, maybe even go through the whole Paramedic training course. Then I'd like to be a firefighter in a city that's close enough to the country that I don't have to live in a damn urban hellhole all the time. Billings, Montana looks pretty good, or maybe Seattle.
Right well, I'm done for now. Nobody's going to read this anyway, but peace out.
posted by Dave at 12:39 AM
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