Not another holiday

It's almost 4am on Wednesday morning as I write this. I just got off duty about an hour ago and I'm still in the process of warming up. There's something about using a port-a-john when it's 40 degrees outside and you're wearing gloves, long underwear, body armor and two weapons that just makes the process somehow unpleasant. I'm here to tell ya', it's not the temperature, it's the length of exposure that gets ya'.

So tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Another holiday over here. We were at Camp Shelby last year for what I'm going to list as the worst thanksgiving dinner I've ever had. At least this year I'll have the option of treating myself to a pizza before I go on duty.

Here's the thing about holidays in a combat zone. You just go on with your regular duties and activities and in general try and pretend it's just another day. At least that's the way I handle it. If I focus too hard on what I usually do back home it just makes it harder.

So far in Iraq I've had Memorial Day, the 4th of July, a Labor Day that turned out to be the worst day I think I've ever experienced (go look up the blog entries), Veteran's Day, and now Thanksgiving. On the plus side it looks like I'll be home for Christmas on leave, but I'll just be getting on the plane around New Year's Eve.

Missing New Year's is NOT a big deal though. New Year's of 04-05 was my first official date with Cori (the latest ex). That was the first successful New Year's date I think I'd had since I was a senior in high school (gotta find Charlotte Doeschot one of these days).

Now of course my second favorite holiday (first is of course Christmas) is St. Patty's Day. And we celebrated that one in style on the French Quarter in New Orleans. No one parties like a bunch of soldiers heading off to war, so there may be some romanticism clouding my memories of that event, but my buddy Nick and I have vowed that we're going to do St Patty's day in New Orleans every year from here onward. Of course this coming St Patty's day we'll either still be here, at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin outprocessing, or Camp Ashland, Nebraska going to BNCOC. But St Patty's day '08 we'll be hanging off a bar in the French Quarter again tossing beads at coeds like the dirty old men we are.

So to sum up. Thanksgiving this year, stuffed crust pepperoni pizza. This past Labor Day, one I'd just as soon forget, Christmas will be at home with my family and with any luck an adult beverage or two. New Year's, probably on a plane somewhere heading back here, but fortunately not for much longer.

With any luck I won't have too many more holidays in combat zones.

MTFBWY...always